Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
“ I love 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 money for 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.
She didn’t bother opening it. There was no point. Her mother was dead and the mother she thought she had didn’t want her and neither did her father. At least this explained why they never seemed to want her around. She was a constant reminder of what her father did and on some level, she actually felt bad for her stepmother. It must have been painful for her to see the physical reminder of her husband’s betrayal every day. Jamie wasn’t sure she could handle something like that, but she knew that she would never take it out on an innocent child.
“Have you looked at this?” Nick asked, placing a hand on her hip as he reached around her and took the envelope from her.
“No,” Jamie said after a slight hesitation.
She didn’t see the point of torturing herself with something that would never be. Maybe a few years from now when this whole thing didn’t make her feel like crying, she would open it and find out her mother’s real name, but for right now, it was too much for her to handle.
“Do you mind if I take a look at it?”
“What for?” she asked, turning to face him.
“I might be able to hunt down a picture of her or even a lost relative.”
“Oh,” Jamie said softly because she hadn’t thought about that, but it would be nice to know what her mother looked like since her father hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with the details. After they’d announced that her birth mother was dead, they’d practically shoved her and Nick out of the house, but, of course, her stepmother and sister made sure to give them a tearful goodbye from the front door and wished her luck with the rest of the tour for the cameras.
“I’ll take care of it tomorrow at the office,” Nick said as he placed the envelope on top of her bureau. “I did tell you that we’re expected at the office tomorrow to go over the tour so far, didn’t I?”
“No,” she said, smiling when he winced. “But that’s fine.”
He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. “About the office...”
“I know that I’ll have to keep my dirty little hands off of you,” she said, sighing heavily. “I’ll try, but it will be difficult,” she teased.
“You have no idea,” Nick said roughly as he leaned down and took her mouth in a hungry kiss.
It wasn’t long before he was tearing her clothes off and she was sliding her hand beneath the waistband of his boxers and stroking him. When she was left in nothing but her panties, he ripped them clean from her body, startling her and sending her arousal into overdrive. It was as if he’d thrown gasoline on the fire and she couldn’t get enough of him.
Somehow, she found herself sitting on the edge of her bureau with her legs spread and his tongue sliding inside her as she buried her fingers in his hair. Eventually, she was forced to grab the back of the bureau as he took her roughly with his mouth. When his fingers joined his tongue, she couldn’t hold back. Within seconds, she was screaming his name until her voice was raw.
Before the last ounce of pleasure left her body, Nick was standing in front of her and slamming his way home as he took her mouth in a hungry kiss that left her screaming for more in seconds. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, desperate to be closer to him. When he stumbled away from the bureau, she let out a surprised squeal that had him chuckling even as he slowly ground himself inside her.
“What are you doing?” Jamie asked, licking her lips hungrily as he moved his mouth down her neck and suckled in that naughty little way of his that drove her crazy.
“I’m making love to you, baby,” Nick said roughly against her skin seconds before they were falling.
She landed with a startled gasp on her back across the bed with Nick still firmly in place. He buried his face against her neck as he cupped her breast and rolled his hips slowly against hers. She loved the way he touched her, looked at her, and made her feel, but most importantly, she realized as he shifted until he was on his elbows looking down at her that she just plain loved him.
As he stared into her eyes, Jamie had to fight the urge to cry at the tender expression on his face. She reached up and cupped his face in her hands and drew him down for a kiss. He would never know how much she loved him, she thought sadly.
“Jamie, oh, God, Jamie ,” Nick groaned against her lips as she fought against the urge to tell him how much she loved him. It was a difficult battle, but somehow, she won. As much as she would love to tell him how she felt, she knew that he’d be running for the door before the last syllable left her mouth so she would have to settle for whatever he could give her and hope that it didn’t kill her when he finally walked away.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I wake you?” Jamie asked with that innocent smile that he loved as she readjusted herself on his lap.
Nick shook his head, fighting back a yawn as he watched her bite her lip while she slowly slid down his morning erection. A loud groan escaped him as his hands shot out to grip her hips and gently guide her so that she didn’t hurt herself. How in the hell had he lived this long without morning sex? There really was no better way to wake up, Nick decided as his little recluse gripped his forearms to steady herself as she moved back up his cock.
