Page 11 of A Reclusive Heart

Did she really think that she’d be able to get rid of him that easily? She really had a lot to learn if she thought that she could dismiss him.

He picked another buzzer at random.

“Hello?”

“Pizza delivery,” Nick said.

“I didn’t order any pizza,”the guy said.

“Are you sure? It’s all paid for.”

“Oh, wait. Um, yeah, I think my wife did,”the guy said after a slight pause, buzzing him in a few seconds later.

Nick walked through the paste-white foyer and headed for the stairs, taking them two at a time. A few minutes later, he was knocking on her door.

No answer.

“I know you’re there, Miss Harris. I can wait here all night if that’s what it takes,” Nick said with a bored sigh as he leaned against the doorframe.

Her answer was a small gasp. He had to smile. Yeah, his little recluse was going to do what he said when he said it. Then, it was smooth sailing from here on out.

“Miss Harris, please open the door so that we can talk.”

“No.”

“Miss Harris, I can stay here all night. Why don’t you save us both some time and open up now? The sooner we get this over with, the sooner you can go to bed,” Nick promised in a reassuring tone, but he really couldn’t help but wonder how bad the makeover was.

Did she look like Frankenstein?

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Miss Harris,” he said warningly, his patience quickly becoming a thing of the past.

“You can stay out there as long as you want!”

She wouldn’t...

She did!

The light beneath the door disappeared. A minute later, he heard a door shut. No doubt it was her bedroom door so that she wouldn’t have to hear him.

“Son of a bitch!” he snapped as he banged on her door.

Nothing.

He waited another five minutes, feeling like an idiot. No woman ever made him wait. It was unheard of! The fact that this little recluse had pissed him off.

“This isn’t over,” Nick said to absolutely no one. After glaring at the door one last time, he left, knowing that this was far from over.

CHAPTER 6

“This is Jamie Harris,” Jamie said in a hoarse voice, hoping that she wasn’t overdoing it.

“Good morning, Miss Harris. This is Jennifer, how can I help you?”one of the office assistants asked cheerfully.

“Could you please tell Rick that I’m going to be working from home today? I think I caught something yesterday,” Jamie said, adding a sniffle at the end.

“Miss Harris, could you hold please?”Jennifer asked before she placed Jamie on hold without waiting for an answer.

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