HH02 - A Reclusive Heart (11 page)

Have sex in a car.

Have sex in a pool or ocean.

Have sex in an elevator or stairwell.

After tour ends use newfound sex knowledge to please boyfriend.

Probably should find a boyfriend.

That list seemed reasonable, she decided as she saved the file and got ready for bed. Tomorrow she'd start working on

her new list.

By herself.

Chapter 10

"We're running behind," Nick said when his little recluse practically ran out of the elevators towards him.

"I know. I'm sorry," she said even as she dropped her suitcase and large duffle bag by his feet. "I'll be right back," she

said, rushing off towards the hotel's small convenience store and leaving him standing there like an idiot.

The only thing that saved her from a good throttling was the fact that she was in the store and back out in under sixty

seconds with a small brown paper bag clutched tightly to her chest. Deciding that he had a pretty good idea of what it was and

in no way wanting to invite her to discuss her womanly problems with him he said nothing as she shoved the bag in her duffle

bag and stood up, not quite meeting his eyes.

"I'm ready," she said, blushing a darker red than he'd ever seen on her.

Deciding to take pity on the poor thing, he gestured for her to walk ahead of him while he threw his laptop bag over his

shoulder and grabbed his bag. He wasn't exactly surprised when she didn't say a single word during the taxi ride to the train

station. Poor thing was easily embarrassed, he thought with pity as they picked up their tickets and then waited for the train.

Still she didn't utter a single word.

After about thirty minutes his sympathy was coming to an end. Being embarrassed was one thing, being mortified to this

level was unhealthy and not normal. He considered explaining to her that she didn't need to be embarrassed about that sort of

thing around him since he'd been raised by a half dozen strippers who were really hookers who danced every now and then, but

decided against it. His past was nobody's business.

When the train finally arrived and they were ushered onto the train he damn near sighed with relief. He'd pull his

computer out and get some work done while his little recluse got over this and she really needed to get the hell over it. They

were going to be working together for several more months to come and really didn't need to this bullshit every month.

"I'm sorry, sir. The seats have been overbooked. I'm afraid we only have one seat available. One of you is going to have

to stand," the conductor said with a what-are-you-going-to-do shrug.

If they hadn't already checked their bags they'd be getting the hell off the train and hauling ass to the airport, but they

couldn't. The airport in South Carolina was a good two hours away from their hotel while the train station was only ten minutes

away. They'd lose too much time switching now and would miss the book signing.

With a sigh he gestured for Jamie to take the seat while he went and found a spot to stand near the bathroom. She looked

like she was going to argue when he sent her a glare that told her to sit her cute little ass down before he spanked it. After a

slight hesitation she nodded and sat down in the aisle seat.

He was just resigning himself to cramped legs and boredom when he spotted a middle aged man sporting the door to door

salesman look pause in front of her. While Jamie was looking out the window the man was looking at her, looking rather

pleased as he quickly slipped his wedding ring off his finger and into his pants. Nick watched as the man ran his fingers

through his hair and straightened his tie before approaching Jamie and gesturing to the seat next to her with his train ticket.

Oversold train his ass. He was going to have a word with Beth or whatever the hell her name was in transportation, he

told himself as he watched the asshole strike up a conversation with the little recluse. She really was a naive little thing, he

decided as he watched the asshole charm her. When she smiled and let out a small laugh that seemed to please the man and piss

him the hell off he decided to intervene.

Clearly she was in over her head and he was helping her. It had nothing to do with the fact that she'd given away one of

the smile and laughs so easily to the asshole when he had to work his ass off to earn one. It didn't. She was his responsibility

and therefore it was his job to make sure that no one but him took advantage of her. With that in mind he walked over to her.

"Up," he said, gesturing for her to stand. When she only stared up at him, looking adorably confused he grabbed her hand

and gave it a quick tug. Once she was on her feet he moved in and sat down, throwing the asshole a smug grin as he gave

Jamie's hand another little tug that had her falling on his lap. He ignored her surprised gasp as he righted her on his lap and got

comfortable.

"What are you doing?" she whispered as another beautiful blush crept up her neck. It made him wonder if she blushed

during sex. Before the thought left his mind he was shifting her again and trying not to notice how warm and soft her ass was.

Hell, he really needed to get laid.

"Getting comfortable in our seat. Why?" he asked as he closed his eyes and settled in for the ride.

She shifted again, but didn't say anything and neither did the guy next to him. He really didn't expect to fall asleep so when

he was suddenly jolted awake when the train came to a stop he was surprised. He was even more surprised to find his little

recluse fast asleep in his arms. She was curled up quite nicely in his arms with her head resting on his shoulder.

"Lucky bastard," the guy next to him muttered as he stood up and squeezed past him.

Ignoring him and how good Jamie felt in his arms he gently shook her awake. When she mumbled something and tried to

turn over in his arms he gave her another shake that thankfully did the trick. She slowly opened her eyes, looked at him sleepily

for a moment before she blinked. He watched in fascination as her eyes widened almost comically a split second before she

bolted from his lap.

As much as he hated to admit this, she'd felt damn good in his arms and he didn't like that one goddamn bit. He was a man

who liked his space and didn't need a damn thing from anyone. Sex didn't count. That was just a way to work out stress and get

off. He sure as hell didn't hold any of the women after he had sex with them.

