A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts 2)

“A week? I won’t be here. I have to go back on tour. Can’t we make some sort of compromise?” she suggested, almost desperately.

The man stubbornly shook his head as he walked past her. “I’m sorry, Miss.

Harris. I really am, but I’ve put up with too much nonsense over the past month and I’ve gotten one too many complaints about you,” he said, surprising the hell out of him. People complained about his little recluse? Bullshit.

“But I didn’t do any of those things! You know Mrs. Brigs has a hearing problem and Mr. Ames thinks the government is stealing his thoughts! Please don’t do this!”

“A week, Miss. Harris, and I want you out,” he said, getting the final word in before he disappeared through the stairwell door, leaving his little recluse left standing in the hallway, looking defeated with her little shoulders slumped.

“I think you’re going to have to move, Jamie,” he said, switching his bag into his other hand so that he could put his arm around her shoulders.

“I know,” she muttered unhappily as he steered her towards the elevator. “Do you think Rick will let me out of a few events so that I can find a place and move?”

she asked, sounding hopeful.

He sighed heavily as he pushed the call button. “I’m sorry, Jamie, but we already pushed the dates as far back as we could without breaching any contracts.”

“Oh,” she muttered, her shoulders slumping even further.

“I tell you what, sweetheart,” he said, giving her a little nudge when the elevator doors slid open and she remained standing there looking lost and so damn sad that he ached to pull her into his arms and hold her all day, but they needed to get to work. “I can arrange for someone to rent a house for you and even hire movers to move all of yours things. How does that sound?”

“Will it allow cats?” she asked, perking up at the idea.

“You have a cat?” he asked, wondering how he missed it.

“No.”

“You want one?”

She scrunched up her face endearingly as she shook her head. “No, I can’t stand them.”

“Then why do you care if they allow cats?” he asked, fighting back a chuckle.

“I just like to keep my options open,” she said, shrugging.

As he followed her onto the elevator he wondered why he loved it when she drove him crazy.

Chapter 21

“Oh my god, I can’t do this,” Jamie mumbled as she watched in horror as a large group of paparazzi descended on her vehicle.

Why had she told Nick that she didn’t need him to follow her to work?

Because she hadn’t wanted to come across as clingy or needy that’s why. Somehow she’d managed to escape the small group that waited for her outside of her apartment building, but that was probably only because they knew exactly where she was going to end up. There was no way she was going to survive this without sugar, she realized as a swarm of people surrounded her car and started taking pictures.

For a moment she considered calling Nick and begging him to come rescue her, but she decided that at some point she’d have to figure out how to deal with this by herself and what better time than right now? She took a deep breath and when that didn’t give her the confidence that she needed to move her butt she took another one and grabbed her purse.

Trying to appear confident and relaxed, she slowly shut off her car and opened the door. Thankfully the paparazzi backed up and gave her plenty of space to step out of her car, probably hoping that she’d do something really stupid or embarrassing, but the joke was on them because she wasn’t going toOh, darn it, she thought as her purse somehow tipped upside down and spilled its contents all over the black pavement, leaving her with no choice but to drop to her knees and hurry to grab everything before they found anything embarrassing. Not that she had anything embarrassing in her purse, she thought as she grabbed a handful of butterscotch discs and shoved them back into her bag.

She was pretty sure that she’d learned that lesson a month ago and cleaned out her purse. The only thing they’d find now was a used paperback book, her wallet, candy, and”I see you believe in safe sex, Miss. Harris,” a man said mockingly as he held up the box of condoms she’d bought weeks ago and unfortunately forgot about.

She felt her cheeks burn as what had to be a hundred cameras clicked as the big jerk held the box of unopened condoms in front of her face. Clearing her throat, she took the box back, trying not to wince when she heard more clicks, and shoved them in her bag. “Yes, it’s, um, very important,” she mumbled pathetically, getting to her feet and fighting back the urge to make a run for it.

When she made it to the front of the building she nearly sighed in relief. That is until the large security guard held up a hand stopping her. “Employee pass or guest name,” he said firmly.

“Oh,” she muttered, trying to ignore the clicks as she searched through her bag for her employee pass only to come up empty handed. “I…I think I lost it.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t let you in the building without a employee pass.”

“Did you get fired?” one of the paparazzi demanded as Jamie struggled to figure out a way to get inside and away from the cameras, but all their questions and the constant clicking of their cameras made it difficult to think at the moment.

“How did it feel to find out that your mother wasn’t really your mother?”

“I hear your family couldn’t wait to get rid of you,” another one said, hitting a little too close to home.

“Please, I work for Rerum Publishing. If you call Rick Edwards or Nick Quinn they can vouch for me,” she pleaded quietly as the crowd began to close in tightly around her.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” the guard said, gesturing for her to step away from the front door. “But I have strict orders not to let in anyone without a pass or who isn’t on the list,” he said, holding up a clipboard.

She opened her mouth to ask him to check for her name, but realized that she wouldn’t be on the guest list. If she wanted to get in the building she was going to have to call Nick. She opened her purse even as the large man hurdled her away from the building and the paparazzi descended on her. After a quick one minute search she realized that her phone wasn’t in her bag.

“When did they fire you?”

“Probably after they realized your books sucked.”

“Need help? Guess you can’t call your family,” someone shouted.