Page 73 of All Wrong
And she was right. He needed to go before he lost control again.
He paused at the door. “If you need me foranything, you call me, okay?”
“I won’t need you.”
Nick stepped out of Corinne’s house, mounted his bike, and got the hell out of there before he changed his mind. A few miles later, he realized he still had no idea where she’d been all day.
Maybe it’s for the best.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CORINNE
Corinne shut the door behind Nick and turned the dead bolt, then leaned heavily against it.
How could he be so emotionally detached? But she knew the answer. Because no matter what she’d felt, that night in her apartment had been nothing special to him. She was just the latest in a long history of hookups, nothing to distinguish her from anyone else. Except for the obvious taboo, of course.
Did she believe him about Candace? Yes, she did. Underneath that bad-boy biker image he wore so well, he truly cared about the kids at The Zone. Plus, he hadno reason to lie.
She was wrung out. Exhausted. Being around him was like that. When he was in the immediate vicinity, she felt electrified, filled with energy. When he left, he took all of that with him, leaving her feeling bereft.
It pissed her off. No man—no anyone—should have that kind of power over her. Especially not one who clearly wanted nothing more to do with her.
She reaffirmed the silent pact she’d made with herself that day at the café. The one that said she was the queen of her own destiny and no one else—not Nick, not her sister, not Mr. Gehman.
That sorted, she pulled out her laptop. First order of business: find another job. Even if her leave of absence wasn’t an official separation from the bank, it was only a matter of time. She couldn’t imagine ever walking back through those doors again.
She pictured Mr. Gehman’s face when he’d given her the news. Filled with genuine regret, but resolute nonetheless. The man was a coward. A puppet. More concerned with protecting his own ass than doing the right thing. She wondered what they had on him to gain his compliance like that.
Because somethingwasgoing on. Something that went deeper than garden-variety nepotism.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to put the pieces together before her access was revoked.
She exhaled. It was Ian’s problem now, and that was a good thing. The Callaghans were better equipped to deal with things like that. As for her, she was completely irrelevant. Her part in this tale was over. It was time to seek out a new story.
Pulling up a popular job listing site, she scrolled through screen after screen. She looked at places within a fifty-mile radius first, then considered extending her search. It might be nice to go someplace else. Maybe the West Coast, or the South, or the Midwest. Rack up some new experiences while she was still young enough to enjoy it.
Despite the temporary allure of relocating, her heart just wasn’t in it.
Maybe she needed to make a clean break and do something completely different. With her financial background, she could do other things besides work in a bank.
She didn’t have the energy to think about career changes. That was an avenue to explore on another day. It wasn’t like she had anything else to do tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after that.
Deciding to call it a night, she closed her laptop, shut off the lights, and double-checked her locks. Ahot shower and comfy PJs sounded just like what the doctor ordered.
She concentrated on the positive. Barring the last hour or so, it had been a nice day. A trip to the mountains. Good weather. Pleasant company. Brett was an easy guy to be around. Very undemanding. He appreciated scenic views and seemed genuinely interested in hearing about local legends and history, something her brother was kind of a nut about.
He’d asked about her family, what it was like growing up in Pine Ridge, her volunteer work, how she liked her job at the bank.
The last one was a touchy subject, for obvious reasons, so she glossed over it and went with some vague response about it being a paycheck, but not her life’s ambition. That, of course, led to questions about what her life’s ambition was, and she didn’t have a good answer for that.
Thankfully, he’d moved on to something else, proving that he was adept at picking up subtle cues. He was also handsome, considerate, and gainfully employed. He checked all the boxes.
Except the most important one.
So what if the attraction didn’t go any deeper? Orthat there was no sexual spark? Maybe the feelings would come over time. After all, she enjoyed a goodfriends to loverstrope as much as aninsta-loveor afated matestrope, right? Who was to say real-life romance couldn’t imitate romantic fiction in the same way?
As she brushed her teeth, she debated on turning on her phone, then decided against it, laying it still and silent on the table beside her. She’d turned it off hours earlier after multiple texts from Lacie. That, like the job search, could wait. No doubt Nick had reported back and let everyone know she was fine.
