Finding Jordie: Things aren't always what they seem. (The Love Lies Bleeding Series Book 1) (17 page)

“He said that about me?”

“Yes.” His stern face was totally gone for moment, and he looked at me like a kindly uncle. “Thanks for the smoke break, kid. Back to business.” He stiffened up as what I assumed to be my one o’clock walked up the sidewalk.

I touched his arm with two fingers. “It’s okay. She’s here for a job interview. I’m expecting two more and Rachel shortly.” I handed him a piece of paper with their names on it. “You can let them in when they get here.”

“Hello, I’m Amber,” the woman said. “You must be Jordie?”

I took in her confident demeanor. She was young but serious. “I am. Nice to meet you.” I fought off a shiver. “Let’s go inside. It’s chilly out here.”

We approached the door just as Nathan and Todd were walking out. They were laughing. Amber took a double take of Nathan and froze. Involuntarily, I snorted with amusement when she blushed and lost her footing after he said hello to her.

“Thanks again, Nate. If you need anything, please call me.” They shook hands. “Jordie, always a pleasure,” Todd said to me and mouthed, “Thank you so much” as he turned away from Nathan. I smiled at him. I wondered what that was about. Whatever it was, it would have to wait. I needed to get this place fully staffed so we could get a break and on a normal schedule.

I was about five minutes into the interview with Amber when Rachel came walking in. “What’s up, bitches?”

“Can you give me one sec?” I said to Amber. “I need to speak with her.” She nodded as I was already walking away.

“Rach, a word real quick.”

“Fuck? That’s a word. It can be real quick.” She laughed really loudly at her joke.

“You’re such an ass. No listen. I hired a girl. She’ll be here at four. Her name’s Isobel. Easy on her. She’s going to need a bit of toughening up, so please just be nice for a little while until she adjusts to us. Please,” I begged her.

“Yeah, yeah, sure. What’s this one’s deal?” She peered over my shoulder.

“I don’t know. She just got here.”

“All right. You can go. I got this.” She shooed me away with her hand.

Nathan walked up behind me and put his arms around my waist. “Hello, Rachel. Hello again, gorgeous.” He kissed my cheek, which made me blush and almost forget Rachel was standing in front of me.

“Oh my fucking god, you two. Seriously...” She stuck her finger down her throat and pretended to gag. “What up, Nate dawg?”

He shook his head and chuckled.

“Before I go, what happened with you and Tyler?” I cocked my head to one side, opening my mouth slightly and widening my eyes at her.

“What? Oh. We, uh, had dinner.” Clearly she was trying to avoid answering my question.

“Smooth. Did you get to hear the bow-chicky-wawaa music last night from your music man?”

She gave me a dirty look. “Classy, Jords.”

I stuck my tongue out at her and smacked her arm. “C’mon, tell me.”

She rolled her eyes in true Rachel fashion. “Later. Too many ears in here right now.” She stared at Nathan, wide eyed.

“Okay,” I said. “I’m going home. Don’t forget Isobel will be here at four and I want the low down on these three later on when I come back. Probably around six-ish.” I walked out the door. Nathan was right behind me.

When we got upstairs in my apartment Nathan dropped my keys on the table, picked me up, and threw me over his shoulder, both his hands on my behind.

“What are you doing? Stop!” I laughed loudly as he carried me upstairs.

“You get no say in this, Ms. Spagnato. You teased me earlier.” He tossed me on the bed and grabbed my feet, pulling off my boots. He kicked off his shoes and pulled off his shirt and undid the top button of his jeans. I heard my mouth go pop as it dropped open. Nathan laughed as he lay down next to me.

“Seriously, you are one sexy mofo,” I said.

He propped his head up on his elbow and looked at me. “As are you, minus the mofo part.” He placed his hand on my stomach under my shirt.

“Ahhh! Cold!” I arched my back and he quickly slipped his other arm underneath, pulling me to him. He began to kiss me, picking up right where we left off in my office earlier.

“So what happened in your meeting today?” I asked him as we got dressed to go up to the roof.

“The usual stuff.” He shrugged.

“Uh yeah, you’re going to have to fill me in on what the usual stuff entails.”

“They showed me the script. I read the synopsis and agreed to take the job.”

“Oh? Just like that? You took it?” I smiled sarcastically. “That’s the usual stuff? What if the script sucks?” I zipped my hoodie and climbed out the window.

He followed. “It won’t. I know the screen writer, and he’s good at what he does.”

“What’s it about?”

“A womanizing business tycoon.” He grabbed his smokes from his pocket and sat down.

“Womanizing business tycoon,” I repeated quietly. The one thing I hadn’t taken into account before was his job. His free pass to make out with drop-dead gorgeous leading ladies.

“Oh.” My stomach hurt as a huge pang of jealousy ripped through it.

“Jordan? Baby, what’s wrong. You look... green.”

Green with envy.

“Nothing, it’s silly. Anyway, so you’ll be here starting when?” I changed the subject. Knowing he’d be here for a few months helped me feel a little less sick.

