Anything was better than nothing. Half-full was better than empty. Ignorance was the lowest form of humiliation and suffering.

If we're doing this for ten hours, I'm going to need a little incentive to stay motivated." Patch hooked his elbow around my neck and dragged me into a kiss. "Every time you strip my sword, I owe you a kiss. How's that sound?" I bit my lip to keep from giggling. "That sounds really dirty." Patch waggled his eyebrows. "Look whose mind just rolled into the gutter. Two kisses per strip. Any objections?" I pulled on an innocent face. "None whatsoever.

Love the hair. Love when it’s out of control. It’s like seeing a side of you that needs to come out more often.

If you need one more reason, I love you.

Patch reached for my hand and pushed my dad's ring off the tip of his finger and into my palm, curling my fingers around it. He kissed my knuckles. "I was going to give this back earlier, but it wasn't finished." I opened my palm and held the ring up. The same heart was engraved on the underside, but now there were two names carved on either side of it: NORA and JEV. I looked up. "Jev? That's your real name?" "Nobody's called me that in a long time.

As in, I wouldn't know normal if it marched up and poked me in the eye.

His smile was sexy and warned of trouble, but I'd made up my mind that not all trouble was bad.