Chapter 30

Nichole was glad 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.”

Jesse threw back his head, laughter spilling out. “We did set unrealistic expectations on that vacation.”

“Yeah, neither of us is the stay-out-late partying type.”

“I enjoyed staying up dancing with you until the sun rose. But I’m just not that guy here at home.”

She ran her hand over his pecs and then up to his shoulders. “I like who you are.”

“Good, because I really like you.”

Nichole moved to straddle his lap. “So you’re good with me heading out to clean out my apartment and get my stuff from Chicago? I can maybe find a small storage place here if I need to.”

“What about a car? Will you be driving it back here?”

Her lips twisted up to the side. “I don’t have a car. I was never home enough to justify the expense or the trouble.”

“You might need one out here.”

She shrugged. “If I need one, I’ll get one. So far, I’m happy not having one.”

“Want to go to the beach on Saturday? The gang is getting together for volleyball.”

Hesitancy hit as she thought of Apple. She must have made a face because Jesse took both her hands in his.

“Listen, I know what Apple said was harsh and wrong. You should never have to put up with it, but he will come around once he gets to know you better.”

She didn’t want to fight with one of Jesse’s friends, but the next time he brought it up, she was going to tell him flat out he was wrong. “I just don’t want there to be any problems.”

“There won’t be. Once he sees that you are on our side, he’ll be cool.”

She cupped Jesse’s cheeks and made sure to hold his gaze. “I’m not on anyone’s side. I report the truth, but I’m not here to go looking into stuff about the SEALs. If I found out that you all were killing children at the beach, I’d report on that.”

He rolled his eyes. “If we were doing that, I’d report us.”

“I respect your job and you. I respect you enough not to ask you secrets, and not expect you to talk about your job. I’m interested in your wellbeing and whether you’re enjoying your work. But I don’t want to know the details.”

“That’s exactly what I told them. That you aren’t here to dig.”

“I’m not.” She dropped her hands. “I will admit I’m naturally curious, and I’m hellaciously observant. I pick things up. That’s how I get the stories I do. Like when talking to a guy who has been suspected of cheating, they always have a tell. I can get the information out of them. They don’t like it, but they will tell me.”

“That’s kind of frightening.”

Her eyebrows cocked up. “What?”

“That you wield that power. And yeah, it’s a power. I mean, we’re good at interrogation?—”

She snorted a laugh, and he looked hurt. “I’m not doubting your power of interrogation, but if you’re wearing a gun and your battle gear, of course, you’re intimidating enough for people to talk.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, there’s that. But we’re also just good at it.”

“I bet. I think mine is more persuasion instead of intimidation.”

“Speaking of persuasion, do you have anything you’re working on now?”

He looked adorable asking the question. She could see the worry in his face. She didn’t want to leave any more than he wanted her to.

She shook her head. “No, not yet. I’ve been looking at stuff, but nothing has popped for me. I’m still writing my weekly articles, but I’m going to need a big article soon to get an injection of money.”

“What were you thinking about?”

She shrugged. “My editor hasn’t found anything that has me excited. I may just have to take something small and write about it. I’ll talk to her when I head to Chicago.”

Worry crossed his features. “Have you come up with a date you’ll go to Chicago?”

“Next Tuesday. That would give me time to chat with my editor and make it back before the weekend so I can spend time with you.”

He rested his forehead against hers. Being with Jesse felt right. Not only did they get along, but they also meshed well. So far, he hadn’t felt anger with her leaving. This would be the second trip out of town since she’d come out here, and it hadn’t been that long that she’d been living with him. Hopefully, he could deal with her trips and her job. Few men could, but she felt that Jesse was the right type of guy for her to date.