“I’ll go home next Friday, sign some paperwork, pack up some stuff, and head back April tenth. Filming will start May twentieth downtown. Oh, and my parents will be driving in the RV from Sacramento to New York for a visit, too, sometime in May.” He was smiling the nut job smile.

“Why are you smiling like that at me?” I laughed and stubbed out my cigarette.

“My mom wants to meet you. She was aggravated that she had to find out about you with the rest of the world off a television tabloid show.” He smacked my butt as we stood up to make our way back inside.

“Nathan, I don’t do so well with parents.” I pressed my lips together. “My parents died when I was eighteen. So... I... I don’t know. I don’t have a parental filter in my body.”

“Good, you and my mom will get along perfectly. She doesn’t have any filters at all.” He winked.

We were standing in the bedroom again by this time.

“Did you tell her about Emma?” My voice came out defensive and harsh.

He turned to me with sort of a pissy look on his face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just what I said. Did you tell her that I have a nine-year-old daughter?”

“Of course I did, Jordan.” He turned his back to me and put his hoodie on the chair. “Why would you think I wouldn’t? Of course, when she asked me how old you were I told her I didn’t know and it didn’t matter.” He took his phone and plugged it in, placing it on the nightstand next to mine. Then he picked mine up. “Does this thing really work?” He arched an eyebrow.

“I never told you how old I was, did I?” I said, ignoring his question.

“Nope.”

“Okay, guess.”

“Hell, no.” He chuckled.

“I’m thirty-one. I’ll be thirty-two in August,” I admitted quietly, hoping the almost five-year difference really didn’t matter.

“Really?” He narrowed his eyes a little.

“What the hell? Did you think I was older?” I screeched out.

“Nooo, not at all. I thought you were younger than me or around my age.”

“Oh, you just made my day—again—Nathan Miles Harper.” I slipped my hands just inside his pants so the backs of my hands were on his treasure trail, and pulled him close to me by his jeans.

He grinned that sexy as hell grin and chuckled. “How much time do we have before Emma comes home?” He glanced at the clock.

“About two and a half hours.”

“Good, because round two is going to take a little bit longer.” He grabbed me under my thighs below my behind and lifted me up. I immediately wrapped my legs around him. We kissed until my back was against the wall. He was the only person who had ever made my body react that way. It was like we responded to one another without even thinking about it. I had never felt my body exploding around someone else’s like this. It was amazing. He was amazing.

“You are all mine, Jordan. Nobody else’s. Tell me. Please. I need to hear you say it.” He was breathing heavily. He moved us over to the bed.

Through the panting and groaning I managed to speak. “I’m all yours. I don’t want anyone else but you, and I have never felt this way with or about anyone, Nathan.”

He stopped and his blue eyes mesmerized me. I unwrapped myself from around him so I could stand. He pulled my shirt over my head and dropped it on the floor next to him. I grabbed his shirt and he bent over to make it easier for me to take it off him. I dropped it on top of mine.

“Ever,” I added. My hands moved from his chest down to his jeans and I undid his button and pulled down his zipper, slipping my hand inside his boxers, tugging them and his jeans down. He had my bra off in a matter of seconds, pulling my jeans off with just as much urgency as was in his kiss.

We were lost once again. And again.

“I HAVE TO RUN
next door quick before going to get Emma. I need to change my phone number today too. Please don’t let me forget,” I said to Nathan as I wrapped the towel around my wet hair. He stepped out of the shower behind me.

“All right, I need to go back to the hotel today. I need a shave.” He gave the scruff that had grown in over the past few days a once over with his hand. “Can you get a sitter for Emma tonight?”

“Yeah, I think I can. Why? What’s up?” I yanked the knots from my hair with a brush.

“Jesus, Jordie, you’re going to rip your hair out that way.” He took the brush from my hand playfully then gathered the hair at the nape of my neck and began to brush it. “Anyway,” he continued while he brushed. “Tyler has a show on the west side. Want to come with me?”

“Sure, but he’s playing at my place tomorrow night. We can see him then.”

“I thought it would be nice if we went on an actual date. I can’t really take you to your own establishment. I know you well enough. You’ll be working the whole time.” He gave a small smile.

He was right. “I’ll call Rachel’s friend Erin and see if she can sit for me.”

“Great.” He smiled.

“Oh hey! I totally forgot to ask you. What was that meeting about today with the photog from earlier, Todd was his name?” I spun to face him. He turned me back around so he could finish brushing.

I held out my hand for the brush. “I got it, thanks.” I chuckled as he reluctantly handed it back to me.

“Go easy. Well, remember I told you that one of the paps said if he could get one pic and an exclusive quote he’d back off for a while?”

“I do.”

“That was Todd. Being that he was so considerate and helped out the girl whose camera was stolen, I thought I’d repay him the favor by giving him an exclusive picture and quote. ‘Cause you know, he’s just trying to make a living and all.” He grinned.

“He seems like a pretty decent guy,” I said.

“Yeah, we bullshitted for a few minutes in there. He didn’t ask any invasive questions. Just your run-of-the-mill shit. Decent guy.” He nodded in agreement.

“So what was this exclusive quote you gave him?” I tilted my head, curious.