If a woman entertained him in bed he'd consider her for a second bout of sex, but nothing more than that. Then again if

she'd been too needy, brought any drama to the bed or displeased him in any way he was out the door before she was done

screaming his name. He liked his sex bullshit free and without all that relationship crap.

Some women got a little pissed and irritated about his view on sex, but he didn't care. If they even hinted at any drama he

lost interest and moved on to the next woman. He liked to deal with women who knew the score before he fucked them. There

was no future with him and he made damn sure that they all knew it.

*******

"Um," she said, clearing her throat and trying not to appear nervous, "I was thinking about looking around the mall for a

laptop."

He frowned at that, but didn't bother looking up from the paperwork. "I told you I'd find one for you."

She stopped herself from pointing out that he'd promised to do that a few weeks ago, but she knew with their busy

schedule and her List that he hadn't had much time to look around. Well, tonight she planned on rectifying that. Not only did she

need her own computer to work, but she also needed it to-

"What's with the sudden rush?" he asked, still reading.

To watch porn, she almost blurted out but somehow held it back. Tonight for the first time ever she was going to watch

porn. She'd never seen it before, always avoided it, but tonight she was going to watch one and take notes. Admittedly she was

curious.

It wasn't as though she was completely oblivious to the act. She read romance novels and saw love scenes in movies so

she felt that she had a pretty good knowledge base of the act, but she'd never actually seen the real act, but tonight she would.

She'd pay attention, learn what men liked and what she could expect when it came time to have sex. She might be a virgin, but

that didn't mean she wanted the first guy she slept with to know that. It was her business.

Granted she'd didn't necessarily need to shell out a lot of money to watch a porn, but she didn't want to use Nick's

computer in case it left evidence behind and she sure as heck didn't want to have to order one of those movies she'd seen

advertised in some of the hotels and have anyone find out that she was doing this. She also didn't understand why anyone would

pay thirty bucks to watch a movie.

"I'll take you after this," he said, not sounding particularly happy about it, but then again he had been spending all of his

time with her. She imagined a man like him wasn't used to going without sex and probably needed a night off so he could do

that. Then another thought occurred to her, one that made her curious, could men get cranky if they went without sex? If so, was

it like PMS? Could she expect mood swings and sudden urges for chocolate from him?

She really didn't think she could deal with a cranky Nick. An irritated Nick was bad enough. No, if he got worse she was

going to grab the first bimbo she saw and throw her his way. She'd do anything to avoid Nick getting crankier.

"Jamie?"

"Huh?"

"I said we could go after this if you want to," he said, looking up long enough to send her a frown.

"Oh, okay. Thanks," she mumbled, feeling giddy. Who knows maybe by this time next week she wouldn't be a virgin. That

would be fantastic. She was also sure that having experienced the act first hand would probably benefit her writing. If anything

she should have sex for her job. Yes, she definitely owed it to her readers to go out and have sex.

********

He looked up from his computer and nearly groaned. A half hour ago he realized that someone fucked up and double

booked them next week and he'd been trying to figure out how to fix it. He'd just come up with a solution that would work for

everyone, meaning him, when the banging started.

Shouldn't she be off working? he wondered as he pulled on a pair of jeans. Then again she probably had another question

about her computer. Granted, he thought he'd covered everything during the two hours they spent setting her new computer up,

but maybe he missed something.

"Nick!" she yelled again.

"What?" he demanded as he opened the door to find the little recluse hugging her laptop tightly to her chest and looking

close to tears.

"I broke my computer."

"Did you drop it?" he asked, already taking the computer from her hands to inspect it.

"No," she muttered, sounding miserable.

He threw her a curious look as he took her computer over to the couch and placed it on the coffee table. He opened the lid

and felt his eyebrows jump as pop up window after pop up window featuring sex in various acts kept popping up on the screen.

"What the hell did you do?" he asked, already having a pretty good idea that she'd downloaded a virus.

"Research," she mumbled pathetically.

"What?" he asked absently as he did his best to stop the attack.

She mumbled something that he didn't quite understand. "What was that?" he asked as he opened and ran the anti-malware

program he'd installed only hours ago.

"I said I was watching sex for research," she said, shocking the living hell out of him.

"You were watching porn?" he snapped. "What the hell kind of research requires you to watch porn?" he demanded as he

stood up and walked over to his computer, half afraid that she'd done something to his computer.

"That's personal," she said, trying to sound firm, but the woman just didn't have a clue how to pull it off.

He ran the malware scanning program on his computer and was just about to go recheck her computer when a thought

occurred to him. This morning he spotted a peculiar file in her folder and at the time hadn't thought much about it, but now he

did. He clicked the file open and received his second shock of the night as he quickly read through the list.

"What are you doing?" Jamie asked, sounding nervous and for good reason.

Holy shit, was she serious? He looked over the list again as dread shot through him. Yes, she was. She'd made a list,

started to do the items on the list and was curious. He'd bet everything he had that brown bag she'd hugged to her chest this

morning hadn't been tampons. His damn recluse had bought condoms and was now watching porn.

She wanted to try new things. Hell, he'd encouraged her to try new things so that he had something to hold over her head

and now it seemed as though she taken it one step further. His little recluse was getting ready to start a little sex revolution.

For a moment he wondered how she planned on approaching him about helping her out with this, but then realized that she

hadn't planned on approaching him at all. She didn't want his help. For everything else he was fine, but he wasn't good enough