Acceptance

Annie whimpered “Yes” before she even thought. It was almost as if Hobbes Junior had willed the word and she had spoken it without her own volition. But even as she spoke it, she felt tranquilized; her head began to stop spinning and even the giddiness of the brandy lessened.
He drew a quick breath as she spoke and bent as if to kiss her again and her eyes closed and her head fell back. But he drew back and she was faintly disappointed. It made her feel so strange to be kissed like this and yet there was something exciting about it. He stood very still for a while holding her head against his foreleg and, as if by effort, the trembling of his forelegs ceased. He moved away from her slightly, and looked down at her.