"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."

"Don't make me regret this,' I said, breathless.'You haven't regretted me once."

"You don't happen to have a thousand dollars I can borrow?' 'I don't have five you can borrow. My piggy bank is officialy anorexic."

"Quit calling me Grey. It makes me sound like I'm a boy. Like Dorian Gray.'Dorian who?I sighed. 'Just think up something else. Plain old Nora works too, you know.'Sure thing, Gumdrop.I grimaced. 'I take that back. Let's stick with Grey."

"I turned my face up to his. I could hardly look at him the same way. I was crying without realizing I'd started. 'You made a deal with Hank. You saved my life. Why would you do that for me?''Angel,' he murmured, clasping my face between his hands. 'I don't think you understand the lengths I would go to if it means keeping you here with me."

"Any happiness, no matter how brief, seemed better than the long, simmering torture of waking up day after day, knowing I could never have him."

"Go ahead. You're not going to walk in on anyone. I'm home alone.''The whole night?'Immediately, I realized it might not have been the smartest thing to say. 'Dorothea will be coming soon.' That was a lie. Dorothea was long gone. It was close to midnight.'Dorothea?''Our housekeeper. She's old- but strong. Very strong.' I tried to squeeze past him. Unsuccessfully.'Sounds frightening,' he said, retrieving the key from the lock. He held it out for me. 'She can clean a toilet inside and out in under a minute. More like terrifying."

"My mom's coming home soon,' I said. 'We should go to your place.'Patch ran a hand across the shadow of stubble along his jaw. 'I have rules about who I take there.' I was getting really tired of that answer. 'If you showed me, you'd have to kill me?' I guessed, fighting the urge to feel irritated. 'Once I'm inside, I can never leave?'Patch studied me a moment. Then he reached into his pocket, twisted a key off his key chain, and slipped it into the front pocket of my pajama top. 'Once you've gone inside, you have to keep coming back."

"Stay with me tonight. Let me hold you even if that's all it is. Let me keep you safe."

"Sure thing, Gumdrop."

"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."

"I missed you, Angel. Not one day went by that I didn't feel you missing from my life. You haunted me to the point that I began to believe Hank had gone back on his oath and killed you. I saw your ghost in everything. I couldn't escape you and I didn't want to. You tortured me, but it was better than losing you."

"It was a smile that spelledtrouble. With a promise."

"What was it with evildoers trying to hire my boyfriend as a mercenary?"

"I loved you long before you loved me. It's the only thing I have you beat at, and I'll bring it up every chance I get."

"Humans are vulnerable, because they're capable of being hurt."

"I believe in destiny Angel. I believe every choice I've made has brought me closer to you. I looked for you for a very long time. I may have fallen from heaven, but I fell for you."

"You're scared of what you can't control."

"Stop crying. You're giving archangels everywhere a bad name."

"And you would have lost. We were surrounded. He threatened your life, and he would have made good on that threat. He had you, and that meant he had me, too."

"Arrogance can be deadly. The corners of his mouth crept up. 'But you didn't hear me say that."

"I like having you around, Britt. That's the truth. I'm not leaving you. Even if you were a pain in the butt, I'd stay with you. It's the right thing to do. But it turns out I find you likable and interesting, and while I'm not glad you have to go through this, I'm glad we have each other."

"What was up with class today? It was watered-down porn. He practically had you and Patch on top of your lab table, horizontal, minus your clothes, doing the Big Deed."

"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."

"I don't have the body for this,' I quipped, lifting my chin to a voluptous woman nearby who shook her hips zealously to the beat. 'No curves.'Jev's eyes held mine. 'Are you asking my opinion?"

"Tacos.''Tacos?' I echoed.This seemed to amuse him. 'Tomatoes, lettuce, cheese.''I know what a taco is!"

"Jerk.smokes cigars.will die of lung cancer,hopefully soon.excellent physical shape."

"Just because I've gone and snagged myself a hot boyfriend doesn't mean I'm going to leave my bestfriend high and dry."

