Acting Lessons

Riley

"Yes. My mother died in an accident last week. The sorrow of having to bury her next to my brother is too much to think about. I have no one left in the world but my best friends, Charlotte and Jace. And it's funny, but having friends doesn't seem to be enough." I blinked back tears as Clayton's brow drew in tightly.

"Are you speaking truth, or working yourself into a darkness for the purposes of our afternoon together?"

"Truth." I let my eyes move across his face as my heart quivered in my chest. "I don't know how to use that pain to fuel me. I've trapped it somewhere to keep myself safe. Safe from breaking down. Safe from promising myself to a man that couldn't ever be what I want him to be. Safe from begging for the touch of another man who could have all of me if he even tried a little."

His eyes filled with tears as well. "How beautiful you are. You have no clue of your power, little dove."

I took a deep breath. "Let me unlock it, and then you tell me where we're going."

"G