Page 13 of A Reclusive Heart

“I see,”he murmured.

“So, I’ll see you in a few days?” It came out more of a question than she would have liked. She really needed to work on being firm. No wonder people walked all over her, Jamie thought, disgusted with herself. Well, she’d fix that later today with a trip to the bookstore because she was going to buy every self-help book that she could get her greedy little hands on.

“Hmm, perhaps I should stop by and see how you are. I could bring you something to eat and perhaps some tea for that sore throat of yours and we could go over a few things?”he offered.

He wanted to come here? Oh no, no, no, no, that couldn’t happen. Today was her fun day. Today, she was going relax and be girly. She couldn’t do that withhimhere. Plus, she wasn’t ready for him to burst her bubble.

Right now, she felt pretty. If he looked at her and still saw the same old Jamie, it would break her. She liked this new Jamie. She wanted, no,neededto be this Jamie.

“Th-that’s okay. I don’t want you to get sick.”

“Oh, but I don’t mind. Why don’t I swing by?”

“Er...”

“I can be there in ten minutes. I can see how you are and we can get some work done,”he said.

“Well, I-”

She was cut off by the beautiful sound of someone knocking at her door. Thank God for annoying neighbors. No doubt Mrs. Briggs wanted to tell her to turn down the television that wasn’t on or it was Mr. Ames accusing her of stealing his mail again. Heck, even the landlord informing her of a rent hike would be more than welcome at this moment.

“I have to go. Someone’s at the door. So, I’ll just see you at the office in a few days. Bye!” Jamie said quickly, not giving him a chance to respond, knowing that he would just find a way to talk her into letting him stop by.

Smiling, Jamie tossed her phone on the couch as she made her way to the front door. At least she’d bought herself a few more days before she had to listen to him tear into her again, she thought with a satisfied sigh as she opened the door only to have a small whimper escape when she came face to chest with Nick Quinn.

CHAPTER 7

Nick didn’t even bother looking at the little recluse as he swiftly backed her up into her apartment. He had more important things to do, like get inside her apartment so that he could assess the damage and see what needed to be done in order to make this work for him.

Once he’d backed her in far enough, Nick stepped away from her, causing her to stumble as he turned around and closed the door before locking it. Satisfied that he had her where he wanted her, Nick placed the new laptop he’d picked up this morning on the table by the door and sighed.

Admittedly, he’d been a little pissed when the little recluse wouldn’t let him inside last night so he could do some damage control, but then he went home and regrouped. He went through the itinerary he’d worked his ass off yesterday to set up and added a few things, deciding that he could be generous and allow the little recluse a few hours to console herself after her failed makeover, but that time was over now.

He turned around to get his first glimpse of her failed makeover and frowned. Where the hell did she go now? He swore under his breath as he scanned the small living room and couldn’t find her.

“Miss Harris?” Nick said as he stepped past the couch and a half-dozen shopping bags so that he could take a look in the adjoining kitchen. Nope. No little recluse in there.

He wasn’t exactly surprised when she didn’t answer. No doubt she thought he’d eventually get bored and go away. There wasn’t a chance in hell of that happening, Nick thought as he looked at his watch. They needed to go over a few things, pack, get to the photo shoot, pray for a miracle, go to Cole’s game, and then catch a flight to Boston. This was his chance to make his mark and he wasn’t about to fuck it up.

“I’m not going anywhere, Miss Harris. The sooner you get out here, the sooner we can get to work,” Nick announced as he put his hands on his hips in an effort to keep himself from tearing the apartment apart to find her.

Shaking his head in disgust, Nick walked back to the door and grabbed the laptop. He was pretty sure that Rick never had to go through this much bullshit with Dana. The reason for that was pretty simple, Dana had been motivated to do this.

She’d been trapped in a loveless marriage with a worthless piece of shit that cared more for his computer and girlfriend than he had for his family. Writing had been Dana’s only means of escape. She’d worked her ass off day and night to perfect her craft and it had paid off not only for her but for Rerum Publishing and definitely for Rick.

Nick wanted what Rick had.

He wanted to be a leader in the industry and, more importantly, he wanted to leave his mark on the world and Miss Harris was the key. If he couldn’t get her to cooperate and get in line with his plans, he would be royally fucked. There was no doubt in his mind that she’d be switched to another agent if he couldn’t pull this off quickly. His bosses were practically drooling at the idea of having another author of Dana Pierce’s caliber and they wouldn’t tolerate mistakes.

With that in mind, Nick knew that he had to entice the little recluse into doing what he wanted. He sat down and removed the laptop from the bag. As it powered up, he looked around the small room. Beyond the basics like furniture, a small television, and a computer, there really wasn’t anything special about this room.

The only wall decoration was a framed diploma. Other than that, there were no pictures of friends or family. No knick-knacks or keepsakes to be found. Now that he really took the time to look around, he couldn’t help but notice the computer desk was the only spot in the room that looked like she used it. While the rest of the room was spotless and bare, her desk wasn’t. It was piled high with papers, manuscripts, books, candy bar wrappers, a jar of hard candies, and a very old mouse pad.

Realization hit and he knew how he was going to get what he wanted. This little recluse was truly that, a recluse. She was a young woman with no life or experience outside her books.

That’s why she’d sold her successful internet company and taken a job when she didn’t need one. This little recluse wanted to experience life, to make changes, and take chances. All he had to do was offer her everything that she’d never had before and he’d own her reclusive ass.

He placed the computer on the coffee table and opened the document he’d been working on earlier.

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