“Sean grinned. “And like the pro you are, you didn’t miss a beat.”“It takes more than a naked chest to rattle me,” she shot back. “Don’t forget, I was able to do love sceneswith Marcus and not puke.”“You should get a reward for that."“I did,” she said softly. “I get to work with you.”

“Did you miss me?’“A little bit,” she said with a shrug.“You have tears running down your cheeks,” he said with a grin. “I think you missed me more than a little.”

“You should do that more often,” he said. “Laugh, I mean.”“I know.” But that sounded sad, and she didn’t want to be sad, so she added, “I don’t often get to torture grown men, though.”“Really?” he murmured. “I would think you do it all the time.”She looked at him.“When you walk into a room,” he said softly, “the air changes.”

“She beat lightly on his chest with her fists. "I want a partner, not a protector.""Can't I be both?""You're enormously exasperating sometimes, do you know that?"He grinned. "And you love me anyway.”

“What else? She is so beautiful. You don’t get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she is smarter than you: You know she is. She is funny without ever being mean. I love her. I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.”

“It doesn't work like that," she said, and I was hoping she would tell me how it did work.Maybe she could see that, because she went on. "Sometimes you're loved because of your weaknesses," she said. "What you can't do is sometimes more compelling than what you can.”