“I just had a dream.” “About what?” “It’s hard to describe. It was very dreamy.”

“He wished he knew how to describe to her what he felt.I started counting time for you.I want to change who I am for you.You are my Grace.He was too full, and there weren't enough words.He said, "I did not know I needed grace until I met you."Then as she held him tightly, he knew that what he said had been enough.”

“I know I had that punch comin’ to me. I owed you one. No hard feelings, sugar.” “Speak for yourself.” Pia’s words were coated in frost. “I’ve all kinds of hard feelings going on over here.”

“He stared at her neck. Realization pulsed. He was looking at the bite he had given her. A hard length was growing against her hip. “So, is that your long, scaly, reptilian tail, or are you just happy to see me?” No, she did not just say that. Did she?”

“Wouldn't it be better if the Elves would just shut up and go away? Hey, what if they stopped throwing a fit at you walking across their backyard. It's not like you ate their tulips or dug holes in their lawn. You didn't piss on any trees when I wasn't looking, did you?" The thundercloud that had darkened his face broke apart. He laughed. "I would have if I'd thought about it.”

“Her compact, curvaceous body was laid out like some kind of offering to a pagen god. As someone who had once been a pagen god, he knew what he was talking about . . .”

“Xanthe, you are the most beautiful surprise in my life. I hardly noticed you at first. You carry the quiet of a river with a still surface that runs very deep. I found that the more I looked at you, the more I saw—and now the more I see of you, the more beautiful you become and the more I want you.” He paused then said deeply, “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I have grown to want you.”