Page 19 of A Reclusive Heart

“Where are you going?” Nick demanded as she walked past his room and headed to her own.

“We need to discuss our strategy for the interviews tomorrow,” Nick said, gesturing towards his room, but she ignored him and kept going.

She grabbed her room card, jammed it into the slot on her door’s electronic lock and kept jamming it until Nick took it out of her hand with a bored sigh.

“What the hell are you doing, Miss Harris?” Nick asked as he opened her door and handed her back the keycard.

“First, I’m going to order the biggest steak this hotel has since you starved me. Then, I’m going to call Rick and ask him to replace you, you psychotic jerk!” Jamie snapped as she went to slam the door shut in his face.

He stopped the door with his foot and shoved it open. Knowing it was pointless to try and shove him out of her room since he easily outweighed her by a hundred pounds, she walked over to her bag,erpurse, and dug through it.

“You signed a contract, Miss Harris,” Nick reminded her tightly. “You have a contractual duty to finish this tour. You can call Rick and complain all you want, but it won’t change a damn thing.”

“I already know that,” Jamie bit out distractedly as she turned her purse over and dumped everything onto the floor. “I made a promise and I intend to keep it,” she said, frowning when she didn’t spot her phone among all the crap on the floor. With a small groan, she dropped to her knees and began searching through the mess on the floor. She shoved aside a paperback, checkbook, tampons, half a roll ofLifesaversand still no cellphone. She blew a loose strand of hair out of her face as she looked around the beige rug. Where the heck was her phone?

“Then, I see no reason why you need to call Rick,” Nick said.

She had to snort at that. “Of course you don’t.”

“If you’re upset about the amount of work that we have ahead of us, there’s nothing that I can do about that. Those are the obligations we have and if we want your launch to be a success, then we have to do it,” Nick explained slowly as though he were talking to a child, further pissing her off.

“I have no problem with the work,” Jamie snapped as she looked beneath the bed and sighed. It wasn’t there either.

“Then, what’s the problem?”

“You!” she snapped, not even bothering to look up at him.

“You need me, Miss Harris,” Nick explained, sounding pissed. “I’ll guide you through this process, get you into the best venues, and make sure that you’re a success.”

“Anyone from your company could do that,” Jamie pointed out, wondering where her phone was.

For a moment, he didn’t say anything and she was grateful. It gave her a chance to focus all of her attention on finding her phone and figuring out what she was going to say to Rick. She didn’t want to get him in trouble despite how much he pissed her off, but she didn’t see any way around it. If she didn’t say something, he’d walk all over her and that’s the last thing that she needed right now, especially after last night.

“Finally,” Jamie mumbled when she spotted the sleek black phone peeking out from beneath the corner of the light tan couch. She reached over to grab it only to gasp when a large, tan hand swiped it up. She turned her glare up at him.

“You need me,” Nick repeated as he put her phone in his pocket, probably thinking that she wouldn’t make a grab for it.

He was right, darn it!

“No, I don’t,” Jamie argued tightly as she came to her feet, holding her hand out expectantly.

“Really?” Nick asked with a cocky arch of his brow that she didn’t like, not one bit.

“Really!” she snapped back.

“Then, how do you expect to get through your list without my help?” Nick asked, and judging by his smug grin, she didn’t have to ask what list he was referring to. “Face it, Miss Harris. You can’t do this without me.”

CHAPTER 11

This was going to be easy, Nick thought as his little recluse looked up at him through wide eyes as her mouth worked soundlessly. After her little rebellion last night, he should have realized the odd list he came across late last night would be the key to getting her under his control, but he’d still been pissed. That was fine because now it seemed that he could offer her what she desperately needed.

Him.

The only reason she’d agreed to come along on this tour was to try new things and apparently, she desperately wanted to start living her life, but there was only one problem with that. She was shy, painfully so. That was the reason why she never left her barstool last night and the reason why she’d damn near bolted every time someone looked in her direction today. If the only way to get her to stay and start behaving was to work through each item on her list with her, then that’s exactly what he was going to do.

If it meant that she would listen to him, then he’d do all the things on her list that had him rolling his eyes last night. Half the things on her list he’d done before and had actually enjoyed, so that wouldn’t bother him. Of course, the only way they’d havetime to do anything on her list was if they finished their work. She’d realize that and work her cute little ass off and do whatever he told her to do. Then, he’d help her get through her list, but only if she did everything that he wanted first.

“I-I don’t need you to do that list,” Jamie mumbled pathetically even as a red blush crept its way up her cheeks, painting her a liar.

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