My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 503

Chapter 503

I blinked, “Hey.”

His eyes lifted to mine. For some reason, the expression on his face made my chest hurt.

I understood why.

Claire’s assumptions had been awkward, embarrassing and uncomfortable and Raphael wasn’t like his brothers..

He wasn’t Vincenzo, who looked at Claire like the rest of the world didn’t exist.

He wasn’t Adriano, who would probably set a city on fire for Madeleine.

Raphael was… Raphael.

He was different.

It hurt sometimes. More than I liked admitting. But that wasn’t his fault. Just because I loved him didn’t mean he owed me the same thing.

Friends was all he could give me.

Friends was all he wanted.

And if the alternative was losing him completely… I’d take friendship every single time.

I swallowed and forced a small smile, “Don’t worry about her. Claire sees romance everywhere. I mean, thing is ridiculous anyway.”

His eyes narrowed slightly, “Is it?”

I laughed awkwardly, “Obviously.”

The single word came out much weaker than I intended.

the whole

The smile on my face felt strained now, “I mean…” I shrugged, “You’re not really like your brothers. They’re…” I searched for the right words. “They’re the type to lose their minds over somebody,” I forced a laugh, “You know. The dramatic kind of love.”

The word scraped against my throat.

Love.

God.

Even saying it hurt.

Because a part of me had wanted that once. I wanted it from him but life didn’t always give people what they wanted and Raphael had never pretended to be something he wasn’t. Beside, my mother had all of my attention now.

I looked back at him and smiled softly, “And that’s okay. You’re allowed to want different things.”

His jaw tightened, “Different things.”

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