Page 33 of Protection for Nichole

Peach’s eyebrows shot up. “Risky.”

He shrugged. “Sure. But I trust her.”

Apple huffed and stepped away. He guessed Apple still needed some convincing. It was insulting that the guys thought Nichole was dating him to get information. She wasn’t like that.The only remedy was time. Apple would just have to see the proof that Nichole wouldn’t betray them.

Griz grunted. “Give him a break. Seriously, Nichole hasn’t done anything to make anyone suspicious. She isn’t taking advantage of Jay. And if she does, we’ll figure it out.”

Jay turned to Griz. “How would we figure it out?”

“We aren’t going to grill her, but it will be obvious because we’ve got your back.”

Peach shook his head. “Be careful.”

Jay wanted to tell Peach to fuck off, but he knew the guy wasn’t trying to be a jerk. He was truly concerned that someone would take advantage of him. He had a handle on everything. If he had any doubts about Nichole, he would ask her about it. For now, he would trust her.

After getting some exercise, they showered and then headed back into the conference room. The huge conflict they expected to erupt had calmed enough for them to stand down. They wouldn’t be traveling overseas to fix a problem some terrorist group started. He loved his job and loved the excitement and adventure, but right now, he just wanted to be at home with Nichole.

One of the teams would have to travel soon, and normally, he would want the team to be theirs, but with Nichole living with him, he wanted to stay here at Coronado and spend more time with her.

Chapter 30

Nichole wasglad Jesse hadn’t needed to leave for a mission. She knew that was his job, but she wanted to wake up at his side and get to know him better.

Their relationship had been weird from the beginning. The time spent at that resort had left both of them with unrealistic expectations of who the other person was, and they were learning that neither of them were as cool as the other person thought. That was okay, though. She liked Jesse, and she liked that he enjoyed reading as much as she did.

They weren’t on each other’s nerves which was good. Nichole had learned that Jesse was a total geek. He’d built out a computer system that was crazy impressive, subbing in very specific components to make it do exactly what he wanted. She thought that was amazing.

He’d been surprised that she liked to lie around in her underwear and read articles. She’d explained that she wasn’t trying to be sexy, just comfortable. They both adjusted to each other’s quirks. Her accepting his need to do intense workouts on the weekends, and him allowing her time to do yoga in the evenings before bed.

Most evenings after they ate dinner, they sat around reading or him studying something about computers. He would point out the nerdiest statistic about some part he was thinking of adding or replacing to get some small amount of performance from the device.

They still had sex daily, which blew her mind. Some mornings, he would drag her from bed, and they’d end up having sex in the shower before he headed off to work. With her being on the West Coast, she didn’t mind waking early since most of the requests for interviews happened before nine her time.

Her subscriptions for her Substack had grown, and she was making a decent income along with a few other weekly columns she wrote. Money wasn’t a problem, but she was starting to wonder if she should give up her apartment in Chicago and just move out here to San Diego. She didn’t have expensive furniture, but there were a few things she would like to keep, mainly dishes.

Jesse came home early on Friday and surprised her. She’d been taking a shower and screamed when the door opened. He’d apologized, and because he felt bad, he brought her to orgasm twice over, making her legs feel as weak as noodles.

After the shower, she pulled on her underwear and headed to the kitchen for a bite to eat. “I was thinking about giving up my apartment in Chicago. The lease is ending in two months, and I think we’re getting along well enough.”

His eyes went wide, and his lips stretched into an excited smile. “Are you kidding me?”

“No, not at all kidding you. I want to be here with you if that’s okay. I don’t know how long?—”

“Don’t say more. Let me say something.”

She pinched her thumb to her forefinger and ran it across her lips like she was zipping them closed. His laughter made her heart sing with happiness.

“Don’t question how long we’ll last. Neither of us has been in a serious relationship before, at least nothing that either of us thought would last forever. And I don’t want to assume too much, but I think it would be a good thing if we both took a chance on this and moved in together for real. Housing out here is expensive, so I don’t think I could swing moving into a bigger place right now, but?—”

“Hold on.” She put her fingers on his mouth. “I don’t have that much stuff, mainly a few dishes I want to keep—like a tea set my grandmother used and a few dishes I love. I think we could easily fit in this space.”

“Are you sure?”

“About the space or moving in?”

“Moving in with me.”

She nodded. “Yes, I want to be with you. I’m probably not explaining it properly, but I feel like being with you is home. I like our life, even though we’re both geeks in our own way, and we don’t go out partying.”

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