“No,” she said sharply, “There’s only one of me.”
“I need some coffee,” Chesney said, standing up and starting for the kitchen. He had to pick his way carefully across the messy floor. “Are you going to tell me why he hired you?”
Gracie hesitated. It was one thing to tell Chesney the truth about herself, but it was a very different thing to tell him the details of the case. Telling him the whole truth would do more than just blow her cover...it would blow the whole case.
Slowly she followed after him. Surprisingly, it didn’t even feel like a big decision. She’d already told him this much, why stop now?
She wanted to be honest with him. Even though he was reacting badly, it felt good to finally come clean. Whatever was going on between the two of them was fragile and tenuous. Could it even be called a relationship?
She wanted to call it a relationship. And the one big thing that years of working as PI had taught her was that relationships were destroyed by secrets. Secrets were a rot that worked their way stealthily into the hearts of relationships, destroying love and making the most devoted couple doubt each other.
Even though they had a rocky start, and this attraction might not lead where she hoped it would, Gracie didn’t want to have secrets between them anymore.
Chesney was in the kitchen, aggressively spooning coffee grounds into the machine. He didn’t look up at her as she came in and cocked her hip so that she could lean against the edge of the kitchen counter.
“I’m trying to find out who’s spiking the articles.”
Chesney’s hand shook, spilling the grounds across the counter. “Dammit!”
“Look,” Gracie said, putting her hand on her hip and jutting out her chin defiantly. “I'm telling you because I wanted to be honest. Because I like you.”
Chesney swallowed, his face unreadable as he paused what he was doing.
“I...I liked you too. I admit it’s a shock to find out you really are a...spy. But if you can’t tell me the truth then I think you should leave.”
Gracie reared back, “I am telling you the truth!”
“Greta...Gracie, Huang didn’t hire you because a few articles got leaked.”
There was a tight feeling in Gracie’s chest. She was being honest with him! And, yes, maybe he had reason to doubt her word, but it wasn’t fair because she was being honest with him now!
He frowned slightly at seeing how strongly she reacted.
“Why do you think he hired me?” she asked faintly. Her lips clenched together, stopping an angrier retort escaping.
“Hired your agency,” Chesney corrected sarcastically, but oddly there was an undercurrent of warmth to his tone.
“Hired my agency,” she nodded, feeling the tension ease slightly.
“You know, this was one of the other reasons why I thought you were a spy. You’re always asking questions. Always digging for information.”
“And you don’t like being interrogated?”
“No…” Chesney shook his head with a rueful smile. The first smile since she’d told him the truth. “I like that you’re curious about the world around you.”
He got a cup out of the cupboard, silently offering a cup to her to ask if she wanted a coffee. She shook her head. Pausing to roll up his sleeves, he poured himself a cup. He still hadn’t done up the buttons at the front of the shirt. The material was only really covering his back and upper arms at this point.
Gracie waited for him to finish drinking before revealing her next surprise.
“I know you’re putting together a website to get Attitude online.”
Chesney’s eyes widened. “How did you even…? Jesus, you’re really good at this. How did you - No, actually don’t tell me. You really, really should have been an investigative journalist.” He shook his head in reluctant admiration. “I’ve got to hand it to you, I have no idea how you could have found that out.”
“It’s your turn,” Gracie said, taking a step toward him. This time he did not back away from her.
“Huh?”
“Our deal, I told you the truth, now it's your turn. You were going to tell me why Hunag might want you investigated.”