Page 54 of Malice

“Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay?” he said after she’d turned to watch him.

“I’m sure.” Bonnie closed the distance between them. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I do. But I need this. I need to reclaim my life, if only for my own peace of mind. You need this too. You need to have some space of your own, without someone in it all the time. It will help settle your mind.” She stretched up and kissed the hollow below his bottom lip. “But this isn’t goodbye, it’s just me going back to my life. I still want to see you. I still want to explore whatever this is between us.”

Corey’s arms wrapped around her waist, holding her snug against him as he closed his eyes. He held her a moment, before lowering his head until his cheek rested on top of her head.

“All right. I’ll take you. I don’t like it, but I won’t stand in the way of you reclaiming your life and your independence. You all loaded up or you want me to carry something out?” He didn’t loosen his hold, but continued to hold her while he waited for her answer, as if he was going to take in every moment between them he could.

“I’ve got everything loaded but my purse. I’ll grab that then we can go.” She let her head rest against his chest, inhaling his scent and letting it surround her. She would miss this, she knew, but she refused to let that stop her from what had to be done. And the longer she waited to reclaim her independence, the harder it would be.

Corey took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “I guess we’d better go then.” He slowly released her, as if reluctant to let the moment end. Once he lifted his head, she tilted hers back and looked up at him.

“Thirty minutes, and in town, isn’t the other side of the planet. It’s not even something you wouldn’t drive every day if you didn’t live here on the ranch. We can do this, if you want to.” Her chest ached at the thought that he might not want to continue whatever was between them if she wasn’t here in his house, but she didn’t let it show.

If a thirty-minute drive was enough to break what they had, it wouldn’t have stood the test of time anyway and it was better to know that now rather than once she was more invested.

No, this was the best thing, and not just for one reason. She took a deep breath herself, then turned away and went for her purse.

“I don’t want you to go, but I won’t let what we have go either.”

Corey’s words followed her down the short hall, lifting her spirits. But would it last?

41

Malicecarriedthebagsof food that he’d picked up at the grocery store to the door of her building. He’d offered to make the trip to get whatever Bonnie wanted while she unpacked and got settled in. She’d looked at him for a moment, as if considering his offer, then nodded and quickly put together list. She’d thanked him and given him a credit card to pay for the purchases, then kissed him and said she’d be more settled when he returned.

He hit the button to buzz her apartment and waited for her voice to come over the intercom.

“Can I help you?” Bonnie’s voice sounded tinny and strange over the two-way communicator.

“It’s me,” he said back, then realized his own voice may sound as odd to her as hers did to him. “It’s Corey.”

The door buzzed, letting him know she’d hit the button to let him in.

“Be right up,” he said as he opened the door and stepped inside. He waited until he heard the lock click back into place, then took the elevator to Bonnie’s floor.

At Bonnie’s door, he found the door propped open, the dead bolt locked but not in the frame, instead it kept the door from closing and made it so anyone could enter at will. He pushed the door open and carried the bags inside, calling out to her as he let the door fall close again.

“Where are you, sweetness?” he said, setting them on the counter, but being especially careful not to tip over the bag with the carryout he’d picked up for their lunch. He set that bag to one side. He didn’t want the heat from that bag getting to the cold stuff in some of the other bags.

“I’m right here,” Bonnie stepped in from the bedroom. “Did you get everything on the list?”

“I did. And I picked up some lunch for us too.” He opened a bag and started pulling out things that went in the refrigerator. “When’d you do that to the door?” He nodded toward where the door was still propped ajar with the deadbolt.

“When I buzzed you in. I was in the middle of something in the bedroom and didn’t want you to have to wait for me to come open the door.” She went to the door, unlocked the deadbolt, closed the door, and reengaged the lock. “It was just like that until you rang, and I let you up.” She came into the tiny kitchen, started digging through the grocery bags, pulling things out and putting them away. In no time they’d emptied the grocery bags, which she folded and added to a roll she kept on a shelf in the pantry.

“What’s that?” She motioned toward the last bag on the counter, this one a brown paper bag without a logo.

“Our lunch. Time to take a break. Come out on the balcony and eat with me.” He snagged the bag off the counter and carried it with him as he led the way to the sliding door, opened it, waited for her to step through then followed her. Once seated he pulled the food from the bag, handing hers across and setting his on the small table between them long enough to fold up the bag and set it aside. “Oh, before I forget, these are for you too.” He shifted enough to pull his truck keys from his pocket and held them out to her.

Bonnie looked at his open palm, then back at him, a frown creasing her brow.

“I can’t take your truck. You need that.”

“What for?” he asked. She started to speak but he wasn’t finished and continued. “Anything I need to do for the ranch, I can take a ranch truck. And the weather’s nice. If I want to go somewhere I can take my bike. I don’t want you to have to settle for some piece of crap car you can’t trust. This way you can wait until the insurance pays out. Then get a decent car you can rely on without having to rush the process.” Malice set the keys on the table between them then unwrapped his burger and took a bite.

She stared at him for a moment then, shaking her head, unwrapped her own burger and began to eat.

“If I keep your keys, how will you get back to the ranch?” she asked between bites.

---