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Authors: R.L. Mathewson

Tags: #romance hollywood heart recluse love sweet boss workplace romance romance contemporary romance series romance

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BOOK: HH02 - A Reclusive Heart
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"Miss. Harris?" he called out. He stepped past the couch and a half dozen shopping bags and quickly scanned the

adjoining kitchen. Nope. No little recluse there.

He wasn't too surprised when she didn't answer. No doubt she thought he'd eventually get bored and go away. Not a

chance in hell of that happening, he thought as he looked at his watch. They needed to go over a few things, pack, get to a photo

shoot, pray for a miracle, go to Cole's game and then catch a flight to Boston. This was his chance to make his mark and he

wasn't about to fuck it up.

"I'm not going anywhere, Miss. Harris. The sooner you get out here the sooner we can get to work," he announced as he

put his hands on his hips in an effort to keep himself from tearing the little apartment to shreds to find her.

Shaking his head in disgust, he walked back to the door and grabbed the laptop. He was pretty sure Rick never had to go

through this much bullshit for Dana. The reason for that was pretty simple, Dana had been motivated to get out there and ignore

her doubts and fears.

She'd been trapped in a loveless marriage with a worthless piece of shit that cared more for his computer and girlfriend

than he had for his family. Writing had been Dana's only means of escape and she'd worked her ass off day and night to perfect

her craft and it had paid off not only for her, but for Rerum Publishing and definitely for Rick.

Nick wanted what Rick had. He wanted to be a leader in the industry and most importantly he wanted to leave his mark on

the world and Miss. Harris was the key. If he couldn't get her to cooperate and get in line with his plans he would be good and

fucked. There was no doubt in his mind that she'd be switched to another editor if he couldn't pull this off quickly. His bosses

were practically drooling at the idea of having another author of Dana Pierce's caliber and they wouldn't tolerate mistakes.

With that in mind he knew that he had to entice the little recluse into doing what he wanted. He sat down and removed the

new laptop from the bag. As it powered up he looked around the small room. Beyond the basics like furniture, a small

television and a computer there really wasn't anything special about this room.

The only wall decoration was a framed diploma. Other than that there were no pictures of friends or family. No knick

knacks or keepsakes to be found. Now that he really took the time to look around the only area of the room that looked lived in

was the computer area. While the rest of the room was spotless and bare, her desk was not. It was piled high with papers,

probably manuscripts, books, candy bar wrappers, a jar of hard candies and a very old mouse pad.

Realization hit and he knew how he was going to get what he wanted. This little recluse was truly that, a recluse. She was

a young woman with no life or experience outside of her books or computer.

That's why she'd sold her successful internet company and taken a job when she didn't need one. This little recluse wanted

to experience life, to make changes and take chances. All he had to do was offer her those opportunities and he'd own her ass.

He placed the computer on her bare coffee table and opened up the document he'd been working on only an hour ago.

"Miss. Harris," he said, trying to sound casual, "I'd like to apologize for upsetting you. I realize that this is all a bit sudden

and overwhelming for you. I believe Rick made a mistake in assigning me to you." He ignored the snort of agreement that came

from somewhere in the vicinity of the tan door, probably the bathroom, and continued.

"I think this is all too much for you, too soon. I'm going to call Rick and have you switched to one of the junior editors.

He'll make sure to keep things simple. You probably won't even have to leave the office." He paused to let his words sink in.

No doubt she was feeling relieved at the reprieve.

"If you don't mind, I need to make a lot of calls. I have to cancel flights, hotel rooms, conferences, book signings, and

conventions." He sighed heavily for effect. "I guess I can wait for most of these calls until I get to the office since they'll take

hours. I had you booked all over the country. The one in Hawaii will be kind of tough to get out of." He paused for a few

seconds to allow that to sink in.

"It's really a damn shame because I think you would have really enjoyed yourself. I know touring can be a lot of work, but

it's also a lot of fun," he said as he opened his e-mail to make sure that all his travel confirmations were set. "But there's also a

lot of fun, new experiences, trying new things, meeting new people. I think this could have been really good for you, but I'm not

going to push you into something that you're clearly not ready for."

Nick waited, watching the bathroom door like a hawk. He bit back a groan of frustration, knowing he had to remain cool

and calm if this was going to work. His eyes darted back to her desk and he couldn't help but grin when he spotted the scratch

ticket.

"You wouldn't happen to know the area code for Vegas, would you? I booked you there next month and I need to let them

know-"

"Vegas?"

"Yeah, I..." his words trailed off as he turned his head and found the little recluse standing in the bathroom doorway,

fidgeting nervously with her fingers. She stood straight, but avoided looking at him.

There were few things in life that left him speechless and this was one of them. The drab, frumpy little recluse that he'd

left with his friends was gone. In her place was a very pretty and adorable woman. She wasn't the most beautiful woman he'd

ever seen, she wasn't Dana Pierce level pretty, but she was definitely hot.

He ran his eyes from her newly cut silky hair over beautiful caramel eyes, cute little nose, the bottom lip that was fuller

than the top, small oval chin, slender neck, surprisingly full breasts accentuated by a baby pink top, a slender waist, nicely

shaped hips and short, yet nicely shaped legs.

One very important question came to mind, why in the hell had she been covering all that up? That thought was

immediately followed by the realization that this new look would definitely work in his favor. Before all he had was her work

to push the name. Now he had a beautiful face to back the work. This would be easier than he thought.

"Where else would I be going?" her quiet voice tore him from his thoughts. He gave himself a mental shake and focused

on the problem at hand, convincing her to take a chance with him.

