HH02 - A Reclusive Heart (29 page)

name, barely aware that he was chanting hers almost reverently.

When the last tremor of pleasure left her body she felt him smiling against her mouth and it wasn't until that moment that

she realized that she was smiling as well.

He pressed a kiss against her mouth before he lowered them back into the pool. "Now, let's see if we can do that in the

pool this time so that we can check if off your list," he suggested as his hand slid between her legs.

Chapter 26

"Is it time to get up?" Jamie mumbled as she snuggled into the covers.

"No, not yet, baby. Go back to sleep," he said, pressing a light kiss against her lips.

She followed his lips as he pulled away and he couldn't help but chuckle. It seemed that he'd created a little addict. That

thought was quickly confirmed when she sleepily mumbled, "Is it time for more sex? I want sex."

"I can tell," he said, smiling as she started to drift off again. For a moment he sat there watching her sleep, perfectly

content just to be near her. She so beautiful, he thought as he reached over and swept her hair away from her face. She sighed

softly in her sleep, tempting him to crawl back in bed with her and hold her, but he had work to do.

He was exhausted, he thought with a smile as he stumbled his way towards the bathroom. They'd made love twice in the

pool and then once more when they made it back to their room. It was funny how with Jamie he thought of it as making love and

not just fucking or sex. It didn't matter how hard or hot the sex was it was making love in his mind. Thinking of it in any other

way didn't sit well with him.

Jamie was........

Special.

She wasn't like any of the women he'd been with before. She was better, pure, sweet, kind and made him happy. He

wanted to take care of her, to be there for her and it didn't matter that those thoughts should scare the hell out of him, but he

couldn't stop wanting them. That didn't mean that he could give them to her.

He wasn't right for her and would never be good enough for her, he reminded himself and he'd never hated himself more

than at that moment. He was the bastard son of a whore and completely incapable of being what she needed him to be. He

didn't trust himself not to hurt her. How could he?

What the hell did he know about making a woman happy? He had absolutely no idea how to make a woman happy in the

long term or to even make a relationship work. Growing up the way he did he saw the "happily married" men around town one

day with their wives and kids and the next zipping up as they left the bedrooms of his mother and "aunts."

The only decent relationships that he'd seen over the years was Rick and his wife and of course Edward and Dana and

there was no way in hell that he was going to kid himself and say that he could have a relationship like those two. Even after

five years it was more than obvious that the two of them were more in love now than when they first got married.

He knew from the times that he went with Edward to catch a game or grab a drink that the man wasn't playing around. He

wouldn't so much as look at another woman and whenever someone mentioned Dana his expression said it all. There would

never be another woman for him but Dana. Dana would never have to worry about Edward coming home late or smelling like

another woman, which was good because if he ever hurt her, Nick would beat the shit out of him.

Jamie deserved to have a man like Edward by her side and as much as it pained him to admit this, he wasn't that man. He

couldn't trust himself not to revert to his old ways when things got tough or he got bored. It would kill him to hurt her so he

wasn't even going to try. He'd let things die out between them and the moment it did he would step back, wish her luck and

move on.

Shoving away the rather depressing thoughts he took a quick shower. Twenty minutes later he was stepping out of the

bathroom, wrapping a towel around his waist when something on the floor in front of the door caught his eye. He didn't give the

large white envelope much thought as he picked it up, figuring that it was just promotional paperwork one of the venders had

the front desk slip under his door. When he turned the envelope over he felt his heart drop in his stomach.

YOU CAN'T HIDE

The words were written in big bold black letters and he didn't need to open it to know who it was for. Cursing under his

breath, he quickly pulled on a pair of pants, grabbed his key card and left the room, ready to kill someone. When he didn't find

anyone in the hallway he ran and checked the stairwell at the end of each side of the building, hoping to find someone lurking in

the shadows, but he didn't.

The son of a bitch hell-bent on tormenting his little recluse had been close, too damn close and he hadn't been able to do a

damn thing to keep the sick bastard away. Realizing that he'd left his little recluse all alone when the sick fuck was nearby had

him rushing back to his room.

Once inside he had to make sure that she was okay. Once he saw her curled up on her side, fast asleep he pulled the

covers up over her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her cheek. He watched her for another minute before he grabbed his cell

phone, double checked the lock on the door and shut himself in the bathroom. Praying that it was just a coincidence and some

kid's sick idea of a joke he carefully opened the envelope, trying not to fuck up any evidence just in case he needed to call the

police.

What he found inside had him reaching for his phone and making that call.

*******

of herself and judging by the curious look Nick shot her, him as well.

For over two hours she'd waited patiently in an interrogation room while Nick paced like a caged animal. The only thing

they were told when they were shown into the room was that they needed to make some calls and call the police department

back home to look into their story. Being forced to wait after reading and re-reading that letter had been one of the worst

experiences of her life.

Even in this decent sized office she couldn't' shake the feeling that someone was watching her. When she'd opened the

death threats the other day at the office she consoled herself with the fact that this happened to a lot of people in the spotlight

and that it was no big deal. The truth was she'd been too freaked out to actually give it the proper attention it deserved. She'd

hoped that if she ignored it that it would go away. She'd been wrong. Not only had it not gone away but it had followed her to

Texas.

