30. 30
30
B onnie stood inside the foyer at the hotel for a moment, scanning the parking lot for any sign of Phillip, or any one else, waiting for her. When she didn’t see anyone, she stepped outside and made her way to Corey’s truck. Once inside she started the engine and sat for a moment, trying to calm her racing heart, then plugged in her phone and started home.
That thought jarred her. When had she started thinking of the ranch as home? Was it the ranch and that cabin or the way Corey made her feel? She’d been looking forward to when this was all over, and she could return to her apartment, but did she really want to go back to that? To go back to living alone and not having the shared evenings, the time spent curled together on the couch, the weekend rides on his motorcycle?
For the first time ever, she began to realize that while she’d had a good life on her own, she liked the one she was building now too. The one with someone to share all those little experiences with. And while she didn’t want to have to deal with or even encounter Phillip ever again, she had to admit, he was the reason she’d found Corey. As much as she hated to credit him with anything, Phillip was the reason she was so happy now. Well, that and she had someone truly horrible to compare against didn’t hurt either.
She kept her eyes open on her trip back to the ranch, trying to see if Phillip was following her again. Though why would he need to, now that he knew where she was? On the drive she thought more about the mural she was still looking forward to. She’d met with the owner during her lunch that day and he’d liked the sketches she’d shown him and wanted to see more. He’d also made a couple of requests and a couple of changes, but she had plenty of time to work on them.
She’d just turned off the highway onto the road into the ranch and determined to stop wondering about Phillip and what he was doing and focus on the good things in her life. The things she loved and looked forward to.
She didn’t know if Corey would be done for the day when she got there. If he wasn’t, she needed to spend some time working on her sketch for the mural. She still had a few weeks before she would start the actual painting, but she needed to know what she’d be putting up with enough time to do the math for sizes, proportions, colors and how much paint she would need. Bonnie pulled up in front of the cabin and parked, her mind still on her project as she got out and went inside.
Finding the place empty she pulled out her sketch book and the notebook she was using for this project, took them out on the porch and got busy.
“N ow there’s about the best thing I ever came home to,” Corey’s voice pulled her from the sketch taking shape in her hands. Bonnie looked up to find him standing at the bottom of the steps up to the porch, watching her.
“What?” She resisted the urge to pat her hair and make sure it hadn’t done something weird while she’d been working.
“Just you, sweetness.” He climbed the three steps and he continued, “You so into your work you didn’t even hear me coming.” He came up beside her, bent and kissed the top of her head. “I’m going to shower and get changed for dinner.” He went inside.
She looked around, realizing she’d been working for quite a while. From the angle of the sun, it looked like she’d been working for a couple of hours. She hadn’t realized she’d been at it so long. With a disbelieving shake of her head, she picked up her things and followed him inside.
By the time she got everything put away and changed out of her work clothes, Corey was stepping out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his hips.
“You didn’t have to come in, I could have gone back out once I was dressed.”
“I don’t mind. I needed to come in and change anyway. I spent longer out there than I’d planned.” She turned to watch him as he dug through his drawer to find a pair of underwear, then dropped the towel to step into them. When he stood and pulled them over his butt, he looked up and caught her watching him in the mirror.
“Were you just ogling my ass?” he asked, as if he couldn’t believe she would do it.
Bonnie did her best to give him an innocent look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She knew she’d failed with the act when her face heated, but she was committed now. “I was just getting ready for dinner.”
“Sweetness, you’re too cute when you try to lie.” He stepped close and pulled her into him, dropping a quick, hard kiss on her mouth.
Bonnie couldn’t help but laugh as she pushed him away. “You’re getting me all wet. Get dressed so we can go eat.”
“I’ll make sure you’re nice and wet.” He waggled his eyebrows like Groucho Marx after making a lascivious remark. He went back to getting dressed, leaving Bonnie to finish getting ready herself.