Dragon's Second Chance Romance - Riley Storm Page 0,43
hear that right now.
“Who cares about my bail provisions!” Claire shouted, unable to keep her cool any longer. “Just break the damn rules for once, Pietro. Why won’t you bend them for me?”
His growl shocked both of them. Not in its anger, but in the pain laced throughout it. “I’m not bending them for you,” he said. “Can’t you see that?”
Claire’s face crinkled as she frowned at him. “No, I can’t. What do you mean?”
“I’m trying to get you to follow them,” he said softly. “So you don’t make the same mistake I did.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Claire
“The same mistake you did?”
Pietro sighed, looking over her head, refusing to meet her gaze.
“What are you talking about Pietro?” she asked, her frosty exterior softening somewhat as she realized that there was a reason behind his refusal to take her up the mountain.
She thought he was using the bail provisions as an excuse because he didn’t want to take her there. Perhaps because he was ashamed of her, or maybe he had someone else up there waiting for him. She didn’t know what, but his reluctance had finally been too much for her, and she’d decided she needed to know.
Now, it seemed, she was finally going to find out what it was he was keeping hidden to himself. What he was keeping locked away behind those blue-green eyes. The pain she’d seen glimpses of, but which had never been allowed to come to the forefront.
“Talk to me, Pietro,” she said quietly, fighting the urge to go to his side. It was strong, however, and she didn’t know how long she could keep herself back. “What’s going on?”
He was quiet, but he didn’t deny her anything, didn’t try to end the conversation. He just didn’t say anything.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen you get like this,” she told him. Perhaps if he knew she could see his hurt, he wouldn’t be so reluctant to open up about it. “You’ve always come across as a bit of a rule stickler.”
“Oh, I know,” he rumbled. “I know I’m too much of a ‘goody two-shoes’. That I’m a ‘take home to mom guy,’ not a ‘take home to bed sort of guy.’”
Claire’s mouth fell open, and her face flushed with flame as Pietro quoted her own words back to her. It was what she’d said to Lilly after the night they’d met at the bar several weeks back, her first impression of Pietro. It hadn’t been flattering.
“That made its way to you did it?” she said softly.
Pietro nodded but remained silent.
“If it helps at all, I’ve now done both to you,” she said with a little shrug.
The big man blinked in surprise. “You know, I hadn’t actually thought of that,” he said slowly.
Claire gave him a tentative smile. “I like spending time with you, Pietro. I’m trying to change my ways. Trying to be the person I want to be, instead of the person others want me to be.”
Although he didn’t respond, he did finally tilt his head downward so that they could look upon one another. It was a start.
“What about you?” she asked quietly as a car drove by, the sound easily audible through the broken window and open front door.
For a moment, it crossed her mind as odd that nobody had come to investigate, but her attention was drawn away by Pietro as he answered.
“I’ve tried both,” he said quietly.
“Which one do you prefer?”
“Being myself. The person that I am inside. The one that I want to be. Not what anyone else expects out of me.”
“Exactly,” she said, feeling victory within her grip.
“Which is why I want us to stay in town and not go up the mountain,” he said grimly.
“I know,” she said, unsurprised by that, but not backing down either. “But there’s a reason for you being so adamant, isn’t there? A reason that makes you want to stay here in town and not go up the mountain. What’s up there?”
“It has nothing to do with what’s up there,” Pietro said heavily.
That was the first breakthrough. Claire paused for a moment, trying to get a sense of whether or not she should keep pushing him, keep trying to get him to open up farther.
“What is it then?” she asked quietly, framing the question more openly. “Is it because of the police? Are you afraid of them for some reason?”
Pietro snorted. “No. It’s not that.”
Claire waited now, putting the ball in his court, silently urging him to continue on. To push through and tell