HH02 - A Reclusive Heart (2 page)

"Excuse me," a woman in a much better suit than hers said in a crisp voice as she rushed past Jamie.

Another murmured apology came from Jamie before she stepped back against the wall. She stayed there watching the

chaos for several minutes before she broke out into a sweat.

Oh god, she couldn't do this.

She hurried the three feet back to the elevator and hit the call button, and then pressed it again and again. Where was it?

She pushed her glasses back up her nose to get a better look at the elevator lights. It was on the ninth floor and she didn't have

time to wait here.

Clutching her bag tightly to her body and averting her eyes to the floor, she turned and followed the Exit signs to the

stairwell. Halfway there she spotted signs for the restrooms. After taking a quick glance up to confirm their location she took

another deep breath and scurried quickly through the swarm of people. She didn't release that breath until she was in the

bathroom safely locked in the end stall.

After placing five paper barriers on the toilet she carefully sat down, dropped her bag between her feet, and cradled her

head in her hands. This had been such a huge mistake. She should have kept her company and resigned herself to being the

strange woman with twenty cats that all the kids would point and laugh at in twenty years. The fact that she didn't like cats

shouldn't factor into her decision.

Decision made, she just needed to come up with a plan to get herself out of here. She would just have to leave the

bathroom and use the stairwell to leave the building. Then she'd go home and pack up her small apartment and find someplace

where she could blend in and allowed cats. Maybe she'd use her new little fortune to buy a house and a new car. Wait, a house

was too big for just for one person. Unless of course cats required their own rooms then she'd be all set. Then after she set up

her house she'd start up another internet publishing company and everything would be peachy.

The only glitch in her plan as far as she could tell was that little issue of the signed contract stating that she was not

allowed to start another internet publishing company and a few other factors that would keep her butt here working. She needed

an antacid or something. She looked down at her oversized purse and frowned. She wasn't the antacid carrying type of woman.

Although there was a good possibility that she had a half roll of spearmint Lifesavers or a few root beer barrels somewhere in

her bag.

Deciding that a root beer barrel sounded great, she picked up her bag and nearly cried out in frustration as her bag tipped

upside down, which normally wouldn't have been a problem except that somehow at some point her bag had opened. The soft

whir of the air conditioning unit was momentarily drowned out by a loud gasp and the
clanking
sounds as everything in her

purse hit the tiled floor.

"Why me?" she mumbled pathetically as she grabbed her bag and started to shove things back in. Things started to look up

when she found a twenty dollar bill that she'd forgotten about and her favorite pen that she thought she lost a few months back.

Well, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all, she thought as she kneeled on the cool tile floor so she could reach several items

that escaped the confines of the stall.

After a minute it became obvious that her arms were just too short to reach the items that escaped the stall. Sighing

heavily, she opened the stall door and crawled out picking up items as she went. Two tampons and a quarter later she was

frowning at a pair of very large black leather shoes.

Her first thought was one of sympathy for whatever woman had feet that large. That feeling slowly disappeared as her

eyes traveled up a pair of men's black slacks to a very masculine jacket, shirt and tie that in her opinion really looked good on

the obviously fit torso. Slowly, ever so slowly, she looked all the way up and gulped when she saw beautiful laughing green

eyes and perfectly combed short honey blond hair.

Why on earth did it have to be
him
? A month ago when she came in for a meeting he had been the reason why she nearly

choked on her own tongue. It was really unfair that someone so shallow should look so gorgeous. Really, it wasn't fair. No one

person should be blessed this much. He had everything going for him in life and he knew it. It was a constant reminder to

people like her that life really was unfair and was kind of sucky sometimes.

His eyes lit up with amusement as he held out a tampon to her. Not just any tampon, but a purple tampon with the words

"Super Super Heavy" written in clear bold letters.

"I believe this is yours, Miss. Harris," he said, sounding close to laughing.

Jamie grabbed the tampon and shoved it back into her bag as she quickly got to her feet all while avoiding his gaze. When

he tried to help her up she took a step back.

"T-this isn't the women's room, is it?" she asked, knowing someone up there was having a heck of a time with her today.

"No, no it's not," that deep smooth voice that wreaked havoc on her heart said.

She nodded. "Of course it's not," she muttered to herself. Really what else could she expect?

Still avoiding his eyes she said, "Well, ah," she cleared her throat, "it's ah, very nice. Spacious, clean and all that."

He chuckled.

Darn it!

"I'll ah, I'll just go see what my desk looks like now. It was nice to see you again, Mr. Quinn."

"Oh, the pleasure was all mine," he said in an amused tone.

Another nod and she turned to leave only to have her escape halted.

"Miss. Harris?"

She froze mere inches from freedom. "Yes?" she asked, her voice cracking.

"You have a little something on the back of your skirt."

Of course she did.

"Thank you," she said, trying to decide whether she should duck back into one of the stalls or risk further embarrassment

by looking for the woman's room to remove whatever it was when Mr. Quinn took the decision out of her hands for her.

She heard the telltale sound of crinkling paper and gasped. Heat rushed up her neck to her face, leaving her to wonder if

she could die from embarrassment.

"Got it," he said, chuckling.

"Thank you," she mumbled as she made her mad dash to the bathroom door, wondering what else could go wrong today.

Chapter 2

Nick was still laughing twenty minutes later as he took his seat in the conference room. Who knew hiring the little recluse

would make his day? He certainly hadn't expected this little bonus. She'd certainly made his morning.

Ah, good times......

