Clearly they'd been spending too much time together if Lenore could read the out for what it was. He didn't want her to say some of this shit just because he'd been nice to her over this last week, and she felt like maybe she should say something to make that... he didn't even know - feel worth it, he guessed. But she came back with a firmness he hadn't expected, given her blush during the initial confession.
Then of course, came the issue with the firmness to her declaration. It floored him a bit, because she was talking about him. She sounded entirely positive that she was in love with him. She wasn't kidding. She wasn't fucking with him. "You're probably being stupid," he said, when he got over the speechless wonder. Because this was him they were talking about, so it was probably going to be a stupid decision in the long run. But there was already a faint, almost uncertain smile turning his lips a little. He pulled Lenore into a kiss. He wasn't too good with words. He wasn't sure he could say it back and mean it a hundred percent, and it didn't reflect anything badly about Lenore or how he felt about her. He was just incapable of putting what he felt about her into words. He was better with kissing. He was better with putting hunger and appreciation and all of that shit into kissing, rather than words.
"I... can't repeat it," he admitted, against her lips at first. "Not because I don't, just because I... don't know. I just know that you make me want to bring you home to my parents, or something." Which he couldn't do, since he didn't have those, but he almost wished he did, just so he could introduce Lenore to them. "I wish I had people to introduce you to. Which...yeah, isn't a declaration of love, but I've never wanted to do that before."