Page 33 of Malice

That reminded her, she needed to call Mom after she got back to the ranch. Yeah, she’d warned her parents she was eyeball deep in a new project, but that was when she hadn’t known how long she would be without her phone. She had it back now, there was no reason not to call.

She turned off the highway and onto the long dirt driveway that led into the ranch, her mind still on everything and nothing.

25

Maliceheardhispickupapproach, then turn and head toward the cabin he was sharing with Bonnie. He couldn’t help the wave of relief that washed through him. She was home and he assumed safe. Now he could relax.

Wait, when had he started thinking of the ranch as home? And why did he feel so relieved that Bonnie was back? He didn’t like sharing his space with anyone, yet when he’d gone to the cabin for lunch this afternoon the place had felt wrong. At the time he hadn’t been able to say what it was or put it into words, but now he knew what it was. The place had been empty. Bonnie hadn’t been there.

How was it that after only a couple of days she seemed so ingrained in the little cabin, and his life, that he missed her when she’d only been gone a few hours, and it wasn’t even like she wasn’t planning to be back, and soon. He shook his head at the direction of his thoughts and turned back to the hose where he was filling water buckets in the horse barn. When this was done, he’d be through for the day and could go see how her day had gone.

There he was again, he shook his head, thinking more about her. He was just worried about her, he told himself. She’d had a hard few days and he wanted to be sure that fuckwad hadn’t given her any trouble today. Malice didn’t know what he’d do if he had, and he didn’t want to think about how angry the man made him, not now. He’d deal with it when the time came, and hopefully the time wouldn’t come.

He wouldn’t count on it though. If life had taught him anything, it was that stupid people did stupid things and didn’t learn their lesson, even when they were told exactly what would happen if they didn’t. Malice got the feeling that the asshat thought he was smarter than he really was.

When the last bucket was full, he shut off the water and coiled the hose on the rack before closing up the barn for the night and heading home. He’d like to get a shower before dinner, but more importantly, he needed to see how Bonnie’s day had gone and make sure she was all right.

The house seemed quiet as he made his way up the driveway and to the door. He wondered if she’d gone somewhere else, but the truck was still parked in front of the cabin. He paused on the porch, looking around and trying to decide what felt off, but wasn’t sure.

Unable to keep the frown from his face he went inside but didn’t see Bonnie. He called her name but didn’t get a response. It wasn’t so quiet inside, and he followed the soft sounds of movement toward the bedroom. What he found there surprised him. He stopped and leaned against the doorframe, unable to keep his confused frown from turning to a smile as he folded his arms across his chest and watched the scene in front of him.

Bonnie wore an oversized set of headphones, and she wiggled and danced her way around the room as she picked up and put things away, then dusted as she moved around the room. He stayed where he was, wondering how long it would take her to notice him, despite the temptation to walk up behind her and surprise her by wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a kiss.

After a few moments, she turned and spotted him. She jumped, but not as high as he would have expected with everything she’d been dealing with over the last couple of weeks. She reached up and shut off whatever she was listening to, her eyes wide as she watched him.

“You startled me. How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to appreciate whatever you were listening to.”

“It’s an audio book. I like to listen while I work.”

“I told you that you don’t need to clean my house. I’ll get to it.” He actually hadn’t thought too much about it today because he’d been busy, but he knew he needed to get it done.

Bonnie lifted one shoulder and let it fall in a dismissive gesture. “I needed to be busy. The cleaning needed to get done. It’s not a big deal.” She turned as if to go back to what she was doing.

“Needed to be busy? Did something happen at work today?” Malice hadn’t missed that, despite how quickly she’d tried to gloss over it.

“No. It was quiet. I kept an eye out, and Randy made sure there was always someone nearby in case I needed help, but there was nothing. To the point it was a pretty boring day.”

“Randy?” He didn’t think he’d heard that name before, at least not from Bonnie.

“Randy’s my boss. He tried to stay pretty close all day and when he couldn’t be nearby, he made sure one of the other men was there, just in case Phillip showed up. But he didn’t. There was no sign of him. I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Maybe all the precautions, the extra attention is what’s making me feel like this.”

“Like what?” He fought the urge to go to her, to wrap his arms around her and sooth whatever nerves might be feeling frayed.

“I don’t know how to explain it.” She shrugged again. “I feel on edge. Antsy.” She looked up at him, eyes wide.

Unable to resist any longer, Malice closed the distance between them, pulling her into a hug. He hoped it would help calm her, though he was careful not to hold her too tight. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel trapped by him or his arms.

Bonnie didn’t fight him. She went into his arms almost eagerly, but she stood stiff for several seconds, as if resisting, but after a bit, slowly the tension seemed to drain from her body, and she relaxed against him after a couple of minutes her arms wrapped around his waist. She pressed her face against his chest and after a few moments took a deep, shuddering breath and let it out. He thought for a moment she might be crying. Panic raced through him at the thought. What has he done wrong? What did he need to do to make it stop? It didn’t take long for reason to return though and he realized that if she was crying, she needed the outlet.

Instead of giving in to the desire to do whatever it took to make the tears stop, he stood there, holding on and letting her deal with whatever she was feeling. After a couple of minutes, she took another deep breath and let it out, then lifted her head and looked up at him. That’s when he realized she hadn’t been crying. Malice didn’t know what had made it feel like maybe she had been, but couldn’t help the relief that he hadn’t made her cry. Though he knew it probably hadn’t been him anyway. It was everything, and that fuckwad who wouldn’t leave her alone. Or maybe he’d finally gotten a clue? It had been a quiet few days. Maybe he’d decided he wanted easier prey? Malice’s gut screamed at just the thought. No. It wouldn’t be that easy. Not for any of them.

“Thank you.” Bonnie’s words drew Malice from his thoughts and back to the woman still standing in his arms.

He watched her for a moment. “For what?”

“For just being you,” she said, a ghost of a smile curving her mouth, making him want to lean in and kiss her but somehow, he didn’t think the time was right. Slowly, she straightened, still looking up at him. “What time is dinner? I need to get ready.”

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