“I feel like I’m finally whole. I’m five thousand years old,” he rasped. “But the day you found me in the woods, that’s when my life started.”

“I’m over a thousand years old. I’ve seen it all. You, sweetcheeks, are nothing new.” At what must have been an outraged expression on her face, he laughed again. “Come on. Surely you can’t think you are the only female out there who’s had a rough life, had her heart walked on, been kept in a dungeon for three centuries, blah, blah, pick your trauma, and are now stomping around with all this pent-up anger you spill like acid on everyone who gets to know you.” He narrowed his gaze at her. “How close am I?”Sin’s mouth worked, but nothing came out. She finally snapped it shut to avoid looking like a fish gasping on the bank of a river. “That’s what I thought.” He made a shooing gesture with his hand. “No, run along and go be caustic with someone who cares. Oh, wait, no one cares, do they? Because you won’t let them--”

“Wow", he rasped. "Do you emasculate all the men, or am I speacial?”

“I wonder what disgusts you more, the fact that I’m a demon, or the fact that when I touch you, it doesn’t matter.”

“He sobered as he gazed at her, then took a deep breath and pulled away. “I’m not normally affected like this. It’s you. You’re putting off some hellacious fuck-me vibes.”“Not enough, apparently,” she muttered.”

“I’m so jealous,” she whispered, and he blinked.“Of what?”Her head fell back on the pillow, and she stared up at the ceiling with the saddest eyes he’d ever seen.“You’re so alive, Lore. There’s fire in you. A will to live, when all I want is to be done with this life.”

“His gaze slammed into hers. 'I love you. Never forget that. Never forget...me.'He loved her. Emotion bubbled up in her throat, leaving her voice completely wrecked. 'Never,' she rasped.”