“I know you've been through hell, but you didn't let it eat you up inside." He pauses, hugs me a little closer. "And I know you make me think the hell I've been through was worth it . . . if it's what made me recognize heaven when it jumped into my car.”

“I sigh into her and give up the fight. My fingers thread through her hair, pulling her closer, knowing I'll never get enough of her. She intoxicates me, but not in the way that leaves a man senseless. She lifts me up like a breath of sweet air, like sun on my skin, like...god.No, not god. Like the idea of god, the one I imagined when I was a boy.”

“God, I love you," I whisper, and come crashing back into my body with a suddenness that makes me gasp. I don't know what's more shocking--that I've called on the god I don't believe in, or that the lie I told felt so much like the truth.”

“What are you doing here?" she demands."I--I..."I want to touch you. I want to curl into bed beside you and see if you can teach me to dream something that wont make me wake up screaming.”

“The only thing better than kissing Ariel is waiting to kiss her, those moments of delicious anticipation when I know she's about to sweep through me and empty me of everything but light and desire.”

“He hesitates only a moment before pulling me close, arms tightening around me, mouth meeting mine the same way it did before. Purely, sweetly, wickedly, perfectly. He sighs against my lips, a sound of such relief it echoes through my skin, making me smile and our teeth bump together. I know exactly how he feels. How it feels to come home, to find sanctuary, to be handed that missing piece that makes life not something to be endured, but something to be celebrated.”

“Think your mother will let me drive you to school tomorrow? Now that we're all friends and united by a belief in the careful use of contraception?"My cheeks burn, the memory of my mother's mortifying behavior distracting me for a moment. "Yes," I mumble. "I think so.”