“(Aiden) “Sam, honey, I can smell your scent when you’re at the other end of your house, on a different floor. I can feel your heartbeat in my head. Your blood … it’s in me, Sam, enriched from the meals I cook for you with my own hands. Believe me, baby, I’ll know you’re there. And I will never hurt you.”

“I want to marry you because you’re the one, Nita. Period.” He pinned her with his gaze, fierce and outrageously blue. “I’ve never felt like this before. I want to lie beside you and just listen to you breathe. When I’ve had a shitty day, I want to come home to you and lay my head in your lap and feel your hands on my face. And when you’ve had a shitty day and it feels like one more straw is gonna break your back, I want to be there to carry the load for you. I want you to tell me your darkest fears, and be able to tell you mine.”

“I wan to lie beside you and just listen to you breathe. When I've had a shitty day, I want to come home to you and lay my head in your lap and feel your hand on my face.”

“(Sam) “Wait a minute … there are others like you?”He offered her his best grin, the one the ladies loved. “Honey, there’s no one like me.”

“You are so beautiful,” he breathed. “Watching you come like that … feeling you come like that…. Christ, Nita, I could die happy.”She closed her eyes.“No, don’t baby. Keep your eyes open. I want you to stay with me while we kiss and whisper and f#ck.”

“He caught her hand. “What do you want from me, Grace?”That was easy. “Everything.” She wanted to touch his chest, but since he held her hand prisoner, she insinuated one leg between his legs, delighting in what it did to his breathing. “I don’t want you to hold anything back. I don’t want you to be so careful with me all the time.”“Grace….”“I want you to give me as much as I can take, and then I want you to give me more.”“Like I did last night?”His voice was rough, laced with self-disgust. God help her, she’d never loved him more.”

“(Cal) “I was thinking, maybe you’d like a livelier mount, since you’re obviously a skilled rider.”She glanced at him sharply. The fact that he’d paid her a compliment sank in her consternation at the thought of a more forceful mount under her. [...]“Thank you, no. I think I’ll stick with slow and steady.”His hooded eyes suddenly took on a sleepy, sensual look. “That’s a sensible decision, ma’am. But if you should get a yen for fast and wild, just give me a shout.”