Page 32 of Protection for Nichole

He stepped from the shower and cupped the back of her neck, breathing her in. She was the best person for him. Other people may not understand why he would get involved with an investigative reporter, but she wouldn’t betray him. She wasn’t with him to dig up information about some scandal or look for info on an officer. Nichole cared for him, not what he could do for her.

“I’ll keep you informed if I can. We may not be released for a few days.”

“I’m here for at least a week. I’ll need to move your table so I can do interviews with a plain wall behind me, but otherwise, I don’t need anything different.”

“That’s fine.” He pulled on his clothes, wishing he could stay with her but knowing he had work to do. No question, he needed to head out, but he wanted to hold on to her for one more minute. Her arms wrapped around his body gave him exactly what he needed. She was the sail that steadied him.

She stepped back, her eyes full of love. “I’ll miss you. Do you need anything, food, or coffee, before you go?”

He groaned. “I, ugh…I need to get to the base, but I should grab a sandwich to eat on the way there.”

“Let me help.”

She took off for the kitchen, and he followed, glad she had come back the night before. If he’d missed her, he would betotally disappointed. At least they’d had a few hours before the Navy called him in.

It was odd being with her, knowing she would leave for assignments, too. Hopefully, they would have more time together later in the week before she took off for something new. He needed to figure out how often she headed out on assignments. That was the only hesitation he had about Nichole, but was that really fair?

He dropped everything, even sleep, just to head in to work this morning. The sun wasn’t even up and wouldn’t be for a few hours, and yet he hadn’t even considered ending his time as a SEAL and getting a different job because of the inconveniences associated with his chosen profession.

Nichole deserved the same respect. Her leaving for an assignment wasn’t a big deal. He liked her as she was and didn’t want to force her to be someone else. They could work their schedules out so neither of them felt taken advantage of. It would just take time and patience on both their parts to make this relationship work.

Chapter 28

Nichole couldn’t go backto sleep, so she opened her computer and started reading articles and searching information about what she’d read. She wasn’t necessarily back checking what her colleagues had written, just getting more information from a broader source.

At some point, she turned on the auto-read feature on her phone and listened to articles as she ate breakfast and then cleaned the condo, not that Jesse had left much to be cleaned. Nothing in any of the articles caught her attention, so she hopped from one article to another, trying to pick up on any thread that interested her.

Maybe she was just exhausted. Instead of staying in Jesse’s condo, she decided to head to the beach for a few hours. Getting out in the open air would help her focus.

Months, maybe more like a year had passed since she’d been to the beach for something other than work. She’d seen the ocean in the last few years, flown over it, and had an interview in a building next to the beach, but she hadn’t kicked off her flip-flops and dug her toes into the sand.

When she stepped out onto the beach, she closed her eyes and listened to the surf pounding the shore, people chatting as they jogged or walked, and a few kids squealing down the beach as they played. She took it all in, breathing deeply, letting the sun soak into her skin. This was life. Her job took so much out of her. There was always another story, another thread to chase, something to hunt down and suss out. But being here, soaking in the atmosphere, this was why people lived.

Why had her job become everything? Maybe her father not believing she could do anything in life right pushed her. When guilt hit for not visiting her parents, she questioned if it had really been that bad. Her father hadn’t believed she was capable of holding down any sort of job. He’d thought her to be absolutely incompetent. When she first wanted to go to college, she remembered the huge fight between her parents. Her dad had wanted to marry her off to some guy in town.

Ultimately, that fight had driven a wedge between her and her father. When her mother passed away, she’d stopped concerning herself with his needs. It was harsh, but he’d never treated her fairly. Even now, after she’d more than proven that she had what it took to be a journalist and have a job, he thought she should quit. He’d actually called her and told her that she’d embarrassed herself when she’d broken the story of the corporate embezzlement scheme.

He’d wanted her to write the CEO and apologize for exposing the corruption. Of course, she’d told him he was crazy. The CEO and other people at that company had broken the law and used their positions to steal money, not just from consumers but also from the lowest employees at the company. It was horrific what the man had done.

She’d destroyed a criminal enterprise, and that was what she lived for. Exposing corruption at the highest level brought satisfaction to her. The pull to do something great with herlife overshadowed her personal needs. Living alone, not having anyone to come home to, had been easy. Working hard and making a difference had been all that mattered to her, but Jesse had been in the back of her mind for four years. Now he was back in her life, and she didn’t want to screw it up. Could she actually make a life with him? Would her work get in the way? She hoped he never thought she didn’t love him just because she left to track down a story.

Somehow, she needed to find a way to keep Jesse in her life and work her job. If people in the industry knew she was dating a Navy SEAL, they would want information. But she would never betray Jesse. There were probably dirty secrets floating around the Navy base, but there were other stories she could cover that wouldn’t pit her against Jesse and his buddies.

Chapter 29

By midday,Jay thought the brass was leaning toward sending them out to take care of the mess, and then by three that afternoon, things had turned around. Frustration grew, and he and his team headed out to the obstacle course to burn off some energy. They ran into Wild’s team who was just finishing up their time on the course.

“Hey, where have you all been all day?” Andy asked.

“In conference,” Jay answered.

Peach rolled his eyes. “Ugh. I hate days like that.”

Griz shook his head. “It’s the back and forth that gets me.”

Jax took a swig of water and then met Jay’s gaze. “Heard you were dating a reporter.”

Jay shrugged. He didn’t want to get into the details. Nichole wasn’t just some girl he was dating. She was someone he could see a future with.

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