“She probably gave up and started playing Minesweeper."[...]We reached the cafe and found Sydney bent over her laptop, with a barely eaten Danish and what was probably her fourth cup of coffee. We slid into seats beside her."How's it—hey! You ARE playing Minesweeper!”

“This is perfect!" Gennie shouted over the motor as Grant's boat cut through the sea. "It feels like we could go all the way to Europe."He laughed and ruffled her wind-tossed hair. "If you'd mentioned it before, I'd have put in a full tank of gas.""Oh, don't be pracitcal-imagine it," she insisted. "We could be at sea for days and days.""And nights." He bent over to catch the lobe of her ear between his teeth. "Full-mooned, shark-infested nights."She gave a low laugh and slid her hands up his chest. "Who'll protect whom?""We Scots are too tough.Sharks probably prefer more tender-" his tongue dipped into her ear "-French delicacies.”

“It's a coffee cup."She could hear the irritation in her own voice. "I know it's a coffee cup.""I can't wait till you draw something really complicated, like the Brooklyn Bridge or a lobster. You'll probably send me a singing telegram.”

“I’m really not hungry,” she repeated, lifting the coffee cup and inhaling the fragrant steam before sipping.“Just a few bites,” he cajoled, taking his own place beside her. “You need to keep up your strength for tonight.”She gave him a heated, slumberous look, remembering her fantasy. “Why? Are you planning something special?”“I suppose I am,” he said consideringly. “It’s special every time we make love.”

“I asked the girl at the coffee shop out on a date. Unfortunately she said no, probably because I asked her out to coffee.”

“Well, she thought. Well, well. Here we are, probably for the first time, just talking to each other. Not arguing, not being sarcastic, just talking. It's nice.It was surprisingly nice. And the strange thing was, she knew Ash thought so, too. They understood each other. Over the table, Ash gave her a barely perceptible nod.”