Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
“ G o. Away,” Nick bit out tightly, but the damn woman refused to leave. At least she was on the other side of the door, he thought, otherwise, he’d be tempted to strangle his little recluse.
“You can’t still be mad!” Jamie said in exasperation. “I eventually got off your back.”
He paused mid-sip of his beer and glared at the door. “You didn’t get off my back until I was in front of your door!” he snapped.
“I had to make sure that you wouldn’t do anything stupid,” she pointed out and he barely stopped himself from storming over to the door, ripping it open and kissing the hell out of her.
Now, that would have been stupid.
Perhaps not as stupid as attacking some dumb kid in front of a group of J.L. Lewis fans at a signing, Nick thought with a groan. What in the hell had he been thinking? He’d never lost it like that and certainly never over a woman. Several of the women he’d taken out over the years received attention from other men and it never bothered him. He didn’t get jealous, never cared enough to, but today, he’d been ready to kill the little bastard.
For any other client, he would have simply pulled her away and signaled for the manager. There was no way that he would have taken a chance screwing up his career for anyone. He’d worked too damn hard to get where he was and wasn’t about to let anyone come between him and what he wanted.
All his plans went to hell the moment he saw another man kiss her. All he could think of at the time was that another man was touching his little recluse. Even as he grabbed the guy, Nick knew what he was doing and that it could very well be the end of his career, but he didn’t give a damn. All that mattered was taking care of Jamie and if he hadn’t been so furious at the time, the realization would have scared the hell out of him.
“Are you going to let me in?” Jamie asked, sighing heavily with annoyance and sounding so damn cute that he had to stop himself from smiling.
“No.”
There was a brief pause before she said, “If you do, I’ll tell you about the new book I’m writing and the big surprise,” she said brightly, probably hoping to lure him into letting her in.
“I don’t care,” Nick said, surprising even himself. As her agent, he should care. The woman’s books were a goldmine and he’d be an idiot not to find out what she was working on so that he could prepare a marketing campaign, but at the moment, he simply didn’t care.
The only thing he cared about was getting his head clear, perhaps getting drunk as he tried to figure out how he was going to explain this to Rick in the morning when he called to chew Nick’s ass out for the pictures that were no doubt already making the rounds on the internet.
“You’re really not going to let me in?” she asked, sounding disappointed.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
“Fine,” she said, sighing unhappily. “I guess I’ll just go without you.”
He didn’t bother responding as he took a sip of his beer. She could go out on her own for one night. She’d be more than fine. Besides, he doubted that she was doing anything dangerous. Knowing his little recluse, she was probably getting around to the karaoke item on her to-do list that had made him want to cry. Actually, if she was hitting a karaoke bar, then he definitely wasn’t going with her, he decided, taking another sip of his beer.
“Okay, but if you need me, I’ll be at Extreme Tattoo on Elm Street. I’ll be back later!” Jamie said brightly as he choked on his beer.
“What do you think about that one?” Jamie asked, pointing to a skull with snakes coming out of its eyes to make Nick laugh, but he only glared down at her.
He’d been doing that for the past hour. Well, actually, for the first twenty minutes, he’d argued against her going through with this, but this was something that she wanted to do and wouldn’t let anyone talk her out of. For years, she’d toyed with the idea of getting a tattoo, but knowing how her family would react and her inability to stick up for herself held her back. After the phone call from her mother, she’d decided that she was done letting her family dictate her life. This was her life and she was going to start living it.
It also didn’t hurt that over the past month, she’d learned to take chances and enjoy her life. Before this tour, she’d only dreamed of doing things like riding a motorcycle or trying paintball, but now that she did them, she couldn’t help but want to do all of those other things that she’d been curious about over the years. She was still nervous. Not that she’d admit that to Nick, but she was glad that he came with her tonight. She only wished that he’d lighten up a bit.
“This is permanent, Jamie,” he reminded her again.
“That’s the whole point, Nick,” Jamie said, walking over to the picture of the tribal tattoo that she’d chosen ten minutes ago. It was black, intricate, and beautiful and she couldn’t wait to have it on her body.
“I really think that you should take some time and think this over,” he said as he ran his eyes over the artwork on the wall.
“I’ve been thinking about doing this for years, Nick. It’s not like I’m making some drunken, impulsive decision,” she pointed out.
“Then, what would one more week hurt?” Nick asked, still not looking at her. She’d noticed that since he’d opened his door to try and stop her from doing this that he wouldn’t look her in the eye. She didn’t know what was wrong and wasn’t going to stress herself out by trying to figure it out.
“Are you ready?” Bret asked as he gestured for her to come with him.
She didn’t even hesitate when she said, “Yes,” and followed him. She ignored Nick’s muttered curses and focused on getting something she’d always wanted.
This was going to be great!
“Ow! Owie!” Jamie cried out, but thankfully, didn’t move.
It was bad enough that she was going through with this asinine plan, she didn’t need a fucked-up tattoo on top of everything. He really wished she’d listened to him, but the stubborn woman wouldn’t listen to reason. Tattoos on women were tacky and he hated the idea of her marring her body with one. It didn’t matter how sexy the woman was, tattoos always turned him off. Then again, maybe it was for the best that she was getting something done that would repulse him, Nick decided as Jamie squeezed his hands tightly.
