“I want us. I want to swim in the way you make me feel; I want it to soak my clothes until they become a skin, and I want my skin to soak into my bones.”

“Music overwhelmed me, soaked into my skin like water. I didn’t have words for the squiggles and dashes across the pages, or the way his fingers stretched across the keys to make my heart race. If I could hear only one thing for the rest of my life, this was what I wanted.”

“I want to trust but it scares the skin off my bones.”

“I want to be inside you so badly, Grace,” he whispered. “I want to feel your legs wrapped around me, feel your breasts against my chest, hear you moaning as I make slow, sweet love to you. I want your smell on my body, your breath on my skin.”

“The guitar's still around me. I slip it off and put it down. I want to feel him. To feel his breath on my neck. The warmth of his skin. To feel something other than sadness.Hold me, I tell him silently. Hold me here. To this place. This life. Make me want you. Want this. Want something. Please”

“But as his warmth soaks into me, and he hugs me tighter, I find myself hoping he'll never let go. I close my eyes and press my cheek against his, skin on skin.”