HH02 - A Reclusive Heart (30 page)

That was it? Seriously? After all they went through he was going to let her walk away that easily? Then again there did

appear to be a psycho on her tail so maybe it was for the best that he was giving her up so easily.

Knowing that it was for the best she didn't argue with him. She decided to hold back the tears until she got to her new

place and could drown her sorrows in chocolate. As long as Nick was safe she could handle anything, even having her heart

broken by the big jerk.

Chapter 27

"Are you still ignoring me?" he asked, throwing Jamie a sideways glance as he pulled to a stop at a four-way intersection.

"I'm not ignoring you, Nick. I'm just trying to get this file edited before tomorrow," she said, not bothering to look up from

the computer balanced on her knees. Her words and tone were polite, but they felt all wrong. He might be new to relationships,

but it didn't exactly take a genius to figure out what was wrong with his little recluse.

She was pissed and for good reason. He'd screwed up and hadn't protected her. Now thanks to him someone managed to

invade a very private moment and make it public. As he pulled onto his street he idly wondered how Edward handled it after it

happened to him and Dana. If anyone knew how to handle a bullshit situation like this it would be Edward and Dana.

"Okay, do you want to grab some food?" he asked, slowing down before he reached his house.

"If it's okay with you I'd rather just call it a night and get settled in," she said, not bothering to look up from her computer.

"That's fine," he said, deciding that they'd just order in tonight. Tomorrow he'd have plenty of time to go food shopping

since he most likely just lost his job today.

It was one thing to have a discrete relationship with one of his clients, but quite another to get caught having sex with her

and have the video plastered all over the internet. Of course there was also the fact that he had about thirty conventions and

interviews to cancel tomorrow, which wouldn't make Rerum Publishing House very popular. It was a tossup which one they'd

take issue with, but he was willing to bet his, thankfully large, bank account on being canned for the video.

"Is this it?" Jamie asked, looking up from her computer for the first time in hours.

"Yes," he said, throwing the car into park and shutting off the engine.

Jamie sighed as she shut down her computer. "Thank you for the ride, Nick. I really appreciate it, but you don't have to

stick around. If you could just give me the key I think I'll be all set," she said, sliding her computer into her bag as she shifted

nervously next to him.

"You don't want me to stick around?" he asked slowly, starting to have a good idea where this was going.

"I, um," she cleared her throat uncomfortably as she shifted again, "think that might be for the best."

Holy shit, she was breaking up with him, he thought with a humorless chuckle. "So now that the tour is over you want to

end this, is that right?" he asked, cocking his head to the side to study her as she struggled to answer. If he hadn't been looking

at her he probably would have missed the way her little chin quivered or the way her eyes filled with tears.

She looked away from him as she nodded. "The tour's over and we said this would end along with the tour," she said

softly, giving him a helpless shrug.

"I see," he said evenly as he climbed out of his car and slammed the door shut, violently rocking the car. He couldn't

fucking believe this. He was giving up his job and his way of life for this woman and she was giving him the brush off? Not

fucking happening.

He grabbed most of their things from the trunk before slamming it shut and stalking towards the bottom level of his three

story house. He unlocked the door and quickly disarmed the alarm. His little recluse reluctantly followed and when she looked

around the garage filled with his black Mustang and his motorcycles her brows creased in confusion.

"This way," he said, shutting the door and resetting the alarm once again before walking past his bikes to the door that led

to the second level of his home.

When he stepped off the stairs he dumped their things on one of the leather couches as he walked through the living room

and headed towards the kitchen section of the large open area. He grabbed an ice cold beer out of the fridge, popped the top

and leaned back as he watched his little recluse stop in the middle of the living room and slowly look around.

"Am I renting someone's house while they're away?" she asked, sounding so damn hopeful.

"Nope," he said, letting the word pop as he watched her.

"This is your house?" she asked, looking anywhere but at him.

"Mmmhmm," he said, taking a sip of his beer.

"Is there perhaps a chance that we're merely stopping here on the way to my new place?"

"Not a chance in hell," he said, watching her reaction.

"Oh," she said, her shoulders drooping a bit as she opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"Awkward, huh?"

"You could say that," she mumbled.

"We had to get your stuff out of there quickly. We stored your stuff here and planned to have a place set up for you by the

time you returned, but we had to cut the tour short. We don't have a place set up for you yet," he explained before taking another

sip of his beer, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Oh," she said weakly.

"I just happen to live alone and have plenty of room so I thought I'd let my girlfriend stay with me, but it seems that she

just dumped my ass not even ten minutes ago so now we're stuck in a very awkward situation," he said, placing his beer on the

counter before he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her.

"Is there any chance that you can give me a ride to my car wherever it is so that I can find a hotel for night?" she asked.

He shook his head as he said, "No way in hell. You're staying here until this asshole is caught."

"I-I c-can take care of myself!" she sputtered, but he wasn't buying it.

"No," he simply said, pushing away from the counter and walked into the living room.

"What the heck do you mean 'no'?" she demanded, following after him as he scooped up her bags and headed down the

hall and up the second flight of stairs. He didn't have to look back to know that she was following him. He paused by the first

guest room, but it wouldn't do. He walked down the hall and shoved open the door to the master bedroom and set her things

down. As he stood up he spotted her boxed belongings piled in the corner and nearly groaned. Leave it up to Rick to take the

initiative and screw him over.

"You didn't answer me," she pointed out as she joined him in the room.

"And I'm not going to. You're staying here and that's final."

"That's not your decision," she snapped, coming up behind him.

