Page 12 of Down & Dirty (Holden Cove #1)

CHAPTER 12

SKYLAR

D irtyDana.com Celebrity Gossip with Sass

It’s been weeks since we’ve seen hot-moto-man Cory Ellis with a gem on his arm. The racy racer has opted for the cover of darkness, after his most recent honey-boo hit the skids with a sex tape scandal that left little to the imagination—if you know what I mean. Seen only in glimpses coming and going from his team’s training facility in Murietta, Cory looks just as fine as ever, that tousled hair and razor-edged jaw still sending out it’s siren’s song. How long will we have to wait for our badass biker babe to grace our streets again—with or without a new smitten kitten on his sleeve? Or has he ditched the damsels in undress for good? Only time will tell if pulling back the sheets on his former lover’s past means a new future for our favorite motocross model.

It had been almost two weeks and still there’d been no press about Cory and me. I knew he had the power to change that, so it was starting to bother me that we were doing all this playing around and nothing was coming of it.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like I was actually looking forward to my face being splashed about on the grocery checkout trash rags. But I was being paid for this—the first check had already dropped into my bank account. So, the lack of press attention felt like I wasn’t keeping up my end of the bargain.

I started to wonder if he was reconsidering taking us public.

And I don’t care how strong your self-confidence is, no woman could resist reading into that. I certainly was.

By my assessment, we’d been doing well. We’d made it through a couple more dinner dates without incident, and at the shop I’d gotten used to stopping over to see him after checking on Ronnie.

Since we’d cleared the air about Indiana, it felt like less of a lift for me to be nice. Or nicer, at least. He seemed genuine when he’d apologized. And even though I knew he was still the take-no-prisoners competitor he’d always been, it was a relief to know it wasn’t personal against Ronnie.

We still hadn’t been physical or anything in front of the team, but given the animosity between us before, you’d have to be blind to not see how much closer we were getting.

And yet, that’s apparently exactly what my brother was. Blind.

The guys had just finished up another training run, and we were walking back to the office when I sped up to get in stride with Cory.

He gave me a warm grin. One I’d gotten used to. It was an easy smile for him, crinkling the corners of his eyes with just the slightest hint of mischief. It honestly wasn’t all that hard to look at.

“It seems like you’re getting more comfortable on the new bike.”

“Does it?” he replied sarcastically with a hollow laugh as he scratched the back of his head. “Cause I’m thinking it might be time to swap out the bars. Something still feels off.”

I could hear the concern in his voice. We were still months away from the January start of the Supercross season, but there were gaps in the schedule coming up for the holidays and OTM was unlikely to remain patient with a rider on their team who couldn’t find his groove.

“I’m sure Billy can get you dialed in. There’s plenty of time.”

Cory’s scowl faded as he looked down at me with an open expression. “I appreciate the optimism, gorgeous.”

Flaming heat raced to my cheeks, but I managed to keep from tripping over my own feet as Cory held the door for me. His hand slid to the small of my back, a place he seemed to like keeping it when we were on our dates. He winked as he guided me through the door, and I knew there was no way the others had missed any of what had just happened.

He’d never been so bold before, and while no one else around us reacted, it felt like a spotlight was beaming down from overhead, the heat of it searing my skin. For all my worrying that he was having second thoughts, Cory had just punched us up a level with that one.

And I knew this with certainty as my brother’s hand wrapped around my arm and he tugged me through the side door to a hall of conference rooms.

“What the hell was that?”

“What?”

He blew out a hard breath. “Don’t what me with those doe eyes, Sky. The entire team just saw you and Ellis mooning over each other.”

I stuttered for a second, the realization hitting me that he was finally seeing it. My nerves pumped blood faster to my already red cheeks as I forced myself to play the part I’d been planning for weeks.

“Bro, you really need to get out more if you think that was mooning. Do you even know what that term means?”

“I know what I saw. That guy just undressed you with his eyes and you fucking liked it!”

I started to crack up, genuinely tickled by his reaction. There was no way he could have read that much off that singular interaction. And he was clearly wrong—I wasn’t enjoying any part of this. But to see him so rattled as it hit him that something was going on was downright comical.

“What the hell is so funny? Are you fucking my teammate?”

All the humor evaporated instantly. “First of all, don’t talk to me like that. Second of all, that’s none of your damn business.”

Ronnie had been too young when I’d started dating Tommy to have much of an opinion and he’d been too involved in his own fledgling career to care who I was with. Whatever this outburst was, though, it was only going to happen once.

“I work with that guy.”

“What’s your point, Captain Obvious?”

He scraped his hand through his hair like he was really thrown. “What if he’s a dick to you and I have to fuck him up?”

Oh Ronnie. He had to know that logically he’d never have a shot at taking Cory down. The man was five inches taller and thirty pounds heavier. And that was ignoring the fact that I didn’t think my brother had ever even thrown a punch—at least, one that wasn’t directed at me.

