While Allison pelted him with questions, Derek sat up and shifted to a seated position, drawing the girl across his lap.
"So many questions," he murmured, grasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger. "You could give me a moment to answer instead of asking them all at once," he chided, but it was a gentle rebuke. "And I will answer them, but let me say this first--romantic love, when it's real, is amazing. I don't love you the way Scott loves you, but I know what that love feels like. I had that, and lost that, when I was even younger than you."