He'd have preferred her anger, really, though it would have probably made things more difficult, more explosive. Seeing her, his tough, defiant Rory defeated twisted his guts, made him despise what he'd done even more - though somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered that he'd been provoked, hard. He was still himself enough to think like that. But he was still crazy about her enough to put that aside, to not want to point out how she had been wrong first - and that was an amazing thing as far as he was concerned.
"I know you did," he says, hoping she won't hold out, hoping his reaction the other day wasn't just plain too much. If she rejected him then, he was sure that would be the end of him putting himself out there at all. "And I'm telling you I was wrong not to accept your apology on the spot. I said I was wrong."
He dialed back his reaction when he felt the potential for temper starting to simmer. He was determined enough, invested enough, that the control actually came easily, which was something new. "Rory, I'm sorry that I couldn't get over myself long enough to listen to you," he said, voice somewhat strangled as he ground the words out. "You deserved more than that from me, and I'm sorry. Yeah, you were right to be scared. I'm an ass and you aren't naive enough to miss that fact. I just… I'm hoping," he said, grumbled while he scratched the back of his neck. But then he manned up an dropped his hand, lifted his head to look her in the eye. "I'm hoping you like me enough to keep trying."