A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts #2)(16)

She’d never been to one. Not even when she was in college. The closest she’d ever come was a sixth grade dance that Tommy Perkins invited her to as a dare.

She’d learned that fact after he grudgingly danced one slow dance with her and his friends started laughing their butts off at him. It had been a memorable moment indeed.

But that was in the past and had no bearing on her life now. Although she was really nervous, she was also pretty excited. She’d always wanted to try something like this, but could never find the courage. Now that she was on this trip she was going to force herself to try new things. By the time this was over she hoped that the old Jamie was good and buried and that she liked the new Jamie.

A loud sigh broke into her thoughts. “Fine. Just head back to the hotel now so that we can go over some things and I hope you ate because it’s probably going to be a long night.”

Her shoulders slumped as she opened her mouth to tell him that she’d be there soon, but something stopped her. She didn’t know what it was, but it gave her a moment’s pause. Yes, this was supposed to be a working trip, but he’d said that she wasn’t needed until morning so she’d made plans. He really couldn’t expect her to drop everything at a moment’s notice to accommodate him, could he?

If she went to him now then he’d know that he could push her around and she was done with that. That Jamie was long gone. The new Jamie wouldn’t be jumping for anyone. She’d wasted too many years of her life hiding in the background and letting her life slip by her. She was done.

When she was supposed to work, she’d work her buns off. She’d write, edit and do the hundred or so things that he expected from her that just thinking about gave her heart failure, but when it was her time she was going to enjoy her life for once and no one was going to stop her, least of all the overbearing bossy jerk.

“I can’t. I have plans,” she said as her eyes landed on a sign for Duck Tours and widened. That sounded like fun, she decided as she headed towards the sign.

“Well, break them. I need you to work.”

“Sorry. Can’t,” she said distractedly as her eyes landed on a large boat/car.

Now that looked like fun.

“Jamie,” he said tightly in warning, but she was barely listening as she handed the friendly cashier the money for a ticket.

“Gotta go!” she said excitedly as she stepped into the small line to get into the boat.

“Don’t you dare hang up. I need to-“

She hung up as a cute guy in his early twenties helped her onboard. As she sat down all thoughts of her overbearing boss disappeared until she was only left with excitement.

She had a feeling she was going to love the new Jamie.

Chapter 7

He was going to strangle Jamie.

When she’d hung up on him hours ago he thought it was a mistake. He quickly learned the error of his ways when the next ten calls went straight to voicemail. When she didn’t show up within the next hour like he fully expected her to he’d become a little irritated with her and decided to catch her when she came back to the hotel.

Either he was losing his hearing or she was the quietest woman in the world, because she somehow managed to sneak into her room, the room next to his, shower, change and sneak out without him knowing. Well, that wasn’t entirely true.

When he stepped out of the shower he heard her door click shut.

At that point he’d been willing to forgive her for ignoring his summons and pulled on a pair of sweatpants quickly before he stepped out into the hall to knock on her door only to catch a glimpse of her as she stepped onto the elevator all decked out in a black cocktail dress and further pissing him off.

After he got dressed, bribed the bellhop to tell him where Jamie was headed he hunted her down to a nightclub of all places. He scanned the long line, hoping he’d find her, but he hadn’t. Somehow Jamie had gotten into the club and he’d been forced to get into the line and wait a damn hour as he kept an eye out for Jamie.

Now he had her in his sights and it was taking everything he had not to go over there and strangle the nervous little recluse. For the past half hour he bided his time as he watched her, hoping his damn temper would go down. It hadn’t. So he watched as she sat at the crowded bar, sipping her drink as she cast wary glances towards the dance floor. Every now and then someone would bang into her as they signaled for the bartender and he knew even twenty feet away that she apologized each and every time.

Whenever a man approached her, the little recluse would blush bright red, mumble something, fidget in her seat and send the guy away. Then she’d watch him walk away, frowning. Why the hell was she here if she wasn’t interested in a guy or the very least, dancing? Since he spotted her she hadn’t left the stool.

Well, that was fine with him since it would make getting his hands around her neck a hell of a lot easier. He didn’t know why she was here, didn’t care and he sure as hell didn’t care that she looked sad. The only thing that mattered to him at the moment was that she f**ked with his night. With that in mind he made his way through the crowd.

A minute later he glared at the ass**le standing next to her until he moved away and he could take his place. She didn’t realize that he was there. She was too busy watching the dance floor to notice anything going on around her.

When a whole minute went by and she didn’t notice him he signaled for the bartender, a hot blonde with an inviting smile. One look at him had her ignoring the customers vying for her attention.