I laughed as we turned in a tight circle... 'Tonight you're all mine.'Jake smiled but looked me dead in the eye. 'No. From now on.'My heart skipped. 'What?'Yours,' he said simply, 'from now on.

She stood in his kitchen, watching him toy with the ring in his lip. It wasn't quite that he was biting it, but sucking it into his mouth. He did that when he was concentrating. It isn't sexy. He's not sexy. But he was, and she was staring at him like a fool. 'wow' she whispered (.....)'Wow, huh?' His voice was low, husky. His chair creaked as he stood. His footsteps seemed strangely loud as he closed the couple yards between them. Then he was beside her. 'I can work with wow.

What you said about the sweetest pain? That fits us.

The necklace was a good excuse,' he murmured.'For what?'I thought maybe I could go to Charleston and show up at your front door to give this back and maybe… you might let me in. Or something. I was worried that another male would court you, so I've been trying to go as fast as I could. I mean, I figured maybe if I could read, and if I took a little better care of myself, and if I tried to stop being such a mean-ass motherfucker…' He shook his head. 'But don't misunderstand. It's not like I expected you to be happy to see me. I was just… you know, hoping… coffee. Tea. Chance to talk. Or some shit. Friends, maybe. Except if you had a male, he wouldn't allow that. So, yeah, that's why I've been hurrying.'His yellow eyes lifted to hers. He was wincing, as if he were afraid of what might be showing on her face.'Friends?' she said.'Yeah… I mean, I wouldn't disgrace you by asking for more than that. I know that you regret… Anyway, I just couldn't let you go without… Yeah, so… friends.

Patch tipped my chin up. 'If I could make this go away, I would. If I could stand in your place, I wouldn't hesitate. But I'm left with one choice, and that's to stand by your side through the end. I won't waver, Angel, I can promise you that.

You're mine, Angel, and don't you forget it. Your fights are my fights. What if something bad had happened today? It was bad enough when I thought your ghost was haunting me; I don't think I can handle the real thing.

ALL SAY I AM SWEET,SINCE I NEVER CHEAT,I DO THINGS NEAT,WHETHER IT IS TO EAT,FOR WELL-WISHERS I HAVE A TREAT,TODAY I STAND ON MY FEET.

I tilted my chin up a fraction. 'You can't f-force me to stay here.' I'd only agreed to come this far because I didn't want to stand out in the downpour, for one, and I had high hopes of finding a phone, for two. 'That sounded more like a question than a statement,' said Patch. 'Then ans-s-swer it.'His rogue smile crept out. 'It's hard to concentrate on answers with you looking like that.'I glanced down at Patch's black shirt, wet and clinging to my body. I brushed past him and shut the bathroom door between us.

Not that time alone with Ingrid was something to wish away. She'd chosen him. Given herself to him, and even though he couldn't claim her in the human way, she was still his. Passing the day and night in the quiet town home was giving him a taste of his fantasy, sweet as meringue and just as easily dissolved.

She is neither an explorer nor a mapmaker, but she can always find her way to my heart.