This wasn't strong-willed, fly-by-the-seat-of-her-miniskirt Kate that I'd befriended last year. You think you know a girl- and then she goes and loses her virginity at a Mardi Gras party and goes soft.

He had the innate sense that something bad was just around the bend, but a hope that something incredible was waiting in the distance. It had to be. His burning love for her cursed through him until he felt so full he didn’t know whether he would fit through the portal.

Get to part B, Daniel. Think fast. Patience is a virtue, and you know how Cam feels about those.

Ms. Sophia was evil bananas.

Gorgeous, glowing rays of light...This was what true beauty and goodness looked like-- a spectral, luminescent gathering of beings so pure it hurt to look directly at them, like the most glorious eclipse, or maybe Heaven itself.

She had sand in her mouth and between her toes, the briny wind raising goose bumps on her skin, and the sweetest, spellbound feeling spilling from her heart. She could, at that moment, have died for him.

The good news is" he paused, carefully choosing his words, "I kissed you, and you're still here.