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Confusion was etched across his face and Gracie wanted nothing more than to reach over and smooth out the frown on his face. But, despite what had happened between them, she still had a job to do. The inner, professional voice was telling her to deny everything, to drop this case and forget about Chesney. To forget that anything had happened here tonight. It was just an adrenaline fueled hook-up.
But Gracie didn’t want to do that. She couldn’t walk away from him now. Looking down at herself, she wasn’t even sure why she’d put her clothes back on. She’d been content lying on the couch with him, and she missed the intimacy of his touch.
She perched on the couch, resting her hand on his chest, right above his heart.
“So you think there's something that Huang would want to ‘spy’ on?”
“Yes,” he said tensely. Gracie reached out, cupping his cheek as she wiped a patch of her wetness from his chin. “If you tell me the truth about why you were hired then...I’ll tell you why Huang might want to know what I’ve been up to.”
Chapter Nine
Gracie’s handwent back to resting on Chesney’s chest, she could feel his steady heartbeat as he lay on the couch, looking up at her. She’d never felt drawn to anyone involved in her investigations before. Being a PI was her life, and there hadn’t been room for anything else, for anyone else, in years.
But being with Chesney like this felt wrong, like she was here under false pretenses. She felt pulled in two directions, her loyalty to Klarov and the job, and her own sense of morality. She was lying to Chesney about so much. It was just wrong to share the passion they just had and yet he didn’t even know her real name.
It was time to tell him the truth.
“Andy,” she said slowly, her fingers stroking along the indent between his pectoral muscles.
A look of horror passed across his face and he grabbed her hand, stopping her from caressing him. His fingers gripped onto her tightly, holding her back.
“You really were hired to spy on me?”
It was the base truth, but Gracie grimaced to have it stated so dramatically. She didn’t think of what she did as spying. She chased bad guys, it was her job to stop bad things from happening, or at least expose them so they don’t happen again. It had seemed to Gracie that Chesney already knew the truth anyway, that he just wanted her to be honest with him. That it was the untruth between them that hurt him.
But now she wasn’t so sure that was the case.
“You said that you already suspected me of working for Huang. Ok? So, yes, I am working for him. I’m a private detective.”
Chesney sat up quickly and Gracie had to move or risk being knocked off the couch. There were papers scattered on the floor from the break-in, and Chesney put his foot down on one, the paper crinkling as he trod down. He didn’t notice though, his brow furrowed by what Gracie had just told him.
“I can’t believe this. I mean, I suspected it but I never thought he’d go this far. Or that it would be you. Private detectives are supposed to be dirty old men in greasy trench coats! Not...not...you!"
Gracie stood up, glaring down at him. She could understand him being initially upset and she was prepared to deal with that, but she wasn't going to listen to some sexist bullshit about how women couldn't be PIs. She'd heard enough of that when she was starting out and she didn't need to hear it again. Not from him.
After all, both the PIs that Klarov employed were women. She could feel that old anger working itself up, but then Chesney asked his next question, stopping her in her tracks.
“Is Greta even your real name?”
She shook her head and Chesney made an odd, pained noise, like a dog with a thorn in his paw.
“What’s your name?”
“Gracie.”
“It suits you,” he said, his voice bitter.
He moved away from her. It felt to Gracie like he was trying to get away from her as if she was something dirty that should be avoided. This guy had just had his mouth on her pussy, he'd just tasted the most intimate part of her, but now he wanted to be away from her rather than risk touching her. That feeling of dirtiness got worse and it felt an awful lot like shame.
Gracie rubbed her hands together, holding her head up proudly. She didn’t have anything to be ashamed of and she wouldn't let him make her feel that way. All she’d been doing was simply her job, she’d known what she’d been doing and she hadn’t done anything wrong!
Why was he looking at her with that bitter expression? Trying to make her feel guilty? She was being honest with him now! A burst of anger made her sit up a little straighter, looking back at him in defiance.
“So…” Chesney began, “Huang hired you?”
“Hired my agency.”
“There’s more of you?!?” Chesney asked, somehow looking even more upset. Gracie narrowed her eyes at him. Did he even still see her as a woman, a woman that liked him, or did he look at her and merely see Huang’s spy?