“Is this you being protective?”

“Sky, he’s a known dickhead. You fucking hated him a month ago. What the hell are you thinking?”

I took a step back, leaning against the wall. “I’m not sure he’s as bad as I thought.”

That was the truth, hard as it might have been to admit out loud. After spending so much time with Cory the last couple of weeks I’d seen a different side of him. He might still seem to prioritize the wrong things, but he wasn’t as shallow as I’d once believed.

“So, this is happening? What everyone just saw back there, that’s really happening?”

Not once in my life had I asked anyone for their opinion on my love life. I wasn’t going to start now, even if this was a farce we were constructing.

“Yeah. We’re hanging out. Seeing where it goes.”

Ronnie huffed out a breath, tilting his head back as he closed his eyes. I hadn’t imagined such a strong response from him. But I took it as a good sign that Cory and I were convincing if he was getting this upset. Go us.

He looked back at me. “And there’s nothing I can say to talk you out of it?”

I slanted my head, giving him a questioning look. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re going to regret this.”

Shaking my head, I turned back toward the door. “Thanks bro. Real nice.” Ronnie didn’t try to stop me, which was good. I’d had enough of his little brother macho routine.

As soon as I stepped into the garage Cory’s eyes were on me. He’d clearly been staring at the door we’d left through waiting for me to reappear. Concern and irritation cut a hard line on his face, and he took a step toward me. I shook my head, silently telling him I was fine.

I didn’t want to make a scene. OTM was unlikely to care about our little romance, unless it caused issues at their office. And Cory running over to console me or finding Ronnie to have it out would fit the bill.

Holding Cory’s gaze I raised the phone in my hand and he nodded. I’d fill him in later. When all eyes weren’t on us. I grabbed my stuff from my brother’s workbench and headed for the exit.

I figured I’d be able to slip out without any more drama, but as soon as I got to the parking lot, I spotted Ronnie leaning against my car door. He’d bypassed the garage to ambush me, and I didn’t like it.

“More to add?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

Ronnie mimicked my stance, his eyes narrow as he regarded me. “Sorry for barking back there. I’m just not used to you bringing personal shit to work.”

“It wasn’t a thing until you made it one.” I wanted to be impressed with my little brother for owning his outburst so quickly, but I was still annoyed .

He nodded, his eyes drifting to the pavement between us. “Fine. You keep,” he waved his hand in the air, “whatever this is with Ellis out of the work and I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

It amused me that he thought this was something he could negotiate. I didn’t care what he had to say about my choices. My ability to remain professional had never been called into question before, and I wasn’t about to defend it now.

“I think you keeping your mouth shut sounds good.”

He sniffed, still irritated, but the hard line of his shoulders fell. “Is this because I kept telling you he didn’t seem so bad? Did I do this?”

He was joking, thank god. “You were pretty convincing on the virtues of getting to know him better.”

He let out a dramatic moan, pushing off my car. “I knew it. I forget my own power sometimes. I’ve got to be more careful with how I influence you.”

Punk . “Get out of my way, I’ve got to get Micah.”

Ronnie’s eye brows shot up. “What’s Tommy think of this development?”

“There’s not much to tell, Ronnie. We’ve gotten a couple of dinners.”

His shoulders bounced on a deep laugh. “He’s gonna flip.”

“He’s got no right to flip. He’s getting married.”

“Yeah, but you’re upgrading. He’s not gonna like that.”

Thank god Cory wasn’t around to hear this. His ego would explode. But I realized, the most I’d stopped to think about Tommy’s reaction was to expect him to mock or minimize this relationship once he heard about it. I’d never considered that he’d be jealous. Can you really get jealous when the woman you discarded moves on? He’d lied and cheated on me for years. As far as I was concerned, he’d lost his right to stake a claim a long time ago.

“I don’t think he’s going to care. And he better not show it if he does. Geena does not strike me as the type to take too kindly to him having any sort of opinion on who I date. ”

“Yeesh, right? I wouldn’t mess with her.”

I slid past him and opened my door. “So, we good?” My baby brother frustrated me daily, but it was rare for us to have any sort of lasting animosity. I didn’t like the idea that this thing with Cory was going to be a wedge between us.

He paused thoughtfully before snaking his arm around my neck and jerking me toward him. I should have seen it coming. Cursing under my breath, I shoved out of his hold before he could give me a noogie.

“Yeah, we’re good. Do me a favor, and see if you can download the contacts from his phone when he’s not looking. If we can get some of his connections, I bet we could land a few of those modeling contracts for me too.”

Waggling his eyebrows with a wide grin he started walking backwards toward the building.

“You’re ridiculous,” I sighed, climbing into my car.

“Am not. An opportunist, maybe. You can do it sis. You’re a ninja.” He chopped his arms through the air laughing.

Of course my brother would find a way to take my fledgling “relationship” with Cory and make it about him and furthering his career. If I didn’t love him so much, I’d think he was a real asshole.

