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Author's Chapter Notes:
Yay another chapter! Had to split the chapter lol. So more Nashville fun to come next chappie too. I need to write that one now lol.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Gone Country

Alyssa sat in the conference room doodling on her legal pad instead of taking notes on the new curriculum. Her mind it seemed lately to be rather elsewhere whenever she should be paying attention. Maybe it was because she was distracted that she missed Nick. True he'd only been gone for a few days but still she was at home in LA while he was in Nashville. And even still she'd be seeing him the following day. She figured it wasn't just the fact that she missed his presence, but that she had so much on her mind, with the wedding, the tabloids, and the new semester beginning in just two weeks.

She'd been rather pleased that the tabloid mayhem had little to no impact on how her boss treated her. But then again having media attention thrust upon her was nothing new to Jennifer or Helen. They knew from personal experience that much of what the tabloids wrote was usually complete and utter rubbish.

Suddenly she was ripped from her thoughts by a sharp elbow to her side. She looked over at the offending elbow and the person it belonged to. Lindsay's eyes widened and she motioned to the head of the conference table seeing everyone was looking at her and her cheeks warmed in embarrassment. "What? I'm sorry I'm a little out of sorts this morning." She admitted silently cursing herself over and over in her head.

Jennifer gave a tight-lipped grin trying her best to not show her any special favor. "I was asking what you think of the new curriculum?"

Alyssa took a breath and nodded, "I think it's a rather cohesive plan, it's definitely based in more textual evidence which at the undergrad level will really benefit the students who aren't lit majors." She said confidently thanking herself for obsessively studying the new curriculum that they'd faxed over to her the day before Nick left.

It had made him more than a little upset that he had to compete for her attention with an enormous stack of papers. She'd of course ended up abandoning her paper work for a little while only to wait until he fell asleep to go back to her reading. And the funniest part in her mind was that he didn't even want to have sex, he just wanted to hang out with her a little before being away for a few days. She'd giggled at him and thrown a pillow in his face for acting like he wanted it and then revealed it to only be a ploy to get her to abandon her reading for a little face time.

Once the meeting was adjourned, Alyssa stood and began gathering her things. Jennifer stopped by her on her way out placing a friendly hand to her shoulder. "Hey, you all right?" She asked concerned for her.

Alyssa looked up and took a breath and nodded curtly. "Yeah just distracted, today. I'm so used to being on vacation mode it's really difficult to get back into the swing of things again." She admitted with a disappointed frown at herself.

Jennifer grinned and chuckled, "Don't worry I had four cups of coffee this morning. But anyways are you excited about traveling more? I have to admit Lindsay has been amazing as your assistant. I'm her thesis chair like I was for you and she's going to be hopefully a great addition to the research team when she graduates." She replied making Lindsay grin brightly and blush at the compliment.

Alyssa grinned widely at her. "I'm glad she's my protégé after all." Alyssa stated proudly. She was extremely confident in Lindsay's abilities as both a student and a researcher. She'd not only single-handedly help Alyssa streamline everything in her classes so that it was really fluid from one semester to the next with minimal changes except for the curriculum changes here and there.

Both women walked out leaving Jennifer in the conference room as she tidied up her own things. Lindsay gave Alyssa a sideways glance and chuckled a little as she watched Alyssa's eyes search her cell phone for some kind of message from Nick. "You're really happy right now huh?"

Alyssa gave her a puzzled expression and cocked her head to the side then smiled and shrugged in response as they walked down to Alyssa's office. "Yeah I am." She said with a content sigh. "Life's just really pleasant right now. Nick's doing awesome; we're doing just as well. And the wedding is in a few months, which you are coming right? I know it's like right after your graduation and all." She said with a hopeful grin.

Lindsay smiled brightly. "That's awesome I didn't think you'd invite me..." She said rather modestly. It was true that she valued Alyssa as not only a colleague, professor but as a friend as well. She'd hoped that her hard work and dedication as well as her propensity for being a venting post for anything Alyssa may be frustrated about, whether it was friends, family or the other professors at the school under Alyssa who were envious of her. She did notice though, that since the tragedy of the past year that Alyssa didn't vent about her relationship much if rarely at all. It made her smile that they had gotten better and kept things between them relatively private despite the prying eyes of fans and paparazzi.