Her eyes closed in pleasure as she licked her lips and he knew he’d have to make damn sure that he was around every morning to start her day off like this. He’d never had morning sex before, late morning sex, yes, but not first thing in the morning sex. That probably had something to do with the fact that he made it a point to leave as soon as he was done. Sticking around usually sent the wrong message to the woman he’d fucked with like he cared or even remembered her name. With Jamie, he more than cared.
“You can go back to sleep if you want. I promise to be quiet,” Jamie said on a soft moan that had his cock twitching inside her.
“But if I go back to sleep, I won’t be able to do this,” Nick said, adjusting his hand so that his thumb was able to tease her clit.
Jamie gasped as she laid one hand over his as she slowly rode him. “It would probably be for the best if you stayed awake then,” Jamie agreed as she did this little twist and drop thing that had him sucking in a breath and struggling not to throw her on her back and fuck her until she couldn’t move. When she did it again, he arched his back and released a loud groan.
As much as it killed him, Nick decided to lay back and let his little recluse have her fun. That didn’t mean he couldn’t help her reach the point of screaming his name a little faster to put him out of his misery. He wasn’t a masochist, after all.
Jamie’s warm smile when he stepped out of her bathroom made him wish that they could call in sick today, but they had too damn much to do. Well, he did. His little recluse needed to go over some things with Rick and work on her books. They still had a month of tour dates to complete and there was so much that he wanted to show his little recluse. He couldn’t wait to get back on the road with her.
She walked over to him and lightly ran her fingers down his silk tie before standing on her toes to press a kiss against his cheek. “I love your hair,” she said, smiling as she walked past him to the door.
He barely stopped himself from telling her that he knew that she liked it this way or that he’d given it a mussed look for her since it would just make him look like an idiot. He’d never cared what a woman thought or wanted before, but he found himself eager to please his little recluse. It was funny how making her happy made him happy. Not that he was going to look too far into that because he wasn’t.
As he headed for the door, Nick grabbed his briefcase and the overnight bag he’d thrown together last night. He followed after his little recluse only to come to an abrupt halt when he found her shifting nervously in front of some guy wearing cheap cologne that smelled like Windex and the expression of someone who hadn’t gotten laid in over a decade.
“You can’t do this,” Jamie said, holding up a piece of paper.
“I just did, lady. When you moved in, I told you that I didn’t want any problems, and for last two months, I’ve had to deal with crowds, people breaking in, and weirdoes. I’m done. I want you out by the end of the week!” the man snapped, moving to walk away, but his little recluse scrambled to catch up with him.
“A week? I won’t be here. I have to go back on tour. Can’t we make some sort of compromise?” Jamie pleaded.
The man stubbornly shook his head as he walked past her. “I’m sorry, Miss Harris. I really am, but I’ve put up with too much nonsense over the past month and I’ve gotten one too many complaints about you,” he said, surprising the hell out of Nick. People complained about his little recluse? Bullshit.
“But I didn’t do any of those things! You know Mrs. Briggs has a hearing problem and Mr. Ames thinks the government is stealing his thoughts! Please don’t do this!”
“A week, Miss Harris, and I want you out,” he said, getting the final word in before he disappeared through the stairwell door, leaving Jamie standing in the hallway, looking defeated with her little shoulders slumped.
“I think you’re going to have to move, Jamie,” Nick said, switching his bag into his other hand so that he could put his arm around her.
“I know,” Jamie muttered sadly as he steered her towards the elevator. “Do you think Rick will let me out of a few events so that I can find a place?” she asked, sounding hopeful.
He sighed heavily as he pushed the call button. “I’m sorry, Jamie, but we already pushed the dates back as far as we could without breaking any contracts.”
“Oh,” Jamie muttered, her shoulders somehow managing to slump even further.
“I tell you what,” Nick said, giving her a little nudge when the elevator doors slid open and she remained standing there, looking lost and so damn sad that he ached to pull her into his arms and hold her, but they needed to get to work. “I can arrange for someone to rent a house for you and even hire movers. How does that sound?”
“Will it allow cats?” she asked, perking up at the idea.
“You have a cat?” he asked, wondering how he’d missed it.
“No.”
“You want one?”
She scrunched up her face adorably as she shook her head. “No, I can’t stand them.”
“Then, why do you care if they allow cats?” Nick asked, fighting back a smile.
“I just like to keep my options open,” Jamie said, shrugging.
As he followed her into the elevator, Nick wondered why he loved it when she drove him crazy.