‘At least hear me out,’ he begged. The words rushed out of him. He wouldn’t consider how stupid they would sound to her, or that he could never call them back again. ‘You say you can’t perform your duties without my respect. Don’t you know the same is true for me? Damn it, a man has to see himself reflected somewhere to be sure he is real. I see myself in your face, in how your eyes follow me when I’m handling something well, in how you grin at me when I’ve done something stupid but managed to make it come out all right anyway. When you take that away from me, when…’ She just stood there,
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