Page 70 of Rekindled Desires

I sat on the sofa, cuddled against James. His phone went off and I made a face at him. He laughed.

“Our friends want to come over. Do you want me to ignore them or can I answer them?”

I pursed my lips. “That’s acceptable.”

He chuckled, shooting out a text. I’ve never had large groups of people here before. I played online with my friends, they didn’t need to come over to game together. I thought I’d be overwhelmed when everyone showed up but I was just happy to see them. And I couldn’t stop laughing when they all showed up with nerd gear as housewarming presents.

I sat on a stool in the kitchen, watching the mayhem. Gabi and Yuri were playing a game on the TV Jaime bought me. Jaime, Jo, and Mariana watched and made bets on who would win. Mateo and Dmitriy were yelled at for talking business during a party. They leaned against a wall, chatting quietly so their wives wouldn’t yell at them again. Liam sat on the arm of the couch, watching Jo more than he was watching the game. A knock at the door made me frown. Who else would be here?

James opened the door and I was pleasantly surprised at who joined us.

Viktor shook James’s hand. They both looked relaxed and happy, no signs of the previous altercation bothering them. I mentioned to Jo that I was worried about it once but she dismissed it pretty quickly. I guess it happens a lot. Mateo and Liam even got into a full blown brawl last spring.

Viktor approached me slowly. We didn’t really have a great start but he did save my life so I slid off the stool, wrapping my good arm around his waist. He froze for a second before hugging me back.

“I never got a chance to thank you.”

He patted my back lightly before stepping away from me. “There is no need. I was in the right place at the right time.”

I shrugged my good shoulder. “Still. You got me to safety. Thank you.”

He shot me a sheepish grin. “Hopefully it makes up for scaring you when we first met.”

I laughed. “Not quite but we’re getting there.” I was teasing him but I wanted him to relax and let that go. I know I have. He laughed, shaking his head and handed me a bouquet of flowers.

“It’s not nerd gear but I honestly don’t know what that is so I got this instead.”

Liam stepped up behind him, gripping his shoulder. James followed, wrapping his arms around me. They joked around with Viktor until he stopped looking so nervous. Gabi demanded he come play with them and he finally joined the party.

James sat on the stool I had been in, pulling me back until I was resting against him. I peeked up at him and he grinned at me.

“So, other than more nerd gear, how am I going to repay you for what you’ve done for us?” Liam had a drink in his hand, relaxing against the island by me. I tipped my head.

“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t need anything before you believe me?”

I heard a snort before Jo wrapped her arms around Liam. He lifted his arm so she could cuddle against him before wrapping it around her, tugging her close.

“O’Connors are very persistent when it comes to perceived debts. And don’t try and ask for something stupid so they’ll let it go either. I tried that and they saw right through me. Liam’s sister still thinks she owes me for something that happened almost two years ago and they already paid off my student loans.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “Well, lucky for me, I don’t have any. So you can’t be sneaky and pay off debts for me.”

Liam looked determined though and kept throwing out ideas. Even James volunteered a few until I elbowed him in the gut. I shot Jo a helpless look and she stepped in.

“What about a job?”

I frowned but Liam looked thoughtful. “That could work. Obviously there’s a lot wrong with what I’ve got now, I could use the help.”

I shook my head. “I’m not a hacker though. Wouldn’t someone more experienced be better?”

“You aren’t a hacker, you’re a software programmer right? We need new programs for security. If you build one for us, then we won’t have to worry about sharing resources with other people, and it’ll be kept private. It’s hard to hire new people in this line of work,” Liam winked.

I pursed my lips. It wasn’t a bad idea. I didn’t know how to hack but I did know how to build programs. I debugged a couple security programs at my last job so I knew the basic structure. I stuck out my hand.

“Alright. If it’ll get you off my back about the so-called debt, then yes. I’ll take the job.”

Liam shook my hand with a grin. “Well, I’ll stop bugging you about one of them. There are several more though.”

My jaw dropped and all three of them laughed.

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