A Reclusive Heart, Page 20

  a month ago before anyone knew her real name. The other concern of course was that none of the letters had been sent through the mail.

  There wasn’t a single postage stamp on any of the death threat letters which meant that whoever wrote them had them hand delivered to the building.

  Thankfully Jamie’s landlord decided to throw her ass out otherwise he’d probably be having a hell of a time convincing her to move out. All of her things, her personal items like her computer, clothes and toiletries were being moved out of her place at that very moment. He’d convinced her to donate all of her furniture not because he really thought it was a nice thing to do like he claimed, but because it allowed the movers under Rick’s direction to get in and get the hell out without tipping anyone off about what they were doing.

  They had a month left of this tour and he hoped the police were able to find the sick fuck before it was time to go home. If they didn’t some things were going to have to change and he was afraid those changes were going to push Jamie back into a corner and she’d go back to being afraid of her own shadow. It was only because they’d kept certain details from her that she wasn’t panicking right now. He’d just have to keep her distracted with work and other things in the meantime.

  “Please tell me they have room service,” she mumbled in a sexy little whiny voice that had him smiling.

  “They do, but the kitchen closed down an hour ago,” he explained as he grabbed his bag of toiletries and headed for the bathroom.

  “Of course it did,” she said, dropping the menu back on the small rectangular coffee table and plopped down on the couch with a sigh.

  The knock at the door had him biting back a smile. He ignored Jamie’s questioning look as he tossed her his small bag and headed for the door. When he opened it and spotted the bellhop, he stepped to the side so the man could roll the cart into the room.

  With a polite smile the bellhop unloaded the two covered trays onto the coffee table and rolled the cart back towards the door where he stood waiting. He slipped the kid a hundred before shutting the door. That was one thing he learned long ago, in places like this money and position were everything. There wasn’t anything that he couldn’t get by greasing the wheels a little. It also didn’t hurt that the manager’s wife was a huge fan of J.L. Lewis and Nick promised him a set of signed copies if he opened the kitchen for his little recluse.

  “What’s all this?” Jamie asked, shooting the covered trays a curious look.

  “This,” he said, walking over to her and lifting the tray even as he bent to kiss her, “is dinner, sweetheart.”

  “Is that double fudge cake?” his little sugar addicted asked on a gasp.

  He chuckled as he set the cover down. It figured that she’d focus on the cake instead of the large plate overfilled with stuffed chicken breast, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, dressing and a few other things that were giving off a mouth watering aroma that had his stomach growling and reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

  “It’s actually triple fudge with real Belgium chocolate and chocolate mousse in the middle,” he said, chuckling when she let a little reverent gasp of pleasure.

  When she picked up her fork and went for the cake he wasn’t too surprised.

  “I’m going to grab a quick shower before I eat. Try to eat some real food too, Jamie,”

  he said as he stepped into the bathroom only to come to a halt and add, “and don’t touch my cake, woman!”

  “I won’t!”

  Of course she lied, he thought with a chuckle as he raised the lid off his food ten minutes later and found his cake plate empty. Thankfully his little addict seemed satisfied at the moment with her sugar intake and was now focused on her actual dinner. Since he’d actually ordered the second slice for her he didn’t say anything as he dug into his own food.

  When they were done he placed the trays outside of his room just as Holly was opening her door across the hall. Her eyes widened in pleasure when she saw him and then narrowed when they ran over his bare chest and unbuttoned jeans.

  Without a word she slammed her door shut and he resigned himself to a call from Rick in the morning. Not that he cared what the man said. With some sick fuck after Jamie he wasn’t letting her out of his sight. Rick could bitch all he wanted and it wouldn’t change a damn thing.

  He shut the door and walked back into the room as Jamie was climbing under the covers. He waited until she was settled before shutting the lights off and dropping his jeans and underwear before joining her. Before his head hit the pillow she was curling up next to him. It wasn’t long before he realized that she’d ditched her pajamas and was naked, just the way he liked her.

  Neither spoke as he found her mouth with his and gently rolled her onto her back. When he slipped a finger inside of her he found her wet and ready which was a good thing because he was too tired to stretch this out tonight. He wanted it hard and fast and he gave it to her.

  The louder she screamed the harder he slammed into her and when she dug her nails into his ass he quickened his pace until he thought the damn bed would break. After she came the first, second and third time he didn’t slow down, but instead gave her everything he had. When he couldn’t hold back any longer he pulled back and turned Jamie onto her stomach before covering her body from behind. He slammed into her as he wrapped his arms around her, gripping her breasts tightly in his hands as she drenched him in her arousal. Her walls tightened impossibly further around him seconds before she was screaming his name.

