“I wondered how many times in my life I had done something just because I wanted to without weighing the consequences.”

“I had learned this lesson so many timesbefore. It was the great inner truth thatdidn't require the support of logic. Everytime I loved, I lost, and I was diminished.I wondered how much of me would be leftafter tomorrow.”

“Bitterly I wondered if Hardy was going to overshadow every relationship for the rest of my life, haunting me like a ghost. I didn't know how to let him go. I'd never even had him.”

“Many times in life I've regretted the things I've said without thinking. But I've never regretted the things I said nearly as much as the words I left unspoken.”

“I could apologize for all the women I knew before you. But I'm not going to.""Didn't ask you to," I said sullenly.His hand slipped under the sheet, gently sweeping over me. "I learned something from every woman I've been with. And I needed to learn a lot before I was ready for you."I scowled. "Why? Because I'm complicated? Difficult?" I fought to keep my breathing steady as he cupped my breast and shaped it.He shook his head. "Because there's so much I want to do for you. So many ways I want to please you." He bent to kiss me, and brushed the tip of his nose against mine in a playful nudge. "Those women were just practice for you.""Good line," I said grudgingly.”

“Is that how you play?" Daisy asked breezily. "I just envision how I want the bowl to go, and then I roll it.”

“A lack of desire is something I've never experienced. I'd have to be on my deathbed before I stopped wanting—no, never mind, I was on my deathbed in the not-too-distant past, and even then I had the devil's own itch for my wife."-Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent”