Dragon's Second Chance Romance - Riley Storm Page 0,16

about it. Especially since you’ve been so kind to me tonight, walking me home, dealing with Pete. You didn’t deserve that.”

“Ah.” It was all he could manage, the hurt stabbing deep into his gut and twisting its razor edge deeper with every breath.

Of course that’s what had happened. Why would she end up thinking of him in a positive light, after the way he royally screwed up their initial meeting? That was just ridiculous. Pietro should have known better, and he kicked himself for not realizing that ahead of time.

“Sorry,” Claire said with an apologetic shrug of her shoulders.

“Don’t be,” he said, trying to play it off. “It’s not surprising. After all, I did make rather a fool of myself.”

Claire half-smiled and looked away, an unspoken acknowledgment of the truth in his statement. Not that he needed any more confirmation.

He sighed, running a hand over his head, feeling the stubble reminding him he needed to shave it again soon.

“I should probably go now,” he said, looking down, nodding mostly to himself to convince himself that it was the right move.

Not that he had any interest in leaving Claire’s side, but things were deteriorating fast between them. He needed to save whatever he could so that she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable letting him continue to watch over her until the Vampire Hunter was found.

“Have a good night, Claire,” he said with a smile when she still didn’t reply. He turned to go down the walkway and then the driveway. “Be safe.”

She was home, behind a protective threshold, and that was all that mattered to him now. He’d done his job, there was nothing more to be done at the moment.

“Wait. Pietro.”

He was almost onto the driveway when Claire’s call reached out and spun him around at the shoulder like a physical thing. Turning at the waist as he came to a halt, he was greeted by the sight of the short red-headed firecracker hurrying down the driveway after him.

There was an awkward pause when she pulled up short of him, her face full of thought and consternation. She was acting on a whim, he could tell, and her words, whatever she was going to say, weren’t fully formed. That was okay, Pietro had time. He had all the time in the world for her.

“I, um, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry,” she said, exhaling with the final word. “You didn’t deserve that treatment from Lilly and me. That was wrong of us. I…I can see that now. After tonight, I mean, with everything you’ve done. You’re…a good guy.”

Pietro feeling warmth and uplifting feeling come to a screeching halt as the last sentence hit him like a truck. “Why do you say it like that? ‘Good guy?’ As if it’s not entirely a positive thing.”

“It is, it is,” she said. “It’s not that. It’s just…oh god,” Claire said, tugging on her hair, shaking her head, looking for all the world like she would rather be anywhere but explaining to him what she’d meant by that comment.

“I don’t get it,” he said quietly. “What’s wrong with being a good guy?”

“Nothing, trust me,” she said, reaching out to rest a hand on his forearm, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Pietro tensed at the contact as electricity shot up his arm unexpectedly. A massive effort of willpower kept him rooted to the spot, while his dragon fought wildly to push him forward, to sweep her up in his arms and press her against the side of the house. It desperately wanted to feel her body against his.

No. She is not up for that. We will behave.

“It’s just that, I’ve always dated the bad-boy types.” Claire sighed. “Example one-million of which you had the distinct pleasure of meeting tonight.”

“Ah,” Pietro said as a few more things made sense. “I’m too nice for you. That’s what you meant.”

Claire cringed, but she didn’t deny anything either.

The dagger in his stomach twisted deeper.

“Honestly, Pietro, with everything going on, I’m not really interested in anything right now. With all this crap going on, I mean… Look. I need to sort my shit out first.”

Steeling himself, Pietro just nodded. “Of course. I can understand. There’s a lot going on right now.”

“More than you know,” she muttered in a tone that had Pietro worried.

There was something else. It didn’t involve him, but the body-language change in Claire was impossible to ignore. The tenseness of her stance, the clenching of her jaw, and the distant look in her face.

“Thank you for the apology,”