Rey can feel how the words affect him, and her own eyes well up when she sees the moisture in his. Her hand lifts to touch his cheek but suddenly they’re rolling over and she’s sitting astride his hips and looking down at him.

This position makes her feel a little more exposed and vulnerable, bare as she is, but the shock of his declaration immediately chases away any insecurity that she might have felt. Her breath hitches and a tear rolls down her cheek as she rests her hands against his chest.

“Thank you.” The words feel insubstantial, too small to possibly convey how she feels. But he knows, because he can feel it. They were made naked to each other long before they started removing their clothes.

His fingers glide along her cheek and she reaches up to grip his wrist. It’s so big that her fingers can’t quite close around it, and she turns her head to press a kiss to the delicate veins at the underside, where his skin is pale and soft.

“You’re beautiful too,” she tells him as she presses his palm to the center of her chest. She stares down at his face, his gorgeous eyes and pillowy mouth, and the long slope of his neck. She laughs softly, quiet and breathless, smiling as he takes his other hand and rests it on her thigh.

“I want you to touch me,” she assures him, looking down at the wide sprawl of his hand on her chest. “It’s okay.”