He lay there, in the darkness, overwhelmed by the feeling of her body by his side. Overwhelmed by the wholeness of the darkness and quiet, overwhelmed by the fullness that suddenly filled his chest. He couldn't keep it in.

"I love you," he said.

There was a pregnant pause, then she sat up quickly, and in the white light of the moon coming in from the window he saw her lean towards him.

"Why would you say that?" her voice was hurt, aching, and a little resentful.

"What do you mean?"

"Why would you tell me that? And don't say it's because it's true."

"But it is,"

"No," She shook her head, and smiled thinly. "Nobody falls in love with me."

He couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "What are you talking about?"

She flipped her hair over her shoulder, impatiently. "Don't just say that to me." She said, her tone earnest now, needing him to understand. "Don't just say it so that I feel closer to you. You've just got to give me some time to get comfortable. But… I'd rather you tell me the cold truth than lies I want to hear."

"I'm not lying to you," he said, utterly confused.

"Nobody has ever… nobody falls in love with me," she repeated.

"Why the hell not?" he said, getting up on his elbows. "I mean, look at you." He reached over and tugged the sheets a little further down her body, exposing the firm curves of her hourglass. She didn't react. "Look at you," He repeated. "How could a man not fall in love with you? How can a man not just look at you and want to do anything just to lie with you at night? And then he'll do or say anything so that you will let him. But then, since you are a real woman with respect for yourself, he is forced to wait. And while he's waiting because he's in love with your body, he will fall in love with the rest of you. It starts out he's addicted to the thought of your thighs, or the dent of your waist, but the next thing he knows, he'll be addicted to the sound of your laugh. He'll be turned on by the way that you move, and the next thing he knows he'll be turned on by the way that you think. He used to go to sleep thinking of the softness of your skin, but suddenly he's going to sleep smiling because of the softness of your heart. He will become enamored of the fact that you somehow know a little something about everything – the birds, the songs they sing, the trees they sing in, and then suddenly, he's in love. Head over heels in love, in a way that he did not expect, and he certainly didn't count on. In a way that scares the hell out of him. With a woman he couldn't imagine life without. Nobody falls in love with you? Like hell. Everyone who spends time with you falls in love with you, whether they mean to or not.

At least, that's what happened to me."

She let out a breath, which she must have been holding. He lay there, staring at the dark form of her face, letting his words hang in the air.

Then, in a small voice, she said,

"Nobody's ever said it before."

He rolled over and swept her against his chest, pressing his mouth against hers, trying to give her the confidence and passion that she gave him. And in the face of the fervor of his emotion, she unfolded and opened to him. He couldn't tell where his body ended and hers began. It didn't even cross his mind to worry that she didn't love him, yet. His heart was sure that it would come.