“But when the other end of the line picked up, it was his voicemail that answered, not the man himself. "I know how devastated you must be to miss me," his cheery voice said, "but leave a message, and I'll try to ease your agony as soon as possible.”

“I know how devastated you must be to miss me, but leave a message, and I'll try to ease your agony”

“I think you smoke them so you have something to do while thinking up your next witty line."He choked on the smoke, caught between inhaling and laughing. "Rose Hathaway, I can't wait to see you again. If you're this charming while tired and annoyed and this gorgeous while bruised and in ski clothes, you must be devastating at your peak.""If by 'devastating' you mean that you should fear for your life, then yeah. You're right." I jerked open the door. "Good night, Adrian.""I'll see you soon.""Not likely. I told you, I'm not into older guys."I walked into the lodge. As the door closed, I just barely heard him call behind me, "Sure, you aren't.”

“That’s the last time you’re going to kiss me,” I warned when it ended. He smiled knowingly, and in his eyes, I could see his own memories of that night. “So you say.”

“Thanks. And I’ll give Brayden a talking-to so he doesn’t try anything on Thursday.” My mind was still full of Latin and Shakespeare. “Try what?” Trey shook his head. “Honestly, Melbourne, I don’t know Trey shook his head. “Honestly, Melbourne, I don’t know how you’ve survived this long in the world without me.” “Oh,” I said, blushing. “That.” Great. Now I had something else to worry about. Trey scoffed. “Between you and me, Brayden’s probably the last guy in the world you have to worry about. I think he’s as clueless as you are. If I didn’t care about your virtue so much, I’d actualy probably give him a lecture on how to try something.”

“God, I got lucky. If I'd hurt it, it would have put me out of practice for a while.”Smiling, he returned to his chair. "I know. You kept telling me that while I was carrying you. You were very upset.”"You...you carried me here?”"After we broke the bench apart and freed your foot.”Man. I'd missed out on a lot. The only thing better than imagining Dimitri carrying me in his arms was imagining him shirtless while carrying me in his arms.”

“You know, I might miss some of your witticisms when you’re gone, but one thing I won’t miss? Your overwhelming sense of melodrama and despair. It’s too much even for me.”