"Miss. Harris, perhaps it would be best if you allowed us to view the video first," Detective Mathers, a middle aged man

with a friendly smile, said gently.

As much as she would love to leave and pretend that this never happened, she couldn't. She took a steadying breath as she

shook her head. "No, I'm staying. I want to know what's on those discs," she said firmly.

Nick's hand tightened around hers as he said, "I'm staying as well."

With a resigned sigh, the detective picked up the disc marked, "Jamie Harris the whore" and placed it into the computer

drive. He typed something and seconds later an image of the pool from the hotel popped up on the flat screen television

mounted on the wall in front of them. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched Nick storm into the picture with her over

his shoulder.

"Oh no," she mumbled weakly.

"Stop the movie," Nick demanded, getting to his feet, but thankfully keeping hold of her hand.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Quinn?" Detective Mathers asked as he paused the movie.

Nick gestured to other three men and the woman in the office. "I really think it would be best at the moment if we cleared

the room for this."

"That's fine, Mr. Quinn, but please realize that this video may have to be viewed by other officers at a later time," the

detective explained as he gestured for the officers to leave the room.

"That's fine, but I don't think they need to be here this time," Nick said with a nod of thanks as he sat back down and put

his arm around her.

Once the door was shut the movie began to play again.

"
Why are we down here
?" the recorded version of her asked as Nick double checked the lock.

"
Are you going to tell me what's wrong
?" Nick asked as he moved towards the pool and she felt the air in her lungs

freeze as the camera moved with the action.

Someone had been in the pool room with them last night. Thanks to the dimly lit area, changing rooms and equipment there

apparently had been plenty of places to hide.

"
Nothing's wrong
!"

"
Do you by chance have your cell phone on you at the moment
?" Nick asked as he walked towards the deep end of the

pool.

"
No, why
?" she asked, sounding confused.

"
No special reason
," he said before he tossed her into the pool.

Knowing exactly what was coming, Jamie dropped her face into her hands and listened as the entire event that occurred in

the pool area played out.

When it was done she almost fell out of her chair in relief. That is until Nick practically jumped to his feet and started

flipping out. Wondering what had him mad, well besides the obvious, she looked up and nearly cried as she read the words on

the screen.

You'll be dead within the month, but before that happens I thought the world should know that the famous J.L.

Lewis is nothing but a whore.

By 10:00 AM this video and the lovely audio I recorded of your bedroom activities will have already hit the

internet.

Enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame, Bitch.

"Play the audio tape," Nick said tightly as he reached out and pulled her into his arms.

Without a word the detective carefully switched out the DVD and within seconds an audio recording of what happened

once they reached their room last night began to play.

"
You're not tired, huh
?" Nick's voice asked teasingly.

"
Not for you, Nick
," she heard herself answer in a husky voice that surprised her.

"
What if I told you that I wanted to finish what we started this morning, hmm? Would you get back on your hands and

knees for me, Jamie
?"

When Nick's deep chuckle echoed throughout the office she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her face against Nick's

chest, dreading what came next.

"
That easy, huh? Tell me, baby, are you wet for me
?"

"
Why don't you come check
?"

"Any way we can skip to the end to see if whoever the hell did this left another message?" Nick suddenly asked,

thankfully cutting off what came next.

A moment of silence followed before the sound of grunting and cries of pleasure echoed throughout the room. She felt her

cheeks burn as it played out. Once it was done she nearly sagged with relief. It didn't take long before she realized that there

was no message.

"Can we check to see if they've been released online yet?" Nick asked, giving her a comforting squeeze.

"Sure," she heard the Detective say, but refused to leave the safety of Nick's chest and face the man. That would pretty

much be impossible now that he'd watched a video of her having sex.

"Son of a bitch," Nick bit out.

"It's on the internet, isn't it?" she asked, biting her bottom lip anxiously.

"Yes."

A video and audio file of her having sex with Nick was now on the internet. People all over the world could watch and

listen to her having sex and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She knew the police could try and have the files pulled

off, but they'd just pop up somewhere else. Worst yet, whoever did this had followed through with the threat, which meant that

they probably had every intention of following through with the second threat.

Within a month someone was going to try to kill her, she realized with something close to panic. The thought absolutely

terrified her, but surprisingly she wasn't worried about herself, she realized. She was worried about Nick. If he was around he

could get caught in the crossfire and she didn't want to see him hurt. It would destroy her if anything happened to him because

of her.

She wanted him safe and the only way to guarantee that was to keep as far away from him as possible. There was only one

way she knew how to do that and it would have the added benefit of taking her out of the limelight and giving her a chance to

figure out who she'd upset so much that they were willing to kill her over it.

"Nick?" she said, pulling back just far enough to look up at him.

"Yes?" he said, looking down at her with so much tenderness that she almost cried.

"I'm done with the tour," she announced, knowing that it meant they were over, but not caring one bit. Well, she did, but

she was more concerned about getting him to safety and that meant taking away every reason he had for being near her.

"That goes without saying, Jamie," he said on a sigh as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to forehead as she tried to hold

back her hurt feelings.