Dragon's Fake Wedding Date - Riley Storm Page 0,47

over to the right where he opened a trunk, pulling out spare clothing.

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing,” Gayle told him. “Did I?”

Rann replayed the memory briefly. “I suppose not.”

“Then why are you getting all defensive?” she asked, her voice changing. “You’ve been on edge since halfway through the flight here. You grew all quiet, I swear I even felt your neck muscles tighten up. Then we landed, and you’ve gotten almost grumpy. Did I do something wrong?”

He jerked upright, still pulling on the sweatshirt. “Of course not! You’re perfect,” he said immediately.

“Then what’s going on?” Gayle demanded.

Rann frowned, closing the trunk and sitting on it. “Nothing.”

Gayle sighed. “Okay. Well, you have clothes. Now what? You’re just going to destroy them again if you fly us out of here.”

“I’ll get you back to town,” he heard himself saying. “Without anyone seeing us.”

Gayle frowned and opened her mouth like she was going to argue, but then she sagged, shoulders slumping, head tilting downward. “Okay.”

What is the matter with you? You need to figure it out! You’re losing her.

Inside him, his dragon stirred.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Gayle

“I’m sorry.”

She blinked, her mind elsewhere entirely as they flew along.

“Pardon?”

Rann’s face tightened uncomfortably. At least, that’s what she thought it was doing, but given that she was dealing with a half-human, half-dragon face, Gayle really wasn’t sure.

This secondary dragon form of his, a humanoid shaped and sized figure, but covered in scales and sprouting wings, was the second massive shock in his appearance that she’d dealt with today. Gayle’s brain was having a hard time coping with it all.

Still, it does allow us to travel back into the city much more secretively.

They were going to have to walk at some point, but that didn’t much matter to her. She knew he couldn’t drop her off at her front door looking the way he did. It would attract just a bit of attention.

Attention that Rann did not want.

“For anything I did that may have pushed you too far,” Rann continued. “Or too fast. I apologize. That was never my intention, you know.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, still trying to reorient her focus to him and not the fact that they were skimming along over the treetops, the only thing between her and certain death being Rann’s strong arms keeping her tight to his chest.

He’s so very strong though. Probably why I don’t feel scared with him.

Rann shook his head, frustration now evident even on his dragon features, but she didn’t think it was directed at her. He was having some troubles, but he wouldn’t tell her what was going on. Every time she’d tried, he’d just clammed right up, acting like it was fine. She had to let him do this his own way.

“If I’d just known your parents were coming,” he said apologetically. “I would have left. I never even would have stayed over! It wasn’t my intent to embarrass you, Gayle. I…I wanted to impress you. That was all. I wish I’d never bothered to try.”

Gayle chewed on the inside of her cheek, stewing over his words. It was nice to hear that he felt bad about it, but at the same time…

“It’s not your fault,” she said quietly. “I never told you. I forgot as well. You can’t be expected to read my mind. I’m sorry I snapped at you back in the tent. It was really actually quite sweet of you to try and make breakfast.”

Rann snorted. “Oh, I didn’t just try. Those would have been some of the best pancakes you’d ever had.”

She laughed, feeling some of the tension leave her.

“Can I ask you something?” she said after.

“Of course.”

Silence reigned for a minute, broken only by the frequent, powerful flapping of his wings.

Now isn’t that an interesting sentence. Rann has wings.

“What happened today? Did I do something wrong? Besides what I said about wishing you hadn’t met my parents? Which, by the way, you did probably handle as well as I could have hoped for, once it had to happen.”

Rann was silent. Tiny scales shifted on his face as his muscles worked underneath the protective layer. She could see him having a hard time with whatever it was, but maybe now that they had already started a serious conversation, he would be able to open up. To tell her what was bothering him.

“I don’t know,” he said at last.

She knew that wasn’t the full truth, but the heaviness of his tone told her that even getting that much out had