Page 21 of A Reclusive Heart

For three and a half hours, Jamie added things that she’d only dreamed of doing until she’d passed out at her hotel room desk. She was pretty sure she’d covered everything, but if she hadn’t, she knew that she could always add it later. Well, at least she hoped she could, but judging by the disgruntled look Nick was sending her, she realized that she might have to find a way to sneak a few more items onto the list. She had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t going to be happy when he found out that the list had gone from one page to ten or twenty or so.

Then again, this chocolate convention hadn’t been on the list, but she’d overheard one of her fans talking about it earlier and mentally added it to the list. Nick had assumed that she’d want to try to go to the nightclub again tonight and had been shocked when she’d told him what she really wanted to do. She’d hit a nightclub again soon, especially if she had him by her side, but tonight, she was all about the chocolate.

Seriously, what kind of woman would be able to pass up a convention center filled with chocolate? Okay, granted, she’d almost passed it up, but only because she always feltuncomfortable whenever she went to any event by herself, but then she remembered that she didn’t have to now. While she was on this tour, she had her own personal tag-along buddy, a buddy that would help her do all those things that she’d always dreamed of doing but never had the guts to try.

“Exactly how many items are on the list now, Miss Harris?” Nick demanded as they moved up in line to enter the convention.

She nearly rolled her eyes at “Miss Harris.” She knew they weren’t friends and that this agreement had nothing to do with friendship and everything to do with getting what they both wanted, but if he continued to call her Miss Harris, other people would question why a handsome man was spending time with her. They’d probably assume she’d paid him and she really didn’t think she could deal with another hit to her self-esteem right now.

“The name is Jamie and I have no idea how many items are on the list,” she whispered.

He sighed heavily as he grabbed her arm and practically dragged her along the line. “I suppose it would make things easier if we were on a first-name basis,” Nick grudgingly agreed as they paid for their tickets. She considered paying for his ticket since he was doing her a favor, but then remembered that he didn’t allow her to order a hot fudge sundae last night after dinner because he considered it an interruption. So, she didn’t feel bad when he had to dish out twenty bucks to get in.

Once the man in front of her headed to the right and she could see what waited for her, she gasped. It was just so beautiful. There were booths filled with chocolate, and everywhere she looked, she saw signs for free samples. She’d probably have a stomachache later, but she didn’t care. It would be worth it.

“Okay, so go grab a few pieces of chocolate and let’s get out of here,” Nick said, gesturing for her to move her butt.

“Are you insane?” Jamie asked, surprising herself, but really, he had to be. They were in a convention center that featured two floors of chocolate and if he really thought that any woman in her right mind would be able to choose a few pieces of chocolate out of thousands, then he was crazy.

He rubbed his hands roughly down his face before dropping them, looking annoyed. “You’re going to hit every vendor, aren’t you?”

Jamie nodded solemnly as she headed to the first booth in front of her. “At least twice,” she admitted as she accepted a chocolate-dipped strawberry and nearly moaned in ecstasy when the tasty combination hit her tongue.

“This is hell,” Jamie thought she heard him mumble, but decided to ignore him as she moved on to a vendor that made creamy white chocolate.

“Well,I hope you learned your lesson,” Nick said as he slapped a hot facecloth on the whimpering woman’s forehead and sat down at the small hotel room’s desk.

“It was worth it,” Jamie said, turning over on the bed to move into the fetal position so that she could press her hand against her stomach.

“I’m sure it was,” Nick agreed dryly as he logged onto his computer to check the next day’s itinerary. “You can hardly move without muttering ‘Oh, God’, but I’m sure the fifty pounds of chocolate you consumed that will probably be making a reappearance soon was worth it.”

“It really was,” she agreed, groaning.

He sent her a glare before returning his attention to the computer as he tried not to think about the four hours of his life that he’d never get back. He really couldn’t understand how anyone could get worked up over chocolate like that, but apparently, his little recluse had. She’d dragged him from vendor to vendor until he’d considered spanking her adorable ass. Finally, when he didn’t think he could take another minute of someone shoving chocolate in his face, she’d grabbed her stomach and muttered five of the sweetest words he’d ever heard, “I don’t feel so good.”

Thankful that the hell was finally over, he’d practically dragged her out of the convention, ignoring her sad little attempts to break free and go indulge in more free samples, threw her in a taxi, and hauled her ass back to the hotel where he fully planned on getting at least three hours of work out of her. He held up his end of the bargain and he fully expected her to do the same.

Speaking of the agreement...

He opened her folder, clicked on her “To do” list and nearly swore when he saw the insane number of items she’d added. After sending her one last glare that she ignored because she was squeezing her eyes shut while mumbling, “Ow, ow, owie,” he returned his focus to the list that would no doubt make his life a living hell. He swore that if she had another convention on the damn list that he was going to spank her ass.

What the hell...

He hadn’t seen this coming, but if this was what she wanted he could do it. At least she’d made the list interesting, Nick thought as he went through each item as he tried to figure out which ones they could manage to do while on this tour and the ones that were going to have to wait. By the time he was done going through the list, he had a newfound respect for the little recluse. He never thought the woman whimpering on his bedwould be interested in some of the more interesting things in life, but he couldn’t deny that the list pleased him.

This definitely just got a lot more interesting.

CHAPTER 12

“Faster!” Jamie squealed in his ear.

He couldn’t help but chuckle as he squeezed the throttle of the rented bike and sped down the deserted highway. Jamie’s arms tightened around him even as the sound of her laughter reached his ears over the loud roar of the bike’s engine.

This was her first time on a bike and he could already tell that she’d fallen in love with it. He chose this item off her list because it was one of his favorite things to do. Whenever he felt stressed or just needed a break from it all, he jumped on one of his bikes and hit the road. Granted, he didn’t do it as much as he wanted to these days, but it was still one of the few things that made him relax.

Sex was the other.

Since he hadn’t had sex in a while and it didn’t look like he was going to be able to indulge in his favorite pastime, at least not while he was on this tour, then this was the next best thing. Thankfully, his little recluse seemed to love it as much as him, so he’d be able to do it while they were on this tour. That would definitely help since Rick contacted him this morning and told him that Rerum Publishing House wanted to extend their tour.

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