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

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

“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.”

“Do you think I should stay away from him?"I asked in a scratchy voice.Todd took a long time to answer. "My advice is, if you're inclined in that direction, go with your eyes open. It's okay to let someone play you, Haven, as long as you know what's going on.”

“Oh, Daisy, it's revolting the way I want to fawn all over him. I'm afraid I'm going to do something dreadfully silly today. Burst into song or something. For God's sake, don't let me.”

“…I love you. I love you desperately, violently, tenderly, completely. I want you in ways that I know you would find shocking……I want to talk with you forever. I remember every word you've ever said to me.If only I could visit you as a foreigner goes into a new country, learn the language of you, wander past all borders into every private and secret place, I would stay forever. I would become a citizen of you.You would say it's too soon to feel this way. You would ask how I could be so certain. But some things can't be measured by time. Ask me an hour from now. Ask me a month from now. A year, ten years, a lifetime. The way I love you will outlast every calendar, clock, and every toll of every bell that will ever be cast….”

“I should have told you to go to hell," I muttered.He smiled smugly. "I knew you wouldn't.""How?""Because women who are willing to cheat a little can always be talked into cheating a lot.”