"Her presence is like a heartbeat. I feel her skin on mine, electrons and molecules glance each other until pieces of her become me. 'You sat behind me in French class,' I say. 'Whenever I try to remember French I can hear you conjugating verbs. I hear you all the time.'"


   "'it's not a bad thing,' she whispered later, stringing kisses like a necklace across my throat. 'i'm glad you're oblivious.'
   'what about you?' i whispered back.
   she tilted her head to smile at me, her breasts pressed against mine.
   'i'm not oblivious,' she said softly. 'but i'm immune.'
   'to flirtation?'
   'to flirtation from anyone else,' she corrected, kissing me again. 'silly girl,' she murmured. 'stop worrying. put your hands on me.'"


   "'she is my wife. by law, she owns half my secrets. i have brought her to meet my grandmother. isn't that what a good granddaughter does?'
   september held her breath. she was not anyone's wife, thank you very much. but the way saturday said it, wife sounded like something exciting, something daring, something a bit scoundrelly, like pirate or bandit. and they were bandits, of course."


"the tales lovers tell each other about how they met are hushed and secret things. they change year by year, for we all meet many times as we grow up and become different and new and exciting people -- and this never stops, even for a minute, even when we are ninety."


"come at me as if i were worth your life -- the life we make together. take me like a turtle whose shell must be cracked, whose heart is ice, who needs your heat. love me like a warrior, sweat up to your earlobes and all your hope between your teeth."


"my pulse quickened when your head raised up as if tracking a mate nearby. your body was equal parts human and animal; it made me feel safe and hunted in the best way. i wanted to pet you and feed you, i wanted you to chase me and take me with your teeth. i wished you could turn my legs that red dirt color by pinning me to the ground underneath you."

_{what do you wanna watch?}