A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts 2)

“Is that all?” she asked when she moved past the woman to take up her search for a bathroom once again.

“He’ll get fired!” Holly pleaded, cutting her off once again.

Normally Jamie would probably just mumble an apology and hear this woman’s nonsense out but she really didn’t have the patience and according to her bladder she really didn’t have the time. Instead of doing what she’d normally do she faced the woman and decided to end this little game.

“Look, I get it. You’re into Nick. You’ve probably been pinning after him since the moment you met him and I’m guessing he hasn’t exactly been receptive or your attention,” she said, knowing that she’d guessed right when the woman’s sympathetic expression turned angry. “When you found out that you were joining this tour you probably thought that you finally had your chance, but unfortunately your timing was off because Nick and I are dating and now-“

“You’re not dating!” the woman cut her off. “He’s f**king you, that’s it. That’s all that Nick is good for. He f**ks anything and everything with a pair of tits and the only reason he’s with you is so that he can get ahead at work!”

“Um, he doesn’t work for me,” Jamie pointed out.

Holly spat out a cruel laugh. “No, but if you reach Dana Pierce’s sales records he’ll be able to pretty much do whatever he wants. He’s just using you. That’s the only reason why he’s with you,” the woman said, destroying a huge piece of her newfound confidence as old insecurities rushed to the surface.

“Look, I’m trying to give you a head’s up because once this tour is over he’ll be dropping you,” Holly said, storming past her to return to the convention.

“Because you want him for yourself,” Jamie pointed out almost desperately.

Holly simply shrugged. “It will either happen during the tour or later. Nick’s a man who likes to f**k and he’ll eventually come my way.” With that she walked off leaving Jamie feeling like she’d just been kicked in the gut and unfortunately still desperate for a bathroom. Instead of turning around and heading back the way she came she continued forward. She wasn’t ready to face Nick or the Holly’s mocking sympathetic looks just yet.

She knew the woman would do and say anything to get Nick for herself, she wasn’t an idiot after all. Thanks to Caitlyn she knew exactly how vicious some women could be, but that didn’t stop the words from having their desired effect.

This was only temporary. Nick had told her that. In fact he’d been very honest about that little fact. When this tour ended then so did their relationship.

Before this lovely little talk with Holly she assumed it was because the man couldn’t commit, but now she had to wonder if there was possibly a little more to the situation than she’d first realized.

Was it possible that Nick tricked her, okay so he didn’t have to trick her, but could this whole thing just be a way to get her to do what he wanted? As she continued her desperate search for a bathroom she had a hard time coming up with any other reason why a man like Nick would even look twice at a woman like her.

It kind of figured that she was in love with a man who had an agenda.

******

“Here,” Nick said as he went to hand over several bars of Swiss chocolate to Jamie.

“No, thank you,” she murmured politely, not bothering to look up from her computer as she answered him.

He might be new to this whole relationship business, but he knew the signs very well since he used to use them to his own advantage. Since she came back from her long bathroom break she wouldn’t look at him, touch him, or speak to him unless it was absolutely necessary. More importantly she wouldn’t let him touch her. Every time he moved closer to her she found some reason to move away. He knew he hadn’t done anything to screw this up and he also knew the source of the problem.

Holly.

She was already packing her bags and heading home. The moment she came back without Jamie he knew she’d done something. It wasn’t until his sad little recluse came back and began greeting fans and looking close to tears that he knew the woman had caused problems for him. When he explained how Jamie was acting and how the woman was beyond incompetent since she couldn’t seem to do anything without his help Rick had demanded that she be sent home.

He knew Rick wasn’t pissed because a woman had put him in the doghouse with Jamie, but that the woman had screwed with one of their clients. Their job was to ensure their clients were well represented, handled properly, looked after and were presented in the best possible light to readers. Having an author who looked close to crying every time someone asked for her autograph was the last thing any of them needed on this tour.

When he asked her what the hell she said to upset Jamie the woman tried to play innocent with him. She even had the audacity to suggest that they talk things over in her room. It wasn’t until he sent her packing that she lost that cool facade.

She’d glared at him before storming off, but still didn’t tell him what the hell she said to Jamie.

There was no doubt in his mind that whatever she said to Jamie was making Jamie think twice about being with him. An hour ago when he spotted her near the front desk he knew without a doubt that she was there to get her own room, but he wasn’t having that. He convinced her to come upstairs to work and then he’d been at a loss as to what to do. Thankfully he remembered the chocolate he snuck in his bag for her and used it to confirm his suspicions.

She was leaving him, which normally wouldn’t be a problem except that he didn’t want her to leave him. He wanted her to stay with him and he’d do whatever it took to make that happen.

“What the heck are you doing?” she demanded as he pulled her laptop away from her, yanked her to her feet and threw her over his shoulder.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” he demanded, standing perfectly still as he waited for her to make this easy for him and just tell him what the hell was wrong so that he could fix it. Of course she didn’t.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she said, wiggling in his arms.

“Then I guess I can’t put you down,” he said, heading for the door.

“Where are we going?”

“To check off another item on your list,” he said with a shrug that unfortunately shifted her forward and scared the hell out of her. He shifted her back to where she belonged as he made his way down the dimly lit hallway, relieved that she didn’t start screaming for help. Then again he probably should have known that she wouldn’t make a sound. She did hate being the center of attention after all.