Page 11 of My Temptation

“And Caleb?” I grinned when his face lit even more than it had when I mentioned Maddie. It wasn’t hard to see Nick loved his little boy.

“He’s such a cool kid.”

“He must get that from Maddie,” I teased.

“Probably,” he agreed.

“I’m surprised you wanted to come out with Maddie working.” Nick didn’t like to miss time with his little family, which made sense considering how much time he lost while undercover.

“Caleb’s at his grandparents’ for a sleepover.”

“Ahh, so you’re living the single life tonight.”

He laughed just as the server approached our table. We ordered drinks and meals quickly, used to being on a tight schedule and making fast decisions.

Nick settled back into his seat and folded his hands over his stomach. “How are you settling in?”

“Good,” I answered honestly. “I mean, I haven’t really had time to explore or even make any friends, considering my assignment, but I hope I can after this is over.”

“How’s Beth doing?”

“A lot better since Jax and Striker agreed to let her work at Elite.” I shook my head and was careful to keep my voice low while I spoke. We were alone in a back corner booth, but I still didn’t want to be overheard. “I don’t know how she did it, Nick. For years, she stayed in her apartment. I would’ve gone crazy, but she managed. When she finally built up the confidence to start going out, Max Skinner was released from prison, and she’s right back where she started. It’s just so unfair.”

“It is, but your idea for her to lend Leah a hand at the office is helping. From what I hear, it’s helping Leah too.”

I smiled. “Leah actually thanked me. I guess she’s been asking for help for a while.”

“Everything good with Striker?”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Well, he’s back from his assignment. He found me and Beth in the gym tonight and gave me shit about teaching her self-defense.”

Nick’s eyebrows drew together. “Really?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “It’s only because I was the one teaching her.”

We both quieted when the server approached our table with the food and waited for her to walk away to continue talking.

“Striker doesn’t handle change well,” Nick offered as an explanation.

“He doesn’t like me, Nick.” I lifted my fork and stabbed a piece of pasta. “There isn’t anything I can do to change that.”

He smirked. “Your declaration helped.”

“I don’t follow.”

Still smirking, he leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I think your exact words were, I don’t fuck men.” I took a bite of pasta, but I was smiling when he continued. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret. But only if you tell me why you said it.”

I finished chewing and swallowed. “After about six months in the FBI, I realized I was never going to be taken seriously, especially after overhearing a couple of fellow agents, male agents, make a bet on who could sleep with me first. It had nothing to do with my looks or even me in general. It was all about the competition. I decided to end the competition on my own terms and made it very clear I wasn’t interested in men.”

“Did it work?”

“Like a charm.”

“That’s not how Elite runs, you know. Nobody is making those bets.”

I studied him before answering, knowing I wanted to choose my words carefully. “Striker’s impression of me is that I'm a liability for the team. I had to extinguish that so everyone at Elite would judge me on my skills and nothing else.”

“I know it’s hard to let go of the survival skills you put in place to make it in the FBI, but you need to know that you won’t need them at Elite. No one is out to get you. No one is judging you.”

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