A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts #2)(81)

Gathering her last reserve of energy as her lungs burned and her world began to fade around her, Jamie brought her knee up hard between the much taller woman’s legs and nearly jumped for joy when the woman let out a surprised gasp and a groan of pain. Her hands loosened somewhat around her neck. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to allow her to suck in a lungful of air.

Jamie didn’t waste any time in shoving the surprised woman away. She stumbled to the side, giving Jamie a chance to run for it. Unfortunately the crazed woman was blocking the only exit in the room so Jamie settled for running to the other side of the small office and putting the desk between them.

“You’ve ruined everything!” Holly screeched as she slammed her fists against the desk. “Everything!” When Jamie saw the woman’s glare drop down to the sharp letter opener lying in its case near the computer she decided that it was past time to make a run for it. She took off running, thankfully taking the woman by surprise and managed to run past her.

Her hand fumbled with the door as adrenaline surged through her body. She couldn’t stop shaking as she tried desperately not to think about the insane woman coming after her. After a few failed attempts she managed to grip the doorknob and open the door with a loud bang. She ran into the hallway, not sure where to go or what to do when she heard him.

“Jamie!”

She turned around and spotted Nick running her way with Rick hot on his heels and what appeared to be several officers. A sob broke lose as she ran towards him, happy to have this nightmare finally over. She couldn’t wait to hold him, to kiss him and tell him how much she loved him. She realized with dismay that she’d never told him that. It was silly and stupid and she should have told him the second that she realized what he meant to her, but she’d been tooSomething slammed into her, knocking her into the wall. She barely had time to register the thought when she found the heavy weight yanked away and Nick pulling her into his arms.

“Baby, are you okay?” he asked, cupping her face with shaky hands.

“Fine,” she lied in a hoarse whisper with a wobbly smile. Her head was killing her. Her neck ached and her throat burned with every breath she took. As Nick pulled her to her feet she idly wondered if she could use this as an excuse to drown her sorrows in ice cream.

“Jamie, you’re bleeding,” Nick said with an edge of panic laced in his voice.

She reached up and carefully touched the back of her head and winced at the slight sting. “It’s fine. Just a little cut.” She hoped at least. He’d probably think that she was a big baby, but she really didn’t want any stitches. The idea of a needle sliding through her skin was enough apparently to make her stomach hurt. Not that she was surprised considering the one and only time she had stitches she’d passed out on the doctor when he pulled the needle out of the sanitized package.

“Oh shit,” Nick muttered, drawing her attention.

Frowning, she followed his glance down to her stomach. It took a moment for all the blood to register in her mind. When it did the pain decided to make its presence known. She looked up in time to see the officers wrestle the bloodied letter opener from the still screeching Holly as she was slammed to the ground.

“Oh, that can’t be good,” she heard herself say hollowly as her legs gave out and everything went black.

Chapter 31

“Chocolate,” Jamie whispered and Nick couldn’t remember ever hearing a more beautiful word in his life. He chuckled in relief as he left his chair, ignoring the aches and pains that came along with sitting in the chair for three days straight and went to his little recluse’s side.

He cupped her face in one hand, careful of her oxygen tube, as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her dry lips. “Welcome back, sweetheart,” he said softly.

“Did I go somewhere?” she asked sleepily, giving him a soft smile.

“It’s not important right now,” he said, unable to stop smiling. The last couple of days had been the worst days of his life. A few times it had been touch and go, but she pulled through. His little recluse was a fighter.

“I’m tired,” Jamie muttered around a yawn even as her eyes closed.

“That’s fine, baby. Go to sleep and I’ll be right here waiting when you wake up,” he whispered, pressing another kiss to her lips.

“Okay,” she mumbled. “With chocolate,” she added barely with it thanks to the pain killers in her system, he assumed.

Chuckling, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “A huge basket of chocolate, Jamie.”

******

“You lied,” Jamie said accusingly as the nurse fussed with her tubes and wires, but that adorable little glare never left his face.

“The doctor hasn’t cleared you for solids yet, but the second she does I’ll have a truck full of chocolate delivered,” he said, hoping to appease his grumpy little recluse.

Five days without sugar and she looked close to killing someone. Maybe he should sneak her in a chocolate milkshake or a Coke or something before she tried to escape from her bed, again. Her doctor thought he was kidding when he suggested she pump pure sugar into her body. He hadn’t been. In fact, he was pretty sure that she’d be a very pleasant patient once she got sugar into her system.

She looked up at him, pouting as she allowed her little chin to quiver as she said, “But I love you, doesn’t that mean anything?”