Alyssa gave her a grin, "Linds seriously come on now. I know you're very modest and all but you're my colleague and a former student of mine whom I happen to call a friend as well so why wouldn't I invite you to my wedding?" She asked. "Why because you happen to be a fan of my fiancé? Puh-lease you've met him and was he the stage persona Nick?"

"Well no..."

"Then relax and he was the one who told me to invite you. Partly because well you're one of our few friends outside our close-knit circle. But at the same time he knows I trust you and that's enough for him to trust you too."

Lindsay smiled and nodded as they sat down in Alyssa's office. "So is there anything in particular you need me to do this semester aside from streamlining all the data you send me for your dissertation and of course doing the initial revisions on all the students essays?"

"Nope that's pretty much it. It's going to be a lot to do so I don't want to overload you in your last semester." She explained with a smile. She knew that Lindsay would definitely appreciate the leeway with everything going on with her final semester of graduate level coursework. Alyssa saw a bit of her overachiever self in Lindsay with her speeding through her masters program in the hopes of being becoming a professor and literary researcher just that much sooner.

Lindsay grinned back and nodded. "Thank you Alyssa, really I'm going to need it."

Alyssa sighed contentedly again and looked at the clock noticing that it was getting close to Lindsay's class. "So, you better get going, or you'll be late for your thematic theory class." Alyssa reminded making Lindsay nod and stand. "We'll talk more over the phone and video conference while I'm traveling. And of course if you want you can always come visit on spring break as a ‘business' trip of sorts." She replied bidding Lindsay farewell for the day.

A moment later Aaron came trotting into her office his eyes still glued over his shoulder at something. He smirked to himself then turned seeing Alyssa's eyes on him. He blushed and grinned, "Who's the hot librarian?" He asked with a Cheshire grin.

Alyssa gave him an odd look then realized he had been staring in the same direction that Lindsay was walking in. "She's totally off limits...and way out of your league." She replied with a snarky retort.

He gave her an offended look. "How so?"

"Well let's see, she's smart, funny, and oh yeah not some stupid hoochie." Alyssa reasoned back as she clicked away on her laptop.

"So maybe I need someone like that."

Alyssa gave him a stern look. "But not one of my colleagues please. I was her professor and she could possibly be working here next fall as one of my faculty associates so I really do not need you to fuck up my professional relationship with her." She said gruffly hoping to deter him from going after her.

Aaron rolled his eyes and sighed, "What's eating you?" He asked changing the subject away from any potential interest of his. He knew she may just be being protective of her colleague but at the same time he sensed that she was somehow angry with him or something...or even someone.

Alyssa sighed and relaxed back into her chair. "Nothing just stressed with the new semester and all. I don't mean to snap at you. Just yeah...lots of stuff to do on top of traveling around...it's not easy to juggle everything." She replied hoping to explain away her slight annoyance at his suggestion of dating Lindsay. It wasn't so much that the idea itself was all that wrong in her mind, in fact if he were in a better place in his life emotionally she would even encourage his interest, but she also didn't want any awkwardness to happen if things were to go awry as they usually did with his relationships.

Aaron nodded and looked around the room absently. "So, I talked to Nick earlier he said he'd tried to call you earlier but couldn't get through."

Alyssa grinned, "Yeah I got his message. So aside from that what brings you here?"

"Just wanted to you know talk and stuff."

Alyssa gave him a glance and grinned. "About?"

"If you're busy though..." He began but stopped when Alyssa motioned for him to say what he'd come to say. "Well just...I needed a girl's opinion..."

"And you came to me?"

"Yeah..."

"Ok so start talking..." She said leaving the door wide open for him to voice his concerns and get the advice he was seeking from her.

The following morning...


Nick tapped his fingers over the mock leather encased steering wheel of his truck to some insane drum beat. Only thing was, the beat wasn't coming from the stereo speakers. The only sound aside from the engine running and the local traffic report from an AM station, was his incessant drumming. Brent looked over at him wondering what in the hell had gotten into him in the last couple of days. It seemed like he couldn't sit still lately, only getting worse within the last few hours of being in his presence. Thus it had really begun to grate on his nerves. "Dude...I'm turning on music."

"No I need the traffic report so I know what's going on before we hit the free way." Nick countered back.

"Then stop fucking drumming on the steering wheel you're giving me a migraine." Brent said rather gruffly. He didn't mean to sound so agitated but he was tired. He cursed himself for staying up so late playing video games the night before.

