Three Years Later, He Came Back Begging novel Chapter 239

She didn't have to choose him. She didn't have to choose a long life of coming home to a cold, empty house whenever he was on duty.

Taking a deep breath, Aiken turned to face her, the heartbreak clear in his eyes. "Bonnie, why don't we just..."

But Bonnie suddenly cut him off, her gaze unwavering. "Aiken, we agreed to go on that ski trip to Aspen. Did you buy your gear yet?"

Aiken froze for a few seconds. When the underlying meaning of her words finally clicked, a brilliant, almost unbelievable light exploded in his eyes. It took him a long moment to find his voice, and when he did, he was practically stuttering with excitement. "I—yes. No, I mean, I have my gear. I don't need to buy any."

Seeing this rare, flustered side of him, Bonnie couldn't help but smile. "Good. I thought you forgot."

She knew exactly what a trip for two implied. Agreeing to go meant that when they returned, everything between them would be completely different.

As Aiken had been speaking earlier, Bonnie had done a lot of thinking.

She thought about the first time she saw him at the ski resort, reaching his hand out to help her. She thought about the second time, on that torrential rainy night at her apartment, when he stood there in his uniform and said, 'My name is Aiken. A-I-K-E-N. If you have any trouble, call a cop.'

As they spent more time together, being with Aiken felt like a gentle spring breeze—never aggressive, never pushing too hard, just slowly and warmly becoming a natural part of her life.

When she was dragged back into the latest media storm, it was Aiken who worked tirelessly behind the scenes, doing everything he could to protect her.

Bonnie openly admitted to herself that right now, her overwhelming feeling toward him was gratitude.

But she had never been opposed to taking things beyond friendship. She hadn't been sure if she could ever love a man again, but if she opened her heart to this, she was willing to learn how to give it her all. She was willing to learn how to love again.

Bonnie also remembered Wendy's words at the hospital. The thinly veiled hostility and rejection might have come from a place of protective love, but over the course of a lifetime, those words could turn into sharp thorns.

They could spark endless arguments.

And the memorial service they had just attended had brutally ripped the band-aid off the deepest, most terrifying reality of a future with Aiken.

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