"Yes, it is," he said more calmly than he felt as he headed for the door. "This is your room while you stay. Make yourself

comfortable."

"I'm not staying," she said, picking up her bags and nearly toppling over under the weight.

"Yes, you are, Jamie. If you try to leave I'll just drag your cute little ass right back here."

"That's kidnapping!"

"Call it whatever you want, Jamie, but you're not going anywhere right now," he said, heading for the door only to have

his little recluse drop everything and rush to cut him off.

When he moved to step past her she held up her hands in a staying motion. "Look, I appreciate your concern. I really do,

but I can't stay here. I just can't. So if you could just tell me where my car is I can call a taxi and make some arrangements to

have my things removed and then I'll never bother you again."

"No," he said firmly, moving again to walk past her, but the damn woman wasn't having it. It actually surprised him that

she wasn't backing down.

"I really need to leave, Nick. Please just-"

Something in him snapped. While he couldn't get enough of her she wanted nothing to do with him. Worse, she couldn't get

away from him fast enough. He moved forward, crowding her until she had no choice but to back up. When her back hit the

wall he caged her in by slapping his palms against the wall as he leaned into her.

"Why?"

"Why what?" she asked, licking her lips nervously as she glanced towards her right and probably what she deemed as

freedom.

"Why the hell are you so eager to get away from me, Jamie? Hmm? Tell me exactly what I did to set this off," he

demanded, leaning in to run his nose over her neck, inhaling her sweet scent.

"You didn't do anything, Nick. It was just time. Please just let me go," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders, moving

to push him away but instead she clutched almost desperately to him.

"Why the hell are you doing this to me?" he whispered hoarsely as his hands clenched tightly into fists.

"I'm not doing anything to you. I-"

"Bullshit!" he snapped, pulling back slightly and slamming his fists against the wall, damaging the drywall and scaring the

hell out of his little recluse.

"I'm not doing anything to you!"

"Yes, you are!" he snapped, glaring down at her.

"What exactly am I doing to you? You're the one who decided that this wasn't going to go past the tour. It ended early and

so did we. I accepted it so why can't you?"

"Because I fucking love you!" he shouted.

As soon as the words were out he wanted to take them back. He opened his mouth to do just that, but he realized that he

couldn't. He loved her. He was head over heels in love with this woman and he knew it was pointless to deny it. Where other

women had failed, his little recluse had not only succeeded in bringing him to his knees, but once he was down she dropped

kicked him in the balls for good measure.

This hurt so fucking bad, he thought as he struggled for control. She didn't love him, didn't want him. She wasn't the

pathetic one, he was. He'd only loved two women in his life and both of them could have cared less, first his mother and now

Jamie.

He didn't want to love her. A long time ago he closed his heart off and it should have damn well stayed closed. She had no

fucking business making him fall in love with her, he thought bitterly even as he reached for her and how fucked up was that?

He knew that she didn't love him, but he couldn't help but hope, pray really that she cared at least a little bit for him to take the

edge off the tightness in his chest.

"No, you don't!" she cried, shoving him away.

"Yes, I do!" he snapped back, reaching for her again only to have her weakly slap his hands away.

"You can't!"

"Why the hell not?" he demanded.

"Because you'll get yourself killed, you jackass!" she snapped back and not even a second later she slapped both of her

hands against her mouth as her eyes widened in surprise at what she probably thought was profanity since he noticed that she

didn't swear or the fact that she'd just said a little too much.

"What did you just say?" he asked, stepping in front of her as she tried to head back down the hall and the hell away from

him.

"Nothing," she mumbled, trying to get past him, but he refused to move.

"It didn't sound like nothing to me, Jamie. What did you say?" he asked, not allowing himself to hope that maybe, just

maybe she cared about him too.

"Just let me go, Nick.
Please
!"

Let her go? There was no way in hell that he was going to let that happen. Not now. Not when there was a possibility that

for once someone loved him back. When she folded her arms over her chest defensively and turned away from him he stepped

up behind her, careful not to touch her in any way.

"Tell me that you don't care about me, Jamie, and you can go," he said softly.

"I don't!" she cried, but he didn't believe her.

"You're lying," he said tightly, keeping his voice low and even as he resisted the urge to take her into his arms and shake

some sense into her.

"No, I'm not, Nick. We're over. I don't care about you and I never want to see you again," she said, her voice breaking as

she struggled not to cry.

"Look me in the eye and say that," he said, praying like hell that he wasn't wrong. He couldn't be wrong, not about her. She

was his little recluse, his sweet, loving Jamie and he knew that she cared about him.

Slowly, so damn slowly that he thought his heart was going to burst in two, she turned around. When she looked up at him

and didn't quite meet his eyes he had his answer.

"I don't love you, Nick. Please just let me go," she said, keeping her eyes averted to the right as her chin trembled and her

body shook as she struggled to hold back the sobs that he knew were threatening to escape.

"You're a liar," he said softly as he reached over and gently cupped her face in his hands.

"No, I'm not!" she cried out as tears began to stream down her face and she tried to step away from him, but he wouldn't

allow it. He was done playing this game and wanted to know why she was so damn willing to break his heart.

"Look me in the eye, Jamie, and tell me that you don't love me," he demanded softly even as he carefully wiped her tears

away with the pads of his thumbs.

"I did," she mumbled, sounding miserable.

"No, you didn't, baby. Look me right in the eye and tell me that you don't love me and I will let you go, Jamie," he

promised, knowing he would, but that it would probably kill him.