Page 45 of A Reclusive Heart

He felt Jamie’s reaction like a physical blow. “Did she have any family?” Jamie asked in a hoarse whisper.

“No,” her father said with a firm shake of his head. “I’m afraid that she was all alone in this world.”

Like Jamie.

Like him.

No, he realized a moment later. That wasn’t true. He had a great job and good friends that more than made up for what he lacked in family and Jamie had him. At least for now. But he’d make sure that she was taken care of even after this hold that she had on him faded away. She deserved better than this.

“Is there anything else I should know?” Jamie asked after a slight hesitation.

Her father didn’t even hesitate when he said, “No,” causing Nick’s bullshit meter to go off the charts.

CHAPTER 23

“Ilove you,” Jamie sighed heavily as she settled back against the pillows she’d piled on her bed and hugged the pint of double chocolate, caramel and fudge swirl ice cream against her chest.

This was exactly what she needed after the day she’d just had. Admittedly, it had been a strange one. She woke up with a sugar hangover, remembered she’d had sex, was pampered by Nick before he’d whisked her off to the airport and then saw her parents for the last time. Now, she was back in her own bed in her apartment with a week’s supply of junk food and absolutely no intentions of working.

She picked up her can of Coke, and just because she could, she took a long sip of the bubbly, sugary drink that she craved day and night before setting it back down on her nightstand. After taking a large bite of her ice cream and wincing with a few “Owies” from brain freeze, Jamie focused her attention on the chick flick she’d started and couldn’t imagine life getting any better than this.

It was good to be her, Jamie decided, grabbing a handful of peanut butter M&M’s and munching on them as she pondered her current situation. She wouldn’t have to worry about moneyfor quite some time. Her books were selling like crazy. She had a great job, plenty of junk food, and sole ownership of the remote control. The cherry on the top, of course, was that she was no longer a virgin. Life really didn’t get better than this, Jamie thought with a heartfelt sigh as she devoured another handful of peanut butter M&M’s even as she threw another look of longing at her cellphone.

When it didn’t chime to let her know that she had a missed text message, she glanced at the clock and couldn’t help but sigh. Right now, he was probably between the legs of some hot model, laughing about how bad she was in bed, Jamie thought with disgust as she took another huge bite of ice cream only to drop the spoon back into the container so that she could grab her poor head when another bout of brain freeze had her questioning her choices.

“I leave you alone for a few hours and this is what you do?” Nick said from somewhere in the vicinity of her doorway, but she was too busy squeezing her eyes shut to look at the moment.

“Brain freeze?” he asked, sounding amused.

Instead of answering him, because at the moment that was kind of impossible, she settled for nodding. When she felt him remove the carton of ice cream from her lap, she contemplated murder. The telltale sound of her M&M’s being removed had her opening one eye to glare at him.

He just ignored her as he moved her junk food away from her. Her eyes shot to the large brown paper bag on her nightstand that was giving off a mouthwatering aroma right around the time that she decided to forgive him for daring to go near her junk food.

“What are you doing here?” Jamie asked once the brain freeze subsided.

“Making it easier on you,” Nick said as he tore open the brown paper bag and pulled out Chinese food containers.

“Making it easier for me to do what?” she asked, unable to help but frown as she watched him open the cardboard containers.

“To make me breakfast in bed, of course,” Nick said with a wink as he shoved a carton of chicken lo mein in her hand.

“Well then, I’m afraid you’re in for a huge disappointment because I can’t cook,” Jamie admitted as she fought back a pleased smile that quickly disappeared when the evil man turned off her movie. “I was watching that!”

“I brought dinner, so that means that I get to pick the movie,” Nick said, shrugging it off as he kicked off his shoes, grabbed a carton of food, and joined her on the bed.

“Then, I should get to pick the movie since I was eating dinner when you got here,” Jamie pointed out innocently, loving the glare he sent her way.

“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just call that insane pile of junk food dinner,” Nick said, shifting to get more comfortable as the movie started.

“Oh, but I did and I was planning on devouring a box of Krispy Kreme donuts for dessert,” Jamie said, laughing when his scowl returned.

“Okay,” Nick said, sighing heavily as he moved a few inches away from her, “we’re no longer speaking.”

“You’re such a baby,” Jamie said, rolling her eyes as she reached over and stole a forkful of honey chicken from his carton.

With a long-suffering sigh, Nick held the carton out to her as she moved closer to him. When she was less than an inch away from him, he threw his arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer. For the next half-hour, they sat like that, sharing their food and watching a really horrible action movie, but Nick seemed to enjoy it and she enjoyed being with him so she was content to sit back and watch the movie.

When they were done, she collected the rest of the cartons and brought them to the kitchen. By the time she came back, Nick was wearing only his underwear as he lounged back on her bed. The sight of his half-naked, well-muscled body did a lot to ease the tension left over from her day. It took her only a second to decide to join him. Biting back a smile, she walked over to her bureau and pulled open the top drawer she decided to use for lingerie. When she went to reach for the baby blue number that Nick suggested she buy, her hand brushed against the envelope her father gave her.

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