HH02 - A Reclusive Heart (7 page)

eyes darted to Nick. She didn't really want to do this with him, but he was giving her a good reason to try new things. Also,

having him around made her feel a little safer and a little more confident to take a chance.

"There are a lot of new experiences to be had," Sean said as if he could read her mind. "In fact," he said leaning closer,

"those experiences can start right now, if you want. There's nothing stopping you from doing whatever you want."

She was just about to open her mouth and ask what sort of new experiences could be had on an airplane when the

bathroom door opened. Jamie was barely aware of the middle age man smiling sheepishly as he stepped past them. Her mind

was suddenly racing with ideas.

"Excuse me," she said absently as she stepped around Sean. "It was nice to meet you. Um, it's all yours," she said,

gesturing awkwardly to the bathroom.

He simply shrugged. "I didn't really have to use it. I just wanted an excuse to meet you."

"Thank you," she murmured shyly as she practically raced back to her seat, eager to start working on a list while crazy

ideas raced through her head. Could she really do this? she wondered.

There was only one way to find out, she thought as she quickly, but carefully, moved past Nick to get back to her seat. She

sat down, looked at Nick, fidgeted and fidgeted some more as he typed. Finally he let out an annoyed sigh.

"What is it?" he asked irritably.

"You wouldn't happen to have a piece of paper and a pen handy, would you?" she asked quietly. She really did not like

the idea of putting this down on paper, mostly because it was private, but there was also her little tendency to lose things.

He sighed long and loud. "Do you need to work?"

She opened her mouth to tell him no, but then reconsidered it. "Yes, yes I have to work," she lied.

"Fine," he said, saving his work before passing over the laptop. "There's a folder on the desktop with your name on it. I'd

appreciate it if you kept everything you worked on in there."

That would definitely make this easier, she thought as she shifted in her seat so he couldn't see the screen. She opened a

new word document and quickly titled it, "Things to Try List."

********

working on. As long as she worked he really didn't care and judging by her focused expression and fingers tapping away at a

rather impressive pace she was no doubt working on her next book.

A new book would be the perfect finishing touch to this little tour. Granted it would probably start a whole new tour,

preferably a European tour, but he would deal with it. He thought about asking her what her new book was about, but decided

that he'd ask in a couple of weeks. Right now he didn't need to add plans to market a new book into his already hectic schedule.

In a few weeks when everything settled down and his little recluse was firmly under his thumb he'd start working on her

new book with her. He knew getting her to do things his way was going to take some time, not much considering how easily she

folded under a simple glare, but it was still something that needed to be done and quickly.

There was too much to do and not very much time to do it in to let the little recluse have much of a say if any. He needed

to be able to make last minute decisions that would benefit them both and he didn't have time to hold her hand through every

issue. It would just make it a lot easier, for him, if she left everything to him. All she needed to do was work, edit if it made her

feel important, and show up and smile when and where he told her to, which he thought with a content sigh, wasn't going to be

an issue.

Four hours later he knew he had her exactly where he wanted her. From here on out there weren't going to be any

problems. She accepted his word as law, which she should. In fact, if all women listened to him as well as his little recluse

did his world would be perfect.

He watched as she looked around the hotel foyer nervously. When her eyes landed on the Gold Ballroom's bulletin board

announcing the romance writer's convention the following day with a special appearance by J.L. Lewis he had to bite back a

smile. The blush and look of surprise on her face was actually kind of cute, but it also let him know one very important thing.

Jamie was easily intimidated.

This was going to be so fucking easy. All he had to do was give her a little nudge every now and then, sprout bullshit in

her ear and he'd have her doing everything he wanted.

********

"Out," Jamie said, nibbling her bottom lip as she looked around.

"Where?"

Good question.

She looked down at the complimentary map she'd picked up in the hotel lobby before she started this little adventure and

frowned. Why did they have to make everything so tiny? Because the map was the size of a brochure, she thought with a sigh.

"Well?"

"I'm out."

"You're out?" he asked tightly.

"You said you wouldn't need me until tomorrow morning so I decided to walk around and grab a bite to eat," she said,

turning the map slightly to the side and frowned. Was that little brown spot the symbol for a restroom or an ATM? Not that it

mattered since all she wanted to do was go to the Museum of Science.

Visiting a museum probably didn't seem like a big deal and it wasn't. But she decided to break into the whole "Try new

things" agenda slowly. Besides she was only killing time until tonight. Tonight she was going to go to her very first nightclub

and she was pretty excited about it.

She'd never been to one. Not even when she was in college. The closest she'd ever come was a sixth grade dance that

Tommy Perkins invited her to as a dare. She'd learned that fact after he grudgingly danced one slow dance with her and his

friends started laughing their butts off at him. It had been a memorable moment indeed.

But that was in the past and had no bearing on her life now. Although she was really nervous, she was also pretty excited.

She'd always wanted to try something like this, but could never find the courage. Now that she was on this trip she was going to

force herself to try new things. By the time this was over she hoped that the old Jamie was good and buried and that she liked

the new Jamie.

A loud sigh broke into her thoughts. "Fine. Just head back to the hotel now so that we can go over some things and I hope

you ate because it's probably going to be a long night."

Her shoulders slumped as she opened her mouth to tell him that she'd be there soon, but something stopped her. She didn't

know what it was, but it gave her a moment's pause. Yes, this was supposed to be a working trip, but he'd said that she wasn't

needed until morning so she'd made plans. He really couldn't expect her to drop everything at a moment's notice to

accommodate him, could he?

