“A smile crept to her lips. “What does the ‘F’ stand for?” she asked. He blinked a moment in confusion, and then recalled the nameplate on his desk: Hon. F. Darcy. “What do you think it stands for?” he countered. “Do you really have any doubt what I think it stands for?” she said, smirking. “Contrary to popular belief, my mother did not name me F*cker. It’s Fitzwilliam.”

“Why’d you want to have sex with me? To have a f*cking adventure? What was I supposed to be? Your one-night-f*cking stand? I’m every woman’s adventure, damn you, and I don’t want to be yours. I want to be your f*cking REAL. You get that? If I f*ck you, I want you to belong to me. To be mine. I want you to give yourself to me—not Riptide!”

“Kyle’s shrill voice interrupted their moment. “Figured you two would turn this into a scout meeting. Will you get your asses up here? People are waiting. I mean Beckett here has maybe a fewhours before he’s bent over a metal toilet getting it up the ass from aguy named Bubba. Do you want him to have fun now or not?”The streetlight illuminated Beckett as he appeared next to Kyle. “Why would I be the bitch? I don’t think that’s a fair f*cking assumption.”Kyle refused to look at him and crossed her arms. “Of course you’d be the bitch. You have dimples. Bitches have dimples. And I bet your ass is soft like two pillows. Bubba’s going to love bouncing off of you.”Beckett stormed away, dragging Kyle with him. “I’ll be the f*cker,” he told her. “Not the f*ckee. The f*cker.”“Fine, a$$hole, you’re the f*cker,” Kyle’s voice faded away as they returned to the party.”

“He said a bad word. Do you want to know what it was? It started with F. It's not the one you're thinking of, though. To the other one. The one that ends with P. do you want to know what it was? It was troop." She frowned. "Wait that's not a word.”

“Sadie?""What?""You with me?"I blinked in confusion and said, "Yes." And I was, wasn't I? I was standing in his arms for goodness sake."This is Sadie?" Hector went on.I blinked again. "Yes.""My Sadie?" he kept at it.This time I blinked for a different reason.His Sadie? Was there a Hector's Sadie? Was I Hector's Sadie? Did Hector think I was his Sadie?Oh…my…God.Before I could process what he said or get close to processing what that meant, I watched him smile, then he bent his head and kissed my lips."Yeah," he said, his face an inch away. "It's my Sadie.”

“What were you thinking about justnow while you were looking out the window?" To his surprise, the question flustered her. "I—wasn't thinking.""Then what were you doing?" he asked, his curiosity aroused.A rueful smile touched her inviting lips, and she shot him a sideways look before turning back to thewindow. "I was… talking to God," she admitted. "'Tis a habit I have."Startled and slightly amused, Royce said, "Really? What did God have to say?""I think," she softly replied, "He said, 'You're welcome.' ""For what?" Royce teased.Lifting her eyes to his, Jenny solemnly replied, "For you.”