"What has you in such a good mood?" Beth or Janet or whatever the hell her name was asked as she took the chair next to

his.

"Good coffee," he said, gesturing to his steamy cup of coffee. He wasn't about to further embarrass the poor recluse. He

was an asshole yes, but a nice asshole. The poor thing was going to have a hard enough time here, he could just tell with that

shy manner and frumpy clothes. There was no need to add to it. In fact, his plan was to stay away from the poor thing and sit

back and watch. Maybe she'd provide him with another good laugh.

"So, Nick, I was wondering what you were doing tonight," Beth or Janet or was it Marcy? said.

"Washing my hair," he answered, hoping she'd take the hint and finally move on. For six months she'd been after him and

not just for a good reason like hot sweaty sex. No this one had relationship written all over her. She wanted to "change" him.

Yeah, good luck with that.

Even if he didn't date co-workers or clients he wouldn't touch this woman with a ten foot pole. She wore too much

makeup, too much perfume, ugly ass clothes and was known to plan the perfect wedding ten minutes after some dumb bastard

asked her out.

Before she could reply, Rick strolled in, looking pleased as punch with the little recluse following reluctantly after him.

Hmm, Rick must have tackled her, because he was pretty sure the woman was going to make a run for it and never come back.

Now she was here to keep him entertained.

Excellent.

"Have a seat," Rick said with a warm smile to the little recluse.

She smiled weakly as she took the chair across from him and looked shyly around, noticeably avoiding him. He took in

her thick, too long strawberry blonde hair that was twisted into some horrible knot at the back of her head, her thick framed

glasses and ugly baggy suit. Who dressed this woman? As if she sensed his gaze, a deep red blush crept up her neck. He didn't

even bother to bite back a smile. This was just too good. He liked the idea of a woman leaving him alone
and
providing him

with entertainment. It really didn't get any better than this.

Rick walked over to the chair at the head of the boardroom table and waited for everyone to sit down and settle in for the

meeting.

"Good morning, everyone. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves last night."

There were several words of agreement before Rick continued. "Everybody did an excellent job. Edward and Dana sent

their thanks this morning as well as an insane amount of pastries and muffins. So it would be much appreciated if at some point

today all of you would stop by the break room and help us out with some of that food."

Several people nodded while most of the women murmured about diets and carbs. The only one that was silent was the

little recluse who was eying the doorway like it was her new best friend. No doubt she'd make a mad dash for it if she thought

she could make it unseen.

"I've got more good news. I know we're still all excited about Dana's book sales and for good reason. You've all worked

really hard to help push her books and make it what they are today. I'm hoping we'll be able to do that with several of the new

authors that we've recently acquired."

That caught several people's attention. A new author, a great author, could mean better pay, new job security and a senior

editor position. Nick wasn't too worried about the promotion since he was already a senior editor, but a great author under his

wing could mean more pay and working with only the top authors like Dana Pierce. It meant more perks as well as months in

Europe on book tours. He liked the perks. No, scratch that. He fucking loved the perks.

"Who did we sign?" Jeff, a junior editor asked with a calculating gleam in his eye.

Nick was curious about that. A few weeks ago he knew they were able to sign five of the forty-something clients that were

signed with Miss. Harris' internet company. Out of those five he knew the one he was going to grab. It was the one that he could

easily see reaching Dana's status in five years. J.L. Lewis was going to be his client no matter what. She would be his Dana

Pierce. He would take her from her already established e-book fame and set the world on fire. There were several others from

her clientele that he wanted, but none of them had the potential J. L. Lewis had. No, that author was his.

"I have a list here of who we've been able to sign and who we're waiting for. Miss. Harris," Rick gestured to the blushing

recluse, "was the owner of Harris Publishing House and has been able to convince many of them to take a chance with us and

expand into print. Of those who haven't signed we own their contracts for another book so we have plenty of time to prove that

signing with us is in their best interest."

Several people glanced at Miss. Harris with looks of surprise. The women sent her openly dismissive looks. Not a

surprise. Miss. Harris certainly didn't look like the type who could handle a telemarketer never mind an insanely successful

business like Harris Publishing.

"Take one and pass the rest along. Here's the list of people we've signed, contracts we now hold and those holding out,"

Rick said as he handed a stack of paper to Jeff who greedily took his. Nick knew the second the younger man saw J.L's name.

His entire face lit up.

Well, tough shit because J.L. was his.

"Rick," Jeff said, probably trying to grab J.L. before anyone else had a chance to see the list. "Who's getting who?"

Nick wasn't too worried. He knew how this would go down. The senior editors would meet. They'd take who they wanted

and would leave the rest for the junior editors to fight over. He wasn't too worried about Rick trying to grab J.L. The man had

his hands full with Dana's new book as well as the new book Dana and Edward just finished together. No, J.L. was as good as

his.

"Well," Rick started. He cleared his throat and pasted a friendly grin on his face. "As part of the agreement between

Rerum Publishing and Miss. Harris as well as the clientele's request, Miss. Harris will continue to oversee their work as our

newest senior editor."

There was a long moment of stunned silence as every set of eyes in the room turned to the squirming woman. Nick felt all

his good humor slowly disappear. This was.....this was.....

Bullshit!

J.L. was supposed to be his. He had plans. He already put out feelers for promotional events and the response he'd

received was astronomical. This was not happening.

He shoved to his feet. "Rick, can I have a word with you?"

Rick sighed, but didn't look too surprised. The rest of the staff sent him grateful looks. Could they really be that stupid to