A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts #2)(10)

He wasn’t entirely surprised to discover the little recluse lived in an average city neighborhood. There wasn’t much to set this place apart. It looked to have a convenient store, a package store and a small bakery that promised half off coffee rolls every Thursday with the purchase of a large coffee.

Even her building was average, a three level brick building with a basic security door and buzzer. There was absolutely nothing special about it. He walked up the two front steps and looked over the apartment listings. Not surprising that the little recluse lived on the third floor. It was out of the way and the perfect floor for a little hermit.

He pressed the button marked “J. Harris,” and waited. When no response came he hit the buzzer again.

“Hello?” Miss. Harris’ voice sounded from the raspy speakers.

“Miss. Harris, it’s Nick Quinn. You were supposed to wait for me so that we could go over your schedule for the next four weeks.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just-“

He cut her off. “It’s no problem, Miss. Harris. We can go over it now if you’d buzz me in.”

“It’s kinda of late,” she responded quickly.

“It won’t take that long. I promise. At the very least I need to go over tomorrow’s schedule.”

“Can’t we go over it tomorrow morning?” she asked, sounding hopeful.

He had to smile. Poor thing must be so humiliated. Well, it was best to get it over with and see what he had to work with.

“I’m afraid not. We’re not meeting at the office, Miss. Harris. I really need to speak with you.”

“You’re speaking to me now,” she pointed out.

Nick closed his eyes and prayed for patience. The first day wasn’t over and she was already causing him problems. He had no doubt that he could get the little recluse under his thumb. He’d use his charm, false flattery and if that failed, which it never had, he’d just use the little fact that she was a pushover to his advantage.

“I prefer to speak with you in person, Miss. Harris, instead of discussing Rerum Publishing business in public for the entire neighborhood to hear.”

“I’m, uh, tired. So, um, this will have to wait until tomorrow. So, um, goodnight,” she said. A small clicking sound followed, letting him know she turned off her intercom.

Why that little……

Did she really think she’d get rid of him so easily? She really had a lot to learn if she thought she could dismiss him.

He picked another buzzer at random.

“Hello?”

“Pizza delivery,” Nick said.

“I didn’t order any pizza,” the guy said.

“Are you sure? It’s all paid for.”

“Oh, wait. Um, yeah, I think my wife did,” the guy said obviously lying. A few seconds later he was buzzed in.

He walked through the paste white foyer to the stairs and took them two at a time. A few minutes later he was knocking on the little recluse’s door. No answer.

There was nothing but silence.

“I know you’re there, Miss. Harris. I can wait here all night if that’s what it takes,” he said in a bored tone as he leaned against the doorframe.

Her answer was a small gasp. He had to laugh. Yeah, his little recluse was going to do what he said when he said it. Then it was smooth sailing from there on out.

“Miss. Harris, please open up so we can talk.”

“No.”

“Miss. Harris, I can stay here all night. Why don’t you save us both some time and open up now? The sooner we get this over with the sooner you can go to bed,” he promised in a reassuring tone, but he really couldn’t help but wonder how bad the makeover was.

Did she look like Frankenstein or a drag queen?

“No.”

“Miss. Harris,” he said warningly. He was getting pretty aggravated now.

“You can stay out there as long as you want. I for one am going to bed.

Goodnight,” she said.

She wouldn’t……

She did!

The light beneath the door disappeared. A minute later he heard a door shut.

No doubt it was her bedroom door so she wouldn’t have to hear him.

“Son of a bitch!” He rapped on the door for a moment.

Nothing.

He waited another five minutes, feeling like an idiot. No woman ever made him wait. It was unheard of. The fact that this little recluse had pissed him off like nothing else.

“This isn’t over! I’ll be back!” he said to absolutely no one. Scowling at the door one last time he left. This was far from over.

Chapter 5

“This is Jamie Harris,” Jamie said in a hoarse voice, hoping she wasn’t overdoing it.

“Hello, Miss. Harris, how can I help you?” one of the office assistants asked cheerfully.

“Could you please tell Rick that I’m going to be working from home today? I’m afraid I caught something yesterday.”

“Miss. Harris, could you hold please?” she said before she placed Jamie on hold.

Jamie opened her mouth to say she couldn’t hold, but didn’t get the chance.

She suddenly felt like a kid playing hooky from school. Maybe she should just hang up and shut her phone off. As long as she edited a few books today they should be happy, right?