You couldn't be romantic if your life depended on it.' 'You know what's lucky? Most bad guys don't ask you to be romantic on command, so that probably won't matter.

Want to play baseball?’” she asked. Shane’s eyes opened, and he stopped stroking her hair. “What?’” “First base,’” she said. “You’re already there.’” “I’m not running the bases.’” “Well, you could at least steal second.’” “Jeez, Claire. I used to distract myself with sports stats at times like these, but now you’ve gone and ruined it.

I can handle Glory.' 'Can you?' Eve asked. 'Because I notice you never call her Gloriana. Just Glory.' He shut up. Which is probably about the only smart thing he can do, Claire thought.

No bacon for you.'Then no eggs for you. Either of you.'Eve glowered at him. 'Prisoner exchange?'They glared at each other, then swapped pans and started scooping.

She can go with us to the lab and keep Myrnin pinned down while we pull the plug, if he's not... You know, better.'Define BETTER with that guy.'Not all fangs and raaaaar.

In her experience, groups of friends like that just didn't open up to include underage, undersized geeks like her. They hadn't sounded mean, they just sounded — self-confident. Something she wasn't.