A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts #2)(14)

She wondered if he would use that lovely little talent for the rest of their flights during their tour. It would save her nerves. Not that she couldn’t handle sitting in coach. She could. The few times she’d flown were in the coach section and she’d survived.

No, her concern was being squished in by Nick. He intimidated her and made her feel uncomfortable. The man was far too bossy for his own good and with her being the world’s biggest pushover that wasn’t exactly going to help. Space was her friend. As long as she had that she could breathe and think clearly. Well, sort of….

“If you’re not working then I need the computer,” Nick said, sounding grumpy. He hadn’t been happy when he discovered that she didn’t own a laptop.

When she quietly suggested they bring her desktop with them he glared at her. Just glared. For about a minute she held back her apology for not owning a laptop. She knew it was stupid, but she couldn’t help it. Finally she couldn’t hold it back any longer and apologized and promised to buy one.

He didn’t speak, but his eyes narrowed on her and she would swear to her dying day that they looked calculating. It made her take a nervous step back. After another moment of making her squirm, which she really didn’t appreciate, he told her they would share his new laptop until he could find one that met his specifications for her.

She really didn’t understand why they couldn’t just pop into a Best Buy and pick one up and told him that. He just shook his head and told her he’d handle it.

That was fine with her. She really didn’t care and was more than happy to play around with this one. It was pretty cool. For the first ten minutes she played around with it. Then she felt kind of felt guilty about that so she started editing John Bishop’s latest novel only to stop doing that ten minutes in because she wanted to see if it was her turn in an online Scrabble game. It was. Since then she’d been kicking some cyber butt if she did say so herself.

“Well, if you’re done do you mind if I got some work done?” he asked calmly enough so she passed the computer over, but not before she quickly closed the Scrabble window and erased the web browser’s history. No need to poke the tiger, she thought.

Deciding this was probably the best time to use the bathroom, she stood up.

“Excuse me,” she said as she flattened herself against the back of the seat in front of her, there was more room in first class, but she liked to get as much space between herself and the man watching her with an amused expression as she could.

“Where are you going?” he asked, looking back at the screen.

“Bathroom.”

He nodded as if she’d asked for permission. She almost snorted. She might be a pushover, but she wasn’t that pathetic. She quickly made her way to the first class lavatory and sighed as she spotted the “Occupied” sign. Deciding that it was better to wait here instead of in her seat, she leaned back against the wall and prepared for the long haul.

“Excuse me, is this the line for the bathroom?” a deeply masculine voice said, drawing Jamie’s attention.

She looked over to answer the man and found herself speechless and probably blushing. He simply smiled at what was probably her impression of a dying goldfish while she tried not to drool. This man was GQ level handsome, not as handsome as Nick or Edward Pierce, but close enough to fray her weary nerves.

He held out his hand, expectantly. “Since it looks like we’re going to be line neighbors I thought I should introduce myself. I’m Sean.”

Was this man flirting? Oh, he definitely was, judging by the glint in his eyes.

Jamie barely stopped herself from looking behind her for the beautiful woman that obviously had his attention. It took her a few seconds to realize that he was flirting with her.

She forced herself to take a calming breath as she shook his hand. This was so new and unexpected. Men did not flirt with her. They simply didn’t.

“Jamie,” she said quickly when she realized she was only holding his hand and staring. Oh, she so sucked at this! He probably thought she was the biggest freak on earth. Any second now he’d give her a polite smile and step back.

Obviously he couldn’t walk away completely. There were no other bathrooms available. The poor man was stuck in line with her. Even she felt bad for him. Why couldn’t”Is that your husband?” he asked, still holding her hand she’d like to point out, as he nodded towards Nick who was now scowling at his computer.

She laughed. She really couldn’t help it. The very idea of Nick Quinn being interested in her never mind married to her was truly laughable.

“You have a very pretty laugh,” Sean said, giving her a boyish grin.

Jamie took her hand back and pushed an errant strand of hair back behind her ear. “Thank you.”

“So, I take it he’s not your husband,” he concluded, sounding pleased.

She was about to tell him that Nick was her editor, but didn’t mostly because she still wasn’t comfortable letting people know who she was. So instead she said, “We work together.”

“Ah, I see,” Sean said, leaning in closely, but not too close to make her feel uncomfortable. “Is this your first time going to Boston?” he murmured in a rather sexy tone.

Jamie couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, I’ve been meaning to go for years, but never had a chance,” she said, thinking she also never had anyone to go with or any reason to go. She had friends, but no one she really wanted to take an adventure with. Her eyes darted to Nick. She didn’t really want to do this with him, but he was giving her a good reason to try new things. Also, having him around made her feel a little safer and a little more confident to take a chance.