Walking into the OTM garage a week later, I headed for Cory’s station instead of Ronnie’s. My brother gave me a quick nod, his eyes tracking me as I moved away from him, but the scrutiny was gone. We’d gotten into a new rhythm where my first quick hello went to my ‘boyfriend’ and then I headed over to see how things were going with him. I didn’t know how Ronnie felt about it, since he’d thankfully decided to keep his opinions to himself. But Cory clearly enjoyed it; his wide, shit-eating grin greeting me almost every time.

I’d spent all morning arranging press for Ronnie leading into to the holiday break in a few weeks, and I was happy to be up stretching my legs. But by the looks of it, not everyone had had a good morning.

Cory didn’t notice as I approached, his attention firmly fixed on the rear end of his bike. His face was red and sweat was dripping from his temple into the scruff that covered his cheeks and jaw.

I’ve been around bikes and motocross riders since I was seven. No part of this was new to me. But for the first time, it was the sight of Cory that had my stomach clenching with hungry desire. The sight of his thick thighs maxing out the stretch on his pants as he squatted low. A perfect round ass sitting below just the tiniest sliver of exposed skin where his shirt had ridden up. His big hand and muscled forearm were working the wrench and my pulsing desire at the same time. What the hell was happening to me?

And to make matters worse, the man looked up at the exact worst moment; mid-eye-fucking, with my teeth digging into my lower lip like I couldn’t contain the urge to devour what suddenly seemed so appealing. I was mortified.

Cory’s face peeled into a knowing grin, and even as I ripped my eyes away, I could feel my traitorous cheeks burning scarlet.

“You okay over there, little lady?”

I could have killed him. Billy’s head snapped up and he chuckled under his breath when he saw me.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I tossed back, trying desperately to recover myself. “You look like you’re on the struggle bus with that wrench.”

“Yeah, I’m probably about as red as you, I’d bet.”

Cory’s eyes danced with humor, but I was too embarrassed to laugh at myself. It had been a long time since I’d felt such a potent kick to the lady parts. And to have him be the cause felt like a personal failing. I was better than this.

“If you need some muscle, I’m happy to lend a hand.” I tried for a smile, but it felt more like a snarl and only made Cory and Billy laugh harder. The only saving grace to all this was that my back was to the rest of the team, so even if they’d overheard, my blatant ogling hadn’t been on display for everyone.

Cory took the few steps toward me that closed the distance, dropping his voice until only I could hear him. “I’d never turn down a hand from you, beautiful.”

The sexual inuendo that dripped through his words should have been irritating, tapping a direct line to my constant frustration with the man. But instead, they rang through me like a tuning fork. Whatever had triggered my initial reaction to seeing him, my body was still humming, and Cory’s playful antics were like expert fingers plucking at the strings of my long-lost libido.

I sighed, trying to cover the heat fanning down my torso with exasperation. “Keep it clean, Ellis.”

He laughed under his breath, the low rumble of it coming off him in waves that only drew me further in. “Yes, boss.”

The nickname thing didn’t bother me as much anymore. He’d worn me down with their near-constant use. And maybe some small part of me had started to like them. There were worse things than being called beautiful and gorgeous . And once he explained the logic behind calling me boss , it had never stung the same. If he meant it as a sign of respect, I’d take it as one.

I tried to remember what I was originally going to ask him when I started heading his way. “You have a bad morning?”

The frustration I’d seen on his face as he twisted that wrench returned and he glanced over his shoulder at the bike. “I might have taken a little spill.”

As soon as he said it, I noticed the dirt on his face and arms that I’d missed in my earlier sex-fueled perusal. There was a section of dried blood on his wrist and I reached for it, carefully turning it over to get a better look.

“Are you all right?”

Cory’s fingers wrapped around my hand and he gave it a squeeze. “Of course. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good, either. It’s starting to feel like Groundhog Day around here.”

There were lines around his eyes and mouth that deepened as he looked down at where we were touching. He was running his thumb back and forth, letting out a long breath as if he’d been holding it in.

Without thinking I asked, “Why don’t we stay in tonight? I can make us something to eat and we can just relax.”

Given the nature of our relationship—and its stated purpose—staying in was hardly productive. But we’d been burning the candle at both ends and a night in sounded a hell of a lot more appealing than putting on another show around town.

By the look on Cory’s face, my suggestion was as shocking to him as it was me. But there was a relief in his eyes that hit me like a punch in the chest.

“Really? That would be...” he trailed off, his eyes falling back to our joined hands. “I’d really like that.”

“Me too,” I said, giving him a squeeze before I slipped my hand free. “I’ll come to your place around six.”

“Send me a list, I can stop on my way home.”

I shook my head, my bangs falling over one eye. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll bring everything I need.”

He smiled sheepishly. “I’ll have the wine, then.”

I spun on my heel, heading over to see my brother. “Red would be good,” I said over my shoulder.

“You got it, boss.”