“You are sweetness and light. Human cotton candy.”

“He took my face into his hands, using them to control the intensity and depth of our kiss, which quickly moved from sweet to reckless. It was the most lovely of assaults.”

“Emerson, you just shared your deepest secret with me. I value that. Don't make light of it."If he wasn't already holding my heart in the palm of his hand, I would have taken it out and given it to him.”

“And I love you.""Remember the night we sat here, and I fed you all the clues the future Em had given me to convince you I was legit? The bluegrass, the belly ring-""The designated hitter?""Yes." He grinned."Hmph.""What else did I tell you?""That you had a teddy bear named Rupert."He rolled his eyes. "About you, and the first time I saw you."Answering made me feel shy, but I did it anyway."That I said I would take your breath away the first time you saw me." I was still holding his face, and he reached up to put his hands over mine."You did it then. And you just did it again." His kiss was sweet, soft, and easy at first. I felt urgency stir just under the surface, but I refused to let the desire to hurry things interfere in the moment. I wanted to savor every single one.We had all the time in the world.My brother's voice floated down from the open window. "Emerson!"Well, as son as my grounding was over, we had all the time in the world.”

“If you were my child, I would staple you to your bedroom wall.”

“You aren't my keeper, Lily.""No one is. You're responsilbe for you. I'm simply reminding you that you're worth more than what you'll find at the bottom of a bottle.”

“Didn't I just ask you to stop asking questions?""You asked me to stop for one second. You should have been more specific if you wanted longer." Having a big brother taught me quite a bit about arguing with the intent to wear down my opponent.”