Nick chuckled and Brent scowled at him disapprovingly for finding humor in his pain. "Then don't stay up so fucking late playing Madden. And you should have had some of my coffee this morning...Liss says it's the best and you know how much of a coffee drinker she is." He said quickly his voice getting more excited by the mere mention of Alyssa's nickname.

Brent snickered and looked out the window wishing he'd remembered to bring his Ipod with them so he could at least distract himself and drown Nick out as he went back to tapping on the steering wheel humming a nonsensical tune his mind came up with. Sometimes he wondered what in the hell had possessed his best friend into having such a happy mood. He definitely figured that it had something to do with Alyssa and how good their relationship was at the moment and he couldn't deny being happy for him to see him so changed just by one girl.

Once they hit the free way Brent flipped the stations around trying to find a local rock station but getting mostly pop or country. He sighed and grabbed Nick's large book of CDs and flicked through them. Just as he found the one he wanted they were pulling up to the airport's parking structure and he rolled his eyes sighing and resigning himself to having to deal with Nick's overly giddy behavior.

After parking and getting their stub validated they walked quickly through the airport to just before where they were supposed to meet Alyssa. Nick glanced at his watch as they found a table at a café to just kick back at while they waited. Nick looked around seeing Brent walk over getting himself a steaming cup of coffee for himself. He chuckled thinking to how he'd heard Brent still playing the game when he woke up early that morning to go for his run/workout.

Getting bored Nick checked his email on his blackberry, then called Aaron. "Hey man..."

Before he even replied with a greeting Aaron chuckled, "Yes I made sure she got to the airport on time. I'm not completely unreliable." He replied knowing that Nick was going to ask that at some point.

Nick laughed and shook his head, "Nah man I was calling to see how you were doing ya punk." He joked back.

"Ah well good. You didn't tell me that Ali's TA or whatever was such a hottie."

Nick's eyebrow arched and he thought for a moment. True Lindsay was an attractive girl by anyone's standards but Nick never really noticed her looks before. "Linds? Yeah she's a pretty girl." He said neutrally wondering where his brother was taking the conversation.

"Yeah you should have told me. I saw her at Ali's office even though I didn't actually meet her. But yeah totally easy on the eyes." He replied chuckling at his own comment. "But anyways you're at the airport waiting for your woman like the whipped freak that you are right?"

"Oh shut up Airhead. Believe me, you find the right woman and you'll be just as bad if not worse." He reminded.

"Yeah I know, but I have tons of time for that I'm not old like you." Aaron joked.

"Now listen here you little whippersnapper." Nick responded mimicking a toothless old man's voice. The two of them laughed for a few minutes then continued their conversation going over the little essentials they were missing with being half way across the country from each other. As Nick rang off with Aaron, Brent came walking back over and plopped down on one of the chairs inhaling the intoxicatingly rich aroma of his coffee.

After taking a sip he looked up observing Nick's behavior how he shifted in his seat, bounced one leg, then the other, then both then repeating it all over again whilst his eyes were glued to his phone awaiting the phone call that she'd landed and was heading out to where they were.

Brent had to admit he was rather amused by his friend's behavior after his dose of caffeine. He watched as he continued his cyclical nervous ticks making up a little tune in his head that oddly sounded like the jeopardy theme but matched his movements perfectly. He watched for a few moments longer and then slapped his hand down on the table making Nick jump out of his skin at the sudden noise. "What?" Nick asked looking rather annoyed at him.

"She'll be here in a few minutes...Chill the fuck out will ya?"

Nick chuckled and sighed, "What?" He asked not knowing what was so apparent about his body language that made him so transparent in his desire to have Alyssa there already.

"Nick you haven't been able to sit still for the past three days and since yesterday, it's gotten worse! I'm assuming it has to deal with Alyssa some how but seriously as amusing as it is to see you fidget over one woman so much it's getting annoying." Brent answered.

Nick broke out laughing at that moment. "Sorry man, just you haven't seen her in a long time and she's changed a lot. She's still the same old Alyssa but she's different, classier, girlier, older. It's hard to describe but she's matured a lot since you last saw her." He explained trying to get him to understand just why he was so antsy for her to get to them. Just as Brent was about to respond Nick's phone buzzed on the table indicating a text. His smile widened and he stood. "Come on you'll see in a second." He said confidently as they walked over to just before security.

