I leaned into her by painful inches until finally I let her hold me.

That was what it felt like, at least; cold working its way inward toward her heart, one painful inch at a time.

He was so tired that he must force himself on inch by painful inch.

He lay down very softly, to avoid disturbing Bunty, and began to go over the ground yet again in his mind, inch by painful inch.

I backed off and hit it again, moving it by painful inches.

The muscles in my arm relaxed by painful inches, until the urge to scream was only a small voice in my head.

But he stayed that near painful inch away, letting only scent and the furred glide of hair reach us.

A few painful inches, another moment of seeming immobility.

Inch by painful inch, and I cannot convince Mother to let me go.

If he'd been alone, he would have eased himself out inch by painful inch.