Jamie had to look away again, feeling like she was intruding on another private moment. It was obvious that this couple was madly in love. Something she would never experience.
Wow, that was a really depressing thought.
“I need you to take Miss. Harris out for a complete makeover.”
Dana frowned as she looked back at Jamie. No doubt she too thought it was a hopeless task.
“Not that I could ever say no to you-“
“You better be able to say no to him,” Edward practically growled, making Dana smile.
“-but do you mind telling me why she needs a makeover and what it’s for so I know where to focus?”
Nick sighed. “She’s an editor, well really an author Rerum has signed and I’m her editor. I need to get her ready for some PR, but I don’t have much time.”
Dana frowned, looking thoughtful. “Have I read anything you wrote?”
Nick chuckled. “Most likely, but she writes under a penname.”
“Oh, what name?” Edward asked, kissing the top of Dana’s head.
“J.L. Lewis,” Nick announced to her horror.
Why must the man do things like this? Did he enjoy humiliating her? First with the tampon and the toilet shield, then he put her down in Rick’s office for a good half an hour. Now he was determined to have a good laugh at her expense.
Like Dana Pierce really knew who she was. Puhlease. That was so ridicu”The J.L. Lewis of the Immortals on Earth series and Vampires of the Heart series?” Dana Pierce asked with a deadly serious expression.
Wow, Jamie thought, Dana Pierce heard about her books. That was pretty cool. Maybe she had some advice or something about her books. Of course she probably only heard about her series from Rick. Jamie really doubted someone like Dana Pierce actually read her work.
“That’s her,” Nick said casually.
Dana’s jaw dropped.
Jamie became worried.
“Honey? Are you okay?” Edward asked.
Not bothering to answer, Dana rushed towards her scaring the crap out of her. Dana took Jamie’s hands into hers as she gushed, “I am such a huge fan of yours! Oh my god, you have to sign something!”
Chapter 4
“You know, you don’t have to do this,” Jamie mumbled.
The two women who’d practically dragged her here, slowly turned around, looking horrified. “I love makeovers!” Amy Benet, Edward Pierce’s baby sister, gushed.
Dana chuckled. “She’s just hoping we let her out of this.” She gave Jamie a warm smile. “Don’t worry. This will be fun.”
Jamie wasn’t so sure of that as she glanced past the two women towards the open floor of the upscale beauty parlor.
“Besides Rerum Publishing is paying for this so I say enjoy it,” Dana said with a firm nod.
Amy quickly agreed, making her fight back a smile. These two women were nothing like she expected. Never in a million years had she expected that Dana Pierce would drag through her house to her private office so that Jamie could autograph a piece of paper for her. Nor did she expect Dana to call her sister-in-law and brag rather excitedly that J.L. Lewis was in her house. That of course made the other woman screech and demand that no one move until she got there.
Now they were embarking on what could only be described as a day of torture. The other two women argued with Nick for over an hour about what needed to be done. When Nick explained what he wanted done she frowned along with the other two women. Even Edward Pierce looked a little confused. The way he explained it she could have sworn he expected her to turn out nerdish.
Thankfully the other two women shot him down. When he argued, Dana enlisted the help of her three boys and little girl to chase a laughing Nick out of the house with water guns. The new game plan now was hair, makeup, laser eye surgery if it turned out she was a candidate and then clothes.
Jamie didn’t have much hope, but didn’t say anything. She knew she wasn’t pretty. Caitlyn was the pretty sister. Everyone always said so. Jamie was the smart one, the responsible one. It was the role she was born into and accepted it without complaint. Never once had she even considered, well not really at least, having a makeover. What was the point? There wasn’t enough makeup in the world to turn this ugly duckling into a swan. No point in wasting her money.
She didn’t want to waste Rerum Publishing’s money either, but the two women were so excited and happy to do this with her that she couldn’t bring herself to tell them it was pointless. She just hoped when this was all over that they weren’t too disappointed.
******
Nick glanced at his watch as he stepped out of the car.
“Shit,” he muttered as he headed for the front door. It was a quarter to nine and he was more than two hours late in picking Jamie up. Dana was going to be pissed, but there was no helping it. He just spent the last eleven hours on the phone, computer and overseeing five assistants all so he could make J.L. Lewis’
introduction to the world perfect, smooth.
This was the big chance he’d been waiting for and he wasn’t about to let anyone mess it up, not even J.L. Lewis herself, especially not J.L. This was his big break. This was his “Dana Pierce.” When he was done, everyone was going to know who J.L. was and it would all be thanks to him.
Before he got the chance to knock on the door it was pulled open. A disheveled looking Dana stood in the doorway with a silk pink robe wrapped around her body. Her lips were puffy and glistened from a recent kiss and her hair was mused.
He couldn’t help but smile. “Did I interrupt something?” he asked innocently.
Dana blew out an exasperated breath, sending a strand of hair out of her face. “You’re late.”
“Aw, were you waiting for me? Does Edward need some help?”
“I seemed to manage just fine on my own,” Edward said, walking into the large living room, wearing nothing but a pair of unbuttoned jeans and a shit eating grin.
Nick frowned as a thought occurred to him. As hot and heavy as Edward and Dana were for each other they would never ignore a guest to play mattress leap frog.
“Where’s Miss. Harris?” he asked.
Edward wrapped an arm around his wife and pulled her back into his body.
“The girls dropped her off at her car a couple of hours ago.”
“Damn it! Why didn’t someone tell me? I need to see her tonight and see how things turned out so I know how we should proceed with press releases.”
Dana shrugged. “We did call you, but she wanted to go home and I don’t blame her. She was really upset.”
“Upset?” Crap. The makeover hadn’t helped one bit and the little recluse was heartbroken. No doubt she thought a snip here and there and a little blush was going to perform miracles. He could have told her not to expect much, but wouldn’t that have just been cruel?
“She had a big shock tonight, Nick. Just leave her alone and let her get used to it, okay?” Dana, always sweet, kind and considerate, said. If only he could listen to her, but he couldn’t. He had a job to do and that meant going over to Miss. Harris’
apartment and seeing how much damage control he had to do. If it was really bad he’d have the photographer do some touch ups after the photo shoot tomorrow.
Normally he’d invite himself in and make a nuisance of himself to mess with his friends, but tonight he had work to do. After thanking them for all their help, even though it probably hadn’t done much, then again he hadn’t expected much, he made his way over to Miss. Harris’ apartment.
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?
She paced her small bedroom, mentally berating herself for not just hanging up. It was easy. All she had to do was press the “End” button and then turn off the ringer. Then she could spend the rest of the day wrapping her mind around everything and make sense out of the little surprise she had yesterday.
Of course it all could have been a fluke yesterday brought on by a very vivid imagination. It was most likely a side effect of an overactive imagination, the two glasses of champagne she drank at the spa and the wishful thinking of the other woman affecting her eyesight. Not to mention the laser eye surgery. That probably altered her sight, making her see things that really weren’t there.
No doubt about it. Her mind played a trick on her, a mean trick, but a trick nonetheless. She’d been with two women she didn’t want to disappoint and she saw what she knew they wanted to see, but it wasn’t true. That woman wasn’t her.