Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27
“ O h, God,” Jamie muttered, panting hard as she braced her hands on the tiled wall behind her and looked down.
Nick winked as he leaned forward and slowly ran the tip of his tongue between her slit. It felt so good, but it wasn’t enough. She needed more. She needed him.
Taking a deep breath, and praying that her legs didn’t give out, Jamie somehow managed to step away from Nick and moved into the middle of the large bathroom. She looked over her shoulder to find him getting to his feet to come after her and that’s when she did the most brazen thing of her life.
She got down on her hands and knees and offered him up a view that she hoped he couldn’t resist. She couldn’t seem to get enough of him, Jamie thought when she felt him grip her hips and rub the tip of his cock over her bottom. A moment later, he slid a thick finger inside of her as he continued to tease her bottom with the tip of his cock. The combined sensations left her desperate for more as she pushed her hips back so that she could ride his finger.
He continued teasing her until she couldn’t take it anymore and shifted her weight onto one arm so that she could reach between her legs and slowly tease her clit in time with his strokes. A few seconds later, Nick was replacing his finger with the thick tip of his cock and-
Left her with no choice but to whimper when he was forced to go find out who was banging on their door. Releasing a shaky breath, Jamie got to her feet while she listened to the muffled argument coming from the other side of the bathroom door as she wrapped a towel around herself. When Nick stormed back into the bathroom a few minutes later, looking close to killing someone, she knew that it was time to get to work.
“What’s going on?” Jamie asked as she reached back and pulled her hair into a messy bun.
“That was Holly,” he said tightly. “Apparently, someone in the office got the times mixed up and the convention starts in fifteen minutes instead of two hours.”
“Oh,” Jamie mumbled sadly.
Nick closed the distance between them and cupped her face in his hands as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. “We’ll finish this later, Jamie, but right now, we have to haul ass so that we don’t disappoint your fans.”
She watched as Nick headed her way only to have Holly step in front of him, blocking his path and grabbing his attention once again. This had been going on since they’d arrived five hours ago. Every time that she needed to speak with Nick, Holly intervened and whenever he finished with one problem and started to make his way back to her, Holly would catch his attention and point out another problem that he needed to handle.
What was the point of having Holly here if she needed Nick to handle everything? Jamie wondered as she shot another hopeful look towards the bathroom. For the past two hours, she’d been in desperate need of a bathroom, but she couldn’t seem to get anyone’s attention. Every time she tried to get Holly to manage the line of people waiting to speak to her so that she could use the bathroom, she got distracted.
By Nick.
Holly was constantly hovering around him, watching his every move and looking for any excuse to get him alone. Unfortunately for Holly, she didn’t seem to realize that she was pissing Nick off. If Jamie didn’t have to pee so badly, she’d probably find the whole thing entertaining.
Okay, so the whole thing actually did amuse her, but she really needed to find a bathroom and soon. Trying not to think about all the water she drank today, Jamie got to her feet and, thankfully, spotted Pat, the really nice event coordinator that she’d met earlier. After quickly explaining the situation, she quickly made her way to the bathroom only to find herself cut off by none other than Holly.
“Where are you going?” Holly asked, even though it really should have been more than obvious by this point, considering that she was struggling not to do the “pee-pee dance.”
“I have to use the bathroom,” Jamie explained as she tried to step around Holly.
“There’s a bathroom set up for authors in the back,” Holly explained, gesturing for Jamie to follow her. When Jamie didn’t immediately move to follow the woman who was giving off “Caitlyn vibes,” Holly grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her in the opposite direction, taking the decision out of her hands. “It’s to make sure that you can use the bathroom in peace without having to worry about fans harassing you.”
Oh, well, that kind of made sense, Jamie thought as she reluctantly allowed herself to be dragged out of the large convention hall through a back door marked “Employees Only” and down a long hallway. By the time they took a right down another long hallway, Jamie couldn’t help but wonder how this was supposed to be convenient for authors because she was finding it very inconvenient at the moment.
When Holly suddenly stopped, Jamie nearly did a happy dance only to discover that none of the doors around them were marked “women’s restroom.” “I thought we should have a talk,” Holly said as she turned around to face her.
“Now?” Jamie asked, not bothering to hide her frustration. “This couldn’t wait until after I used the bathroom?” she asked, moving to step around her, more than willing to hunt down a bathroom on her own at this point, only to have Holly block her.
“It’s about Nick,” Holly said with a worried expression.
Yeah, she just bet it was, Jamie thought, turning around to go back the way they came when Holly’s next words had her going still.
“He’s going to get fired.”
Now, that had her attention.
Jamie turned back around as she demanded, “What are you talking about?”
Holly made a show of worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she wrung her hands together. “I really shouldn’t say anything, but if I don’t, I know that Nick will get in a lot of trouble.”
“What exactly would he get in trouble for?” Jamie asked, already having a pretty good idea where this was going.
“For sleeping with you,” Holly said, confirming her suspicions.
“I see,” Jamie murmured as she looked around the long hallway again for any signs of a bathroom, knowing that it was close to becoming an emergency.
“He’s a really nice guy,” Holly said on a broken sob. “I really don’t want to see him get into trouble, but if he continues to see you, then Rick will have no choice but to fire him.”
Jamie kind of doubted that since Nick had pulled her onto his lap in front of Rick and even kissed her a few times in front of him. Rick looked amused more than anything, which reminded her that she needed to ask Nick about that.