  His balls tightened almost painfully as he felt himself harden further inside of her. As her walls clenched mercilessly around him he pinched her hard nipples, forcing her into another screaming orgasm that robbed him of his own. He buried his face in the pillow as he roared her name.

  Afraid that he was hurting her, he rolled over onto his side and pulled her with him, still inside of her. Moments later they were both falling into a deep satisfying sleep and he realized that he never wanted to let her go.

  Chapter 24

  “Oh god,” Jamie muttered, panting hard as she slapped her hands on the tiled wall behind her and looked down.

  Nick winked as he leaned forward and slowly ran the tip of his tongue between her slit. It felt so good, but it wasn’t enough. She needed more. She needed him.

  Taking a deep breath, and praying that her legs didn’t give out, she somehow managed to step away from Nick and moved into the middle of the large bathroom.

  She looked over her shoulder to find him getting to his feet to come after her and that’s when she did the most brazen thing of her life.

  She got down on her hands and knees and offered him up a view that she hoped he couldn’t resist. It was funny how she’d only been having sex for less than a week and she couldn’t seem to get enough. Maybe she was playing catch up, she thought as she felt him grip her hips and rub the tip of his penis over her bottom.

  He slid a finger inside of her as he continued to tease her bottom with the large soft velvety tip of his erection. The combined sensations had her panting harder and desperate for release as she pushed her hips back and rode his finger.

  He released an approving growl that had her mumbling incoherently and begging him to take her. When she felt his finger slide free and the tip of his erection take its place she nearly wept with joy.

  Of course the loud banging at their door had her near frustrated tears. When the banging didn’t stop after a minute, Nick moved away from her, cursing up a storm that was pretty impressive. When he left the room she decided to stand up to make it easier for her to attack him and have her dirty little way with him before someone else could interrupt them.

  When Nick came back into the room, looking close to killing someone she knew their morning playtime was over. He already had a pair of black pants on and was pulling on a light green shirt when he saw her. It was hard to miss the large bulge in his pants or the way it jerked when he saw her. It was actually flattering, but unfortunately
it turned her on even further.

  “What’s going on?” she asked, unable to tear her eyes away from that bulge.

  “That was Holly,” he said tightly. “Apparently someone in the office got the times mixed up and the convention starts in fifteen minutes, not two hours.”

  “Oh,” she said, unable to stop from pouting.

  Nick closed the distance between them and cupped her face in his hands as he pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. “We will finish this later, Jamie, but right now we have to haul ass so that we don’t disappoint your fans.”

  ******

  She watched as Nick headed her way, but once again Holly stepped in front of him, blocking his path and grabbing his attention. This had been going on since they came here five hours ago. Every single time she needed to speak with Nick, Holly intervened and whenever he finished with one problem and started to walk towards her, Holly would catch his attention and point out another problem for him to handle.

  Why exactly was the woman here if she needed Nick to do absolutely everything, Jamie wondered as she shot another hopeful look towards the bathroom. She’d been desperate for the bathroom for the last two hours, but she could never seem to get anyone’s attention. Every time she tried to get Holly to manage the line of people waiting to speak to her so that she could use the bathroom the woman got distracted.

  By Nick.

  The woman was constantly hovering around him and whenever he was alone Holly would rush over to him. She seemed desperate to be around him.

  Unfortunately she didn’t seem to realize that Nick looked rather annoyed with all the attention. If she didn’t have to pee so badly she’d probably find the whole thing entertaining.

  Okay, the whole thing did amuse her but she really had to go and soon.

  Deciding that there was no way she could hold it any longer she got to her feet and thankfully spotted Pat, the really nice even coordinator that she’d met earlier. After quickly explaining the situation she took off like a shot towards the bathroom only to be intervened by none other than Holly.

  “Where are you going?” Holly asked even though it really should be selfexplanatory since she was heading straight for the woman’s room.

  “I have to use the bathroom,” Jamie explained as she tried to step around the woman.

  “There’s a bathroom set up for the authors,” Holly explained, gesturing for Jamie to follow her. When she didn’t immediately move to follow the woman, who was giving off “Caitlyn vibes” as she liked to refer to bitchy vibes, Holly added, “It’s to make sure that you can use the bathroom in peace without having to worry about fans harassing you.”

  Oh, well that kind of made sense, Jamie decided as she followed the woman out of large convention room and through a back door marked “Employees Only”

  and down a long hallway. By the time they took a right down another long hallway Jamie couldn’t help but wonder how exactly this was convenient for authors because she was finding it very inconvenient at the moment.

  When Holly suddenly stopped she nearly did a happy dance only to discover that none of the doors were marked in any way indicating that they were restrooms.

  “I thought we should have a talk, woman to woman,” Holly said as she faced her.

  “Now?” Jamie asked, not bothering to hide her exasperation at the situation.

