Read Online Bound With Pearls by Sidney Bristol - Free Book Online Page B

to him on a basic level and he hadn’t taken advantage.
    Her mantra since he’d delivered her safely to her car Saturday morning had been, “It’s not you. It’s the limit.”
    Despite telling her he wanted to see her again they hadn’t set a date. And it wasn’t even until she’d arrived home when she realized she didn’t know if he wanted a play date, a dinner date or something else. It was possible she was reading far too much into his request than what there was. They didn’t have a relationship, he wasn’t her Master. She also hadn’t made him court her. Had he asked her to go on a date with him because he wanted to have sex with her?
    She’d focused all of her energy since then into running errands and getting ready for the coming workweek, and now she had nothing else to do. Pacing the length of her kitchen, she turned the evening she’d spent with Daniel over and over again in her head. She couldn’t blame anyone but herself for how things had turned out, and considering how it could have gone, it had been good.
    A hell of a lot better than good, actually. When was the last time a man had her so wrapped up in the thought of him she couldn’t focus?
    Still, she had upheld her part of the bargain.
    Retrieving her phone from her purse, she dialed her sister, for once not feeling any dread about speaking with Lucy. She’d get her mother’s pearls back and that was what her goal had been all along.
    “Hello?”
    “Lucy, it’s Chris.”
    “Oh.” She could hear the confusion in her sister’s voice. No doubt Lucy was trying to remember what she’d wanted from her and if she needed to wheedle. “Hi.”
    “Hey. I took care of the Daniel situation for you.”
    “Oh.” The surprise grated on her nerves. Had her sister expected her to flake? “That’s great, Chris, thanks.”
    “Yeah, so when can I come by and get the pearls?”
    She was ready for the pause, the one that meant Lucy was scrambling to think of something to say. It was never a good sign but she was used to it by now. Sadly, it would have surprised her if Lucy had given the pearls up without stalling.
    “Well, the thing is Nate and I are out of town. Do you think it can wait a few days? Or even until the weekend? It’ll be nuts when I get back.”
    Irritated at her sister and herself, she folded one arm around her middle and tried to keep her voice pleasant. “You’re going out of town now? It’s Sunday. Anyway, it’s a necklace, Lucy, not the kitchen stove. I’ll be in and out.”
    “Christine, those pearls are sentimental.” Lucy was laying on the dramatics. If her sister were in front of her now, she’d imagine Lucy with her hand to her heart and a theatrical expression on her face. “I can’t just hand them over. I need time to say goodbye.”
    She muffled her snort. Her sister didn’t care about the pearls. She probably didn’t remember where they were.
    “Fine. I’ll come over Friday and get them.”
    “Great! I’ve got to run. Talk to you Friday!”
    The line went dead before she could interject. Sighing, she set the phone on the coffee table and pulled her to-do list closer. Usually having all of the lines crossed off was a good thing but not now. The only thing left to do was all the cleaning she’d put off. But anything to keep from circling the phone was better than nothing.
    Deciding to tackle the least appealing task first, she headed for the bathroom and pulled out a host of cleaning products from under the sink.
    In no time, lavender-scented cleanser filled the bathroom. She had scrubbed every inch, leaving the toilet for last. Her rubber gloves had her hands sweating and pruney. It was time to suck it up and scrub the commode.
    Her knees slipped on the damp tile as she crouched in front of the porcelain god. Wrinkling her nose, she levered the seat and lid up, attacking the bowl with her scrub brush.
    Her cell phone rang. Glancing at it and back to the toilet, she decided to call it clean and flushed.