The Price of Inertia (The Seven Sins #4) - Lily Zante Page 0,97
here to talk, and now that she’s confronting me, I can’t. So much of my past has been shaken up and has been spinning around in my head. “Goodnight,” I say, not wanting to push past this.
She doesn’t say it back.
Tonight is going to be another sleepless night for me. Instead of returning to my bedroom, I head downstairs to my study. When sleep doesn’t come, there’s no point lying in bed tossing and turning. I might as well try to write.
Chapter 38
MARI
I’m calmer the next morning and Ward seems fine, too. He hasn’t shaved and his eyes are ringed with dark circles.
“Did you sleep?” I ask as I pour his cup of coffee.
“Not really. I was writing until the early hours.”
We’re talking normally, and there’s no hint of the drama from last night. I feel bad that he came to me to apologize and we ended up having another disagreement.
A knock at the door signals that Jamie is here so I go to answer it. “I’m seeing Danny this week,” he informs me as I let him in.
This reminds me. “I should meet up with him as well,” I say.
“You haven’t yet?”
“I’ve been too busy.”
He swipes his hand across his chin. “This is a big house, but you said you can take your time cleaning all the rooms. I don’t get why you’re so busy all the time.”
I shake my head at this typical man’s reply. “We can swap roles one day. I’m sure Ward would let us if I put forward my argument.”
“What argument is that?”
“That you have no idea what you’re talking about.” We hover around in the hallway instead of heading into the kitchen. “Why do you need to see Danny?”
“This job is going to end soon, and it’s not looking good with where I’m currently at. Danny mentioned he has potential openings where he works.”
“When?”
“Sometime at the weekend, unless you’re going to visit your mom.”
“I can take time out this weekend.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” says Jamie, just as Ward comes out into the hallway. He lifts his coffee cup and greets Jamie who comments, “You look like you’re ready to go.”
“I am. I’m enjoying my workouts,” Ward admits. “Now that’s something I never thought I’d say.”
Jamie raises an eyebrow at me, then rubs his hands together. “We’ll take it up a level then. Are you ready?”
“I was born ready,” is what I hear Ward say as the two of them head towards the gym. I can only pinpoint Ward’s exuberance down to him being so near the end of his book that any day now he could say to me that he’s done and is returning to New Orleans.
I definitely need to meet with Danny. I’ll take two jobs if I have to. I’m sick of hanging around for morsels of interest from Ward, sick of wishing he would see me as something more than a physical release. It hasn’t all been bad. This man and his moods have kept me on my toes, and for that reason, I’ve managed to stay on here. Still, I sense that the end is near, and as the days go on, my feelings towards him change.
During the following days, Ward is still nice and kind and polite, and still looking as sexy as ever. Tellingly, he’s not mentioned anything about meeting his word count goals lately.
Sometimes I catch him looking at me, when I look up, and I can tell that he thinks about me as much as I think about him. There’s a sizzle in the air even though we aren’t sharing the bed.
“How is your book coming along?” I ask him one day after dinner. He’s sitting on the stool, taking forever to finish. A part of me hopes that he’s dragging out the time so that he can see me. It’s only at mealtimes that we seem to get the time to talk.
“I’m on the second read through,” he informs me. “Making notes and finding lots of errors.”
“You’ll be finished soon?” I need to know how long I have here. I don’t want any nasty surprises. I don’t want him to come to me one day and say ‘goodbye’, cut me off suddenly and disappear. Even this tawdry thing we’ve got going deserves a gentle letting go.
“Not soon.” His voice is tight.
“But you said you were at the first draft stage and then you could go home.”
“I need to ensure that the story makes sense. It needs another read through.”