They stood scanning the multitude of people coming out of the area designated where passengers were to come through the opposite side of security. Nick spotted a familiar head of brunette hair that was half pulled back in a clip and the rest was down around her shoulders. He smiled even more widely as she approached wearing a camel colored leather winter jacket, a white sheer button down shirt with matching camisole underneath it. His eyes traveled down the rest of her seeing her jean clad hips that hugged her like a second skin, then to her calves that were encased in her knee-high boots with her jeans tucked into them. He recognized her boots smirking at the thin heels that made her just an inch shorter than him.

Alyssa smiled and swished her hair over her shoulder and stopped just a few paces for them. "Hello boys..." She said in a bright melodic tone.

Nick smirked and moved to her cradling her jaw as he leaned in pressing his mouth to hers for a moment completely forgetting that Brent was standing there a completely amused expression on his face. He slipped his tongue past her lips tasting mint on her tongue. Alyssa broke the kiss feeling more than just Brent's eyes on them. She grinned and laced her hand with his squeezing his fingers gently and then grinned at Brent. She broke away from Nick at that moment and moved over to Brent hugging him for a moment.

"You look so different..." He said as he broke the hug getting a good look at her.

She snicker-snorted and pulled back a little. "Yeah growing up kind of does that to a person. Anyways, let's go get my suitcases and we'll talk more." She said looping her arm with Nick's as the three of them departed to go to the baggage claim. Once they arrived Nick and Brent talked quickly as Alyssa listened to the two of them. Hearing a lull in the conversation she finally broke into the conversation taking Brent's attention. "Brent Pongetti...how are you, who are you? Tell me everything..." She said with a strong assertive tone to her voice that made his mind instantly go blank.

"Uhh still live in Tampa, with the girlfriend, Jen, and still playing the guitar obviously. Life's really great though right now, with everything going on and all that. Tell me about you, I mean I get it all the time from Chatty Cathy over here..." He remarked flailing his hand at Nick making him scowl back at him. "But tell me what's been going on with you?"

"Life is good. Family is great, the wedding of course as you know is in May. Career is going along perfectly right now, about to start another semester. Mom's moving out of Arizona in a few days and to Palo Alto so she can start teaching. Then as soon as our house is finished being built which thanks to building permits and such is taking longer than we thought we'll be moving to Monterey."

Their conversation continued while they got Alyssa's two bags and made their way out to Nick's truck. Brent jumped into the back seat letting the two of them take the front seat and driver seat. Alyssa turned her body crossing her legs so that she could converse with both Brent and Nick on the trip back to the house Nick had been renting while he would stay in Nashville. She smiled and made conversation with Brent reconnecting their similarities they had in the past. She had always liked Brent as one of Nick's few real friends that weren't into hardcore partying and girls.

Alyssa looked around seeing that they had driven to the outskirts of the city and into a small town called Franklin. She smiled at the different homes and styles around the area that made it look completely inviting and very much Nick's style. They pulled into the driveway of the two story house that was covered in brown brick and white trim as well as having an old fashioned covered porch complete with swing and chairs to sit on during the summer time. Alyssa smiled as they all got out and went inside. She noticed the massive amount of deep cherry hardwood flooring that covered the first floor, stairs and much of the second floor. She smiled brightly at the albums and plaques on the walls leading up the stairs and to the bedrooms, and office. She looked at Nick expectantly and he gave her a questioning glance in response.

She chuckled and sighed grabbing her laptop bag and her large duffel. "I'm going to take a shower and wash the airport off of me. Which bedroom?" She asked smirking at him.

Nick grinned and pointed up the stairs, "Up and last one on the right. Bathroom's in there as well." He said directing her to the master bedroom. Brent smirked at him as he watched Alyssa walk up the stairs her thin heels clicking up the hardwood stairs.

Both men chuckled and walked over kicking off their shoes and plopping themselves down on the couch happy to be back. Nick threw Brent a controller and turned on his Xbox 360. Brent laughed as they both started to play another round of video games until Andrew would be there later that day.

Meanwhile upstairs Alyssa set her bags on the large king sized made bed that came up to the tops of her thighs. She laughed at the very simple décor in the room and then to the picture on the nightstand. In a simple silver frame was a picture of the two of them, his hands cradling her jaw as their lips were embraced in a passionate kiss. She loved any of the picture where the two of them were kissing. She noticed that they almost always had their eyes closed, and some how their hands were involved with it showing their intense connection she thought. Sighing she unzipped her boots letting them drop on the floor. She went into the bathroom grabbing her toiletries bag and turned on the shower noting the crystal clear doors with a smirk. She disrobed and stepped under the hot spray feeling her body instantly relax from the warm water.

