HH02 - A Reclusive Heart (31 page)

Beautiful glimmering caramel eyes looked up and locked on his. He watched as she worked her mouth soundlessly for

several minutes before finally closing her mouth and looking away from him in defeat.

"If you can't tell me that you don't love me then why don't you tell me why you're willing to lie to me, Jamie?" he

suggested, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Tell me why you're willing to break my heart," he whispered against her forehead.

Instead of answering him she shook her head, but thankfully didn't try to step away from him. He dropped his hands from

her face and without a word swept her up into his arms and carried her down the hallway. When she still didn't speak he

started to become a little nervous. He sat down on the leather loveseat and adjusted her in his arms until she was straddling his

lap. Once he was done he took both of her cool hands into his and pressed a kiss to each palm.

"Are you upset about the video?" he asked, feeling like an idiot. Of course she was up about the video, but he didn't know

if that was the reason that she was pulling away. "If I had known, I-"

"It's not the video," she whispered.

"Then what is it?"

"I shouldn't be around you."

"Why? Because I'm a bad influence?" he asked teasingly, hoping to get her to smile. When her lips twitched he damn near

sighed in relief.

"Because of the threat. If you're around me you might get hurt."

"And you don't want me to get hurt?" he guessed.

She shook her head.

"Because you love me?"

"Maybe," she mumbled, pulling her hands away so that she could play with one of the buttons on his shirt.

"Maybe?" he repeated, trying not to glare at the stubborn woman as he continued. "You thought by pushing me away that

you were protecting me."

"If you're not around me then you won't be hurt," she said firmly as she looked up and met his eyes.

"Uh huh," he said, wondering if he should just spank her ass now or cut off her chocolate supply. It was his job to protect

her and he really didn't appreciate her interference. It was touching that she cared about him enough to protect him, but really

the woman needed to let him do his damn job, he decided with a shrug as he rearranged her on his lap until she was lying

across his knees.

Chapter 28

"Oh, no you don't," Nick said, swiping the large coffee roll with extra icing out of her hand.

"But I need that!" She made a mad grab for it, but Nick simply ignored her as he put it back in the white bakery box and

dropped the box in the top drawer of the tall black filing cabinet near his desk. When he closed the drawer and locked it she

considered kicking him in the shin and stealing the key out of his hand.

"No, you don't," he murmured as he pulled her into his arms and pressed a soft kiss against her lips. "You've already met

your sugar quota this morning," he explained before taking her hand and pulling her towards the door.

"Hey! You don't get to set my sugar quota," she muttered pathetically as she threw a look of longing over her shoulder at

the filing cabinet.

"I do when I wake up at three in the morning to discover a mound of empty candy bar wrappers-"

"It wasn't a mound," she muttered, ducking her head in embarrassment the second he pulled her into the busy hallway.

He of course ignored her denial and kept going. "-the bedroom light on and you tearing through your boxes and bags in

search of your next fix," he said, sounding amused, but she really couldn't tell since he was looking ahead and of course she

was still staring at the ground.

"I was hungry," she pointed out only partially lying. She had been hungry since they didn't get a chance to eat last night.

After he spanked her, and she still couldn't believe the big jerk did that or more importantly her reaction to it, he taken her in

what seemed like every room and every position he could think of as if he were trying to prove something. The only thing he

managed to prove was that the man was a god in bed, or rather on the couch, stairs, against the wall, shower, etc.

When he'd finally had enough around one this morning and passed out she'd been left exhausted, but too worried to fall

asleep. She was worried about his job and she knew it was in jeopardy even though he tried to play it off like it was nothing to

worry about. She was also worried that the stubborn man was going to get himself killed by sticking around her.

The few times she got an opportunity to try and explain that he needed to put some space between them had ended with a

murderous glare and her screaming his name until she thought her head would explode. The man was too stubborn to think

clearly. She knew that he thought he was in love with her, but she also noticed that he hadn't spoken a word about the future.

There was no point in asking if there was a future when she knew there wouldn't be. He'd told her that he couldn't give her a

future and she knew that his telling her that he loved her hadn't changed that.

As much as it hurt, it was also a bit of a relief because that meant that she still had a chance to explain things and help him

see that he really shouldn't be taking any chances by being around her. She knew he felt protective of her and that was sweet,

but she really could take care of herself and besides, the police were looking into it. Plus, she was planning on being careful,

really careful so there really was nothing to worry about.

After a moment she realized that the usually busy office that made her nervous with its constant "Go, go, go" mentality was

eerily quiet. Had everyone left? she wondered as she chanced a peek and immediately wished that she hadn't. The normally

busy office was still overflowing with people, but instead of rushing off here and there like they normally would they were all

standing around, staring at her and Nick.

Her cheeks burned as she registered looks of disgust from most of the women and a few leering looks from some of the

men. Of course they'd seen the video, she realized, feeling like an idiot. Everyone on earth probably saw that video by now and

thanks to that little performance they probably thought that she was a slut. That thought was confirmed by a few gestures and

soft chuckles directed her way. What she wouldn't give to be able to make a run for it at that moment.

Nick suddenly stopped, causing her to slam into his back, but he barely noticed as he leveled a scowl on the onlookers.

"Is there a problem?" he asked in calm tone, but there was no hiding the fury in his tone or his challenging stance as he silently

dared anyone to say anything. If she hadn't been so stressed or worried about Nick at the moment the way they jumped back into

whatever it was they had been doing before they spotted her and Nick would have made her smile. As it was it barely took the

edge off of her humiliation.

