Page 58 of Rescuing Nathaniel

March 7th

8:51 A.M.

Ava had allowedTeresa and Chelsea to talk her into working from home, so she had more time to rest, and it would be easier if she needed to take a break. In the end, though, it hadn't been cutting out the traveling time that had convinced her to stay home, and it wasn't even that she was enjoying being surrounded by all her things, although both were true.

It was that she could be alone with Nathaniel.

Which was silly of her, especially given that he’d been odd ever since they got to her place yesterday afternoon, but she wanted this time with him, craved it even.

Perhaps it wasbecausehe’d been acting off since they got there rather than in spite of it.

Something was going on with him, and she wished he’d open up to her about it and talk it through. While she might not have all the answers, she could at least listen and offer support if that was what he needed or possible solutions if he wanted them. Whatever it was, she wanted him to let her in, even just a little bit.

The chances of that were higher if they were alone together.

Unfortunately, she’d missed out on most of their alone time the day before. By the time she took her bubble bath and then snuggled up under the covers in her big, beautiful bed her exhausted body and mind gave out. With the knowledge that Nathaniel was in the living room, a protective barrier between her and anything that wanted to hurt her, Ava had been able to crash long and hard.

It was late when she woke up, and the others were home. They’d had dinner together, but she’d still been tired so she’d gone right back to bed after dessert.

“You sure you don’t mind me doing a little work?” she asked as she pulled up her legs and tucked them under her, setting her laptop on her lap.

She planned to log into Prey’s system from home and help to go through the long list of people who had been on the boat. The more they knew about them, the better their chances of finding out who was running the ring and where they were hiding. It was a long and tedious task that would require running in-depth background checks on all of them, but it was something she and her team were used to doing, and she was confident they would find enough scraps of information to put together to find what they needed.

“You do what you need to do,” Nathaniel replied.

“What are you going to do while I work?” It wasn't fair of her to get lost in her computer while he sat there staring into space. Just because he wasn't technically a guest, he was there to do a job, he was still kind of a guest and she liked having him close.

He’d certainly filled enough of her dreams.

Only in her dreams he was freer, happier, the weight she saw hanging heavily on his shoulders was gone.

Could she help him find that version of himself?

Would he even want her to?

Nathaniel Trevino was a hard guy to read. Sometimes, she was sure he liked her, wanted to get to know her, thought she was pretty, and was as anxious to strip off her clothes and have his way with her as she was to strip his off and have her way with him. Other times he looked at her fiercely like she was something important that needed to be protected at all costs.

But other times she could have sworn she saw in his deep chocolate brown depths that he was almost … afraid of her.

Afraid wasn't quite the right word, but he looked at her as though he didn't deserve her and yet she knew that wasn't the case. She didn't tend to see people as deserving or undeserving of love and affection, everyone was entitled to those things, and unless you were a terrible human being, you should have at least one person who loved you. Ava was absolutely certain that Nathaniel was not a terrible human being, after all, he’d chosen a career that put him in danger as he fought to rid the world of evil.

“You know, Aves, the polite thing to do is listen when someone answers a question that you asked them,” Nathaniel said, and she blinked and realized he was staring right at her with amusement dancing in his dark eyes.

“Oh, right. Sorry about that. I was just … totally zoning out and thinking about something else rather than listening to you,” she finished, realizing there was no way she could pretend that wasn't exactly what had happened.

“I said,” Nathaniel started with exaggerated patience that made her giggle, “that Prey logged me into their system as well so I can help out as best as I can. I might not be a computer genius like you and the rest of your team, but I can at least do something to help.”

“Course you can,” she agreed. In fact, she was positive that Nathaniel had a whole range of skills that he was able to use to thrive in any given situation. “We can bounce ideas off each other as we go if you want, me and my team often do that.”

For a moment, Nathaniel looked startled by her offer. Almost like he had expected her to tell him that she and her team had it covered and that they didn't need anyone else’s help.

But this was too important not to have as many people involved as possible.

It didn’t matter that Nathaniel’s job wasn't searching through intel, he had a pair of eyes, an intelligent brain, and plenty of knowledge about how evil worked. He was an asset, absolutely.

“Uh, yeah, I guess we can do that,” he agreed. The faintest tint of pink colored his cheeks, and she realized he wasn't just surprised by her offer but pleased with it as well.

If he were that easy to make happy then things were going to be smooth sailing as soon as she figured out how to read this guy. Whoever said that women were the more complicated sex was crazy, girls were easy to figure out, but guys … they were a riddle for the ages. Or maybe that was just because she was a girl so she knew how most girl minds worked.

---