[h3]Esme Stirling[/h3]

Even if Esme wasn’t fully in tune with her Empathy or an Empath at all, it wouldn’t have been hard to miss how her actions and words affected Duke. His surprise at her deepening the kiss and his soft smile as his cheeks flushed from her touch made her smile to herself. Even before she had said it, she wanted him to know she wanted him there with her. She wanted her actions to speak just as loudly as her words to show him what she said was true and not lies just to make him feel better. She wanted him to know her for who she was now and not be afraid of her because of the unknown or surprising him with it later down the road. What she wanted at that moment, more than anything, even her beloved car, was him there within arms reach, his arms around her, and his lips on hers. She wanted to be locked away with him and away from everything else to have at least a day where she didn’t have to worry about anything she normally did on a daily basis.

She almost lost her hold on her serious face when Duke’s smirk widened to show his teeth from her brushing back his hair and then play with his hair and from kissing his nose. Just seeing him relaxed enough to smirk like this relaxed her as well, then more when he nuzzled her nose and looked into her eyes as she spoke to him. It was a relief when she felt his worry fading with every word she spoke, that’s what she was hoping for. She wanted to ease his worry with her words and her touch, and let him know she’d never hurt a soul that didn’t have it coming to them. She saw how her confession of love affected him, it surprised her that it came out of her mouth with them alone together just being themselves, when every other time it was said they were part of a package. But it was time it was said even if it was shocking and surprising to them, plus there was no denying the love that was between them any longer.

After Duke spoke and brushed his thumb across her cheek, Esme’s serious face faded into a smile that grew to show her own teeth. “No, you don’t have to worry too much about that.” she replied with a soft laugh in her tone. It was a relief he believed what she had told him and that he was less tense now. “You don’t know what a relief it is to hear that you believe me…… The serious mom face was too……” She trailed off, losing her train of thought from the way he looked into her eyes and brushed his fingers over her fast healing eyebrow, then tilted her head back to catch her bottom lip between his teeth then kissed her. She kissed him back before he broke the kiss, a smile rested on her lips, then grew at his words before she sighed contently as she rested her forehead against his, closed her eyes as she rubbed her forehead against his gently. “I know.” she whispered with a soft smile. Releasing his hair, she brought her hand to his cheek and softly brushed her lips across his. 

“It’s been so long since I’ve heard those words.” she spoke faintly, her lips just inches from his as a few tears escaped her closed eyes. She pulled herself closer to Duke, feeling the need to be closer to him, brushed her lips against his once more before softly kissing him. Her hand slid from his cheek to the back of his head and her fingers tangled into his hair. She could feel the rest of her worries about Duke fading away as well as the tension her body had, it wasn’t long until she was completely at ease there with Duke. The only thing that could ruin the moment was the pizza arriving since the others had the case to worry about, which she hoped they could take care of and come back in one piece and not too badly injured.