Confusion crosses his face, even as he hums against the way she tightens around him, the slow pleasant fluttering of her opening as she reacts to being filled, her gentle hands in his hair again. How can she be surprised?

"Was I so good at hiding my feelings?" he asks, laughing, brushing a stray tear from her face even as one or two leak down his own. "Then I apologize. You've had my attention almost since you arrived. Certainly by the time I suggested you were my wife."

Always. It's such a huge word, but he wants to believe that's true, wants to stop pulling away because he might be wrong.

"I want to be yours forever," he breathes, chest hurting at how true it is, at how scared he is of admitting it, but how can he say her loves her and not be honest?