"The problem with human attraction is not knowing if it will be returned."

"I'm doing boy detox. Like a diet, only for my emotional health."

"What does 'hmm' have to do with anything? Could you ever use more than five words? All this grunting and minced words make you come across-primal.His smile tipped higher. 'Primal.'You're impossible.'Me Jev, you Nora."

"I would lay down everything I possess, even my soul, for you. If that isn't love, it's the best I have."

"I could get you to smile like that, and without sales tax.' I whirled around to find the real Patch standing in the fitting room behind me. He was wearing jeans and a snug white tee. His arms were folded loosely over his chest, and his black eyes smiled down at me. Heat that wasn't entirely uncomfortable flushed through my body. 'I could make all kinds of pervert jokes right now,' I quipped."

"Scared, Angel?"

"Because those four days in the mountains, they changed us. I gave you a piece of me. And you must have given me a piece of yourself, too, because you wouldn't have come here otherwise. You would have let go. I can't let go of you, Britt. And I don't want you to let go of me."

"You're staying here, Angel.''You're taking this one alone?''First, Hank can't see us together. Second, I don't like the idea of dragging you into something that could get messy fast. If you need one more reason, I love you."

"I gave up something I wanted for something I need. And I need you, Angel."

"Say 'provoking' again. Your mouth looks provocative when you do."

"Whoa, who peed in your Cheerios?"

"We all know you're beautiful, Scott."

"Try it on.''It's probably a little snug. Marcie tends to buy down when it comes to sizing.' He merely smiled.'It has a slit up the thigh.' His smile depened.'Zip it up?'Patch's eyes made a slow assessment of me, sharpening to vivid black. 'I'm going to have a hard time sending you off with Scott in that dress. Just a heads-up, if you come home and the dress looks even slightly tampered with, I will track Scott down, and when I find him, it won't be pretty."

"If I asked you to do something for me, I don't suppose you'd listen?' When he had my attention, he continued, 'I'm going to take you home. Try to forget tonight happened. Try to act normal, especially around Hank. Don't mention my name.'By way of an answer, I shot him a black look and swung out of the Tahoe. He followed suit, coming around to my side. 'What kind of answer is that?' He asked, but his voice wasn't nearly so gruff."

"But strength doesn't always mean brute force. You don't have to kick ass to be a fighter. Violence doesn't equal strength. Lead your army by example. There's a better answer to all this. War isn't going to solve anything, but it will tear our two worlds apart, and there will be casualties, including humans. There's nothing heroic about this war. It will lead to a destruction unlike anything you or I have ever seen."

"And here I thought they were called Peeping Toms.' I didn't need to see him to know he wore a smile. 'Stop laughing,' I said, my cheeks hot with humiliation. 'Get me down.''Jump.''What?''I'll catch you.''Are you crazy? Go inside and open the window. Or get a ladder.''I don't need a ladder. Jump. I'm not going to drop you."

"I couldn't stand here, hanging on, when the very thing I held disappeared more with each passing day."

"Nothing makes me happy quite like a boatload of freshly fried fast food, smothered in good old MSG."

"Ready?'Despite the grim mood, I smiled and cracked my knuckles. 'Ready to wrestle with my gorgeous boyfriend? Oh, I'd say I'm ready for that.'Amusement softened his eyes. 'I'll try to control where I put my hands, but in the heat of things, who knows what could happen?' I added. Patch grinned. 'Sounds promising."

"I tapped my cup to his, grateful to have found Shaun, because for a minute there, I'd thought I was going to have to save myself. Instead, I'd wandered into the protective care of a sexy older man."

"I couldn't escape him, now or ever. He'd always be there, consuming my every thought, my heart locked in his hands. I was drawn to him by forces I couldn't control, let alone escape."

"Nice costume,' he said. 'Ditto. I can tell you put a lot of thought into yours.'Amusement curled his mouth. 'If you don't like it, I can take it off."