Page 22 of A Reclusive Heart

They’d only been on tour for two weeks, but it seemed that every city they visited had a huge surge in J.L. Lewis sales that more than made up for the cost of this promotional tour. It seemed that J.L. Lewis was well on her way to setting new sales records for Rerum Publishing House and Nick couldn’t be happier. He knew this woman was the key to his success and so far, she was proving him right.

A week ago, several of her books managed to make it to number one on all the important book lists and even some that weren’t. It seemed as though everyone had J.L. Lewis fever and he knew that it was only going to get better. There was already talk from networks about making several of her books into television series and a few major players in Hollywood were hinting at a movie deal. That would mean more exposure and even higher sales and Nick couldn’t wait.

It wasn’t necessarily his job to influence the little recluse on what she should do, but he’d talk her into doing whatever deal benefitted them both. Hell, he was already toying with a European tour after this. For most authors, he’d force himself to step back even though everything in him screamed to move his ass, but this was Jamie he was talking about here.

She didn’t have a life or anyone to rush back home to, so he knew it wouldn’t take much to convince her to keep going. Tours normally could become tiresome and stressful for authors, but he knew that Jamie actually enjoyed traveling, sleeping in different hotels every night, and all the shit that authors normally bitched about. Even when she was exhausted and they had to travel late at night, she still had a smile on her face.

He’d be able to keep her happy. As long as they had the list, he owned her happiness. They’d been doing this for two weeks and he knew that she was addicted to that damn list. She loved trying new things and with him there, she seemed relaxed and able to go through with her list. The two times he had to put offthe list, she’d tried to do it on her own only to end up giving up. That, of course, pleased him because it meant that he hadn’t outlived his usefulness.

“Do you want to head back to the hotel?” Nick asked when he noticed the sun was setting.

“No!” Jamie said, sounding close to pouting, which actually pleased him.

He wasn’t ready to call it a night either. Normally, he didn’t involve women in this activity because they bitched a lot, but surprisingly, he didn’t mind bringing his little recluse with him. She loved this and couldn’t seem to get enough. The only other woman that he’d enjoyed doing this with was Dana Pierce, except in her case, she’d been on her own bike.

They hadn’t ridden together in five years and he missed it. He missed spending time with her, but she was married now and had a life of her own. He understood that she had other things holding her attention these days. They still spent time together, but it wasn’t the same.

Before Dana, he’d never spent time with a woman just to spend time with her. She made it easy to be around her and relax, somewhat. He’d never really been able to let his guard down with her and just enjoy her company, but it had been close. Oddly enough, he was able to do that with Jamie. It probably had something to do with the fact that they both knew what they wanted from this arrangement. There were no secret agendas and he didn’t have to work his ass off to flirt with her to get something out of her. He had the list and knew exactly what she needed.

For the first time since Dana, sex didn’t matter with a woman. Well, that wasn’t completely true. Much to his horror, he was attracted to the little recluse. It was hard not to be. She was a cute, sexy little thing with an infectious laugh and a genuine smile. She never pretended around him and didn’t playany of the bullshit games that other women played. It also didn’t hurt that that she had an incredible body.

That was just a bonus.

Nothing would ever come of his attraction to her. She was his client and technically his employee. Besides, he had a two-fuck limit and she wouldn’t understand. Jamie had relationship written all over her and wouldn’t understand that with him, there would never be more than two nights in his bed. Sleeping with her, no correction, fucking her, because he never slept with a woman, would make continuing this tour impossible and it sure as hell would make a European tour out of the question.

Sex would destroy everything and when she realized that she couldn’t have him, she’d be on the phone with Rick, demanding that he send someone else to take over his job. There was no way in hell that he was risking losing J.L. Lewis for sex. If his attraction to her became a problem, he’d find a willing woman to slake his lust and forget about her since one woman was just as good as another.

Note to self,sitting on the back of a motorcycle for seven hours is really bad for the derriere, Jamie noted as she slowly walked to the bathroom with a smile. Riding on the back a motorcycle had been a lot more fun than she ever thought possible. She’d already decided that when this tour was over, she was going to buy a bike and get her license. She’d briefly thought about asking Nick to help her pick out a bike, but then she remembered that this arrangement would be over by then and she’d be on her own. That thought scared her, but not enough to back down. This was something that she wanted to do, and thanks to Nick,she now knew how much fun it could be and wasn’t going to allow herself to change her mind.

