“A double-minded man is unsure in all his ways.”

“Don’t be afraid of loving this man, Maria had told her. Don’t be afraid. Her slender fingers closed around the warm shaft with its velvet skin stretched smooth. Gently her fingers played over him, curious, wondering fingers, fingers made exultant by their discoveries.Reflexively Jared arched his back. His head went back in a gesture of exquisite feeling. Then his chin lowered and he was searching her face again. His golden eyes shone bright with emotion. “Touch me, Lauren. Touch me until I die from the pleasure of it. Know all of me.” His voice was breathy and uneven.”

“His arms closed around them. While the storm raged outside,he held them protectively. Anna buried her face in one side of his neck,David in the other. His hands cupped the backs of their heads,pressing them closer.Things were hurled against the cellar door with such impetus that David's small fist gripped a handful of his shirt. And he knew that this was what mattered. They mattered. He mattered to them. All the rest of it all the rest of it evaporated into insignificance..”

“His entire aspect was menacing, starting with his chilling eyes and the pronounced bone structure of his face. He was tall and lean, but the skin on his arms was stretched over muscles that looked as taut as whipcord. The backs of his hands were bumpy with strong veins. His clothes and hair had snagged natural debris—twigs, sprigs of moss, small leaves. He seemed indifferent to all that, just as he did to the mud caked on his boots and the legs of his jeans. He smelled of the swamp, of sweat, of danger.”

“She shook her head slowly. “I don’t believe you. You can’t be a cop.”“Not a cop.”“Federal agent?”“FBI.”“Even more unlikely.”“J. Edgar rolls over in his grave every day, but that’s the way it is.”

“Doral asked if Coburn’s neighbors had been interviewed.“By me personally,” Fred replied. “Everybody in the apartment complex knew him by sight. Women thought he was attractive in that certain kind of way.”“What certain kind of way?”“Wished they could fuck him, but considered him bad news.”“That’s a ‘way’?”“Of course that’s a ‘way.’ ”

“The intensity of his expression caused her to tentatively ask, “What?”“I’ve never been a big fan of the missionary position.”Not quite sure how to respond to that, she said simply, “Oh.”“I preferred making it any other way.”“Why?”“Because it didn’t have anything to do with getting off.”“What didn’t?”“Looking into the woman’s face.” He murmured the statement as though puzzled by it.Her throat grew tight. She reached up and stroked his cheek. “You wanted to look into mine?”