“I’m a little disappointed when we reach the car. I could really just walk and talk and tease her all night long.”

“And this girl—this tiny, curvaceous, engaging, walking, talking contradiction—is working her way up to Libby Fields’s position very, very quickly, which is really saying something since I’m twenty-five, not fourteen.”

“Can you go back inside and have a drink while you wait? I don’t like the idea of you sitting outside in your car by yourself. You are by yourself, aren’t you?”“Yes, I’m alone. But I’ll be fine. I just—”“Olivia, I really don’t like it. Can’t you just go back inside? Consider it a favor.”When he puts it like that… “Okay. I’ll go back inside. Just call me when you get here.”

“I reach out and take her spastic hand, pressing the forefinger of my free hand to her lips. “Shhh.” She stops talking immediately. Yes, I could’ve shut her up a hundred different ways without touching her, but I figure this is better than kissing her, which is what I really want to do.Good God, how I want to kiss her!”

“Are you sure you’re not a witch?” he teased lightly, his teeth nipping at the sensitive lobe of my ear.My stomach twittered excitedly and I leaned into him.“If I’m a witch, you’re a devil,” I returned breathlessly, hoping against hope that he wouldn’t stop, that we could just continue on in our little bubble of oblivion.Jackson chuckled, a sound that sent chills racing down my back.“Now that’s entirely possible,” Jackson admitted, leaning back to grin down into my face. When his eyes settled on mine, his smile died and I fell headlong into the intensity of his sky blue gaze. “I love you.”

“I guess they’re right when they say, “Never say never.” I said I would never beg. That’s laughable. It’s only Wednesday and I’ve already lost count of how many times I’ve called Olivia. I should be embarrassed.But I’m not.I’m desperate. More and more every day. I’m desperate not to lose her. But I don’t know what to do next. I hate to go to her house and force her to talk to me. But I will. At this point, I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t do for her. To see her. To talk to her. To touch her and taste her again.Oh damn, this ain’t good!”

“I know she’d get some crazy idea in her head that I’m bad for her. And that’s just not true. In fact, the longer I know her, the more time I spend with her, the more I believe I’m exactly what she needs in her life. She just doesn’t know it yet. But she will.”