Angie took a bite of food, chewed, and swallowed, feeling a little self-conscious. Rollie was gazing at her continually, his eyes shining with . He'd been at it throughout the entire meal.

Finally, Angie ed and put down her fork. "Rollie, would you please quit it?" she said, a little more irritably than she had intended. 

Rollie's eyes immediately dropped from hers, his face filling with ness. "," he mumbled. 

Angie instantly felt horrible.  She reached out and grabbed his hand. "No, Rol. I'm . I didn't mean to snap at you like that." 

"It's okay," Rollie murmured, keeping his gaze on his food.

Angie gave a , cursing herself for her thoughtlessness.  She got up and went around the counter. Forcing Rollie's head up, she gave him a . "I'm ," she said again in a whisper. "Please forgive me." 

Rollie gazed into her eyes for a long moment, then pulled her into another , ging her tightly. "I  you," he said.

Angie d at him. "I know. I  you too." She caressed his cheek. "It's just a little nerve-wracking  having you stare at me all the time." She d again to let him know she wasn't upset. "I'm not used to guys gazing  struck at me, you know." 

"Well, all I can say to that is that the other men you've known were fools not to fall  in  with you right off."  "Not that I'm  about it. If they had, you'd probably have gone off with one of them and gotten married." 

"Not a chance," Angie said emphatically. "Every guy I ever dated, I measured against you, and every one of them came up short. They didn't stand a chance."  Her  faded.  "Of course, I know it wasn't the same for you, but--"

Rollie grabbed her shoulders. "Now, hold it right there, Angela," he ordered, anger on his face.  "Don't you have any idea how much you affected my life from the moment you came into it?"  He studied the doubt on Angie's face. "No, I guess you don't. Well, let me enlighten you. When you were a kid, it was like I suddenly had a little sister to  and watch over. I d the times we did things together, going to the movies, playing games, having snowball fights.  I hated the times when you were . Whenever you hurt, I hurt. Every time you d, it tore me up inside.  As you grew older, that didn't change. Then, all of a sudden, you were all grown up,  and I found that I didn't really think of you as a sister anymore. You were my , my best . When you got your own place and went to college, I missed you, a lot.  I mean, we saw each other, but not enough for me. That's when things really started to change for me, though I didn't realize it for a long time. Whenever I got involved with a girl, I compared her in some way to you. And guess what. She always came up lacking too.  She wasn't as smart as you, or as vibrant, or as fun to be with," he paused, touching her face tenderly,  "or as beautiful."

Angie shook her head. "Rollie, I saw the girls you dated. They were all tall, shapely, and gorgeous, nothing like me." 

Rollie ed.  "Come here. Let me show you something." He led Angie upstairs to the floor-length mirror in the bedroom. He stood her before it, standing behind her. Their eyes met in the mirror. "This is what I see when I look at you." His hands touched her hair as his eyes softened with . "I see your hair, the way it catches the light, how it shines and how soft and touchable it is." His fingers caressed her cheek. "I see your skin, how lovely it is, though you rarely wear much makeup. You don't need to wear it. Your beauty doesn't rely on cosmetics." He ran a finger across her . "I see your mouth, so red and full, so soft and able." The look of  in his eyes darkened to desire.  Fighting the urge to  her, he continued, moving his touch down to her chin. He ed. "I see this cute little dimple in your chin, which, I might add, is a real turn-on for me." 

Angie ed, remembering the attention Rollie had give to her chin as they made .

Rollie grew serious again. His fingers stroked her eyelids one at a time. "I see your eyes," he said in a low voice, "your beautiful eyes, blue like the ocean at dawn. And so deep, so deep that I lose myself in them and never want to be found." Rollie's voice had grown rough with emotion. Angie's eyes filled with tears at his words.

Rollie cleared his throat and continued, running his hands down her arms then her hips possessively, the desire returning to his face.  "I see your body, small yet strong, firm but so very feminine. Not one of these too soft bodies that are all jiggle and no muscle." He ed, ter in his eyes. "You have no idea how sexy it is to make  to a woman with muscle definition. Not that I'd want to go to bed with a female bodybuilder, mind you. But you, you're just right, the perfect mix of athletic strength and feminine softness." He wrapped his arms around her waist and began ing her neck. "Perfect," he murmured. 

Angie moaned and began to close her eyes. But then, Rollie stopped. She met his gaze in the mirror again.

"All those other women I knew, they didn't make me think about them all the time like I thought about you," Rollie told her.  "It didn't make me  when I thought about them with another man like I was  whenever you went out on a date. You remember that time you went on the blind date with Luce?"

Angie nodded.

"You were so gorgeous when you came down those stairs. That red dress. . . . God, I'd never felt that way before when looking at you. You took my breath away.  And it made me angry.  It pissed me off that some other man was going to have your company that night. I didn't want you to go on that date. I definitely didn't want you to have a good time with that jerk pretty boy model.  When you came back and said that the date was a bust, I was so delighted I wanted to whoop for joy." 

"You did seem to be ing a lot," she commented with a .

Rollie ed. "It took a lot for me to keep myself from dancing around the room. But idiot me, I still didn't realize the truth, what my  was telling me. Do you know when I finally realized that I was in  with you, had been in  with you right from the start?"

Angie shook her head.

"When that bomb in the truck almost killed you." Rollie began to , tightening his arms around her.  "As I held you in my arms, I realized that, if you died, my life would be over. I'd have nothing left to live for.  I knew then that I d you more than as a . You were my ."

"But you didn't say anything," Angie whispered, also ing.

"No. I was too , and I thought that you didn't feel the same. I was positive that you only saw me as a  and your partner/boss. Which is why it shocked  the hell out of me when you revealed that you'd willingly made  to a man you thought was me."

Rollie turned her around to face him. He looked straight into her eyes. "You are the most beautiful woman on Earth to me, Angie. You are everything to me, and I  you so damn much that every other emotion I've ever felt pales next to it." He gave her a little shake. "So, don't you ever think that you're not good enough for me. You understand?" 

ing again, Angie nodded, ing through her tears. Rollie pulled her into his arms, ging her so tightly that it almost hurt.  He then lifted her face and brought his  to hers in a deep, hungry . Angie returned the  with equal fervor. Moments later, they were on the bed, all thoughts of finishing their lunch forgotten. 
 
 

Emotion	Face		Emotion	Face		Emotion	Face
Smile			Frustrated Sigh			Love
Cool Smile			Happy / Happy Sigh			Heart
Grin			Sad Sigh			Kiss / Lips
Cool Grin			Huh?			Wow! / awe
Laugh out loud			Crazy			Mad
Laugh			Frown			Furious
Sad			Nervous			Eek!
Wink (animated)			Hug			Playful
Wink			Friend / Friends			Discontent
Wicked Grin			Lover / Lovers			Oh, Well
Evil Grin			Grumble			Surprise or Shock
Misery / Miserable			Evil / Devil			Nooo!
I'm Sorry			Sick			Scared
Cry / Crying			Jealous / Jealousy			Blush
Wail / Wailing			Scheme / Crafty