A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts 2)

“No, you don’t,” he murmured as he pulled her into his arms and pressed a soft kiss against her lips. “You’ve already met your sugar quota this morning,” he explained before taking her hand and pulling her towards the door.

“Hey! You don’t get to set my sugar quota,” she muttered pathetically as she threw a look of longing over her shoulder at the filing cabinet.

“I do when I wake up at three in the morning to discover a mound of empty candy bar wrappers-“

“It wasn’t a mound,” she muttered, ducking her head in embarrassment the second he pulled her into the busy hallway.

He of course ignored her denial and kept going. “-the bedroom light on and you tearing through your boxes and bags in search of your next fix,” he said, sounding amused, but she really couldn’t tell since he was looking ahead and of course she was still staring at the ground.

“I was hungry,” she pointed out only partially lying. She had been hungry since they didn’t get a chance to eat last night. After he spanked her, and she still couldn’t believe the big jerk did that or more importantly her reaction to it, he taken her in what seemed like every room and every position he could think of as if he were trying to prove something. The only thing he managed to prove was that the man was a god in bed, or rather on the couch, stairs, against the wall, shower, etc.

When he’d finally had enough around one this morning and passed out she’d been left exhausted, but too worried to fall asleep. She was worried about his job and she knew it was in jeopardy even though he tried to play it off like it was nothing to worry about. She was also worried that the stubborn man was going to get himself killed by sticking around her.

The few times she got an opportunity to try and explain that he needed to put some space between them had ended with a murderous glare and her screaming his name until she thought her head would explode. The man was too stubborn to think clearly. She knew that he thought he was in love with her, but she also noticed that he hadn’t spoken a word about the future. There was no point in asking if there was a future when she knew there wouldn’t be. He’d told her that he couldn’t give her a future and she knew that his telling her that he loved her hadn’t changed that.

As much as it hurt, it was also a bit of a relief because that meant that she still had a chance to explain things and help him see that he really shouldn’t be taking any chances by being around her. She knew he felt protective of her and that was sweet, but she really could take care of herself and besides, the police were looking into it. Plus, she was planning on being careful, really careful so there really was nothing to worry about.

After a moment she realized that the usually busy office that made her nervous with its constant “Go, go, go” mentality was eerily quiet. Had everyone left?

she wondered as she chanced a peek and immediately wished that she hadn’t. The normally busy office was still overflowing with people, but instead of rushing off here and there like they normally would they were all standing around, staring at her and Nick.

Her cheeks burned as she registered looks of disgust from most of the women and a few leering looks from some of the men. Of course they’d seen the video, she realized, feeling like an idiot. Everyone on earth probably saw that video by now and thanks to that little performance they probably thought that she was a slut.

That thought was confirmed by a few gestures and soft chuckles directed her way.

What she wouldn’t give to be able to make a run for it at that moment.

Nick suddenly stopped, causing her to slam into his back, but he barely noticed as he leveled a scowl on the onlookers. “Is there a problem?” he asked in calm tone, but there was no hiding the fury in his tone or his challenging stance as he silently dared anyone to say anything. If she hadn’t been so stressed or worried about Nick at the moment the way they jumped back into whatever it was they had been doing before they spotted her and Nick would have made her smile. As it was it barely took the edge off of her humiliation.

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze as he once again headed down the now thankfully busy hall towards the boardrooms. When he pulled her through the open doorway of the room she recognized as the one they held their morning meeting in she became very nervous. If two minutes of being stared at by her co-workers, the same co-workers she had a legal contract forcing her to face when she was required to come to the office, was unsettling she doubted that an hour or more under the same scrutiny would do anything ease her nerves.

“Dana? What the hell are you doing here?” Nick asked, drawing her attention to the beautiful woman sitting at the large table. She wasn’t too surprised when she spotted Edward Pierce sitting to her right, holding her hand.

Jamie watched as the beautiful woman shrugged. “I decided to attend this meeting since it affects my next book,” Dana explained, sending her a discrete wink that had her chewing her bottom lip nervously as she looked around the room to find a very somber Rick sitting at the table along with several men and women she was pretty sure that she didn’t know, but was pretty sure judging by the looks they were sending Dana and Edward that they were not happy with the power couple’s presence.

“Please have a seat,” Rick said, giving them a forced smile as he gestured for them to sit across from Dana and Edward.

As much as she would love to run away she forced herself to walk the ten feet and sit down. She needed to do this for Nick. She needed to help save his job and do whatever she could to keep him safe. The scent of cheap perfume hit her nose a few seconds before she heard the sounds of heels clipping against the floor. When she looked up she wasn’t too surprised to see Holly, whom she kind of thought had been fired, walk into the room, looking smug.

Jamie watched as the woman walked around the table and took a seat near an older gentleman, who didn’t look pleased with her sitting next to him. Not that she could blame the man. Even from here the perfume was starting to sting her nose and eyes.

“Why don’t we begin?” Nick asked pleasantly as he entwined their fingers and faced off against the men and women that were probably seconds away from firing him.

If, no there weren’t really any ifs, when they fired him she fully planned on walking out with him. The only problem she had would be finding a lawyer good enough to get her out of the iron clad contract that she’d signed. She didn’t like the idea of staying here without Nick. It didn’t feel right that she got to stay while he had to”Miss. Harris, I’m sorry to say this, but you’re fired,” the man in the coal gray suit who was sitting next to Rick said, kind of shocking her.