Thanks to Nick, she was trying new things and finding new interests. Having him accompanying her made her feel safe. With him around, she didn’t stand out. Well, she kind of did, but that was only because she was with an incredibly handsome man. She’d take that over feeling like a loser any day of the week.

Having people look at her with open pity wasn’t exactly her idea of fun. She hated the looks people sent her when she went out to eat by herself, to a movie, or to the mall. Then again, she probably stood out thanks to the way she used to dress. She’d tried to blend into the background, but now, she realized that actually made her stand out more. With her hair shortened and her new clothes, she actually blended in a lot better, but she still wasn’t comfortable doing most of the things on her list by herself.

She’d never met anyone more comfortable in his own skin than Nick. It helped that she didn’t have to worry about being afraid to try something new when he was around. It also didn’t hurt that he’d done a lot of the things that she wanted to try, so it was just a matter of him showing her how to do something. With Nick around, it was like having her own personal tutor on life, a tutor that was also a slave driver.

From the moment she woke up until the moment he declared that she had free time, he worked her to the bone. If they weren’t going over possible interview questions and what not to say, working on her books, or editing someone else’s book, they were traveling. It was a grueling schedule and if she didn’t have the “List” to look forward to, she’d probably be begging for him to slow down.

But there was no way that she was going to give up her list. Thanks to Nick, she was trying new things and loving it. She was also starting to feel more comfortable trying new things...otherthingsthat he wouldn’t be able to help her with. There was another aspect of her life that she’d ignored. Now that she was discovering a whole new Jamie, she’d decided that it was time to give the other part of her life that she’d sorely neglected over the years a try.

She was going to have a sex life.

Hopefully, a really good sex life. She’d do all the things she’d only imagined and she’d do them with whomever she wanted. She was twenty-five years old and ready to pop her cherry. She was too old to be a virgin and definitely too old never to have been kissed. Okay, so she had been kissed in eighth grade by Gerald Logan, but that shouldn’t count since he’d kissed her on the cheek and only because someone dared him to do it.

Now that she was more confident, she was ready to give sex a try. There were so many things that she used to be afraid to try, but now that was all behind her. She was the new Jamie. Granted, this new Jamie required a little bit of help, but that was neither here nor there. If she wanted to have sex, then she was going to have it, lots of it. She did sort of wish that she could ask Nick for a few suggestions, but she didn’t want him to know about this or think that she was asking him to step up and take one for the team.

The last thing she wanted was for a guy to have sex with her because of an obligation. She wanted a man to want her, need her even if it was just for one night. Nick would probably think that she expected him to handle her needs. She knew that he didn’t want her, which was fine because she wasn’t delusional.

Nick flirted with absolutely every woman. He sweet-talked them, charmed them, and made them all want him, except for her, of course. With her, he didn’t bother flirting with her or trying to talk her into doing anything. No, for her, he used a glare and the list. As long as even part of her was still a pushover and that list existed, then he didn’t need to waste energy trying tocharm her into doing what he wanted. Besides, her heart didn’t need the confusion.

It was bad enough that she’d developed a bit of a crush on him. She didn’t need to make it worse. She appreciated that they had boundaries. It made doing the tour easier. He was her boss and list buddy and that was all.

She took a quick shower and threw on a pair of soft green flannel pajama pants and a pink baby tee-shirt before she rushed to the desk in her room only to remember that Nick had the computer. Worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, she tried to decide if this was something that could wait until tomorrow. After a minute, she realized that it couldn’t. If she didn’t make this new list now, then she’d be up all night tossing and turning as all the possibilities raced through her head.

Decision made, she grabbed her key card and walked out of her room and across the small hallway to Nick’s door. She knocked on the door and was about to knock on it again when it was suddenly ripped opened and she found herself stumbling forward. As her face plastered against warm, damp skin, it occurred to her that Nick might not be dressed.

Taking a fortifying breath, Jamie stepped back, averting her gaze as her cheeks burned and mumbled, “Can I use the computer, please?”

Nick sighed heavily as he walked over to his desk and picked up the laptop bag. When he turned around, she allowed her eyes exactly ten seconds to look over one of the best bodies that she’d ever seen before quickly looking away. The man was large and ripped and that really didn’t help with the blushing.

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