Her smile fell when he pointed out her tell and the apology was very clear in her eyes. She tried to be honest with him, more honest than she had ever been with anyone else in her entire life, but she didn’t want to hurt him, didn’t want him thinking the worst when she just needed more time to think before she said anything.

Some days she wondered why he was even with her, why he put up with all her demons constantly trying to keep them apart, but love made people do stupid things, right? That was what she had always heard. Even so, she knew she didn’t deserve him, didn’t deserve how patient and understanding he was, how willing he was to put his own wants and needs aside for her. It wasn’t fair to him how she closed herself off sometimes, nor how long it took her to take even the smallest steps in their relationship. It wasn’t fair, she didn’t deserve him, but she wasn’t willing to give him up either. Clearly the only solution, then, was for her to try harder to be the person he deserved.

She didn’t speak even when he paused, knowing that he had more to say. It wasn’t until he was finished that she took a breath and tried to formulate a reply. He wasn’t asking her to move in here, wasn’t asking her to give up her own place, he was simply offering her another place she could escape to, a place to hide if she needed it, and a place where he would always be when she needed him. When she wanted him.

Maybe, just maybe, she always wanted him.

“That is an image I didn’t need,” she said with a smile that this time reached her eyes. Moving her hand from behind his neck she traced a finger along his lips, his cheeks, the fine lines at the corner of his eyes. “I think... I think I’d like that.”