While he spoke, Regina quietly admired the steely strength of his forearm beneath her fingertips. She listened for the emotion in his voice, the way he loved these people she didn't know but wished she could. It meant everything to her to hear how he talked about them, because he wasn't emotionally effusive, but he did love her, and this was a window into how he felt.

She hitched up an eyebrow at the punchline, turned her head to look back and up at him. "I admit, I have trouble imagining you without manly assets." That, and he was so relentlessly masculine... surreal was a good word for it. "What was that like?"