Silver Creek Silver Waters

He smiled, but the joking air around them disolved like water in the desert. Not in a bad way: he told her that once he really chose, that was that. Amber busied herself wondering if he meant that he wanted to let her know she need not be jealous, or if he was telling her that there was no chance. Her ocean eyes fixed carefully on him, warm and understanding, just like the quiet words she threw at him.
                 "Loyalty one of the most important factors in happy mateships. I, too, have no interest in collecting a count. I flirt and I jest, but believe me when I say I'm not picking a mate easily. I am careful with my heart now."
Things got a little lighter then, and he admitted that she was who he meant. While the others were too, she had been the one on his mind. It brought her a measure of pride, of outright vanity, for a split moment, but soon enough she deflated. 
                                       "Of course you have my vote: I don't always want to come to the borders to see you, and you've still got wishes for me to fulfill."