She put her hand on his leg and he immediately put her hand over hers. “I never thought of who was behind the screen from the beginning. I enjoyed being with you. The real you. I may have had a crush on you from when I saw you on the TV but that is nothing compared to the emotion I felt while I was playing the game. You were so nice and funny that I wanted to know more about you.”

“Am I still that man for you?” he asked cautiously.

“Yes.”

“How much more did you want to know me?” he said in a light-hearted manner, clearly trying to tease her. Her face turned a lovely shade of red, ripe for the taking.

“I can’t say that I planned on us having phone sex or writing out our fantasies, but I at least wanted to be acquainted with you.” She laughed nervously. Cage shifted in his seat. “Does that make you uncomfortable? Talking about such things?” Of course, it didn’t. He had moved for a different reason altogether. But he wasn’t going to tell her that.

“You seemed like such a genuine person that I sometimes wondered why you would pick me out of all the people that you surrounded yourself with. Now that I know who you are, the choice becomes even more confusing. I didn’t know what to do except for being myself and you seemed to like that. Now, I wonder…” she trailed off.

“You must realize that there is a reason why I didn’t come out and say that I was Cage Cavanaugh. I have been in the industry for so long and I have seen people trying to mooch off me or take advantage of me in so many ways. I didn’t want to fall into another trap. There are girls everywhere, sure. But that doesn’t mean they are after me. I liked the fact that you liked ‘me’ and no one else. It was rare for someone to not know me and still think I was someone worth spending their time on.” He grimaced.

“You are an amazing man,” she reassured.

“Girls wanted to be out on the street, being seen with me all the time and it got old pretty fast. I didn’t like the attention the press gave me and definitely didn’t like the attention these girls were showering on me. I just felt like I needed to date someone who was blind. Who didn’t know anything about me… who had lived under a rock.”

“And you found that in me?”

“You were a fan. I was scared that if I revealed myself to you, you would become like every other girl I had ever dated. But once I got to know you more, I thought that you were different. And I see that now.” He smirked at Katherine.

“You did have a relationship with Keira,” she stated. He made a weird face which left her curious.

“It was a publicity stunt that the companies pulled. I was in no way interested in her. I thought you were a fan! You didn’t believe me,” he gasped theatrically.

“I mean, I was a fan and I didn’t really think I was out to eat you up because of your private life. I wouldn’t judge you for being with her, she is pretty after all.” She shrugged.

“No. I find nothing about her attractive and she brought me nothing but trouble.” On top of that, he wondered if he should make a comment about how he would have enjoyed if he tried to eat her up. Restrain was a godly value to abide by, he told himself.

They had a lot to go over before they could dive into their usual selves.

“And I like you. You are my type.” More than like, he thought to himself. But that was a question that would need to be figured out on a later date. He touched her cheek again as her pretty eyes stared at him in shock.

“You’re cute,” he said.

“Damn. I’m sorry she made you crazy…”

“I had you at the time to keep me sane and my pride was hurt. She was really good at lying.” He took a deep breath. “Can I be honest with you?” he asked. It was time to give her the full truth. “Our fight hurt me a lot more than Keira ever did.”

She gasped and her eyes started to well up again. “Oh, no. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to cry!” He cradled her face in between his palms and tried to make her understand. She was the only one who understood him so well, he could just hope that it extended into real life. “You mean the world to me. All these months with you were the best time of my life and I was torn when I lost you. I **ed up.”

“No. You didn’t. I loved everything about you.” Past tense? The word in itself warmed the cockles of his heart. “I loved your love for hentai and anime and your mom. I loved how you spoke and joked around.”

She closed her eyes as he stroked her cheek with his thumb.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you either. I love everything about you.” There, he had said it. He had not spoken in the past tense. Her eyes widened at the admission and he smiled because he understood what she must have felt in the moment. “I want things to go back to how they were.” His voice was firm.

“But I don’t want them to go back to how they were.” It hurt him when she said that. She said she loved everything about him and then retracted by saying she didn’t want to amend the relationship? He didn’t know what to think! “I don’t want the secrets and the distance. I want the real you, your presence, and your face in front of me from now on.”

He laughed nervously, the energy from before refusing to leave his body. She bit her lip to hide her smile, enticing her to touch it. He gently pressed his finger against her bottom lip.