My heart is very much alive and in your hands. Do your best not to destroy it. You are very lucky it isn't it my hands... The only thing I know to do with hearts is incinerate them! Ouch!

He felt safe with her. He'd never been safe with another human being, not since he'd been taken as a child from his home. He'd never been able to trust. He could never give that last small piece - all that was left of his humanity - into someone else's keeping. And now there was Rikki. She let him be whatever he had to be to survive. She didn't ask anything of him. There was no hidden motive. No agenda. Just acceptance. She was different - imperfect, or so she thought - and she knew what it was like to fight to carve out a space for herself. She was willing for him to do thar.

You have to be more discerning, Lily, when experimenting with bondage." He wiggled his eyebrows. "I'd make a great master.

He worked at stealing her heart to replace the one she'd taken from him.

Are you going to win every argument?" He was pretty certain he'd asked her that once before. May be twice. "Only the important ones.

There were a thousand secrets in her eyes, a thousand wounds. A lifetime of distrust and betrayal. Isolation. How did one overcome such things?

Don't worry, now that I know about your little ego problem, I'll do my best to look all gushy when you pound you chest.