Once she was done she let her wet hair hang down her back pulling on a black tank top and her light blue soccer shorts that hugged her lean hips. She bounded down the stairs and went into the living room snorting at the look of both guys lounging on the furniture playing video games. "So that's what you've been doing eh?" She asked as she passed by Nick and plopped herself down on the couch next to him. The chilly air in the room from it being cold outside made Alyssa shiver. She rubbed her arms and sighed making Nick look at her.

"Cold?" He asked figuring he'd turn the heat on higher than it was for her if she was indeed cold.

She shrugged, "A little, where are your hoodies?" She asked wondering where he kept his big sweatshirts. He motioned to the closet down the hall from the front door and Alyssa stood padding over to the closet and pulled on the black and white Muhammad Ali sweatshirt chuckling at how big it was on her. She went back into the living room and curled up next to Nick on the couch pulling her bare legs underneath the hoodie.

Brent looked over throwing down his controller once again getting his ass handed to him. "This fucking sucks you always kick my ass."

Alyssa laughed a little at his exasperated tone. "Brent, don't feel bad, if he's not with me or on stage he's playing video games. It's a wonder he gets anything done with how much he loves his Xbox." She explained exaggerated a little. It was true that he played video games often but as he'd grown older he began playing less and less and more focused on his business ventures and their life at home leaving video games to be a welcome respite when he had the time for them.

Nick put down his controller as well and grabbed the television remote tossing it to Brent, "Find something to watch..." He semi-commanded. Alyssa snickered a little seeing Brent kick back and began flipping through the channels as Nick pulled Alyssa to lean against his side.

Brent watched them closely as Nick kicked up his feet on the coffee table and Alyssa snuggled herself into his chest. Nick lifted his arm off the back of the couch and draped it around her letting his hand fall to her mid back playing with the long damp strands of hair that rested there. He snickered and turned his attention back to flipping through channels finding a movie for them to chill out to. When Nick saw the screen, the familiar music his face immediately scrunched up seeing the red, blue and gold suited super hero. "How about this?"

"Fuck no...change it." Nick replied gruffly seeing Brandon on the screen. True it was, as Superman but still he didn't like seeing him as the Kryptonian superhero.

Brent's brow furrowed in confusion, "Dude, comic book movie!" He exclaimed not knowing the real reason behind Nick's disdain.

"Dude..." Nick replied sharply, "He's a total douche bag." Nick shot back making Alyssa erupt with a snicker.

"But I love this movie." Brent argued back. Nick unwrapped his arm around from Alyssa and sat forward on the couch reaching out his hand.

"Give me the remote." Nick said gruffly wanting to change it.

Alyssa bit the inside of her cheek seeing Brent's eyes widen in defiance. Nick stood and went over to him trying to take the remote while Brent kept pulling it out of his reach. Within moments the initial ‘catch me if you can' game they were playing turned into full on wrestling for the remote.

Alyssa giggled at the two of them and how the remote slid across the hardwood to just below her. She leaned down grabbing it. She remembered the multitude of times that he and Nick had done the very same ritual years before back in summer 2001 when she had come to stay with him. At the time it didn't really amuse her much but now the sight of it again made her laugh at their boyish fight. She thought it was simply hilarious how neither of them seemed to notice that the remote was no longer between them to be fought over. "Boys..."

Both of them looked up, Nick hovering over Brent his arms around his neck holding him in a half nelson. Nick smirked and dropped his hold on Brent making him fall to the ground but not hard enough to where it hurt. Nick stood but then was tripped by Brent grabbing onto his ankle as he tried to walk.

A loud roar of laughter erupted from Alyssa as she saw Nick brace himself on the ground. As much as she was concerned for him she couldn't help that it was pretty damn hilarious. "Are you all right?" She managed to mutter as Nick made his way back to her on the couch. She smacked his hands away from her as he grabbed for the remote. Just as he was about to reach it, the doorbell rang making him sigh and get up to go answer it. While he was gone Alyssa smirked and tossed Brent the remote. "Find something else to watch I'm hungry." She stated as she stood and went through the archway that led to the breakfast nook and kitchen area.

