A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts 2)

She opened her mouth to calmly explain the situation, but instead found herself blurting out, “I don’t want to be torn in two.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth she groaned out of embarrassment, covered her face with her hands and since that wasn’t enough she buried her face in the pillow all while praying that he forgot that she was there and went about his business. But of course it didn’t work out that way.

“Care to explain,” he said, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

She mumbled into her pillow.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” he said, sounding amused.

With a sigh she turned her head slightly and repeated it. “I said I don’t think I’m ready for sex.” With that announcement she buried her face back against the pillow and prayed for a quick death.

“I know,” he said, pressing another kiss to her shoulder.

She moved her hands away from her face and turned to lie on her side, facing him, careful to cover her br**sts with her arms. “You do?”

“Yes,” he said, moving closer to her as he laid his hand on her hip and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “I’m well aware of that fact, Jamie.”

“Oh,” she said, frowning.

“But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want you,” he explained, making her blush and fight back a rather pleased smile. That is until he added, “You’re the type of woman who needs to be in a solid relationship with a man before you give up that kind of trust and I’ll never be him,” he said gently.

“I know,” she reluctantly admitted on a sigh. As much as she wanted to try sex, and she did as long as she wasn’t split in two, she also had to admit that she just couldn’t sleep with anyone. She wished that she could, but she had too many trust issues to be able to do something like that. She wondered if Nick realized that since the beginning of this agreement.

“What I can give you,” Nick said, pressing another kiss to her lips, “is fun.”

“Fun?” she repeated, too curious to pretend otherwise.

“Mmmmhmm,” he said, leaning in to press a kiss to her lips again almost as if he couldn’t help himself, which pleased her greatly. She liked the idea of a man like Nick wanting her, even if it meant nothing. “We can enjoy each other during this tour,” he said, cupping her chin between his fingers and gently giving her a nudge to look into his eyes, “but you need to understand that this isn’t going to lead anywhere, Jamie. I can’t be the kind of guy that you need. All I can offer you is a little no strings attached fun and I’m not sure that would be enough for you.”

Jamie thought about what he was saying as she absently snuggled closer to him, needing his warmth. When he pulled her the rest of the way she laid her hand against his warm chest. “So what you’re saying is that you’re not looking for any sort of commitment and that I shouldn’t expect one from you, because you don’t want a relationship, but you’re willing to spend time together during this tour,” she said, summing it up.

He nodded slowly. “I can’t promise that this will even last to the end of the tour, Jamie. I don’t do relationships and even that might be more than I can handle.

If we do this I need to know that you understand everything going into this or we can’t do this, Jamie. We work together and I don’t want any drama at work. Do you understand?”

“Meaning I shouldn’t expect anything or get upset if you lose interest tomorrow,” she said, shoving away her disappointment. She was on this tour to experience things and if she only had one day with Nick then she would simply treasure the experience and move on. She knew he wasn’t the type of guy to settle down and she wasn’t going to expect it.

Nick sighed heavily as he leaned in and pressed a kiss against her forehead.

“I’m sorry, Jamie, but that’s all I can give you.”

“Okay,” she said, deciding that she wasn’t going to worry about tomorrow, but enjoy him now. “Just understand that sex is not an option,” she said, knowing that without sex he would lose interest a lot quicker.

“That’s fine,” he said, slowly smiling. “There are other things that we can do,”

he said even as he leaned in to kiss her again.

“Other things?” she asked against his lips, too curious to focus on the kissing.

“Mmmmhmmm, other things,” he murmured against her lips as his hand slid between them and cupped her breast. “A lot of other things,” he said softly as he gently guided her onto her back.

“B-but no sex,” she reminded him even as her body trembled.

“No sex,” he repeated smoothly as he leaned in and kissed her again.

Lying on her back like this, she felt exposed and had to grab the floral comforter to stop herself from covering herself up. She’d never been very comfortable with her body and having a man like Nick, who’d probably been with more beautiful woman and probably found her lacking, made her even more nervous.

“Beautiful,” Nick said as he teasingly traced his fingers up and down her stomach. It was only then that she realized that he’d stopped kissing her. Worrying her bottom lip, she glanced to the left to find him kneeling by her side as he ran hungry eyes over her body. The way he looked at her, made her feel warm and helped ease some of the tension out of her body.

That tension came right back when he ducked his head and took one of her sensitive ni**les into his mouth and suckled, hard. She gasped as she reached up instinctively to push him away, but then she realized that it felt really good and didn’t want him to stop. Not sure what to do while he gently ran one hand over her stomach and down her leg while he licked and sucked her breast, Jamie decided that since this might be her only chance with him that she was going to do some touching of her own.

She reached out with her right hand and slowly ran her fingers through his hair, loving the way it felt, but more importantly encouraging him to keep going. It felt so good. Never in her life had she experienced anything that felt better. A moment later that opinion changed when he released her left nipple to work on her right nipple just as his fingers lightly brushed over her panties, making her gasp.

When he did it again she fought against the urge to shut her legs together tightly and forced herself to open her legs wider. His growl of approval sent waves of pleasure through her nipple and down between her legs and she couldn’t help but moan and run her free hand over his back. He felt so good beneath her hand.