Jill Shalvis

Her heart just about stopped. __s?_ she asked in shock. __here is no us. There__ a you. And there__ a me. And okay, so sometimes we get crazy and become a very momentary us but it__ not real._ __t could be,_ he said. She gaped at him, completely gobsmacked.

He made it hard for a girl to not fall head over heels.

You probably had more adventures today than I__l have in a lifetime. Walking must seem tame to you.___lle, you__e more of an adventure than anything that__ ever happened to me.

What is it with us?

Fine. It__ your life, but__ __ut you__e still going to tell me what to do?_ he asked, a small smile on his lips. She went into defense mode at his amused tone. __ell, I__ sure as hell not going to be quiet about it._ __uly noted,_ he said dryly. __nd for the record? I never want you to be quiet, Elle.

Oh for God__ sake,_ came Morgan__ sleepy voice, disembodied in the dark. __o after the hot guy, would you?_ __he peanut gallery needs to shut up,_ Elle muttered into the cushion. __ust sayin_,_ Morgan said. ____ leave you alone out here in a hot minute to go have sex if I had the chance._ ____ not going to go have sex while you__e out here knowing I__ having sex!_ __our loss,_ Morgan said. __h my God,_ Elle said. __top talking!

Mom used to tell me not to worry when people didn't get me. People throw rocks at things that shine - from the mixed up files of Tilly Adam's journal

Just remember, there__ not a lot of softness in his life, or room for weakness__f which you__e definitely one. He has absolutely no idea what to do with you, and as an action guy, that__ confusing to him. So maybe think about taking it easy on him. Even just a little bit.

I want in your life, Elle. All the way in.

Some people aren't meant to stay in your life. But, that doesn't mean you can't carry a piece of them in your heart.

I__ putting a temporary hold on the __tay away from me_ thing,__ she said. __ust for a minute while I yell at you, and then we__e definitely going right back to it.

We all have horrible track records,_ he said. __t__ what leads up to the real thing. It__ what allows you to recognize it when it shows up.

You only live once, right?""Not true," Quinn said, "you live every day. You only die once.

At the unexpected sight of Spence, Colbie startled hard. How was it that he was the one who needed glasses and yet she__ not seen him standing against the window? __o, I don__ kill a lot of people,_ she said cautiously because she was wearing only a towelin front of a strange man. __ut I__ happy to make an exception.__e laughed, a rough rumble that was more than a little contagious but she controlled herself because, hello, she was once again dripping wet before the man who seemed to make her knees forget to hold her up.__ didn__ mean to scare you,_ he said and pushed off the wall to come close.She froze, but he held up his hands like, I come in peace, and crouched at her feet to scoop up the clothes she hadn__ realized she__ dropped.Leggings, a long forgiving tee, and the peach silk bra-and-panty set that hadn__ gotten so much as a blink from the TSA guy.But it got one out of Spence. He also swallowed hard as she snatched them back from him.__old on,_ he said and caught her arm, pulling it toward him to look at her bleeding elbow.__it,_ he said and gently pushed her down to a weight bench. He vanished into the bathroom and came back out with a first aid kit.It took him less than two minutes to clean and bandage the scrape. Then, easily balanced at her side on the balls of his feet, he did the same for both her knees, which she hadn__ noticed were also scraped up.__ou must__e hit the brick coping as you fell in the fountain,_ he said and let his thumb slide over the skin just above one bandaged knee.She shivered, and not from the cold either. __ot going to kiss it better?_ she heard herself ask before biting her tongue for running away with her good sense.She__ raised her younger twin brothers. Scrappy, roughhouse wild animals, the both of them, so there__ been plenty of injuries she__ kissed over the years.But no one had ever kissed hers. Not surprising, since most of her injuries tended to be on the inside, where they didn__ show. Still, she was horrified she__ said anything at all. __ didn__ mean___he broke off, frozen like a deer in the headlights as Spence slowly lowered his head, brushing his lips over the Band-Aid on her elbow, then her knees. When he lifted his head, he pushed his glasses higher on his nose, those whiskey eyes warm and amused behind his lenses. __etter?__hockingly better. Since she didn__ quite trust her voice at the moment, she gave a jerky nod and took her clothes back into the bathroom. She shut the door and then leaned against it, letting out a slow, deliberate breath. Holy cow, she was out of her league. He was somehow both cute and hot, and those glasses .

She__ offered him her friendship. Her body. And he__ taken both. He wanted to keep them both. And he also wanted more, so much more. He wanted her heart, like she had his.

Look at you_ You__e perfect.""Not_ perfect.""Perfect to me_

There's a big difference between want and need," she muttered to herself, picking her pad and pen back up. "I mean I want a bikini body, but I need chicken nuggets.

His expression was strained. "I'm trying like hell to be the good guy here. I need you to go inside and lock the door behind you to keep out of trouble.""I thought Wildstone was safe.""It is. The trouble isn't going to come from the unknown. It's going to come from me. Go, Quinn. Now. And lock your door."She stared up at him, mesmerized by the thought of him being trouble, images going through her head of him proving it to her, all of them involving little to no clothing and a bed.