Listed: Volume II Read Online Free PDF Page B

spend his time working or having fun on his
own.
    She
wasn’t going to be a silly, self-centered girl who whined that the man who had
married her, taken her skydiving, and was flying her to Egypt on Sunday wasn’t
spending enough time with her.
    So
the only time she interrupted him was to ask if he wanted to have dinner with
her. On Wednesday he said he had too much to do, so he just ate a sandwich at
his desk. He came out and had chicken stir-fry with her on Thursday, though.
    He
was quiet at dinner, and he’d reverted back to the perpetually gentle look,
which bothered Emily more than it should have. On Tuesday evening, she’d had
such a wonderful time eating with him on the terrace. He’d seemed relaxed, like
he thought of her as a friend and not as a project or an object of pity. It hadn’t
lasted past the night, though.
    Emily
refused to take it personally. He was probably stressed out by his difficult
new job. His change in behavior surely couldn't be connected to her . She
couldn’t think of anything she might have done to upset or offend him.
    She
was disappointed by his standoffish mood, however, and honestly a little bit
hurt. She’d felt close to him on Tuesday, and then it seemed to disappear.
    He
still seemed quiet on the trip to New York on Friday. Once they were on the road,
Emily started reading him passages of Henry IV Part 1 out loud, mostly
so they weren’t sitting in silence. She hammed it up as much as she could and
made Paul laugh with her exaggerated readings of Falstaff and Hotspur.
Eventually Paul started reading scenes with her, and they had a great time
going through the best parts of the play.
    When
Paul was his warm, dry self again as they arrived at their very fancy hotel in
New York, Emily congratulated herself on a job well done.
    *
* *
    Emily woke up at three
o’clock on Saturday morning with her mouth so dry it hurt.
    She
sat up in the dark and drank the rest of the bottle of water she’d put on her
nightstand before going to bed.
    When
it was gone and she was still thirsty, she got up to go to the bathroom and
then fill up a glass with tap water. She took a few sips and decided she must
be getting spoiled, since tap water wasn’t nearly as good as the expensive
bottled water she’d grown accustomed to over the last weeks.
    She
and Paul were staying in a two-room suite on one of the top floors of the
hotel. Emily had insisted that Paul have the larger room with the huge
king-sized bed because she wanted the more feminine smaller room with pale blue
walls and elegantly curved furniture. She peeked out the door to the bedroom
and saw that the lights were off in the parlor, which meant Paul must have gone
to bed.
    She
couldn’t believe how dedicated he was to his new job. He’d still been working
on his laptop when she’d gone to bed at midnight.
    She
was only wearing a white tank-top and a pair of pink boy-shorts, and she didn't
want to parade around Paul like that. Since he was in his room now, however,
she didn't bother putting on more clothes.
    She
walked through the huge parlor—complete with a fireplace and chandelier—to the
kitchen. When she bumped into the edge of the bar, she reached over and turned
on a small lamp so she could see where she was going, and then she opened the
refrigerator to grab another bottle of water.
    Her
mouth felt bone dry again, so she screwed off the top and took several cold
gulps.
    She
put the water down so she could turn back off the lamp, which should have been
a simple process, but somehow she managed to knock the bottle off the counter
as she was bringing her hand back from the lamp.
    The
glass bottle landed on the tile floor with a loud clatter. It didn’t break, but
it rolled across the kitchen, spilling out all the water onto the floor.
    Emily
cursed under her breath and snatched up the bottle, glancing over at Paul’s
closed door. It was dead silent in the suite, and she hoped the clatter hadn’t
woken him.
    She
couldn’t bring