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze as he once again headed down the now thankfully busy hall towards the boardrooms.

When he pulled her through the open doorway of the room she recognized as the one they held their morning meeting in she

became very nervous. If two minutes of being stared at by her co-workers, the same co-workers she had a legal contract

forcing her to face when she was required to come to the office, was unsettling she doubted that an hour or more under the same

scrutiny would do anything ease her nerves.

"Dana? What the hell are you doing here?" Nick asked, drawing her attention to the beautiful woman sitting at the large

table. She wasn't too surprised when she spotted Edward Pierce sitting to her right, holding her hand.

Jamie watched as the beautiful woman shrugged. "I decided to attend this meeting since it affects my next book," Dana

explained, sending her a discrete wink that had her chewing her bottom lip nervously as she looked around the room to find a

very somber Rick sitting at the table along with several men and women she was pretty sure that she didn't know, but was

pretty sure judging by the looks they were sending Dana and Edward that they were not happy with the power couple's

presence.

"Please have a seat," Rick said, giving them a forced smile as he gestured for them to sit across from Dana and Edward.

As much as she would love to run away she forced herself to walk the ten feet and sit down. She needed to do this for

Nick. She needed to help save his job and do whatever she could to keep him safe. The scent of cheap perfume hit her nose a

few seconds before she heard the sounds of heels clipping against the floor. When she looked up she wasn't too surprised to

see Holly, whom she kind of thought had been fired, walk into the room, looking smug.

Jamie watched as the woman walked around the table and took a seat near an older gentleman, who didn't look pleased

with her sitting next to him. Not that she could blame the man. Even from here the perfume was starting to sting her nose and

eyes.

"Why don't we begin?" Nick asked pleasantly as he entwined their fingers and faced off against the men and women that

were probably seconds away from firing him.

If, no there weren't really any
ifs
, when they fired him she fully planned on walking out with him. The only problem she

had would be finding a lawyer good enough to get her out of the iron clad contract that she'd signed. She didn't like the idea of

staying here without Nick. It didn't feel right that she got to stay while he had to-

"Miss. Harris, I'm sorry to say this, but you're fired," the man in the coal gray suit who was sitting next to Rick said, kind

of shocking her.

"You're letting me out of my contract?" she asked, trying not to sound too eager. If they did, that meant that she could go

with Nick. She wasn't allowed to start up another publishing company, but he would be. She didn't think that they'd really have

any kind of futur,e but she could show her thanks by signing on with him and maybe J.L. Lewis could help him build a lucrative

business.

The man shook his head. "No, you're still contracted through us for J.L. Lewis, but we've decided that as Jamie Harris you

will no longer be associated with Rerum Publishing House," he explained before shifting his eyes to Nick.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Quinn, but I'm afraid you're fired as well," he said, surprisingly not sounding very happy about it at all.

Then again from what she saw, Nick was a hard worker. His personal life might have drawn concerns, but his work ethic

was irreproachable. He worked hard, put in long hours and wasn't afraid of doubling his workload to get the job done.

Personally she thought they were foolish to let the man go.

"I understand," was all Nick said.

What the heck? He was just going to sit back and let this happen? This was her fault, not his. None of this would have

happened if it weren't for her and she sure as heck wasn't about to sit around while they destroyed Nick's career. She opened

her mouth to say, well, she really wasn't sure what the heck she was going to say when Dana spoke.

"I guess this is where I tell you that I will not be signing my contract to continue with Rerum Publishing," she said quietly.

Rick for some strange reason looked slightly relieved while the rest of them, even Holly, looked panicked.

"Let's talk about this, Mrs. Pierce," the man who'd fired them said almost desperately.

Dana simply shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable signing with Rerum Publishing when you're releasing

one of the main reasons that I enjoy working with this company in the first place. Mr. Quinn has always double checked my

work for me, helped plan my tours when I decide to take them and if I can't reach Rick for some reason he's the person I go to.

If I can no longer count on having someone like Mr. Quinn for support then I don't believe I will continue with Rerum

Publishing."

"Mrs. Pierce, any of our agents can do that for you. They'd be more than happy to help you with any problems that you

have," a middle aged woman with graying chestnut hair that was pulled back into a painful look bun explained imploringly.

"Although I have the utmost respect for your employees, none of them are as dedicated as Mr. Quinn."

"Our hands are tied on this matter, Mrs. Pierce. Not only did Mr. Quinn have an inappropriate relationship with his client

and employee, but he also put Rerum into a very unpleasant situation by canceling dozens of interviews and personal

appearances. That's not something that we can simply-"

Edward Pierce cut the man off. "I've known Mr. Quinn for several years now and I've never known him to act

inappropriately with clients or employees for that matter, which is pretty impressive given his personal reputation. I can

understand that you're not thrilled with the situation, but from what I saw on the video this is not a simple fling nor did either

one intend on making their situation public. It appears to me that two people very much in love had a very personal moment

stolen from them and exploited," he said before throwing her a wink that had the blush that she was pretty sure was going to

reduce her to ashes intensifying.

She felt her eyes widen and a whimper work its way up her throat at the realization that Edward Pierce and no doubt Dana

Pierce, judging by the soft blush painting the woman's cheeks, had watched her have sex. Oh god......