“Is that all?” Jamie asked when she moved to turn around again.
“He’ll get fired!” Holly snapped, making her sigh.
Normally, Jamie would probably just mumble an apology and force herself to stand there, but she really didn’t have the patience for this game today.
“Look, I get it. You’re into Nick. You’ve probably been pining after him since the moment you met him and I’m guessing that he hasn’t exactly been receptive to your advances,” Jamie said, knowing that she’d guessed right when Holly’s sympathetic expression turned angry. “When you found out that you were joining this tour, you probably thought that you were finally going to get your chance, but unfortunately for you, your timing was off because Nick and I are dating, and now-”
“You’re not dating,” Holly said, cutting her off with a pitying look. “He’s fucking you, that’s it. That’s all that Nick is good for. He fucks anything and everything with a pair of tits and the only reason that he’s with you now is because he’s using you.”
“He doesn’t need me for anything,” Jamie pointed out.
Holly chuckled. “Yes, he does. You’re close to reaching Dana Pierce’s sales records and once that happens, he’ll make partner. That’s the only reason he’s with you,” she said, making Jamie swallow hard as she tried to tell herself that Holly was lying, but…
“Look, I’m trying to give you a heads-up because once this tour is over, he won’t need you anymore,” Holly said with a bored sigh.
“Because you want him for yourself,” Jamie pointed out almost desperately.
Holly simply shrugged. “It will happen sooner or later. Nick’s a man who likes to fuck and he’ll eventually come my way.” With that, she walked off, leaving Jamie feeling like she’d just been kicked in the stomach, and, unfortunately, still desperate for a bathroom. Instead of turning around and heading back the way she came, Jamie continued making her way down the long hallway. She wasn’t ready to deal with this.
Not yet.
She knew that Holly was toying with her. She wasn’t an idiot, after all. Thanks to Caitlyn, she knew exactly how vicious some women could be, but that didn’t stop the words from having their desired effect.
This was only temporary.
Nick made sure that she knew that from the start. She’d been the one to stupidly allow herself to believe that it could be anything more. When this tour ended, then so did their relationship. She’d assumed that it was because Nick couldn’t commit, but now, she had to wonder if there was more to the situation than she’d first realized.
Was it possible that Nick tricked her? Okay, so he didn’t have to trick her, but she couldn’t help but wonder if sleeping with her made it easier to get what he wanted from her. As she continued her desperate search for a bathroom, Jamie found herself wondering why a man like Nick would even look twice at someone like her.
“Here,” Nick said as he went to hand over several bars of Swiss chocolate to Jamie.
“No, thank you,” Jamie mumbled sadly, not bothering to look up from her computer.
He might be new to this whole relationship business, but he knew that he’d fucked up. Since she came back from the bathroom, Jamie wouldn’t look at him, touch him, or speak to him unless it was absolutely necessary. More importantly, she wouldn’t let him touch her. Every time he tried, she found an excuse to move away from him and he had a good idea why.
Holly.
She was already packing her bags and heading home. The moment she came back without Jamie, he knew something was wrong. It wasn’t until his little recluse came back looking close to tears that he knew that Holly had fucked him over. When he explained to Rick how Jamie was acting and how Holly was beyond fucking incompetent, Rick decided that it was time for her to leave.
Their job was to ensure that their clients were well represented, handled properly, looked after and were presented in the best possible light to readers. Having an author who looked close to crying every time someone asked for her autograph was the last thing any of them needed on this tour.
When he asked Holly what she said to upset Jamie, she’d tried to play dumb. She even had the audacity to suggest that they talk things over in her room. It wasn’t until he sent her packing that she lost that cool facade. She’d glared at him before storming off and leaving him wondering just how badly she’d fucked him over. Whatever it was had Jamie thinking twice about being with him.
An hour ago, he found Jamie trying to get her own room. Thankfully, the hotel didn’t have any available rooms for the night. He’d managed to convince her to come back upstairs to work while he tried to figure out how to fix this. That’s when he remembered the chocolate he’d snuck into his bag and used it to confirm his suspicions.
She was done.
“What are you doing?” Jamie demanded when he pulled her laptop away from her, yanked her to her feet, and threw her over his shoulder.
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Nick asked as he waited for her to make this easy for him and just tell him what was wrong so that he could fix it.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she mumbled sadly against his back.
“Then, I guess I can’t put you down,” Nick said as he headed for the door.
“Where are we going?”
“To check another item off your list,” Nick said as he made his way down the dimly lit hallway, relieved when she didn’t start screaming for help. Then again, he probably should have known that she wouldn’t make a sound. She hated being the center of attention, after all.
He took the back elevator all the way down to the first floor and then followed the signs for the pool. When he came to the locked door, Nick looked through the glass door and noted that the lights were off. Not that it mattered since the manager gave him the key as a favor. He just hoped the manager remembered to make sure that all of his employees stayed clear of this area or he was going to have one embarrassed recluse on his hands.
“Why are we down here?” Jamie asked as he opened the door.
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Nick asked as he locked the door behind them and turned on the lights.
“Nothing’s wrong,” came the answer that had him biting back a sigh and leaving him with no choice but to do this the hard way.
“Do you have your cellphone on you?” Nick asked as he made his way to the large pool.
“No, why?” Jamie asked as she shifted to get more comfortable.
“No special reason,” Nick said as he pulled her off his shoulder and tossed her into the pool.