A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts #2)(34)

When the manager, a short woman with thick glasses and a nervous smile, removed the red ribbon that kept the people in the line forming in front of the small table they set up for her Nick pulled her chair out and gestured for her to sit down.

Biting her lip, she did just that, hoping that the large breakfast she ate before coming here would help settle her nerves.

She’d been doing this for about a month now and although she thought she was improving with making small talk with her readers and not freaking out, it was still stressful for her. The only times she found herself relaxing was when Nick was close by. Thankfully he’d been staying closer the past couple of weeks, probably to make sure that she didn’t scare off the fans, she thought as she sat down and took a quick sip of water. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as Nick spoke to the bookstore manager, but was thankfully still close enough that she didn’t feel like panicking.

Six hours later everything was still fine. Thankfully Nick wasn’t too far away and the fans had been great. A few made her nervous, but that was mostly because they treated her like a freak of nature. Okay, maybe freak of nature was a bit of an exaggeration, but that’s how she felt when they wouldn’t stop gushing and going on and on about how excited they were to meet her. It was flattering, but it also made her really nervous. She preferred it when her readers didn’t make a big deal out of meeting her. She liked meeting them and hearing what they had to say about her books, but the gushing was a little unnerving. Several times Nick had to step in and calmly get the over-enthusiastic fan to move along.

As she said goodbye to the sweet woman who’d given her a copy of her family’s cookie recipe because Jamie mentioned on her Facebook page the other night that she was dying for a homemade cookie she noted the young college guy behind her. Her eyes shot to the trio of guys waiting for him near the Sports section.

They kept gesturing for their friend to move up in line.

Why were they holding cameras? she wondered as he finally moved up in line and stood in front of her. He cleared his throat nervously.

“Um, J.L. Lewis?” he said, sounding unsure.

“Yes?” she asked, wondering if he was here to get her autograph for his girlfriend or mother. That was the reason most of the guys used when asking for her autograph, but a few of them she suspected were closet romance novel junkies.

Something about this guy told her that wasn’t the case.

Before she could wonder what he was doing he reached over and grabbed her hand, yanking her to her feet and had his mouth plastered against hers, surprising the heck out of her and everyone in line if the startled gasps and nervous chuckles were any indication. Just as fast as it happened it was over.

What the heck just happened, she wondered as her eyes landed on Nick and widened. He was kneeling in front of the table and it wasn’t until he pulled his arm back that she realized what he was doing.

“Stop!” the guy on the ground cried as Nick pulled back his fist and punched him again.

“Oh no,” Jamie mumbled, scrambling out from behind the table to stop him, but before she could get close enough to stop him the guy’s friends were there trying to pull Nick away. Nick didn’t bother to look back as he shoved them away and focused his attention on the guy on the floor.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” the blonde guy with a buzz cut demanded as he tried to yank Nick back. “It was just for a frat scavenger hunt. Let him go!”

Nick ignored him and focused on the guy throwing wild swings as he tried to fight Nick off. A few connected with Nick’s jaw, but if they hurt it didn’t show.

Having had quite enough of this nonsense, Jamie shoved two of the college kids who were in the way and did the only thing she could think of at the moment.

She launched herself onto Nick’s back.

“Get the hell off of me!” he snapped, trying to gently shrug her off even as he moved to punch the guy again.

“No!” she said, wrapping her legs around his waist in an attempt to use her weight to throw him off.

“Jamie!” he snapped, pausing mid-punch to try and shrug her off again, but she wouldn’t budge.

The guy on the floor took the opportunity to make a run for it with his friends not far behind him. With a growl of frustration, Nick got to his feet to go after them, but apparently he refused to do it with her still on his back.

“Get off!”

“No!”

“Get the hell off my back so that I can go kick his ass!”

“You already did!” she pointed out and then added. “He left bloody and crying! Is that not good enough for you?”

He paused briefly and shook his head as he reached back to pull her off, but she refused to let go. “Jamie,” he growled out in warning. Once upon a time that would have sent her screaming for the hills, but not anymore. He wouldn’t hurt her.

She knew that, but just in case he decided to get even with her for this little stunt she made a mental note to hide all her chocolate.

“Um, excuse me?” the bookstore manager said, grabbing their attention.

With a sigh, Nick turned so that they were both facing the woman, who looked a little freaked out. Not that Jamie could blame her. She just hoped the woman didn’t call the cops on Nick because she had absolutely no idea how to bail someone out of jail and she really had no interest in learning how.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have ask you to leave,” she said much to Jamie’s relief. She really hadn’t liked the idea of Nick becoming some guy’s “special friend”