If she went to him now then he'd know that he could push her around and she was done with that. That Jamie was long

gone. The new Jamie wouldn't be jumping for anyone. She'd wasted too many years of her life hiding in the background and

letting her life slip by her. She was done.

When she was supposed to work, she'd work her buns off. She'd write, edit and do the hundred or so things that he

expected from her that just thinking about gave her heart failure, but when it was her time she was going to enjoy her life for

once and no one was going to stop her, least of all the overbearing bossy jerk.

"I can't. I have plans," she said as her eyes landed on a sign for Duck Tours and widened. That sounded like fun, she

decided as she headed towards the sign.

"Well, break them. I need you to work."

"Sorry. Can't," she said distractedly as her eyes landed on a large boat/car. Now that looked like fun.

"
Jamie
," he said tightly in warning, but she was barely listening as she handed the friendly cashier the money for a ticket.

"Gotta go!" she said excitedly as she stepped into the small line to get into the boat.

"Don't you dare hang up. I need to-"

She hung up as a cute guy in his early twenties helped her onboard. As she sat down all thoughts of her overbearing boss

disappeared until she was only left with excitement.

She had a feeling she was going to love the new Jamie.

Chapter 7

He was going to strangle Jamie.

When she'd hung up on him hours ago he thought it was a mistake. He quickly learned the error of his ways when the next

ten calls went straight to voicemail. When she didn't show up within the next hour like he fully expected her to he'd become a

little irritated with her and decided to catch her when she came back to the hotel.

Either he was losing his hearing or she was the quietest woman in the world, because she somehow managed to sneak into

her room, the room next to his, shower, change and sneak out without him knowing. Well, that wasn't entirely true. When he

stepped out of the shower he heard her door click shut.

At that point he'd been willing to forgive her for ignoring his summons and pulled on a pair of sweatpants quickly before

he stepped out into the hall to knock on her door only to catch a glimpse of her as she stepped onto the elevator all decked out

in a black cocktail dress and further pissing him off.

After he got dressed, bribed the bellhop to tell him where Jamie was headed he hunted her down to a nightclub of all

places. He scanned the long line, hoping he'd find her, but he hadn't. Somehow Jamie had gotten into the club and he'd been

forced to get into the line and wait a damn hour as he kept an eye out for Jamie.

Now he had her in his sights and it was taking everything he had not to go over there and strangle the nervous little

recluse. For the past half hour he bided his time as he watched her, hoping his damn temper would go down. It hadn't. So he

watched as she sat at the crowded bar, sipping her drink as she cast wary glances towards the dance floor. Every now and then

someone would bang into her as they signaled for the bartender and he knew even twenty feet away that she apologized each

and every time.

Whenever a man approached her, the little recluse would blush bright red, mumble something, fidget in her seat and send

the guy away. Then she'd watch him walk away, frowning. Why the hell was she here if she wasn't interested in a guy or the

very least, dancing? Since he spotted her she hadn't left the stool.

Well, that was fine with him since it would make getting his hands around her neck a hell of a lot easier. He didn't know

why she was here, didn't care and he sure as hell didn't care that she looked sad. The only thing that mattered to him at the

moment was that she fucked with his night. With that in mind he made his way through the crowd.

A minute later he glared at the asshole standing next to her until he moved away and he could take his place. She didn't

realize that he was there. She was too busy watching the dance floor to notice anything going on around her.

When a whole minute went by and she didn't notice him he signaled for the bartender, a hot blonde with an inviting smile.

One look at him had her ignoring the customers vying for her attention.

"What can I get for you?" she asked as she looked him up and down. As she dragged her eyes up his chest to meet his eyes

she licked her lips. She'd been obvious about her perusal of him, he had not. In under ten seconds flat he knew if she was fuck

worthy, she was.

Maybe he'd pick her up as a treat to himself for all the bullshit his little recluse had caused him tonight, but then

remembered the shitload of work that waited for him back at the hotel. Oh well, it wasn't like he wouldn't find a willing woman

or two during the tour. When everything calmed down and he got his little recluse in line then he'd allow himself to indulge, but

not before then.

"Scotch on the rocks," he said, noting the way his little recluse froze up at the sound of his voice. He kept an eye on her in

case she decided to make a run for it as he picked up her drink and took a sip and nearly winced. Who the hell came to a bar to

drink soda? Apparently his little recluse did, which was fine with him since it meant that she'd be able to work for a few hours

with a clear head.

"Another Coke for the lady," he said, gesturing to Jamie and not really caring about the ice cold glare the bartender threw

at her.

He leaned against the bar and waited for Jamie to turn around. When she only continued to sit there rigid as a board he

sighed heavily as he grabbed the seat, ignoring that beautiful ass of hers and turned her around. When her eyes widened and she

noticeably swallowed he felt somewhat appeased. The moment he had her under his thumb he'd feel a whole hell of a lot

better.

"W-what are you doing here?" she asked, trying to shift back on her stool and away from him.

"I came to help you," he said absently while he watched the bartender move onto another customer. Well, it looked like he

wasn't getting his drink tonight.

"Help me?" she asked, frowning, not adorably, he decided. He didn't find a damn think adorable or sexy about her. Not at

all. He especially didn't like the way her dress pulled up mid-thigh, giving him a glimpse of beautiful light golden legs that