“I’m too caught up in this…pretend life I’m so completely submersed in. And you know what? I like it. I love it. Even though I know deep down inside, it’s fake. That the way you talk to me, look at me, touch me. Kiss me…is all for show. I’m some sort of protection for you but I don’t care. I want it.I want you.”

“Listen to me. I’m shy. I’m not stupid. I can’t meet people’s eyes. I don’t know if you understand what that’s like. There’s a whole world going on around me, I’m aware of that. It’s not because I don’t want to look at you, Lucinda. It’s that I don’t want to be seen.”

“And because I’m so out of control, I can’t help myself. I’m not even mine anymore, I’m yours, and what if you decide that you don’t want me? How could you want me like I want you?”

“What is this, Tom”“It’s the beginning, January.”“Of what?” She asked me seriously.“Well have all the time in the world to talk about that. It’s too deep to get into it right now but know this, I’m tired of pretending. So weary of it. I forgot myself when I lost who I thought Kelly was to me, but you’ve shown me what I think, no, I know no one else could have shown me.”“And what’s that?”“That I don’t want to be lost anymore. I – I want you.”

“My day isn’t complete until I’m deep inside you. Your body wrapped around mine is the only way I feel whole. But don’t think it’s just sex and a physical response to you that I’m feeling. It’s not…it’s so much more. You’ve opened me in a way that leaves me bleeding, vulnerable. Being with you, making love to you, it only solidifies what I feel for you. I know that I’ve become one of those spouting, love-sick idiots, but what it all boils down to is three words that don’t mean nearly enough…I love you.”

“You see, you don’t want me to love you. You want the version you’ve made up. The knight, even though I’m the dragon and I always will be.”