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“Sure.” Cody shrugged. “Could have been lots of people. The pilot who flew us in. A waitress at the clam shack.” He opened his eyes and caught her gaze. “No way to know.”
“And it’s not important now.”
“And that.”
The ugly thought that they’d been watched, probably since they escaped the embassy made her feel dirty. And vulnerable.
Wrapping a hand around her locket, she turned to study Cody’s face, her mind whirring with thoughts of her father’s letter.
His eyebrows quirked upward. “What? Tell me.”
She took a deep breath, the recycled air of the small cabin cool in her lungs. “My dad left a letter in the file,” she began, her voice barely audible over the drone of the engines. “He ... he thought the world of you. I thought you should know.”
A flicker of emotion passed over his face, softening his usually guarded features. “I felt the same,” he said, his voice rough. “I wouldn’t be alive now if it weren’t for him.”
His words hung in the air between them, heavy with unspoken history. Cody leaned forward, his knee brushing against hers. “Can I see the letter?”
Her fingers tightened around her backpack. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
A mischievous glint appeared in his eye. “Come on, Penderson. What are you hiding? Your dad’s secret cookie recipe?”
She rolled her eyes, trying to mask the flutter in her stomach. “Fine, you win.”
But what would he think of her dad’s words? Whatever Cody’s feelings for her a decade ago, who’s to say he hadn’t long gotten over her?
With trembling hands, she pulled out the letter and handed it over. As he read, she held her breath, mortification creeping in as she knew he was reaching those final, revealing lines.
Trust Cody. He sacrificed everything to keep you safe back in college. If he’s still alive, you should know he’s always loved you. You’d make a great team.
Cody looked up,his gaze intense as it locked with hers. “It’s all true. Every word.”
36
“You love me?”
Paige’s voice was barely above a whisper, her cheeks flushed pink and her eyes shining. “I thought you couldn’t stand the sight of me. I was a cheater. Or so you thought. You wouldn’t even look at me after that. You literally disappeared.”
Cody’s heart clenched at the vulnerability in her voice. He ached to pull her close, to erase years of misunderstanding with a single touch. Instead, he gripped the armrests of his seat, anchoring himself as he prepared to lay bare the truth. “All an act,” he admitted. “I had to protect you. Besides, I’m the one who?—”
He raised his hands in a helpless gesture, unable to get the words out.
The leather seat creaked as he shifted, trying to find a comfortable position for the uncomfortable conversation ahead. She needed the truth. All of it.
The irony was, once he told her the whole story, she wouldn’t care if he worshipped the ground she walked on.
The cabin suddenly felt too small, too warm. He tugged at the collar of his tee, buying time as he searched for the rightwords. “There’s something else I need to tell you. Something I should have told you a long time ago.”
He paused. The steady hum of the engine filled the silence, a stark contrast to the tumult of his thoughts.
He forced himself to meet her gaze. “It’s about your father. And about me. The whole truth this time.”
The air between them changed. The warmth that had been building since reading Atticus’s letter dissipated, replaced by a tension that crackled with uncertainty. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for what was to come. Once he started, there would be no going back. Whatever happened next, whether they survived this ordeal or not, Paige deserved to know everything.
He reached across the narrow aisle and handed back the letter, his fingers brushing against hers for a brief, electrifying moment. Then he closed his eyes, offering up a silent prayer for courage.
When he opened his eyes, she was watching him intently.
The words tumbled out before he could stop them. “I framed you for cheating at MIT. Your dad helped me do it.”