The Apartment Read Online Free PDF Page A

reason she’d volunteered the information about her work schedule. She’d never asked what he did and he’d never volunteered the information. If they were ever going to form a bridge of trust with one another, it would be now. She hesitated, not wanting to ask, yet yearning to know.
    â€œI’ve got a job interview at one o’clock,” he said, his gaze linking with hers. “It looks promising.”
    Hilary felt a load lift from her heart. With effort they could learn to be friends. “Good luck.”
    â€œThanks.”
    Hilary was reluctant to leave. It was the first cordial conversation they’d had in a week. Sean had never smiled at her before, as best as she could remember. He had a nice smile. Very nice. His dark eyes had sparkled, and Hilary swore it was like seeing lightning cut through a thundercloud.
    * * *
    She wasn’t so bad, Sean mused after Hilary had left the apartment. Ironically, the things that had irritated him most about her were the same ones that intrigued him. True, she practiced the flute until all hours of the night, but he admired her dedication and her discipline. Those were qualities he’d cultivated himself and admired in others.
    From the first, he’d viewed Hilary as a prig, but he might have misjudged her. Until this morning at breakfast, he couldn’t remember them sharing a single conversation where the main objective wasn’t to point out each other’s faults.
    Although she tried not to show it, Sean knew calling Hilary Her Highness made her furious. He had to admire the way she held her temper. She rarely raised her voice, rarely let on that she was upset. If it weren’t for the way she tucked a strand of hair around her ear, he might have had some trouble reading her. Naw, he corrected: she was Dick and Jane and Spot all over again.
    Hilary was also lovely, in a delicate sort of way. She was a fragile beauty, the kind of woman men liked to pamper. He’d never been interested in that sort himself. He liked his women with a little more flesh on their bones, the ones who were a little less demanding.
    Nor was he keen on her penchant for neatness. He’d lived the past ten years of his life under military rule. If he wanted to keep his shoes in the living room, that was his right. He hadn’t been amused when she’d picked up his dirty socks with a pair of kitchen tongs and carried them into the laundry room. Okay, so they smelled a bit, but she had clearly overreacted. It wasn’t as though they were a cesspool holding live ebola virus.
    He liked her. Or he’d come close to it for the first time. True, living in such close proximity was going to take effort on both their parts, but they could make this work, and be better for the experience.
    Hilary Wadsworth had taught him a good deal about the opposite sex that he’d been ignorant of before meeting her. It was better to have learned these lessons with a woman he wasn’t emotionally involved with than someone he cared about.
    When the time came, he’d find an apartment of his own, but he hoped that when he left he’d still be on friendly terms with Hilary. For the first time there was a chance.
    A good chance.
    * * *
    Hilary was anxious to arrive home. Her schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays was the most demanding. Her days were long, and she generally didn’t take time to eat dinner before rehearsal, so she was ravenous by the time she arrived back at the apartment. Which meant her mood was a cross between that of a bobcat and a porcupine.
    This evening, however, she’d taken time for soup and a small salad before hurrying to the music hall. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was so anxious to get home.
    That morning had been a turning point for her and Sean. They’d both felt it. Hilary hoped they could continue in this vein. It’d help matters tremendously if they could be civil with one another.
    When she neared the