“He'd spent much of his life wishing he was Kaden, had Kaden's life and family and money... and yes, his girl. And now, at this most critical of times, he desperately wished he could take Kaden's place.So Kaden could live.”

“I love you," he whispered, kissing her. She smiled. "I love you, too."He was suddenly aware of Kaden lying right there. He looked at his friend. Kaden smiled. "Still not doing you.”

“Do you think anything else can go wrong tonight?"Kaden turned to look at Nicholas coming up behind her and nodded. "Yes ma'am. I'd say all kinds of things could go wrong.”

“In a fit of Christmas spirit, Kaden had equipped her with a red and green holiday collar, complete with several jingle bells.Their own little pornographic elf.”

“My father built a time machine and then he spent his whole life trying to figure out how to use it to get more time. He spent all the time he had with us thinking about how he wished he had more time, if he could only have more time.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”That was a little too personal, wasn’t it?“I..” I was caught off guard.“Is that a yes, or a no?” He raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he stared deeply into my eyes.If I looked deep enough, I thought, maybe I could find what I was looking for.“No,” I whispered.He put a hand to his ear. “What was that? I didn’t quite hear you?” I had the feeling he had heard it loud and clear, but was messing with me.“No,” I said with one quick look at him and then I lowered my eyes toward the table.He smiled at my response. “Good,” he replied.Was I flirting? Was he?I looked back up to try to understand his answer. “And do you, Mr Kaden?”“Do I what?” He was definitely playing with me now. “Do I have a boyfriend? No. I don’t.”I laughed and couldn’t help but smile in the process.”