Page 32 of Down & Dirty (Holden Cove #1)

CHAPTER 32

CORY

D irtyDana.com Celebrity Gossip with Sass

Once again, our throttle-rocket hottie, Cory Ellis, is spotted with his new leading lady. Exiting LAX last weekend after a secret getaway, the two looked more comfy cozy than we’ve ever seen. Considering Skylar Stone is far from the red carpet regular Cory typically entertains, we have to wonder if this blossoming romance has the sticking power lacking from all of his previous partnerships. With the season’s start only weeks away, will the pressure of the bike business crack this couple or will they get even closer? Do power sports and power couples mix? Or will Skylar be kicked to the sidelines just like all the rest?

“Look who’s back,” Billy said, setting his laptop on the bench and shaking his head. “Wasn’t sure if you’d decided to trade all this,” he waved his hand at the empty garage, “for a life of small townsfolk and mud season.”

It was just the two of us there early Monday morning, hoping to get a jump start to the day. We had an exhibition event in Anaheim at the end of the week, and losing even a few days to meet with press was more than I liked. This new bike still felt off, and we were running up against a tight wire to get me dialed in before the start of the season.

“And leave your ass to fend for yourself?” I scoffed, smacking him on the shoulder. “Never.”

Billy rolled his eyes. “Please. Don’t act like I couldn’t trade up like that ,” he said, snapping his fingers for emphasis.

“I’m sure of it. But there’s no way they’d be as good looking, and you’d get sick of staring at an ugly mug.”

Billy nodded, turning back to his work. “Yeah, it’s definitely been your roughish good looks and boyish charm all these years that have kept me coming back for more.” He spun his laptop so I could see the screen, shifting seamlessly back into the work. “I think if we tweak the throttle a little bit, you might get more consistency out of it and not bog down so much in the corners.”

I looked at him, smirking. “Did you even go home for Thanksgiving?”

He whipped his head up. “Yeah. I went to my sister’s in Sacramento. Why?”

“Cause you look like a mad scientist right now, and I’m afraid all you did was work all weekend.” Billy was as passionate about his job as I had been about racing when I first started. Out of the two of us, his devotion was still pure.

“Nah, her kids wouldn’t let me,” he laughed. “Miles, the youngest, had me help him build a rocket. Nearly took our heads off, but damn was it fun.”

“Nice. Pays to have an uncle with crazy tech skills.”

“Those kits have come a long way,” he shook his head. “How about you? You and the missus have fun?”

I froze. No one knew Sky and I had tied the knot, so Billy was just being Billy, but I regarded him for an extra second as I remembered that.

“We had a great time. I think she enjoyed herself.”

I dipped my head, trying to hide the smirk I knew would be all too easy for my friend to read. Visions of just how much fun we’d had were quick to spring to mind .

Sky in nothing but that silky red bra.

Water slipping over her breasts as she rode my cock.

Her hair wrapped around my hand when I’d taken her again the next morning, bending her over my bed and covering her mouth so her cries wouldn’t wake the old man.

Yeah, we’d had fun.

Sure enough, when I looked back up, Billy’s eyes were narrowed at me with a suspicious grin.

“Jesus, you two are really doing it, huh? This thing is actually working?”

I understood his doubt, but it still rubbed at me. “Why wouldn’t it?”

“Ellis, man, no shade. I think it’s great.”

My shoulders dropped. Billy was the last person to be a dick about this, even if he might rib me from time to time.

“She’s different,” I said, trying and failing to offer some sort of explanation for how I felt.

“She must be.” His hand landed on my shoulder reassuringly. “Cause you’ve sure as hell never looked like that.”

Without a mirror I was left guessing just what had given me away. But ever since waking up with Sky in my arms that first morning, I’d felt powerless to stop my feelings about her from taking me over. And then to get to finally touch her, to be with her, to uncoil all that sexy, fiery energy. I’d been fighting a hard on nearly every minute I was around her since. The flight home yesterday was brutal, and dropping her off at her place had been a special kind of torture. I hadn’t wanted to let her go.

I’d developed an irrepressible urge to hold her, listen to her, take care of her. I was starting to feel off balance when she wasn’t with me, like she was the ballast of my ship and when I wasn’t around her, I couldn’t quite right myself.

“See,” Billy said, poking me in the chest. “That right there. What the hell is this woman doing to you?”

I sniffed, thinking better of telling him the truth; healing me, giving me hope, inspiring a vision of the future I’d never even wanted before. Instead, I winked at him lightheartedly.

“She’s just shaking things up, man. Even this old dog can learn new tricks.”

He tipped his head back with a laugh. “Well, let’s see if that applies to bikes as much as to women, hot shot.”

When we’d come back from the training course after our best ride yet, I headed for the kitchen to grab us some waters. Ronnie was coming down the hall toward me, his trademark grin on his face. He was either in a perpetual good mood, or the kid was up to something. No one should wear that kind of shit-eating-grin all the time.

“How’d it go out there?” he asked as he got closer.

“Good, actually. Might finally have a handle on that beast.”

He nodded. “They keep making them faster, but we stay the same.” His laughter trailed after him as he passed me, but then he paused to turn and say, “Hey next time you return my assistant to me, do me a favor and make sure she’s still fit to function.”

I spun on my heel, my stomach dropping. “What do you mean?”

“Sky’s out. Flu or some shit. I’d assumed you two were both playing hooky, but since you’re here, I guess she’s actually sick.”

He laughed again, but I didn’t. It was like a sucker punch, air scooping out of me. “How sick?”

“Can’t be that bad, she’s got Micah home with her. But she said she needed the day.”

Skylar was one of the most dedicated people I knew. There was no way she’d have missed our first day back unless she was really sick. But her bonehead brother didn’t seem concerned.

