“And with that they passed another little milestone, took another step together. From flirting, to casual sex, to a more intense variety. From quick e-mails to much longer chats by phone. From a long-distance romance to playing house. From an uncertain near future to one that just might be shared. And now an agreement on exclusivity. Monogamy. All sealed with a mouthful of pistachio gelato.”

“You are enough to drive a saint to madness or a king to his kneesExcerpt from To Kiss a King by Grace WillowsComing this summer to Amazon Kindle and paperback.”

“Tom, how many children do you think I have to have before I figure out you get them by having sex?””Of course there would be protection,” he offered.”Tons of it.”

“Tom. Tom, look at me. Has Nora agreed to marry you?””No, but she will because she has to.”

“I like the way you kiss-a couple of test kisses, then a huge kiss.”

“I am not sleeping with you.””We could probably manage it, though. Without getting too involved.””No,” she said.”But why? I mean, if we’re trusted friends? And it doesn’t interfere with our responsibilities?””Did that line ever actually work for you?””I can’t remember. But it probably did-it’s brilliant.”

“Maybe we could, um, go sit in the truck?” he said, but even as he said it, it sounded so dumb. And not exactly the way he wanted her to remember a marriage proposal.”

“My mom believed that you make your own luck. Over the stove she had hung these old, maroon painted letters that spell out, “MANIFEST.” The idea being if you thought and dreamed about the way you wanted your life to be — if you just envisioned it long enough, it would come into being.But as hard as I had manifested Astrid Heyman with her hand in mine, her blue eyes gazing into mine, her lips whispering something wild and funny and outrageous in my ear, she had remained totally unaware of my existence. Truly, to even dream of dreaming about Astrid, for a guy like me, in my relatively low position on the social ladder of Cheyenne Mountain High, was idiotic. And with her a senior and me a junior? Forget it. Astrid was just lit up with beauty: shining blonde ringlets, June sky blue eyes, slightly furrowed brow, always biting back a smile, champion diver on the swim team. Olympic level. Hell, Astrid was Olympic level in every possible way.”

“Bagaimana bisa kau tidak menyukai hujan?Padahal hujan selalu mendekatkan kita.Oh, aku lupa. Kau mungkin tidak menganggapku sepenting itu.Aku bukan pemeran utama dalam lakon hidupmu.Aku hanya figuran yang hanya sesekali dibutuhkan.”

“… I suppose that it is not so easy to go home and it takes a bit of time to make a son out of a stranger.”

“The day you were born the angels whispered, “She is going to love him until the day she dies.”

“And so, in silence, we walked the surface of a dying world, but in the breast of one of us at least had been born that which is ever oldest, yet ever new.I loved Dejah Thoris. The touch of my arm upon her naked shoulder had spoken to me in words I would not mistake, and I knew that I had loved her since the first moment my eyes had met hers that first time in the plaza of the dead city of Korad.”

“With callused handsi tastedthe softness of the moonin the coldest windsi discoveredmy soul’s warmest fireplacein the roughnessof his stubblethe tenderest love.”