Page 80 of Counter Attack

“You weren’t too tired to kiss me.”

“That was a mistake.” Alexis stared at the floor.

He walked around to where she stood and lifted her chin. Her blue eyes were bright with unshed tears. “Tell me you don’t feel the same way I do.”

She tried to pull away from him. “I don’t know how you feel.”

“Yes, you do.”

“It won’t work. We’re too different.”

“I don’t believe we’re that different.”

She crossed her arms. “You’re not in the plan for my life. I’m going back to Chattanooga and one day I’ll become the police commissioner.”

He stared at her. “And you wouldn’t be happy being the sheriff of Russell County? ’Cause I’m pretty sure you’d get elected if you wanted it.”

“Let’s not talk about this tonight.”

She was right. With everything that had happened the past two days, this wasn’t the time to bring up the future. “Okay.”

She nodded and held out the cake. “Don’t forget this.”

The cake was the last thing he wanted, but he took the baggie and walked to the back door. Before he opened it, he turned to Alexis. The tears that rimmed her eyes punched him in the gut. He hadn’t intended to make her cry, but maybe her tears meant her heart struggled with that future she had planned out in her head. And that gave him hope.

“Would it make any difference if I said I wanted you to stay ... for us?” he asked softly.

42

When Nathan left, he took all the air in the kitchen with him. Alex sagged against the table. She’d done the right thing. If she didn’t at least try for the commissioner position, she would always yearn for it.

Except she couldn’t get his question out of her head. Why did he have to ask her to stay?

It wasn’t the first time he’d said she should stay and what a great place Russell County and Pearl Springs were, but this had been different. The words had come from his heart. He wanted her to stay “for us.”

Like Alex, Nathan didn’t commit lightly, and while he certainly hadn’t proposed tonight, she knew him well enough to know a proposal could be a future possibility. A happily ever after. But to get it, why did she have to give up her dream? Did Nathan love her enough to move to Chattanooga?

She braced against the counter. It was more than her mind could handle tonight. And tomorrow?

Tomorrow she was riding into Chattanooga with him to interview Phillip Denton’s neighbors. If he still wanted her to go ... Alex groaned. She put the cover back on the cake plate and flipped off the light switch, knowing thoughts of Nathanwould return. Not if she went to work. She could attempt to access the dark web.

In her room, Alex found a USB drive and searched for the Tor browser. As she waited for the results, fatigue wrapped around her like a woolen blanket. She stared at the computer screen as fog filled her brain like she’d just finished a three-hour college exam.

Alex was too tired to think straight tonight. Tomorrow would be soon enough to access the dark web. Still, she hated to give up ... Maybe Dylan could find the game. She quickly texted him with the name Ethan had mentioned and asked him to research it. Seconds later he replied with “On it.” Satisfied, she set her clock for six and crawled under the covers, letting sleep claim her.

When the alarm went off, she silenced it and climbed out of bed. Five hours of tossing and turning, reliving Nathan’s kiss, his lips on hers. She knew Nathan—he wouldn’t take a back seat to anyone or anything. Was she making a mistake to not even consider living in Pearl Springs? Or even explore the idea with Nathan of him moving to Chattanooga?

She grabbed her phone to check her messages and knocked off a book that hadn’t been there yesterday. When she bent over to pick it up, she saw that it was a daily devotional. Her grandmother must have put it there yesterday. Of course it fell open to today’s devotion, and Alex’s eyes were drawn to the verse Gram had underlined.

Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the Lord will prevail.

Alex stared at the verse.Not today.She pushed the verse away. She had her own plans for her future. The verse didn’t mean she was wrong in planning her future. It was her life, after all.

So why couldn’t she shake the conviction weighing heavyon her heart? Maybe because she’d made those plans without even bringing God into the mix? Did she even have to? God wouldn’t put this desire to be Chattanooga’s police commissioner in her heart if it was wrong. Alex got up and headed into the bathroom to turn on the shower.

Parts of another verse Gram liked to quote when Alex was a teenager popped in her mind. Something about the heart being deceitful. No. Her heart would not lead her astray, and she drowned the thought with the pulsating stream of water from the shower. By the time she had her hair dry and pulled up in a ponytail, she’d succeeded in convincing herself she was on the right track. And now Alex was desperate for coffee and hurried to the kitchen.

“Good mornin’, sunshine,” Gram said. “How are you this morning?”

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