“I think he’s almost done,” Nick said soothingly even as he prayed that it was the truth. His damn legs were cramping up, but he refused to let her hands go out of fear that she would bolt and screw up the tattoo.
“That’s what you said an hour ago!” Jamie said accusingly as she squeezed her eyes shut.
“It was ten minutes ago, Jamie. It only seems like an hour ago because you’re in pain,” Nick explained as gently as he could while Jamie continued to mutter a combination of “ow” and “owie,” to herself.
“Almost done,” Bret said.
Nick didn’t bother looking at her tattoo as it was being drawn on. He’d still been too upset that she was doing something this stupid. He still couldn’t believe she was getting it on her lower back, right above her ass and yeah, when the guy had her drop her pants and panties halfway down her ass, he’d looked and damn near groaned.
She really had a beautiful ass. It was round, soft, and groan-worthy, but the damn woman decided to ruin the scenery with a tramp stamp of all things. No doubt by next week, he was going to have to take her to have the damn thing removed.
“All set,” Bret announced.
Jamie cracked one eye open. “Are you sure?”
“Yup.”
With that, Jamie was off the table and righting her clothes even as she walked stiff-legged to the front of the store to pay.
“Don’t you want to look at it?” Nick asked, frowning when the stubborn woman shook her head and kept moving.
With a sigh, he followed after her, making a mental note to pick up chocolate on the way to the hotel since there was no doubt in his mind that she was going to need it.
“What now?” Nick asked on a heavy sigh as he opened his door and found his little recluse shifting nervously in front of him, wearing a baby blue tee-shirt and another pair of those damn flannel pants that he shouldn’t find sexy, but did.
“I can’t get the bandage off. It’s been more than two hours and I’m supposed to wash it now with a little bit of antibacterial soap,” Jamie said, holding up the small bottle of liquid hand soap, “and gently wipe it, but I can’t reach the top corners of the bandage.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose as he wondered when this horrible day would end, Nick stepped to the side and allowed her to come in. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner she’d leave and he could return to staring at the television as he tried not to think of all the bullshit that waited for him tomorrow.
“Where do you want to do this?” she asked, looking around the small hotel room.
“Get on the bed, Jamie,” Nick said, gesturing lazily towards the double bed.
“Okay,” Jamie mumbled nervously as she put the soap and tube of ointment she’d been carrying on the edge of the bed and carefully laid down on her stomach.
When she didn’t move her shirt and pants out of the way so that he could get to the tattoo, Nick resigned himself to the task. He paused by the bed and pulled his shirt off before it got ruined by the ointment.
“I have to move your clothes out of the way,” Nick explained even as he reached for her tee-shirt. Thankfully, she had enough sense not to argue and even raised herself up a bit to help him with the task. He pushed her shirt up until it reached her underarms and then reached for her flannel pajama pants, careful not to touch the bandage and hurt her.
When his fingers brushed against her surprisingly firm ass, he had to take a deep breath to get his breathing under control. He was supposed to be doing her a favor, not ogling her ass, Nick reminded himself as he pulled her pants and panties down, revealing more of her ass.
“ Mercy ,” he hissed softly at the sight.
“What?” Jamie asked, moving to turn over, but he stopped her by placing a hand on her back to keep her right where she was.
“Nothing. I’m going to take the bandage off now. Try not to move,” Nick said, reaching for the corner of the large, white gauze pad as he prepared himself for the splash of cold water that her tattoo would have on him.
Five minutes later, the bandage was removed and his damn cock was straining in his pants to get to her. Of course, a tattoo would turn him on if it was on his little recluse, Nick thought dryly as he gently cleaned the black tattoo that he couldn’t help but imagine tracing with his tongue. As soon as it was clean, he applied the ointment that would protect it and washed his hands.
By the time Nick stepped out of his bathroom, he’d expected to find Jamie dressed and scrambling for the door, but instead, he found her right where he’d left her. Wondering what was wrong since his little recluse, by all rights, should have made a run for it as soon as he was done, Nick walked over to the bed and couldn’t help but smile when her cute little snores reached his ears.
He considered waking her up and sending her to her room but then decided against it. The poor thing was exhausted and probably wouldn’t have the energy to walk back to her room. At least, that’s what he told himself as he gripped the bottom of her pant legs and carefully pulled them off her. Then he readjusted her pale green panties so that they covered her bottom and frowned down at her shirt.
With the ointment on her back, her shirt would stick to her new tattoo and he wasn’t sure if that would damage the tattoo. Plus, the guy told her to leave it exposed to air whenever she could. Not knowing what else to do, he reached down and worked her shirt off, careful not to wake her or roll her onto her back. When that was done, he turned up the heat, dropped his pants and joined her on the bed, preparing himself for a long night of torture as the object of his desire lay less than six inches away.
As he started to doze off with a rather painful erection, Nick couldn’t help but wonder if this was hell.