Excerpt Eight

As Khalid drove to the corner, he thought about Stacy. Who would have thought she was dealing with all those feelings and emotions? He wondered exactly how she was able to cope with everything she had been through and not break. Stacy was definitely a strong woman. Khalid knew that he had earned her trust and he would never do anything to break it. He knew that she took a chance by opening herself up to him. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to cope with the things that she told him. As he approached the stoplight, Khalid depressed the brake and ran his hands over his face and let out a breath that he didn’t even realize he was holding. How in the hell would he be able to focus during the team meeting? All the playbooks and film seem trivial in comparison not only to what he heard but watching Stacy’s emotions play out on her face. What he really wanted to do was wrap her up in a ball of cotton and never let her out of his sight. He knew that she may not want his protection. Stacy didn’t ask him for that. She only thanked him for listening. He sighed audibly and he continued to drive toward the freeway that would take him to the team facility. Khalid knew the details would come but would he be prepared for them when they did. He could try to run his concerns by his best friend, Allen, but he really didn’t want to go into too much detail about Stacy’s situation. The way Khalid was feeling he wanted to cancel his schedule for the day and get back to Stacy as fast as could so he could just hold her. Shit, he was falling and falling hard for her.

Stacy finally pulled herself up to a sitting position on the bed. She picked up her cell on the nightstand and realize an hour had passed since Khalid left. She took a deep breath. She knew it wasn’t healthy to stay in bed all day feeling the way that she did. Stacy had to come up with something to do. She had been planning to reorganize her home office and now was as good a time as any.