Page 29 of A Reclusive Heart

Knowing that there was probably no way to get out of this now, Jamie accepted her fate and walked to the first changing room. She wasn’t exactly surprised when she saw the saleswoman sit down on the chair next to Nick. Resigning herself to being ignored, Jamie walked into the changing room and decided to get this over with. The sooner she picked out what she liked, the faster she could put this nightmare behind her.

The first one was white silk with lace trimming. It seemed harmless enough, so she quickly undressed, leaving her underwear on and tried on the beautiful nightie. She turned to look in the mirror only to discover that there wasn’t a singlemirror in the small room. Well, that was kind of dumb, Jamie thought as she wondered how she was supposed to know how it looked.

“Have you tried anything on yet?” Nick asked, sounding impatient, which was a little shocking since he was usually relaxed whenever a woman was around, again not when it was just her. She didn’t seem to count.

“Yes, but there’s no mirror in here,” Jamie explained, looking down at herself and twisted and turned as she tried to see if it looked okay.

There was a long-suffering sigh that she knew all too well. “Use the mirrors out here,” Nick said, well, more like ordered.

“With you out there?” Jamie asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth nervously.

“Of course. How else am I supposed to help you if I don’t see what you’re wearing?” Nick pointed out and she just barely stopped herself from reminding him that she didn’t want his help with this.

In fact, she told him that she didn’t want his help with this. As soon as they finished the interview with the local paper, she’d told him that she was going to Wal-Mart to pick out some lingerie. For a moment, he’d only been able to stare down at her in that intense way that made her self-conscious and left her struggling with the urge to apologize to him. When the urge to apologize to him became too much, he’d grumbled something, grabbed her arm, and practically dragged her to their rental car.

“I’m waiting, Jamie,” Nick reminded her and she was about to refuse when it occurred to her that having a man like Nick help her pick out sexy lingerie would probably make this easier. She wouldn’t have to worry if it made her look fat or frumpy because Nick would tell her. He would never hold anything back because he was afraid that he’d hurt her feelings because hesimply didn’t care. How that was a good thing, she wasn’t sure, but it was an advantage, one she’d be foolish to ignore.

Taking a deep breath and praying that she didn’t do something embarrassing like pass out, Jamie opened the door and forced herself to walk out of the room. She looked at Nick to find him taking his time looking up from the magazine. When he did, he placed the magazine on his lap as he ran an assessing eye over her. He gestured for her to turn around and with a grumble, she did just that only to come to a sudden halt when she saw herself in the mirror.

Wow...

The nightie looked so beautiful and delicate. It put her breasts and figure on display without being obscene. It was really rather pretty, sweet, and sexy all at once.

Nick cleared his throat. “It looks nice. Why don’t you try on another one?” he suggested as she looked back to find him grabbing another magazine and ignoring the one on his lap. Apparently, he’d lost his interest in fashion and the saleswoman wanted to kill her if that glare was any indication. Frowning, Jamie returned to the dressing room.

Ten nighties later, they were walking out the door and the stubborn man was holding her bags firmly in front of him so that she couldn’t carry any of them. Every time she went to grab her bags, Nick stepped away, glaring down at her as though she’d slapped him. Finally, she gave up and was content to ride in silence as he drove them back to the hotel.

“What’s on the agenda tonight?” Nick asked as he pulled onto the highway.

“I thought I’d have a drink in the hotel bar and get my first kiss tonight,” Jamie said casually, shooting him a sideways glance and noting the way the back of his knuckles were turning white as he clenched the steering wheel tightly. She was just about to ask him what was wrong when her cell phone rang.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and sighed when she saw that it was her mother calling. Her mother didn’t call often, but when she did, it was usually to brag about Caitlyn or whine about some injustice done to Caitlyn. As much as she would love to send the call to voicemail, she couldn’t. Her mother would have a fit and it would end up being ten times worse later when Jamie finally called her back. Resigning herself to a half-hour rant about the perfection that was her sister, Jamie answered the phone.

“Where do you get off humiliating us like this, young lady?” her mother demanded before Jamie could say hello, taking her by surprise.

“What are you talking about?” Jamie asked, sure that her mother was mistaken since she didn’t do anything that should have made her mother this mad.

“You know damn well what I’m talking about! I’m talking about that smut that you publish! I have never been more humiliated than I was today when Macy Powers showed me the magazine article that talked about your erotic novels,” she said with open disgust while Jamie tried not to wince, but she couldn’t help it.

Well aware of the man sitting beside her, Jamie turned as far as her seat would allow from him, practically huddling against the door as she quickly explained, “They’re not erotic novels, Mom.”

“Don’t you dare lie to me! I flipped through one of those horrible books that you wrote and I found inappropriate material in it! Do you have any idea how embarrassed I was? Do you even care that you’ve humiliated your poor sister, hmm?”

“I-” Jamie started to explain, but of course, her mother cut her off.

“I cannot believe this is how you wasted the college education we provided for you! Do you have any idea how hard your father worked to send you to college and this is how you repay him?” her mother demanded and it took everything Jamie had not to remind her mother that they hadn’t paid a single cent for her college education. That was Caitlyn, and she hadn’t bothered to graduate or go to class for that matter.

By the time that it was Jamie’s turn to go to college, her parents told her that there was no money for her because they’d used everything they’d set aside for her college education on Caitlyn so that she could “find herself.” When she’d flunked out of three private colleges, her parents decided that Caitlyn had worked too hard and simply needed a break. Jamie, on the other hand, had worked her butt off to put herself through college. She’d graduated at the top of her class and never regretted one second of it because that experience showed her that she could do anything even if no one else believed that she could.

“I cannot believe you pulled this petty juvenile stunt. Was it for attention or just to embarrass your sister? Are you really that petty that you can’t be happy for your sister? You really felt it was necessary to humiliate her like this?”

“Mom, this has nothing to do with-hey!” Jamie began only to gasp when her phone was suddenly yanked out of her hand. She turned around in time to see Nick end the call and shut her phone off before he tossed it onto the backseat.

“You just hung up on my mother,” Jamie said, shocked more than anything.

“I know.”

“She’s going to be mad,” Jamie said, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth even as her stomach coiled tightly in guilt.

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