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Christ, every ti in my chest I shake my head in response

“What in the hell were you thinking?” she screeches

I juain

She lowers her voice to alet in my face “You cannot marry a woman unless you are in love with her, and she knows the absolute truth about what you do for a living”

My grin is lopsided, half well-intentioned, half wry “Well… I got half right”

Anna straightens in surprise, blinking at me ide eyes “You love her?”

Sighing, I rub rettably, I do”

“Why regrettably?”

“Because she’s going to absolutely hate , and then let her tie herself toa double life”

Anna’s hand shoots out, latches onto my arm, and she pulls uy “Which is why you need to get your ass out of here right thistruth”

I al the word “fuck,” because it’s so un-Anna-like Pulling back against her hold, I settle down into the chair once more “I can’t”

“Why not?” she demands

“Because I’like this and then leave If I do that, she’ll be in the wind She’ll leave my ass so fast”

Anna makes an exasperated sound “You can’t continue to lie”

“Well, no shit, Sherlock,” I say, ht in the chair I spread ht now “But I need soht-out speech to lay this on her I’ maybe I can kidnap her, take her somewhere she can’t leave, and force her to love me for who I am”

For a moment, it looks like Anna considers this to be wise, then her expression cracks and she busts out laughing It pisses h all the more

“You’re not being a good friend,” I mutter

She snorts, but then et herself under control Anna sives me a little eure it out”