“Smells like homeless man's crotch. Not that I've ever been up close and personal with a homeless man's crotch, but...”

“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.”

“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.”

“...real teenage boys aren't like characters in the books you read. They smell funny and are obsessed with video games and say dumb things. They're still learning, just like you.”

“We’re people who knew older versions of each other too well to ever see the new person standing in front of us.”

“He laughs. "Having a hard time resisting me after that dance?""That dance was..." I pretend great interest in my thumbs as I send the video file to my email and close the phone up. "Irresistible? Sensuous? Seductive?""Nauseating?”

“There’s always been sadness hidden at the core of Hitch, but it’s never been big enough to taste. Occasionally, I’d get a whiff of it, salty on the wind, but it never pressed in between us like it does now, threatening to drown us both.”