When he gets to the bed he kneels, still in camo and his t-shirt, and looks at her for a long moment before laying a hand softly on her throat, resting there for a moment and then stroking downward, over her collarbones, between her breasts and over her ribs and stopping just at her lower belly. His face is carefully impassive and he might be thinking, but he isn't. He knows what he's going to do.

"I love you," he says, because he wants her to know.