  “You can’t wait until after I use the bathroom?” she asked, moving to step past the woman, more than willing to hunt down a bathroom on her own at this point.

  “It’s about Nick,” Holly said with a worried expression.

  Yeah, she just bet it was, Jamie thought, moving once again to step past the infuriating woman when she added, “He’s going to get fired.”

  Now that had her attention.

  She turned so that she could face the woman. “What are you talking about?”

  Holly made a show of worrying her bottom lip as she wrung her hands together. “I really shouldn’t say anything, but if I don’t I know Nick will get in a lot of trouble.”

  “What exactly would he get in trouble for?” she asked, already having a pretty good idea where this was going.

  “For his relationship with you,” the woman said, confirming her suspicions.

  “I see,” Jamie murmured as she looked around the long hallway again for any signs of a bathroom. It was close to becoming an emergency.

  “He’s a really nice guy,” Holly said on a broken sob. “I really don’t want to see him get into any trouble, but if he continues to see you then Rick will fire him.”

  Jamie kind of doubted that since Nick had hauled her onto his lap in front of Rick and even kissed her a few times. Rick looked more amused than anything, which reminded her that she wanted to ask Nick about that.

  “Is that all?” she asked when she moved past the woman to take up her search for a bathroom once again.

  “He’ll get fired!” Holly pleaded, cutting her off once again.

  Normally Jamie would probably just mumble an apology and hear this woman’s nonsense out but she really didn’t have the patience and according to her bladder she really didn’t have the time. Instead of doing what she’d normally do she faced the woman and decided to end this little game.

  “Look, I get it. You’re into Nick. You’ve probably been pinning after him since the moment you met him and I’m guessing he hasn’t exactly been receptive or your attention,” she said, knowing that she’d guessed right when the woman’s sympathetic expression turned angry. “When you found out that you were joining this tour you probably thought that you finally had your chance, but unfortunately your timing was off because Nick and I are dating and now-“

  “You’re not dating!” the woman cut her off. “He’s fucking you, that’s it. That’s all that Nick is good for. He fucks anything and everything with a pair of tits and the only reason he’s with you is so that he can get ahead at work!”

  “Um, he doesn’t work for me,” Jamie pointed out.

  Holly spat out a cruel laugh. “No, but if you reach Dana Pierce’s sales records he’ll be able to pretty much do whatever he wants. He’s just using you. That’s the only reason why he’s with you,” the woman said, destroying a huge piece of her newfound confidence as old insecurities rushed to the surface.

  “Look, I’m trying to give you a head’s up because once this tour is over he’ll be dropping you,” Holly said, storming past her to return to the convention.

  “Because you want him for yourself,” Jamie pointed out almost desperately.

  Holly simply shrugged. “It will either happen during the tour or later. Nick’s a man who likes to fuck and he’ll eventually come my way.” With that she walked off leaving Jamie feeling like she’d just been kicked in the gut and unfortunately still desperate for a bathroom. Instead of turning around and heading back the way she came she continued forward. She wasn’t ready to face Nick or the Holly’s mocking sympathetic looks just yet.

  She knew the woman would do and say anything to get Nick for herself, she wasn’t an idiot after all. Thanks to Caitlyn she knew exactly how vicious some women could be, but that didn’t stop the words from having their desired effect.

  This was only temporary. Nick had told her that. In fact he’d been very honest about that little fact. When this tour ended then so did their relationship.

  Before this lovely little talk with Holly she assumed it was because the man couldn’t commit, but now she had to wonder if there was possibly a little more to the situation than she’d first realized.

  Was it possible that Nick tricked her, okay so he didn’t have to trick her, but could this whole thing just be a way to get her to do what he wanted? As she continued her desperate search for a bathroom she had a hard time coming up with any other reason why a man like Nick would even look twice at a woman like her.

  It kind of figured that she was in love with a man who had an agenda.

  ******

  “Here,” Nick said as he went to hand over several bar
s of Swiss chocolate to Jamie.

  “No, thank you,” she murmured politely, not bothering to look up from her computer as she answered him.

  He might be new to this whole relationship business, but he knew the signs very well since he used to use them to his own advantage. Since she came back from her long bathroom break she wouldn’t look at him, touch him, or speak to him unless it was absolutely necessary. More importantly she wouldn’t let him touch her. Every time he moved closer to her she found some reason to move away. He knew he hadn’t done anything to screw this up and he also knew the source of the problem.

  Holly.

  She was already packing her bags and heading home. The moment she came back without Jamie he knew she’d done something. It wasn’t until his sad little recluse came back and began greeting fans and looking close to tears that he knew the woman had caused problems for him. When he explained how Jamie was acting and how the woman was beyond incompetent since she couldn’t seem to do anything without his help Rick had demanded that she be sent home.