“He didn't say anything more, just waited for me to tell him what I'd been thinking. It was pure speculation, and I was opening myself up to ridicule by saying anything at all. I sat on the stool and realized that I had my loyalties, too.”

“Not that I'd really been planning on keeping the attack secret; it had just been an option I'd wanted to keep open if I could.”

“Yes,” I told him. “I think the guy playing the Pirate King was awesome.”He stopped where he was.“What?” I asked, frowning at the big smile on his face.“I didn’t say I liked the Pirate King,” he told me.“Oh.” I closed my eyes—and there he was. A warm, edgy presence right on the edge of my perception. When I opened my eyes, he was standing right in front of me. “Cool,” I told him. “You’re back.”He kissed me leisurely. When he was finished, I was more than ready to head home. Fast.“You make me laugh,” he told me seriously.”

“He loved her beyond all reason and didn't expect her to love him back. He was just waiting for her to wise up.”

“I knew he would never leave me, never let me down-because the man had never abandoned anything in his long life. If I hadn’t taken the gold rope of our bond, I knew Adam would have sat on me and hog-tied me with it. I liked that. A lot.”

“Are we going to Portland?" I asked. "Or Multnomah Falls?"He smiled at me. "Go to sleep."I waited three seconds. "Are we there yet?"His smile widened, and the last of the usual tension melted from his face. For a smile like that, I'd...do anything.”

“I didn't like anyone except me having their hands all over him. There had been possession in Wolf's touch, and Adam belonged to me.”