Page 42 of A Reclusive Heart

“This has nothing to do with them!” Jamie snapped, quickly climbing off the bed and away from him. “I’d already decided todo this before I found out,” she announced, surprising the hell out of him. She’d decided to sleep with him? That was actually kind of flattering and apparently all his damn dick needed to hear before it took notice and stood at attention.

“Then, why didn’t you talk to me about it before?” Nick asked, climbing off the bed and set his empty can on the coffee table.

“Because it had nothing to do with you!” Jamie snapped in irritation as she practically stormed out of the room, leaving him there to process her words and when he finally did, he went after her.

He found her already naked and climbing into the shower. “What the hell do you mean it had nothing to do with me? Why wouldn’t it have anything to do with me?” Nick demanded, grabbing her by the arms and gently pulled her away from the shower so that she couldn’t avoid this conversation.

“Exactly what it sounds like,” Jamie said, yanking her arms away and turning her back on him as she climbed back into the shower.

“Bullshit,” Nick snapped, stepping in behind her, uncaring that he was getting his clothes wet. “This morning, you couldn’t get enough of me, and then all of a sudden, you’re ready for sex and looking elsewhere? I’m not buying it, Jamie. So why don’t you tell me what the fuck is going on here.”

“Nothing is going on,” Jamie said evenly as she pushed him aside and climbed out of the shower. She stalked out of the bathroom naked and wet and he was right behind her.

“Then, do you mind letting me know what I did exactly to piss you off?” Nick demanded, grabbing her hand and forcing her to turn around to face him.

“Are you serious?” she demanded, taking a step closer to glare up at him.

“Deadly. One minute, you’re just as hot for me as I am for you, and now you’re telling me that you’re ready for sex, but only if it’s with another guy,” Nick said, taking a step forward and backing her up until the back of her knees hit the bed.

“I don’t understand your problem, Nick. You’re the one who ended things this morning. I’m just following your lead and moving on.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t end things with you,” Nick snapped, wondering what the hell was she thinking? He couldn’t stop thinking about her and she thought he was done with her? Not by a long shot.

“Then, what exactly do you call making plans with another woman right in front of me?” Jamie demanded, looking so damn hurt and alone that he wished like hell that he hadn’t been a moron. “I call that ending things, wouldn’t you?”

“No, I call it a moment of stupidity, Jamie. I don’t want to be with her,” he explained. When she snorted and moved to step past him, he cupped her face in his hands to stop her. “It was a reflexive thing for me to say, Jamie. I wasn’t thinking at the moment. Since I knew the next time that I came here that this tour would be over, I didn’t think much about making a promise that I didn’t plan on keeping. Trust me, if I wanted her, I wouldn’t be here. I threw her number away as soon as I was done talking to her.”

“Why didn’t you go home with her tonight?” Jamie asked so softly that he nearly missed it.

“Because she wasn’t you, Jamie,” Nick said, leaning down to brush his lips against hers.

The second his lips touched hers, he needed more from her, needed her. He knew it was the same for her. Whatever this thing was between them, it left them helpless to fight it. Simply touching her never seemed to be enough. He could never seem to get close enough to her and always wanted more.

She moaned softly into his mouth as she frantically worked at the buttons on his wet shirt while he reached between them and struggled with his equally soaked leather belt and pants. His zipper was barely down before they were on the bed. He settled himself between her legs even as he raised himself up so that he could slide a finger inside of her only to find her soaking wet.

It never failed to make his blood boil to discover just how turned on his little recluse could get. When she rolled her hips to ride his finger, he was forced to release his poor cock from his wet underwear to relieve some pressure. She felt so good and so damn perfect.

When she wrapped her legs around his waist, he didn’t even question it. He just went with it even as his brain screamed for him to back the hell off and give her space. She was upset and for good reason and he knew that he should back off. She wasn’t thinking clearly, but he wanted her so damn badly that he couldn’t think straight. That always happened around her. As he settled between her legs, he prayed that she wouldn’t regret this later, but he just had to be sure...

“Is this what you want?” Nick asked against her lips, pressing the tip of his cock against her core and nearly groaning in pleasure when hot liquid coated him.

“Yes!” Jamie cried as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and deepened the kiss until he couldn’t take anymore and pushed inside her.

He let out a loud groan as he swallowed her small cry of pain as he broke through the evidence of her innocence and buried himself to the hilt. Once there, he forced himself to stop. It didn’t matter that this was the wettest, hottest, and tightest hold that he’d ever experienced. The only thing that mattered at the moment was his little recluse. He had to make this good for her and judging by the way she went still beneath him, he knew that she wasn’t enjoying this nearly as much as he was.

Not thrusting into her body was one of the hardest things he’d ever done, but for her, he suffered through it as he slowly kissed her back to the point where she needed this, needed him. When she rolled her hips experimentally against him, he knew that she was ready. He slowly pulled out, groaning at the sensation of a thousand wet tongues licking his cock and pushed back in.

His pace never increased and his thrusts were gentle as he took her. It was the most erotic experience of his life. He’d never taken a woman like this before. Whenever he took a woman to bed, it was always a quick fuck and nothing more. He’d also never taken a woman without a condom before and that thought was just registering in his mind when he felt her tighten around him. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly against him. When she shattered around him, he lost control and with three deep, hard thrusts, he was joining her, barely bighting back a curse at the biggest fuckup of his life and silently praying that this didn’t come back and bite him in the ass later.

When the last spasm tore through him, Nick rolled over onto his back and pulled a panting Jamie with him. A moment later, when the haze of pleasure began to wear off, he felt the change in Jamie almost immediately. When she tried to pull away from him, he held her tighter. She wanted to escape what happened and she couldn’t do it any longer. It was time to give into the grief that her family put her through. When the first sob finally broke free, his arms tightened around her and didn’t relax until the last sob left her body hours later and she fell asleep in his arms.

After he was sure that she was asleep, he carefully crawled off the bed. He walked into the bathroom and shut off the shower and gave Rick a call asking him to cancel their plans for the day. Rick didn’t need to ask why and for that, Nick was grateful. Withthat done, Nick walked back into the room and looked down at his little recluse as she curled up into a ball on her side. He bent to grab his shirt only to discover that he didn’t want to leave her.

Deciding not to question his need to stay at the moment, Nick quickly pulled off his damp clothes and threw them over the shower rod before joining Jamie in bed. Once he had her back in his arms, something inside of him calmed and he found himself falling asleep with the woman that meant the world to him safely in his arms.

CHAPTER 22

“We need to talk,” Nick announced when she made the mistake of opening her eyes. That, of course, was also the moment her stomach decided to inform her that it was quite angry with her. Actually, the way that it was tightening and twisting let her know that it absolutely hated her.

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