“I felt my true, unworthy self to be far away from his clutching grasp, hidden from his admiring gaze.”

“I felt the warmth of his gaze from the tips of my hair to the tips of my toes.”

“It is in his pleasure that a man really lives; it is from his leisure that he constructs the true fabric of self.”

“Everybody is original, if he tells the truth, if he speaks from himself. But it must be from his *true* self and not from the self he thinks he *should* be. ”

“He broke away from my mouth and trailed his lips down the front of my throat. I felt his lips close around my scars. He kissed away their ugliness. His lips parted in tingling butterfly kisses that drained the strength from my knees. I realized he was mouthing words against my skin. Not words. Just one word.Mine.”

“It's like my mind knows to stay as far away from him as possible... but my bones, my skin quiver in his presence.”