“And my personal favorite, your lips." He smiled as a pink flush crept up my neck. "Full and sensual, puckered, and always turned down at the corners. They kind of make me want to kiss them until they smile.”

“I take my first step and then my second, and right before the door closes, I look once more over my shoulder. Caleb is still under the tree, he winks at me, and I smile.”

“I just thought you needed one. You use that weird penny, and it keeps falling out____" His eyes had immediatly snapped to my face, "Where is it? You didn't throw it away, did you?" I'd blinked at him, confused. "No, it's in your office." I couldn't hide the hurt from my voice. His eyes had softened, and he'd come around the table to kiss my cheek. "Thank you, Leah. It was a good idea-really. I needed something better to use to remind me of my place." "Your place?" "In the book." He smiled.”

“I’m sorry, Olivia, for hurting you,” he said hoarsely and my heart heaved in mychest. Why was his voice so gentle? Why wasn’t he screaming at me? I was the onewho did the hurting. It was me. My fault. My sin. My mess. “You will never see me again after today.” He paused and his next words struck me so deeply I would never recover from them. “I will love again, Olivia, you will hurt forever. What you’ve done is…You are worthless because you make yourself that way. You will remember me every day for the rest of your life because I was the one and you threw me away.” And then he left.”

“Do I look like a commitment sort of girl to you?”“You look like trouble,” he grinned. “When I was growing up, my mother used to tell me to never trust a redhead.”I frowned. “There are only two reasons she’d say something like that.” Caleb raised his eyebrows. “And they are?”“Your father either slept with one, or she is one.”I buzzed under his crooked smile. It extended all the way to his eyes this time.“I like you,” he said.“That’s swell, Boy Scout. Real swell.”

“He taught me who I was, something I would never have known, without his deft Handling of my personality”

“It is the last real kiss of my life. I forever cling to that kiss. It was goodbye and I'm sorry and I love you so much.”