“Will it allow cats?” she asked, perking up at the idea.

“You have a cat?” he asked, wondering how he missed it.

“No.”

“You want one?”

She scrunched up her face endearingly as she shook her head. “No, I can’t stand them.”

“Then why do you care if they allow cats?” he asked, fighting back a chuckle.

“I just like to keep my options open,” she said, shrugging.

As he followed her onto the elevator he wondered why he loved it when she drove him crazy.

Chapter 21

“Oh my god, I can’t do this,” Jamie mumbled as she watched in horror as a large group of paparazzi descended on her vehicle.

Why had she told Nick that she didn’t need him to follow her to work?

Because she hadn’t wanted to come across as clingy or needy that’s why. Somehow she’d managed to escape the small group that waited for her outside of her apartment building, but that was probably only because they knew exactly where she was going to end up. There was no way she was going to survive this without sugar, she realized as a swarm of people surrounded her car and started taking pictures.

For a moment she considered calling Nick and begging him to come rescue her, but she decided that at some point she’d have to figure out how to deal with this by herself and what better time than right now? She took a deep breath and when that didn’t give her the confidence that she needed to move her butt she took another one and grabbed her purse.

Trying to appear confident and relaxed, she slowly shut off her car and opened the door. Thankfully the paparazzi backed up and gave her plenty of space to step out of her car, probably hoping that she’d do something really stupid or embarrassing, but the joke was on them because she wasn’t going toOh, darn it, she thought as her purse somehow tipped upside down and spilled its contents all over the black pavement, leaving her with no choice but to drop to her knees and hurry to grab everything before they found anything embarrassing. Not that she had anything embarrassing in her purse, she thought as she grabbed a handful of butterscotch discs and shoved them back into her bag.

She was pretty sure that she’d learned that lesson a month ago and cleaned out her purse. The only thing they’d find now was a used paperback book, her wallet, candy, and”I see you believe in safe sex, Miss. Harris,” a man said mockingly as he held up the box of condoms she’d bought weeks ago and unfortunately forgot about.

She felt her cheeks burn as what had to be a hundred cameras clicked as the big jerk held the box of unopened condoms in front of her face. Clearing her throat, she took the box back, trying not to wince when she heard more clicks, and shoved them in her bag. “Yes, it’s, um, very important,” she mumbled pathetically, getting to her feet and fighting back the urge to make a run for it.

When she made it to the front of the building she nearly sighed in relief. That is until the large security guard held up a hand stopping her. “Employee pass or guest name,” he said firmly.

“Oh,” she muttered, trying to ignore the clicks as she searched through her bag for her employee pass only to come up empty handed. “I…I think I lost it.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t let you in the building without a employee pass.”

“Did you get fired?” one of the paparazzi demanded as Jamie struggled to figure out a way to get inside and away from the cameras, but all their questions and the constant clicking of their cameras made it difficult to think at the moment.

“How did it feel to find out that your mother wasn’t really your mother?”

“I hear your family couldn’t wait to get rid of you,” another one said, hitting a little too close to home.

“Please, I work for Rerum Publishing. If you call Rick Edwards or Nick Quinn they can vouch for me,” she pleaded quietly as the crowd began to close in tightly around her.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” the guard said, gesturing for her to step away from the front door. “But I have strict orders not to let in anyone without a pass or who isn’t on the list,” he said, holding up a clipboard.

She opened her mouth to ask him to check for her name, but realized that she wouldn’t be on the guest list. If she wanted to get in the building she was going to have to call Nick. She opened her purse even as the large man hurdled her away from the building and the paparazzi descended on her. After a quick one minute search she realized that her phone wasn’t in her bag.

“When did they fire you?”

“Probably after they realized your books sucked.”

“Need help? Guess you can’t call your family,” someone shouted.

Jamie hugged her bag to her chest and tried to walk away, but they wouldn’t let her. Anytime she tried to move away they shifted to block her. When she tried to fake left and go right she was knocked down and before she could get back up she found about a dozen people standing over her, yelling questions that she’d rather not think about as they documented her humiliation.

She tried to stand up, but no one would budge an inch, forcing her to curl up into herself and bury her face against her knees as they continued shouting their questions and knocking into her as they shoved each other to get the perfect shot.

As she was stepped on, kicked, humiliated and screamed at she couldn’t help but wish that she had some chocolate and Nick’s arms around her as the first embarrassing tear streamed down her cheek. Thankfully she had her face buried against her knees so the cameras missed it, but that didn’t stop them from trying to get some kind of a reaction from her.

******

“I’d love to make you dinner tonight, Nick,” Mandy, Sandy or was her name Chrissy? said as she leaned in a little too close for his comfort, forcing him to sit back in his chair and shift away from her as he shot the empty chair by Rick’s side another glance.

Where the hell was she?

She should have been here by now. In fact, she should have been here an hour ago, but the woman was a no show. He called her apartment, thinking that she’d run back because she’d forgotten something, but she hadn’t picked up. She wasn’t answering her cell phone either and now he was really starting to worry about her.

“Nick?” the woman said with a hint of a whine to her voice when he didn’t answer her right away.

“I have to catch an early flight in the morning,” he said absently as he turned to shoot another glance at the boardroom’s closed double doors.

“That’s okay. I don’t mind giving you a ride,” she said in a husky whisper that left absolutely no doubt in his mind about what she really meant.

“Not interested,” he said, not even bothering to soften the blow as he sent another questioning look to Rick, who wore a grim expression as he shook his head no. Great, his little recluse hadn’t called Rick to let him know why she was running late.

“What do you mean you’re not interested?” the woman demanded, but Nick was barely paying attention to her as he stood up and headed for the door. He didn’t need to look back to know that Rick was right behind him.

“The morning meeting is canceled. Please return to your duties,” Rick said as Nick pulled his phone out and tried to call Jamie one last time.

“Are you sure she was coming in today?” Rick asked as they stepped in front of the elevator.

“Positive,” he said, hitting the call button repeatedly with a little too much force.

“Any idea what could be keeping her?” Rick asked.

“Not a clue,” he said, regretting leaving her on her own. He should have insisted that she drive with him, but he hadn’t wanted to give the office gossips anything to talk about.

“Fuck this,” he snapped when the elevator didn’t move fast enough. He made his way to the stairwell, glaring at anyone that got in his way. Three minutes later they were downstairs in the busy foyer, searching for her.

“Do you see her?” Rick asked.

“No,” he said, barely biting back the urge to put his fist through a wall.

Where the hell was she?

“Let’s check outside,” Rick said, already heading in the direction of the monitored glass doors. As they moved to step outside the two large guards Rick had posted at the door stepped aside, revealing a large group of paparazzi going nuts not twenty feet from the building.