“Tristan’s hand pressed against my back and I felt myself move closer until my head was resting against his warm chest. I closed my eyes and felt its steady rising and falling. I breathed in deeply and wrapped my arms more securely around his neck. The world was suddenly simply cinnamon and sandalwood. I couldn’t remember ever feeling quite so content.All too soon, the song ended. I nearly moaned as Tristan stepped back and caught my arm. “Maybe we should head out.”Maybe people shouldn’t move when other people are feeling so...Oh, whatever.”

“I... heard a low whistle. I jerked my head up to see Chris standing on the top of the steps next to Tristan. Pervy little boy. He leaned toward his brother, whispering loudly, “Trist, she looks really pretty!”My cheeks burned and Tristan gave his brother a smack on the back of the head. “Shut up! She can hear you!”

“As Tristan helped me to my feet, I could see that he was smiling. He said slowly, "That was really..." He pushed his sunglasses back on. "Yeah.""It was 'Yeah'?" I laughed and bumped playfully into his side. "Yeah, for me too.”

“When he first put his arms around me, it was tentative, like maybe he expectedI'd pull away. When Ididn't, he moved in closer, his hands smoothing over my shoulders, and in mymind I saw myselfretreating a million times when people tried to do this same thing: my sister ormy mother, pulling backand into myself, tucking everything out of sight, where only I knew where tofind it. This time, though, Igave in. I let Wes pull me against him, pressing my head against his chest,where I could feel his heartbeating, steady and true.”

“Pressed up against him, I can feel the thud of his heart against mine, his ribcase expanding and contracting rapidly against my chest, the warm whisper of his breath tickling the side of my neck, the brush of his leg against my thigh. Resting my arms on his shoulders, I pull back a little to get a look at his face. But he isn't smiling any more.”

“The heat from his body warmed me and he leaned into me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I relaxed against him and let the back of my head fall against his chest. My eyes closed as I inhaled his scent. The metallic smell didn’t bother me so much anymore. In fact, now that it belonged to Jack, I found it enticing. I wanted to snuggle closer and get a good long whiff. The drawbacks of being a werewolf — we wanted to sniff everything.”

“I open my mouth to, I don't know, apologize again maybe. But he takes my face in his hands and presses his forehead to mine. And he's so close that I can feel his little warm breaths, and all I know is that when he draws his next breath, I want to get sucked in.Our lips touched, almost as soft as not touching at all. Then they press closer to each other, draw back uncertainly, touch again. There is warmth shooting through my broken body where there should be pain, and I put my arms around the back of his neck and I hold on to him. I hold on because you never know in this place when something good will be taken away.”