My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 564

Chapter 564

It had quietly become the man holding me while making sure the ice pack stayed exactly where it needed to be

Then Raphael suddenly broke the silence, “…I have a question.”

I lifted my head and looked back at him, “Okay?”

His gaze drifted toward the water, his jaw tightened and his thumb stopped moving against my side, “I’ve been thinking about something you told me a long time ago.”

I frowned, “What did I say?”

His eyes stayed fixed on the horizon, “You said…” He paused, choosing each word carefully, “That when you love someone… you love them for life.”

I froze, blinking up at him.

“You also said…” he swallowed almost imperceptibly, “If someone truly falls in love again, then perhaps what they felt the first time wasn’t love at all.”

The morning suddenly felt very quiet.

Raphael let out a slow breath, “I’ve spent an unreasonable amount of time analyzing that statement. This…” he gestured vaguely between us, “This is unfamiliar territory for me. You are my first in more ways than I know how to explain.”

Something tightened in my chest, a certain weight that I didn’t know how to lift off.

“If I started listing them,” he said quietly, “we would still be sitting here this evening.”

I smiled softly.

Then his expression became serious again, “I don’t know how this works. I don’t know whether people carry pieces of previous relationships with them forever. I don’t know if love… changes shape.”

He looked at me then and for the first time since I’d known Raphael Capone…

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