A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts #2)(58)
Author: R.L. Mathewson

Enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame, Bitch.

“Play the audio tape,” Nick said tightly as he reached out and pulled her into his arms.

Without a word the detective carefully switched out the DVD and within seconds an audio recording of what happened once they reached their room last night began to play.

“You’re not tired, huh?” Nick’s voice asked teasingly.

“Not for you, Nick,” she heard herself answer in a husky voice that surprised her.

“What if I told you that I wanted to finish what we started this morning, hmm? Would you get back on your hands and knees for me, Jamie?”

When Nick’s deep chuckle echoed throughout the office she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her face against Nick’s chest, dreading what came next.

“That easy, huh? Tell me, baby, are you wet for me?”

“Why don’t you come check?”

“Any way we can skip to the end to see if whoever the hell did this left another message?” Nick suddenly asked, thankfully cutting off what came next.

A moment of silence followed before the sound of grunting and cries of pleasure echoed throughout the room. She felt her cheeks burn as it played out.

Once it was done she nearly sagged with relief. It didn’t take long before she realized that there was no message.

“Can we check to see if they’ve been released online yet?” Nick asked, giving her a comforting squeeze.

“Sure,” she heard the Detective say, but refused to leave the safety of Nick’s chest and face the man. That would pretty much be impossible now that he’d watched a video of her having sex.

“Son of a bitch,” Nick bit out.

“It’s on the internet, isn’t it?” she asked, biting her bottom lip anxiously.

“Yes.”

A video and audio file of her ha**ng s*x with Nick was now on the internet.

People all over the world could watch and listen to her ha**ng s*x and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She knew the police could try and have the files pulled off, but they’d just pop up somewhere else. Worst yet, whoever did this had followed through with the threat, which meant that they probably had every intention of following through with the second threat.

Within a month someone was going to try to kill her, she realized with something close to panic. The thought absolutely terrified her, but surprisingly she wasn’t worried about herself, she realized. She was worried about Nick. If he was around he could get caught in the crossfire and she didn’t want to see him hurt. It would destroy her if anything happened to him because of her.

She wanted him safe and the only way to guarantee that was to keep as far away from him as possible. There was only one way she knew how to do that and it would have the added benefit of taking her out of the limelight and giving her a chance to figure out who she’d upset so much that they were willing to kill her over it.

“Nick?” she said, pulling back just far enough to look up at him.

“Yes?” he said, looking down at her with so much tenderness that she almost cried.

“I’m done with the tour,” she announced, knowing that it meant they were over, but not caring one bit. Well, she did, but she was more concerned about getting him to safety and that meant taking away every reason he had for being near her.

“That goes without saying, Jamie,” he said on a sigh as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to forehead as she tried to hold back her hurt feelings.

That was it? Seriously? After all they went through he was going to let her walk away that easily? Then again there did appear to be a psycho on her tail so maybe it was for the best that he was giving her up so easily.

Knowing that it was for the best she didn’t argue with him. She decided to hold back the tears until she got to her new place and could drown her sorrows in chocolate. As long as Nick was safe she could handle anything, even having her heart broken by the big jerk.

Chapter 27

“Are you still ignoring me?” he asked, throwing Jamie a sideways glance as he pulled to a stop at a four-way intersection.

“I’m not ignoring you, Nick. I’m just trying to get this file edited before tomorrow,” she said, not bothering to look up from the computer balanced on her knees. Her words and tone were polite, but they felt all wrong. He might be new to relationships, but it didn’t exactly take a genius to figure out what was wrong with his little recluse.

She was pissed and for good reason. He’d screwed up and hadn’t protected her. Now thanks to him someone managed to invade a very private moment and make it public. As he pulled onto his street he idly wondered how Edward handled it after it happened to him and Dana. If anyone knew how to handle a bullshit situation like this it would be Edward and Dana.

“Okay, do you want to grab some food?” he asked, slowing down before he reached his house.

“If it’s okay with you I’d rather just call it a night and get settled in,” she said, not bothering to look up from her computer.

“That’s fine,” he said, deciding that they’d just order in tonight. Tomorrow he’d have plenty of time to go food shopping since he most likely just lost his job today.

It was one thing to have a discrete relationship with one of his clients, but quite another to get caught ha**ng s*x with her and have the video plastered all over the internet. Of course there was also the fact that he had about thirty conventions and interviews to cancel tomorrow, which wouldn’t make Rerum Publishing House very popular. It was a tossup which one they’d take issue with, but he was willing to bet his, thankfully large, bank account on being canned for the video.

“Is this it?” Jamie asked, looking up from her computer for the first time in hours.

“Yes,” he said, throwing the car into park and shutting off the engine.

Jamie sighed as she shut down her computer. “Thank you for the ride, Nick. I really appreciate it, but you don’t have to stick around. If you could just give me the key I think I’ll be all set,” she said, sliding her computer into her bag as she shifted nervously next to him.

“You don’t want me to stick around?” he asked slowly, starting to have a good idea where this was going.

“I, um,” she cleared her throat uncomfortably as she shifted again, “think that might be for the best.”

Holy shit, she was breaking up with him, he thought with a humorless chuckle. “So now that the tour is over you want to end this, is that right?” he asked, cocking his head to the side to study her as she struggled to answer. If he hadn’t been looking at her he probably would have missed the way her little chin quivered or the way her eyes filled with tears.