A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts 2)

He’d do anything to be with her. She was the key to his happiness, his heart, his soul and the only woman he would ever love.

“Then I’ll sign the contract, but there’s something you should know,” she said, looking close to tears.

“Are you okay?” he asked, concerned that the painkillers were wearing off and leaving his little recluse in pain. He’d rather die than see her suffer.

“I’m fine, but the two books I wrote were destroyed. Holly did something to my computer and I think it’s dead,” she mumbled with a little sniffle that damn near broke his heart.

He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”

“No, it’s not, Nick. I really liked the books and they were due next month and I’m afraid I won’t be able to replace them.”

“Shhh, baby, you don’t have to,” he said soothingly as he gently cupped her face in his hand.

“Yes, I do. I signed a contract and now I don’t have the books so they’re going to-“

“You have the books, baby. I installed software onto your computer that automatically backed your files online. It’s all there, sweetheart. Everything’s fine,”

he said, pressing a kiss against her mouth. “Everything is fine.”

“Oh,” she said against his lips.

When he pulled back just enough to look at her he couldn’t help but smile as she pursed her lips up in thought. “Is there something else, Jamie?”

“I was just wondering if we were going to get a chance to finish the tour. We never got to go to Vegas, Hawaii or do the rest of the things on the list.”

He bit back a smile as he asked. “Is there something in particular that you wanted to do, sweetheart?”

She shrugged in indifference, but he wasn’t buying it. “What do you want to do, sweetheart? You know that we don’t have to wait for the tour to do it.”

“I just don’t want to go back to being the old boring Jamie that’s all,” she muttered shyly.

He chuckled as he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose.

“You were never boring, sweetheart, but you should know that we can do whatever you want, sweetheart. Anything you want to try we’ll try and I will be right there by your side.”

“Promise?”

“I promise, Jamie. Anything you want,” he promised, moving his lips back to hers.

“Then can I have chocolate?” she asked, sounding so damn hopeful that he couldn’t help but laugh.

“No yet.”

“I hate you.”

“You love me.”

“No, I love chocolate. I hate you,” she clarified even as she smiled so damn sweetly up at him.

“Really?”

“Mmmmhmm, really,” she said, nodding solemnly.

“What if I sneak you in a double chocolate milkshake, hmm? Will you love me then?”

“Will it have a shot of hot fudge?” she asked, appearing to think it over.

“It will have anything you want in it, sweetheart.”

She reached up and cupped his face. “What if I want you? Can I have you?”

“You already have me, Jamie,” he swore, turning his head to press a kiss against her palm.

“In that case I’ll take a double shot of hot fudge in it,” she said, grinning impishly up at him.

He chuckled as he leaned down and kissed her. “I guess it’s too bad that I lied then, huh?”

“I really do hate you,” she said, sighing against his lips as she kissed him back.

“Too late, Jamie. I already know that you love me.”

“Do you love me?” she asked, shyly.

He moved back just enough to look into her beautiful caramel eyes. “So much that it hurts, Jamie. You’re my world.”

“I think you should prove it with chocolate.”

“I just bet that you do,” he said, chuckling as he leaned in to cut off her protests with a kiss that probably wasn’t appropriate for a hospital room, but he couldn’t help himself. The little recluse set him on fire and holy hell did he burn for her.

Chapter 32

Three months later………

Ten miles outside of Hershey, Pennsylvania

“Is my surprise a visit to heaven on earth?” Jamie asked, trying not to sound too eager and failed. All she knew was that he better not have brought her this close to the Hershey factory without any intention of bringing her there.

Nick’s deep chuckle relaxed her somewhat as he picked up their entwined hands and pressed a kiss against her knuckles. She noticed that he did that a lot, kissing her that is. He couldn’t seem to be around her without touching her or kissing her. It made her happy and helped ease the anxious part of her that waited everyday for him to break her heart when he decided that he couldn’t handle being with her any longer.

After three months they were still going strong. It surprised her how well they were doing. Even more surprising was the fact that they seemed to be living together. It wasn’t something that they discussed. It just kind of sort of happened.

When they finally released her from the hospital she’d been too weak to go through the hassle of searching for a new home and moving. Thankfully Nick told her that there wasn’t a rush and that she could wait until she was fully recovered.

When her doctor announced that she was able to return to work, well, go to the office instead of just working from Nick’s bed, he didn’t say anything and neither did she. They just kind of fell into a routine of making love in the morning, having breakfast together, driving to work separately because of the different schedule demands they each had. Some nights they managed to have dinner together and other nights she ignored the cute little post-it notes he taped to the cabinets and refrigerator imploring her to have a normal meal and usually indulged in her love for sweets. No matter what they did or where they traveled they always ended the night making love.

Life right now was perfect and she wasn’t going to wreck it by wondering about tomorrow. She was going to live each day to its fullest and enjoy her time with Nick. If it ended tomorrow she would be devastated, but she was thankful for the memories they’d created together.

“Do you really think I’d bring you this close to the motherland and not take you? You’d try to smother me in my sleep if I did that,” he said, smiling in that way that drove her crazy and made her consider asking him to pull over so that she could double check a certain item off her list, again.