Bleeding Ink

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Meron didn't even have to knock for Corliss to realize he was just down the hallway from her apartment door. He'd made enough noise walking up the stairs, with his satchel and canvas bags hitting the wall from the way he was carrying them to his curses when he missed a step and stumbled forward. She found herself grinning as she quietly opened her door and leaned again the doorframe to watch his ascent.

Sundown. Just as he promised.

Cursing again as his satchel slipped off his shoulder and hit the floor with a thud, Meron cursed again. Corliss snorted, which caught his attention as his face flamed.

"Looks like you did open the door for me, huh?" he said to her, finally finding his footing at the top step.

"With all the commotion out here, I thought we were being raided by city guardsmen. But no, it's just you."

He snorted out a laugh. "Ha, you're so funny."

Meron continued down the hallway toward her, dressed in a fresh set of black pants and white tucked in shirt, blond hair slicked back, and looking as if he were ready to take her out for the night instead of just cook her dinner in her apartment. He caught sight of the look she was giving him, grinning even as he took in her similar outfit to his.

He stopped just a few feet away, glancing toward the open door behind her. "Are you going to invite me in?"

Corliss shrugged one shoulder. "Don't know. Besides, you like to invite yourself places, so I figured you'd just let yourself in."

"You think me so crass?"

"Obviously."

But he still didn't make a move to enter, waiting for her to say the word. She liked that he was forward and knew what he wanted, but he wasn't going to be an ass about it. This was her choice, though he wasn't going to say it in so many words.

She'd already decided when she opened the door to watch his approach.

"I've decided against my better judgement to like you," Corliss finally told him.

A slow smile spread across his face. "You do, huh?"

"Unfortunately. Do you want to come in?"

"You're just doing this because you're hungry, aren't you?"

"And you know how I work how? Bridget told you, didn't she?"

Meron's laughter echoed down the hallway and he finally went inside whenever she stepped back to let him pass.

It had been a while since she had a male who wasn't part of her family in her apartment. She'd been so focused on school she didn't have time to form any attachments past those first few weeks in Ayveri. Most of the time, they were just a quick fling that lasted only a few weeks.

But Meron...she wasn't going to let it go that far. She couldn't, not when she knew their professional relationship would be pivotal in the future once her mother passed the title Lady on to her. She didn't want to mess that up.

She could look, though.

And she did.

Meron stood in the middle of her sitting room, looking around as if he were trying to understand the female whose apartment he just walked into. The fire kindling in the hearth and the fairy lights she'd strung up overhead flickered in his eyes. He took in the four bookcases brimming with books, including those they'd picked up earlier that afternoon sitting on one shelf waiting for their proper places. Her brown leather sofa still had the indention on it from where she was sitting, curled up against the plush pillows and knit blanket. She'd shut the door to her room just down the short hallway and also the ones for the guest room and small bathing room across from it, so there was no way he'd see inside either, including the mess she'd made while trying to figure out what she was going to wear.