Getting bored for a second and wanting to know exactly why Alyssa and Nick had no desire to watch one of their favorite super heroes he got up and followed Alyssa into the kitchen. "So care to share what that was all about? Nick loves comic book movies."

Alyssa looked over at him from pouring herself a bowl of cereal having been displeased to find little to no food in the refrigerator. She sighed hoping that Nick had already explained the entire situation to him just leaving out the fact that Brandon was indeed Brandon Routh, movie star. "Did Nick ever mention Brandon to you?" She asked tentatively hoping that she didn't have to explain the whole situation.

Brent thought a moment then the proverbial light bulb in his head turned on as he remembered what Nick had told him. "Yeah..." He remembered definitely what had happened, that Alyssa had gotten drunk in a fit of rage at the suspicion that Nick was cheating on her and got her own revenge.

She sighed and looked down, "That's Brandon...Superman that is..." She said softly but just loud enough for Brent to hear her.

"Oh...OH!" He said the thoughts dawning on him as to why Nick would want to change the channel so abruptly.

Alyssa shrugged, "Yeah sore subject."

Just then Nick walked in with another male, a little shorter than him, skinny with dark hair that had light salt and pepper strands laced between the dark. Even though he looked younger than Nick his hair made him look oddly distinguished. "There you two are. Anyways, Andrew this is Alyssa, my fiancée I was telling you about." He stated with a proud grin.

Alyssa looked down to her attire feeling completely underdressed for the occasion of meeting someone. Her hair hung down in still damp soft curls, the big sweatshirt made her look as if she had nothing on underneath even though she did she felt relatively uncomfortable with being so laid back around someone she'd never met. "Sorry for my outfit, I was cold." She explained simply feeling a little embarrassed as she hoisted herself to sit on the counter lifting the sweatshirt from underneath her exposing her light blue shorts. "It's very nice to meet you though, Andrew." She said politely shaking his hand.

Andrew grinned and glanced at Nick then back to Alyssa, "So Nick tells me you're a big music fan."

She smiled and nodded, "Yes lots of different types, mainly rock and classical though."

"Classical? Seriously? Not a lot of girls say they like the old stuff much."

She chuckled and shrugged, "Old soul I guess, I grew up playing the piano so Beethoven to Chopin to Gershwin it all kind of stuck with me as I grew up." She explained with a grin. "So tell me about yourself, Nick told me you're a song writer?"

"Yeah..." He replied modestly.

"Dude, be honest you know you love the attention." Nick remarked patting Andrew on the shoulder. "He wrote on the Millennium album."

Alyssa's back straightened as she cocked her head to the side curiously. "Really what song? Or well songs?"

"My solo." Nick replied seeing Alyssa's eyes light up.

"That's Kellie's favorite song! She loves the lyrics, and was completely pissed that Nick got to sing it instead of Alex." She replied making Nick's face fall a little. They rarely ever discussed his music but he'd kind of hoped that she'd found that song to be one of her favorites considering it was the first published song that he'd sung solo on.

"You don't like it?" Andrew asked playing devil's advocate.

"Oh no I like it, lyrically it's a great song and I love how it sounds too with the piano and such. Just it wasn't my exact favorite on that album though it was up there." She replied.

Andrew chuckled and nodded, "So are you going to hang out here while we jam?" He asked with a grin hoping she'd stay. He could definitely see why Nick was involved with her; she was exactly the type of girl a guy like Nick needed. One that had a true sense of normalcy in her life and was relatively laid back and fell easily into conversation with complete strangers. He watched them and their interactions a little with Nick's hand placed on her bare knee to their content relaxed smiles towards each other.

Alyssa gave Nick an expectant look and he nodded with a smile. "Sure, I mean if you guys don't mind me sitting in on your jam while I make last minute notes on my syllabus." She explained making the three guys smile at her. The other two walked over to the table sitting down to start discussing ideas again. Nick turned to her and grinned rubbing his fingertips over the top of her knees making her shudder and grin at him. He leaned in wrapping his hands around her knees as he pressed his mouth to hers while she put her hands on his forearms holding him in close proximity to her.

A chorus of loud whistles emanated from the table from behind made them turn and start laughing at the other two. Nick helped Alyssa back off of the counter and she grabbed her bowl of cereal before joining the men at the kitchen table completely content to listen to their enthusiastic ramblings while she munched on her cheerios.