Read Online Listed: Volume I by Noelle Adams - Free Book Online

passing
thought.”
    He
peered at her, trying to figure out whether that was true. While he was glad
she was backing away from the idea, he didn’t want to act like an ass when
she'd already had a really hard time.
    “I’ll
be eighteen in a few weeks,” she added. She’d been studying him too, and she
seemed to have discovered something in his expression, although he’d thought
his face was suitably impassive. “If I’m still doing all right, health-wise, maybe
we can put the possibility back on the table then. Not for sure—but just to
consider.”
    He
nodded. “Sounds good.”
    There
would still be virtually no chance he’d be comfortable with the idea of sex
with her, even after she’d turned eighteen, but he was committing to nothing.
    At
least it was a way out of this conversation.
    “I’m
going to bed. But you know, Paul,” Emily murmured, standing up and brushing out
the wrinkles in her dress. She was smiling now—tired but smiling—and she seemed
to have gotten over whatever awkwardness she’d felt. “For a bad boy, you really
are kind of old-fashioned.”
    Her
tone was very soft, not critical or derisive at all, but he stiffened at the
words anyway.
    “It
wasn’t an insult,” she said, laughing at his expression. “Seriously. I’ve
discovered that I like you a lot more than I thought. Goodnight.”
    “Goodnight,”
he told her, watching as she walked back into the cottage.
    He
didn’t get up immediately as he tried to mentally feel his way back to calm
water.
    "Oh,
by the way," she said, coming back out onto the terrace without warning.
"I forgot to ask."
    Paul
looked over at her questioningly.
    "I
try to never act obnoxiously girly, but do you think…do you think I looked
pretty today?"
    She'd
cried her makeup off, the waves in her hair had gotten a little frizzy, and her
dress was wrinkled. But Paul wasn't crazy enough to tell her anything except,
"You looked absolutely beautiful today."
    It
happened to be the truth, and it prompted a glowing smile on Emily's face.
"Okay. Goodnight."
    "Goodnight,"
he said as she left the terrace again.
    He’d
felt like a fool ten times over today, and that was something he’d always gone
to great lengths to avoid.
    He’d
made a mess of most of his life—constantly letting down the few people who had
ever really loved him. Trying to turn it around, to do something worthwhile
with his life, made him feel like a frustrated Prometheus, pushing a massive
stone eternally uphill, only to have it roll back down when he got it to the
top.
    But
he wasn’t—he wouldn’t be—the total loser his mother had feared he might be.
    He
would work hard at his new job and ensure his mother’s legacy.
    He
would testify against his father, no matter how much it felt like a betrayal.
    And
he would take care of Emily, since she had no one else to help her.
    He
didn’t have a lot of experience with such things, but he was determined to see
it through to the end.
    For
once, he was going to do something right.

Three
     
    Emily had the worst
headache she’d ever had in her life.
    The
pain throbbed at her temples and at the back of her head. She couldn’t seem to
think clearly, and her eyes would sometimes lose focus. Even her stomach
churned sickeningly, although that could have been caused by several cups of
black coffee and the double-dose of aspirin she’d taken earlier.
    She’d
had headaches before, of course, but she couldn’t remember her head ever
hurting like this.
    She
tried to focus on the questions being asked of her, and she articulated her
responses as clearly and efficiently as possible so her recorded deposition
would be strong, official documentation of her testimony. As the minutes and
hours past, however, she had more and more trouble thinking about anything but
her headache.
    She
sat in the same large conference room in the law office where she and Paul had
signed the pre-nup. She was dressed, once again, in her best suit, although
this time she’d