“Virginal?” the woman asked, making Jamie gasp. How the heck did she know?

“Yes,” Nick said in that same bored tone as he continued to read.

“I’ll see what I have,” the woman said, throwing Nick one last look of longing before she reluctantly left the room.

Jamie opened her mouth to tell the man that if he was bored then he could darn well go wait in the car while she did this, but the saleswoman chose that moment to walk back into the room, carrying a huge selection of silk and lace.

Something about the woman’s flushed cheeks told her that she probably ran around the store and grabbed anything and everything so that she could come back to ogle Nick. For his part, Nick just sat there thumbing through a magazine on fashion.

“Try these on and we’ll see what we have to work with,” the woman said, shoving several items in Jamie’s hands and absently gesturing for her to go change.

Knowing there was probably no way to get out of this now, Jamie accepted her fate and walked to the first changing room. She wasn’t too surprised when she saw the saleswoman sit down in the chair next to Nick. Resigning herself to being ignored, she walked into the changing room and decided just to get this over with.

The sooner she picked out what she liked the faster she could put this nightmare behind her.

The first one was white silk with lace trimming. It seemed harmless enough, so she quickly undressed, leaving her underwear on and tried on the beautiful nightie. She turned to look in the mirror only to discover that there wasn’t a single mirror in the small room. Well, that was kind of dumb, she thought as she wondered how she was supposed to know what it looked like.

“Have you tried something on yet?” Nick asked, sounding impatient, which was a little shocking since he was usually cool as a cucumber whenever a woman was around, again not when it was just her. She didn’t seem to count.

“Yes, but there isn’t a mirror in here,” she explained, looking down at herself and twisting and turning as she tried to see if it looked okay.

There was a long suffering sigh that she knew all too well. “Use the mirrors out here,” Nick said, well, more like ordered.

“With you out there?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip nervously.

“Of course. How else am I supposed to help you if I don’t see what you’re wearing?” he pointed out and she just barely stopped herself from reminding him that she didn’t in fact want his opinion about this.

In fact, she specifically told him that she didn’t want his help with this matter. As soon as they finished the interview with the local paper she’d told him that she was going to Wal-Mart to pick out some lingerie. For a moment he’d only been able to stare down at her in that intense way that made her self-conscious and fight the urge to apologize to him. When the urge to apologize to him became too much he grumbled something, grabbed her arm, and practically dragged her to their rental car.

“I’m waiting, Jamie,” he reminded her and she was about to refuse when it occurred to her that having a man like Nick help her pick out sexy lingerie would probably cut out half the stress. She wouldn’t have to worry if it made her look fat or frumpy because Nick would tell her. He would never hold anything back because he was afraid that he’d hurt her feelings because he didn’t care. How that was a good thing she wasn’t sure, but it was an advantage, one she’d be foolish to ignore.

Taking a deep breath and praying that she didn’t do something like pass out, she opened the door and walked out of the room. She looked over at Nick to find him taking his time from looking up from his magazine. When he did, he placed the magazine on his lap as he ran an assessing eye over her. He gestured for her to turn around and with a little sigh of annoyance she did just that only to come to a sudden halt when she spotted herself in the mirror.

Wow……..

The nightie looked so beautiful and delicate. It put her br**sts and figure on display without being obscene. It was really rather pretty, sweet and sexy all at once.

Nick cleared his throat. “It looks nice. Why don’t you try on another one?” he suggested as she looked back to find him grabbing another magazine and ignoring the one on his lap. Apparently he lost his interest in fashion and the saleswoman wanted to kill her if that glare was any indication. Frowning, she returned to the dressing room.

Ten nighties later they were walking out the door and the damn stubborn man was holding her bags firmly in front of him so that she couldn’t take them and carry them. Every time she went to grab her bags he stepped away, glaring down at her as if she’d slapped him or something. Finally she gave up and was content to ride in silence as he drove them back to the hotel.

“What’s on the agenda tonight?” he asked as he pulled onto the highway.

“I thought I’d have a drink in the hotel bar and find a man to kiss,” she said casually, shooting him a sideways look and noting the way the back of his knuckles were turning white as he clenched the steering wheel tightly. She was just about to ask him what was wrong when her cell phone rang.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and sighed when she saw that it was her mother calling. Her mother didn’t call often, but when she did it was usually to brag about Caitlyn or whine about some injustice done to Caitlyn. As much as she’d like to send the call to voice mail she couldn’t. Her mother would have a fit and the call would be ten times worse for Jamie. Resigning herself to a half hour rant about the perfection that was her sister, Jamie answered the phone.

“Where do you get off humiliating us like this, young lady?” her mother demanded before Jamie could say hello, stunning her and leaving her a little confused.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, sure that her mother was mistaken since she hadn’t done a single thing that should humiliate her family.

“You know darn well what I’m talking about, young lady! I’m talking about that smut that you publish! I have never been more humiliate than I was today when Macy Powers showed me the magazine article that talked about your erotic novels,”

she said with open disgust and Jamie tried not to wince, but she couldn’t help it.

Well aware of the man beside her, Jamie turned as far as she could away from him, almost huddling into herself as she quickly explained, “They’re not erotic novels, mom.”

“Don’t you dare lie to me, young lady. I flipped through one of those horrible books that you write and I found inappropriate material in it! Do you have any idea how embarrassed I was? Do you even care that you’ve humiliated your poor sister, hmm?”

“I-” she started to explain, but of course her mother cut her off.

“I cannot believe this is how you wasted the college education we provided for you! Do you have any idea how hard your father worked to send you to college and this is how you repay him?” she demanded and it took everything she had not to remind her mother that they hadn’t paid a cent for her college education. That was Caitlyn and she hadn’t even bothered to graduate or really attend for that matter.

By the time it was her turn to go to college her parents told her there was no money for her because they had used up all the money they set aside for Caitlyn to “find herself.” When she flunked out of three private, expensive, colleges her parents decided that Caitlyn had worked too hard and simply needed time off which they paid for. Jamie on the other hand had worked her butt off and put herself through college. She graduated top of her class and never regretted one second of it because that experience showed her that she could do anything even if no one else thought that she could.

“I cannot believe you pulled this petty juvenile stunt. Was it for attention or just to embarrass your sister? Are you really that petty that you can’t be happy for your sister? You really felt it was necessary to humiliate her like this?”

“Mom, this has nothing to do with-hey!” she gasped, startled when her phone was suddenly yanked from her hand. She turned around in time to see Nick end the call and shut the phone off before he tossed it onto the backseat.

“You just hung up on my mother,” she said, more shocked than anything.

“I know.”