[ emma's smile falls away for a moment — just a second in a slackening of her expression, like she's almost startled out of the joke by his words. but she gathers herself back up again quickly, passing off the faltering with a dismissive little scoff.

damn right, sterner stuff.

(but not nearly so stern as he might expect.) ]

Now really, you've been here with me far past long enough to know that for yourself.

[ and it has been a while, she thinks distantly. long enough that he's become a fixture in her home, and with this past week, she realizes how much that truly means. he doesn't simply fill emptiness for her, but rather, has made himself a place that emma wants to see properly held — by him alone. ]

Besides, all the women you've had moonin' over you in the past, I'd expect you'd suss it out easily enough if I had done the same.