Yesterday in the restaurant, she’d seen his sex appeal and roughness. At her house, she’d seen his danger. This morning, at the river, she’d seen his beauty and teasing, and again that danger.
Of all of them, the tenderness she saw now was the most compelling. And terrifying.

“Seems to me people are mean or evil because they're scared, mostly, or in pain,…”

“She came apart, and Zeke let go, driving into her without restraint, thrilling …”

“For in twin pairs of eyes she saw not the lust she had believed, but love. Ador…”

“Mattie watched him cross the clearing with long-limbed ease, his movements loos…”