He moved to the end of the couch, gesturing to the computer on the table. "The whole itinerary is right there if you'd like to

take a look," he said casually as if he wasn't nervous as hell.

She looked close to bolting again, but curiosity clearly won out. She sat down on the couch, careful to keep her distance

from him and scrolled down the list. He knew she liked what she saw by the way she was trying to bite back a smile.

"And there would be time for me to do other things?" she asked hesitantly.

Oh, he had her. J.L. Lewis was his.

"Absolutely."

Chapter 6

"What are you doing?"

Jamie quickly shifted the new laptop on her tray so that the monitor was now facing the airplane window.

"Nothing," she said quickly.

Nick frowned down at her. Even sitting down he towered over her, intimidating her. She inwardly sighed, wondering

when she was going to catch a break. Thankfully, and much to her delighted surprise, first class seats really were spacious. All

throughout her photo shoot and meetings this morning she feared being squished between Nick and some unknown, probably

smelly person, during the six hour flight, but luckily the airline bumped them up to first class at the last minute. It probably had

something to do with Nick flirting with the ticket woman.

She wondered if he would use that lovely little talent for the rest of their flights during their tour. It would save her

nerves. Not that she couldn't handle sitting in coach. She could. The few times she'd flown were in the coach section and she'd

survived.

No, her concern was being squished in by Nick. He intimidated her and made her feel uncomfortable. The man was far too

bossy for his own good and with her being the world's biggest pushover that wasn't exactly going to help. Space was her

friend. As long as she had that she could breathe and think clearly. Well, sort of....

"If you're not working then I need the computer," Nick said, sounding grumpy. He hadn't been happy when he discovered

that she didn't own a laptop. When she quietly suggested they bring her desktop with them he glared at her. Just glared. For

about a minute she held back her apology for not owning a laptop. She knew it was stupid, but she couldn't help it. Finally she

couldn't hold it back any longer and apologized and promised to buy one.

He didn't speak, but his eyes narrowed on her and she would swear to her dying day that they looked calculating. It made

her take a nervous step back. After another moment of making her squirm, which she really didn't appreciate, he told her they

would share his new laptop until he could find one that met his specifications for her.

She really didn't understand why they couldn't just pop into a Best Buy and pick one up and told him that. He just shook

his head and told her he'd handle it. That was fine with her. She really didn't care and was more than happy to play around with

this one. It was pretty cool. For the first ten minutes she played around with it. Then she felt kind of felt guilty about that so she

started editing John Bishop's latest novel only to stop doing that ten minutes in because she wanted to see if it was her turn in

an online Scrabble game. It was. Since then she'd been kicking some cyber butt if she did say so herself.

"Well, if you're done do you mind if I got some work done?" he asked calmly enough so she passed the computer over, but

not before she quickly closed the Scrabble window and erased the web browser's history. No need to poke the tiger, she

thought.

Deciding this was probably the best time to use the bathroom, she stood up. "Excuse me," she said as she flattened herself

against the back of the seat in front of her, there was more room in first class, but she liked to get as much space between

herself and the man watching her with an amused expression as she could.

"Where are you going?" he asked, looking back at the screen.

"Bathroom."

He nodded as if she'd asked for permission. She almost snorted. She might be a pushover, but she wasn't that pathetic. She

quickly made her way to the first class lavatory and sighed as she spotted the "Occupied" sign. Deciding that it was better to

wait here instead of in her seat, she leaned back against the wall and prepared for the long haul.

"Excuse me, is this the line for the bathroom?" a deeply masculine voice said, drawing Jamie's attention.

She looked over to answer the man and found herself speechless and probably blushing. He simply smiled at what was

probably her impression of a dying goldfish while she tried not to drool. This man was GQ level handsome, not as handsome

as Nick or Edward Pierce, but close enough to fray her weary nerves.

He held out his hand, expectantly. "Since it looks like we're going to be line neighbors I thought I should introduce myself.

I'm Sean."

Was this man flirting? Oh, he definitely was, judging by the glint in his eyes. Jamie barely stopped herself from looking

behind her for the beautiful woman that obviously had his attention. It took her a few seconds to realize that he was flirting with

her
.

She forced herself to take a calming breath as she shook his hand. This was so new and unexpected. Men did not flirt with

her. They simply didn't.

"Jamie," she said quickly when she realized she was only holding his hand and staring. Oh, she so sucked at this! He

probably thought she was the biggest freak on earth. Any second now he'd give her a polite smile and step back. Obviously he

couldn't walk away completely. There were no other bathrooms available. The poor man was stuck in line with her. Even she

felt bad for him. Why couldn't-

"Is that your husband?" he asked, still holding her hand she'd like to point out, as he nodded towards Nick who was now

scowling at his computer.

She laughed. She really couldn't help it. The very idea of Nick Quinn being interested in her never mind married to her

was truly laughable.

"You have a very pretty laugh," Sean said, giving her a boyish grin.

Jamie took her hand back and pushed an errant strand of hair back behind her ear. "Thank you."

"So, I take it he's not your husband," he concluded, sounding pleased.

She was about to tell him that Nick was her editor, but didn't mostly because she still wasn't comfortable letting people

know who she was. So instead she said, "We work together."

"Ah, I see," Sean said, leaning in closely, but not too close to make her feel uncomfortable. "Is this your first time going to

Boston?" he murmured in a rather sexy tone.

Jamie couldn't help but smile. "Yes, I've been meaning to go for years, but never had a chance," she said, thinking she also

never had anyone to go with or any reason to go. She had friends, but no one she really wanted to take an adventure with. Her

BOOK: HH02 - A Reclusive Heart
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ads

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