“Eyes,” he snapped. “On me, Mia. Always on me. You don’t come with your eyes closed. I want to see everything you have when I’m inside you. You don’t ever shut me out.”

“Jace groaned. 'Baby, you have to stop. I'm more than happy to fuck you any way you want but can we please leave Gabe and Mia out of this?'She nodded. 'Or maybe I'll fuck you.' She brightened at that idea and then her eyes narrowed fuzzily on Jace. 'Can I do that?”

“You look at me and tell me you think you're some goddamn obligation to me. You look at me and tell me that we're pretending when the connection between us is the most tangible, overpowering thing I've ever felt in my life. If this is pretending, then I damn sure don't want to know what reality is.”

“You mean everything to me. You mean more to me than I have the words to explain. Is it normal? Who gives a damn if it's normal? Fuck normal. You and I will never be normal people. If normal means I'm not with you, then I never want to be that man.”

“Your eyes are green, too,” she muttered.Alaric’s scowl turned into a look of concern.“Are you sure you didn’t suffer a blowto the head you didn’t tell me about?”

“I’ll cry if I want to. You will cease orderingme about!”He raised an eyebrow. “You dare to issueme orders?”She flushed, but at least she wasn’t cryingany longer.“Now tell me about this brand on yourthigh. Your father’s crest. I’d like to see it.”176/756She went crimson and she backed up astep until her back met with the ledge of thewindow. “I will not do something so indecentas to show you my leg!”“When we’re married, I’ll see more thanthat,” he said mildly.“Married? Married? I’m not marrying you,Laird. I’m not marrying anyone. Not yetanyway.”

“God, you have a beautiful laugh, and your smile. Jesus, it knocks the breath out of me.""You can't talk to me like that, nobody says things like that to a woman he just met. It's insane.""I just did. And I plan to keep saying them until you believe every word.”