A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts 2)

“Then what are we doing here? I heard you telling Rick that you had to schedule a stopover during this tour so I’m guessing this is the stopover. What is it?” she asked, turning in her seat to look at him.

He let out an exasperated sigh that she wasn’t buying for a minute before answering her. “It’s a surprise, my little eavesdropper.”

She shrugged off his teasing. “Is it a good surprise or a bad surprise?”

“I’m hoping that it’s a good surprise, Jamie,” he said, turning all serious on her.

“Should I be worried?” she asked, wondering what kind of surprise would require them to take a few days off during their tour to come to Pennsylvania.

Maybe he was bringing her to a Hershey’s outlet store and was going to let her fill the trunk and backseat with chocolate. She could hope at least.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” he said, pressing another kiss to her hand as he pulled into the parking lot of a 50’s era dinner with a sign that boasted to having the largest dessert menu on the east coast, something the sugar addict in her was more than willing to look into.

“Why don’t we grab lunch?” Nick suggested as he parked their rental car.

“That sounds like a good idea,” she said, wondering if he was going to count that donut she snuck earlier against her. The man was so damn stubborn when it came to her sugar intake, but in a sweet cranky sort of way that actually made her smile.

That is when he wasn’t coming between her and sugar.

She watched him loosen his tie as he walked around the front of the car and nearly sighed. The man was a sight to behold. He was handsome, hot, masculine and so damn sexy that sometimes it was a struggle, like now, not to tackle him to the ground and have her dirty little way with him. By the time he made it around the car to open her door she was focused back on what was important, a huge dessert menu calling her name.

He leaned down and brushed his lips teasingly over hers as he took her hand in his before they headed towards the front doors. The scent of home cooking hit her before they made it to the doors, making her stomach growl viciously. Perhaps she’d eat lunch before hitting the dessert menu, she decided as they walked into the dinner and nearly tripped over her own feet.

The dinner was large, homey, and filled with a large crowd. Instead of the 50’s memorabilia that she expected it had old fashioned dessert and candy pictures everywhere, but that’s not what took her by surprise. Not even close. It was framed pictures, magazine covers and article newspapers of J.L. Lewis books placed among the yummy looking photos. At the front counter where a smiling woman stood near the cashier there were even J.L. Lewis books on sale among the homemade candies and treats being sold.

“What is this?” she asked distractedly as she ran her eyes over everything once again, sure that she was just seeing things.

“How many?” the smiling woman behind the counter asked, her smile slipping a little as she looked Jamie over. “You look very familiar, Miss. Have you been here before?”

“No,” Jamie said weakly, feeling a little overwhelmed. She didn’t like attention, but she normally was able to deal with it. She wasn’t so sure she’d be able to do that in a place that was set up as a living shrine to her. It was a little unnerving.

“It’s our first time here. Who’s the big J.L. Lewis fan?” Nick asked, gesturing lazily to the large stack of books on sale behind the cashier.

The woman’s smile returned full force. “That would be Aubrey. She’s the owner and the nicest woman you could ever meet,” the woman said warmly.

“Is she here?” Nick asked and Jamie just barely fought back the urge to give his shin a good solid kick. What in the heck was he thinking? He knew how nervous overexcited fans made her. If the promise of a large dessert menu didn’t intrigue her she would so be out of here, but it did so she was staying. She was also having more than one dessert because of this and if he didn’t like it then that was too bad for him.

“She’ll be here soon,” the woman said, picking up two menus as she stepped around the counter to show them to their seats.

“When she comes here could you give her my card,” Nick asked, pulling a business card out of his pocket and handing it to the woman, “and tell her that I would love to meet her.”

She took the card as she gestured them towards an oversized booth near the jukebox. “I sure will.”

“What was all that about?” Jamie asked once the woman walked away.

Nick shrugged as he looked down at his menu. “Just curious to meet her that’s all,” he said, but she wasn’t buying it. If her eyes hadn’t landed on the most enticing appetizer menu that she’d ever seen she would have questioned him further.

“You do realize that I’m going to have to get several desserts here, right?” she asked as she ran her eyes over the largest dessert menu she’d ever seen. Did she just whimper? She just might have.

“I packed the aspirin, heating pad and ice packs so you can have whatever you want,” Nick said, surprising her, not that he was prepared for one of her sugar binges, but that he was accepting it so easily.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. The one and only time he’d encouraged her to indulge in too much sugar had been right after she was released from the hospital and he had to break the news to her that her family had yet again screwed her over. Finding out that her family had made money by selling the journal she’d kept when she was fifteen had not been her favorite day. It was difficult knowing that people all over the world could read about her private thoughts from one of the most difficult times in her life.

Of course that little action helped her get over missing them real quick. They didn’t love her. She knew that. It was fine. She didn’t need them. She had Nick and some really good friends now. Although it would have been nice to have someone to call her own she didn’t need them.

“Do you want to start off with a shake?” Nick asked.

Oh god…….

He was now pushing sugar on her. This was going to be very bad. She just knew it.

“What’s wrong, Nick?” she asked, dreading his next words.

“Nothing’s wrong,” he said, smiling as he reached over and took her hand into his.

“Then why are you pushing sugar on me?” she demanded.

“I just thought you’d like a milkshake,” he said, linking their fingers together.