Chapter 24

Nichole hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but exhaustion held her. She’d been awake so early to make it to the studio for her interview that she’d only gotten a few hours of sleep, and now she was paying for it. The buzz of her phone had woken her up, and she saw that Jesse had called.

Her hands weren’t working properly, so after pushing the button to dial Jesse, the phone flew out of her hands and landed a few feet away on the bed.

“Hey, how are you?”

Jesse’s voice sounded so good, and she missed him so much that tears filled her eyes. She wanted to be back in California with him.

“Hey.” Her voice came out in a squeak, sounding awful.

“You sound tired.”

“Ugh, this morning came very early. I don’t know if it was the travel or missing you, but I didn’t sleep well.”

“I’m sorry. Are you in bed?”

“No, yes. There’s nowhere else to sit. I need to get some food before everything closes.”

Jesse’s chuckle warmed her. She wished she was back in his bed and his arms.

“I miss you.” Her voice came out in a husky whisper, revealing her emotions.

“I miss you, too. It’s weird not having you here.”

Her heart filled with happiness that he missed her, too. She’d wondered if he would. The combined amount of time they’d been together wasn’t that long, but it had been deep.

“I’m still taking interview requests. At some point, I’m going to have to cut it off.”

“Do you know when you want to cut the requests off?”

“Not yet. A publisher contacted me. They want to do a dinner meeting with me tomorrow.”

“That’s exciting.”

“Yes, and no. The more interest in me, the higher the likelihood someone will recognize me in California. I’m not sure either of us is ready for that amount of scrutiny.”

Jesse made a non-committal noise that left her wondering. This was a lot, even for her. She wanted a book contract. It would allow her to make more money. Writing articles made enough money, mainly because she could get higher rates than journalists who were new to the job. It also meant there weren’t that many jobs given to her. Magazines and newspapers wanted her articles, but they didn’t want to shell out money, so they only requested her for things they thought would be big.

“Apple finally told us what was bugging him.”

She sat up, fear twisting through her. This could end them, but Jesse didn’t sound like he was too worried.

“And?”

“He’d dated someone who’d turned on him, stealing information. This isn’t out there in the public, so you can’t look into it.”

“I won’t.”

“He was dating someone who was in the Army, and I guess he thought he could trust them. They stole information from him. He was lucky his commanding officer believed him. He could have ended up kicked out of the military, or worse, implicated with her. It was buried, and the information about her is dead. It was a military tribunal, so not public court.”

“So he was betrayed.”

“Yes. He fears you’ll betray me.”

“I won’t.”

“I know that, and you know that, but Apple doesn’t know you.”

She sat in silence for a moment, her mind bouncing around ideas of how she could get Apple to trust her. Time was the only thing that would really make a difference. Building trust couldn’t be cheated. She couldn’t rush Jesse’s friends. They would either accept her or not.

“Listen, I don’t want you to worry about Apple. I trust you, and I care about you. I know you won’t ever betray me.”

“It’s good, though, for you to question. I want us to get to know each other better.”

“We will.”

“I’ll be home soon.”

“Mmm, I like that you call this home.”

Her stomach did some weird butterfly thing. “I feel that way. I don’t know when I started thinking of it as home, but I do.”

“I like that. Go get some food and get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“I have dinner with the publisher tomorrow evening. I’ll text you when it’s over.”

“I’ll be up. And I…I want to say this, and it’s not just because you’re gone.”

“What?”

“I love you.”

She sighed, the butterflies increasing as a shiver worked through her. “I’m glad you said that because, honestly, I love you, too.”

Jesse let go of a huge breath. “I’m glad you feel that way, too. I don’t know much, but I want this relationship to grow.”

“Same.”

“Go get food. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

The call ended, and she dropped back to the mattress, hugging a pillow close. Jesse had changed things for her. Writing books would be preferable to traveling the globe all the time. She loved tracking down stories, but there were plenty of stories that needed coverage in the US and plenty that deserved more time than just a short article.

After a moment of hugging herself because Jesse loved her, she grabbed her phone and pulled up an application so she could submit an order for food. She didn’t want to go out and get wet or have to deal with other people. The rain had hit off and on all day, leaving everything a wet mess. Eating in her room was much preferable. Also, staying in would give her time to do some research on the publisher. One thing was for sure, she wouldn’t betray the promises she made to Jesse. Even if she wrote a book, she wouldn’t reveal any secrets she learned from being rescued by the SEAL team. That was locked away forever.

Being honest with Jesse was more important than her job. There was a time she wouldn’t have said that. Taking down Zabel had been one of the biggest things she’d done, but it had also taken a personal toll because she’d had to lie to him to get the story. She didn’t like the feelings that came with betraying people. With Jesse, she would be honest, and hopefully, that would be enough.