Page 40 of Covert Affair

“Molly’s got a big mouth,” I chuckle while internally cursing my sister-in-law.

“Were you going to tell me? I mean…before I head back home. Not like call me up and tell me or anything like that. Just…before I left. Not that you need to tell me these things, just…”

“Stacey?” I toss a quick glance her way. “Shut up.”

“Well, I never…” she huffs and crosses her arms over her chest.

“No, I mean it. Stop talking. The offer to move was presented to me before all of this. Cole gave me a few days to think about it and I needed to give him an answer today.” It’s a small white lie but she doesn’t need to know the whole truth about how I was against this whole thing. Or that it’s because of her that I want to lead this whole expansion now.

“Interesting. The way Molly put it, it sounded like it was already a sure thing.”

“Oh, really? And what else did my sister-in-law have to say?” I question just before we pull into my parking spot at the apartment complex.

I put the truck in park and turn to face her. “Go on. Tell me what else she had to say.”

Stacey’s cheeks turn the slightest shade of pink. “She might have said that…you…like me,” she sputters.

“Of course I like you, Stacey. We’re friends, I guess. Sort of. In a nontraditional sense.”

“Friends?” she scrunches up her face. “Feels a lot like a one-sided friendship. You know, where one friend calls the other anytime they’re in trouble and need the other friend to bail them out.”

“Hey. I said in the nontraditional sense,” I tease, trying to lighten the mood a little.

The next time I see Molly, I’ll have to remember to thank her for meddling and trying to do whatever it is she thinks she’s doing.

“I don’t think friends is what Molly meant. At all,” Stacey sighs. “God. I should just keep my mouth shut. I’m sorry.”

I open my mouth to tell her not to say she’s sorry but she holds up her hands to stop me.

“Don’t tell me not to apologize. I’m making shit awkward. It’s fine. Forget I said anything, okay?”

Before I can reply, she opens the passenger side door and climbs out of the truck.

When we get inside my apartment she starts down the hall but pauses for a second. “Waylon dropped the charges, by the way. Simon messaged me while you were playing with Heidi before we left. I’m sure it’s because he’s hoping that I’ll drop charges too. And the FBI says I can go back to Nashville. If you’d be willing to give me a ride to the airport, that would be great.”

“Stacey, wait…”

She pauses and her shoulders drop but she turns back around and looks at me.

“Do you want the truth?” I was going to bare my soul for this woman right now, and I couldn’t hold back if I tried. “I care about you. A whole fucking lot. At first, I thought that we were just blowing off steam in a tense situation, but Stace - you got under my skin. I thought about that night for a long time. Too long in fact. Then you moved on and I knew it was past time for me to let it go and move on.”

“If that’s the truth, then why didn’t you reach out. Why didn’t you even try? I assumed you weren’t interested.”

“You know why I didn’t try? Because I never had any interest in a high profile life. And I knew that if we were together, that’s what it would be. I could never ask you to give that up for me, just like I’d hope that the person I’d spend my life with wouldn’t ask me to give up my job for them. You got married, I focused on my work and moved on.”

There. Now she knows.

I watch her as she keeps my gaze and swallows hard. When she says nothing, I decide to keep talking.

“Cole came up with this genius idea that we need to expand the company into a new location because of the amount of work we were seeing thanks to referrals from a few people,” I give her a knowing smirk. “At first, I couldn’t imagine leaving my niece, my family…the only place that’s ever been my home. Then you called me for help.”

“You don’t have to move to Nashville just for me,” she whispers. "Family is everything and that little girl adores you."

“I’m not doing it just for you. You did help me make my mind up though," I shrug like it's no big deal. "It's not like I won't come visit them and I know damn well Cole won't be able to stay away either."

“I don’t know, Cody. Whatever this is…it can’t go anywhere right now. In case you haven’t noticed, my life is a mess. Besides you just said you didn’t want to live a lifestyle like mine and I’m not willing to give that up. Just like I don’t want you to give up your life, your family, your job, for me."

“I’m not asking you for anything except to let me protect you. Let me be the one to make sure that fucker never lays a hand on you again and that they put him in jail.”

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