Then again this chocolate convention hadn’t been on the list at all, but she’d overheard one of her fans talking about it earlier and mentally added it to the list.

Nick had assumed that she’d want to try to go to the nightclub again tonight and had been shocked when she told him what she really wanted to do. She’d hit a nightclub again soon, especially if she had him by her side, but tonight she was all about the chocolate.

Seriously, what kind of woman would be able to pass up a convention center filled with chocolate from all over the world? Okay, granted she’d almost passed it up, but only because she always felt like an oddball whenever she went to any event by herself, but then she remembered that she didn’t have to. While she was on this tour she had her own personal tag along buddy, a buddy that would help her do all those things that she’d always dreamed about doing, but didn’t have the guts to try.

“Exactly how many items are on the list now, Miss. Harris?” he demanded as they moved forward in the line to enter the convention.

She nearly rolled her eyes at the “Miss, Harris”. She knew they weren’t friends and knew this agreement had nothing to do with friendship and everything to do with getting what they both wanted, but if he continued to call her Miss.

Harris other people would question why a handsome man was spending time with her. They’d probably assume she paid him and she really didn’t think she could deal with anymore unwanted attention.

“The name is Jamie and I have no idea how many items are on the list,” she whispered, ignoring her burning cheeks.

He sighed heavily as he grabbed her arm and practically dragged her along the moving line. “I suppose it would make things easier if we were on a first name basis,” he grudgingly agreed as they paid for their tickets. She considered paying for his ticket since he was doing her a favor, but then remembered that he wouldn’t allow her to order a hot fudge sundae last night after dinner because he considered it an interruption. So she didn’t feel bad when he had to dish out twenty bucks to get in.

Once the man in front of her headed to the right and she could see what waited for her she gasped. It was just so darn beautiful. There were booths filled with chocolate and everywhere she looked she saw signs for free samples. She’d probably have a stomach ache later but she didn’t care. It would be worth it.

“Okay, so go grab a few pieces of chocolate and let’s get out of here,” Nick said, gesturing for her to move her buns.

“Are you insane?” she asked, surprising herself, but really he had to be. They were in a convention center that featured two levels of chocolate and if he really thought that any woman in her right mind would be able to choose just a few pieces of chocolate out of thousands and be satisfied then he was crazy. It was either that or he was on drugs.

He rubbed his hands over his face before dropping them to his sides, looking annoyed. “You’re going to hit every vender, aren’t you?”

She nodded solemnly as she headed to the first one in front of her. “At least twice,” she admitted as she accepted a chocolate dripped strawberry and nearly moaned in ecstasy as the tasty combination hit her tongue.

“This is hell,” she thought she heard him mumble, but decided to ignore him as she moved on to a vender that hade creamy white chocolate.

******

“Well, I hope you learned your lesson,” he said as he slapped a hot face cloth on the whimpering woman’s forehead and sat down at the small hotel room’s desk.

“It was……worth it,” she said, turning over on the bed to move into the fetal position and hold her stomach.

“Sure it was,” he agreed dryly as he logged onto his computer to check the next day’s itinerary. “You can hardly move without saying ‘oh, god’, but I’m sure the fifty pounds of chocolate you consumed that will probably be making a reappearance real soon was well worth it,” he said dryly.

“It really was,” she agreed, groaning.

He sent her a glare before returning his attention to his computer as he tried not to think about the four hours of his life that he’d never get back. He really couldn’t understand how anyone could get worked up over chocolate like that, but apparently his little recluse had. She’d dragged him from vender to vender to vender until he considered strangling her cute little neck. Finally when he didn’t think he could take another minute of someone shoving chocolate in his face she grabbed her stomach and muttered five of the sweetest words he’d ever heard, “I don’t feel so good.”

Thankful that the hell was finally over he practically dragged her out of the convention, ignoring her sad little attempts to break free and go indulge in more free samples, threw her in a taxi, and hauled her ass back to the hotel where he fully planned on getting at least three hours of work out of her. He held up his end of the bargain and he fully expected her to do the same.

Speaking of the agreement……

He opened her folder, clicked on her “To do” list and nearly swore when he saw the insane number of pages she’d added. After sending her one last glare that she ignored because she was squeezing her eyes shut while mumbling, “Ow, ow, owie,” he returned his focus on the list that would no doubt make his life a living hell. He swore that if she had another convention on the damn list that he was going to spank her ass.

What the hell………

He hadn’t seen this coming, but hey if this was what she wanted he could do it. At least she’d made the list interesting, he thought as he went through each item as he tried to figure out which ones they could manage to do while on this tour and the ones that were impossible. By the time he was done going through it he had a newfound respect for the little recluse. He’d never thought the woman whimpering on his bed would be interested in some of the more interesting things, but he couldn’t deny that the list pleased him.

This definitely just got a lot more interesting.

Chapter 9

“Faster!” Jamie practically squealed in his ear.

He couldn’t help but chuckle as he squeezed the throttle of the rented bike and sped down the deserted highway. Jamie’s arms tightened around him even as the sound of her laughter reached his ears over the loud roar of the bike’s engine.

This was her first time on a bike and he could already tell that the woman had fallen instantly in love. He’d chosen this item off her list because it was one of his favorite things to do. Whenever he felt stressed or just needed a break from it all he jumped on one of his bikes and hit the road. Granted, he didn’t do it as much as he would love to these days, but it was still one of the few things that made him relax, sex was the other.

Since he hadn’t had sex in over a month and it didn’t look like he was going to be able to indulge in his favorite pastime, at least not while he was on this tour, then this was the next best thing. Thankfully the little recluse seemed to love it as much as him so he’d be able to do it a few more times while they were on this tour.

That would definitely help since Rick contacted him that morning and told him that Rerum Publishing House wanted to extend the already long tour.

They’d only been on tour for two weeks, but it seemed that every city they visited had a huge surge in J.L. Lewis sales that more than made up for the cost of this promotional tour. It seemed that J.L. Lewis was well on her way to setting new sales records for Rerum Publishing House and Nick couldn’t be happier. He knew this woman was the key to his success and so far she’d proved him right.

A week ago several of her books managed to make it to number one on all the important book lists and even some that weren’t. It seemed as though everyone had J.L. Lewis fever and he knew that it was only going to get better. There was already talk from networks about making several of her books into television series and a few major boys in Hollywood were hinting at a movie deal. That would mean more exposure and even higher sales and Nick couldn’t wait.

It wasn’t necessarily his job to influence the little recluse on what she should do, but he’d talk her into whatever deal best benefitted him. The more exposure she had the better he would make out in the deal. Hell, he was already toying with a European tour after this. For most authors he’d force himself to step back even though everything in him screamed to move his ass, but this was Jamie he was talking about here.