“You check on her?”

He looked at me like I was crazy. “Nah, man. I don’t want to catch that shit.”

My fists clenched, but I took a slow breath through my nose, forcing myself to calm down. Sky’s brother was a lot like me when I was his age. Before I knew better. Before I gave a shit about anybody else.

But I did now.

Stepping into the empty kitchen, I dialed Sky’s number. It rang a few times before going to voicemail. “Hey, Ronnie said you’re not feeling well. Are you okay? Call me.”

I gave Sky half an hour, but when she didn’t call, I packed up and left. A quick stop at my favorite market and I was at Sky’s doorstep, my arms full of brown paper bags and a hopeful grin on my face when she opened the door.

“Cory?” she said, her voice rough, like she’d been sleeping.

“Shit.” My smile dropped. She looked worse than I thought she would. But I should have known she’d have downplayed things with Ronnie.

“What are you doing here?”

“What does it look like,” I said, slipping through the door when she looked like she might argue with me. “I brought some soup and snacks. Do you have a fever?”

“I’m fine,” she muttered, following me into her tiny kitchen. “It’s just a migraine.”

I spotted Micah on the couch with a tablet in his hands and a pair of headphones on. He hadn’t even noticed me come in, and I laughed. The life of a kid.

“Ronnie said it was the flu or something.”

She sighed. “I just told him I was sick, he doesn’t get these, so he doesn’t understand."

I didn’t get them either, but it didn’t matter what was wrong; she wasn’t okay, and I hated it.

As I set the bags down Sky started hovering anxiously, picking up stray cups and plates and bringing them to the sink. Her shoulders were bent and there were bags under her eyes.

“Hey, leave that,” I said, taking her hands in mine and making her look up at me. “You don’t need to clean. It’s just me.”

A sigh shook out of her, wariness in her eyes. “There’s nothing just about you. ”

Her words hit like a hammer to my chest, knocking a little wind out of me. I brushed my knuckles along the apple of her cheek. “Right back ‘atcha, gorgeous. Let’s get you comfortable and then I can make you something to eat.”

Sky stood frozen in front of me, regarding me with equal parts appreciation and disbelief. I knew this wasn’t normal for her. I’d seen it enough times by now. She was the mom and the sister and the daughter. Taking help was not her forte.

“I’m not hungry,” she whispered, a sort of last-gasp attempt to fight me.

I smiled, pulling her into my chest. “We’ll see about that.”

Her fingers curled around handfuls of my shirt and she nuzzled into my chest, letting out a ragged breath, and suddenly my chest was in a vice. Being her comfort undid me, a joy I’d never felt filling me up and making me feel invincible.

“Come on. Couch.”

We scooted Micah to the armchair and I got Sky to lie down while I unpacked the food and heated up some chicken noodle soup. She ate half her bowl before crashing.

“Cory,” Micah’s voice came from behind me as I cleaned up in the kitchen.

“Yeah, bud?”

“It died.” He held up his tablet, the screen dark.

I bent down to his level, and took it from him. “Let’s see here.” I tapped the button a few times, hoping the thing had just fallen asleep. But it was completely dead. I nodded, looking between the now useless babysitter and the wide eyes of a five-year-old.

If I thought having real feelings for a woman was throwing me off, this was about as far out of my element as I’d ever been. But with one glance at Sky, resting peacefully on the couch, I sniffed and said, “Welp, looks like it’s time to build a fort.”

“A fort?” Micah’s eyes went even wider.

“Yep. Let’s go into your room.” I plugged the tablet into the charger I spotted on the counter, and turned to head for the hall when M icah put out his hand. His head was tilted all the way back to look at me, an eager smile on his face.

“I’ll show you,” he said, as if I wasn’t sure of the way.

I took his tiny hand in mine and let him lead, a strange new sensation running through me. I’d been around dozens of kids in my life, but typically not for very long and definitely not like this. But Micah didn’t seem to pick up on any of my hesitation. Instead, he confidently pulled me down the hall and into his room, letting me go to run to his bed.

“This is Lumpy,” he told me proudly, whirling back with a ratty stuffed dog. “Grumpy gave him to me.”

“He’s pretty cool,” I said, taking the dog from him and turning it over in my hand. I remembered holding his bear not that long ago, but that toy was brand new compared to this one. This thing had one eye gone and patches of missing fur. Well-loved was the term, I thought. And judging by the twinkle in Micah’s eye as he watched my appraisal, he didn’t see a single imperfection. “Should he build the fort with us?” I asked, handing him back.

“He does everything with me. We went to Dad’s house last week and he came on the plane with us.”

Well-loved and well-traveled. I grinned, nodding along, Micah’s enthusiasm rubbing off. “I guess he’s in, then.”

We spent the next hour pulling the pillows off his bed and using the two small chairs in his room to create the tiniest fort ever. A blanket thrown over the top blocked out most of the light, and we both laid on our bellies, half inside, half outside, while Micah told me stories about his favorite toys. He wanted to ride bikes someday, and then he wanted to jump out of planes. I laughed at the last one, wondering where the kid had gotten that idea. But considering who his father was, it wasn’t much of a stretch to think Tommy might have mentioned it.

We were enjoying a couple of fruit roll-ups in the fort when I heard soft footsteps approach. I pulled the blanket back at the corner and found Sky looking down at us, her head shaking, but her expression cracked wide open .

“Boys only,” I said, right as Micah pulled the other corner back to look at his mother.

“Yeah, sorry Momma.”

She rolled her lips inward, stifling a laugh. “I see. Well, I think you both know how I feel about that kind of rule.” She slanted her head, giving Micah a look like he knew better. “You go, I go, remember?”

Micah looked at me across the expanse of our little fortress, weighing the scenario in his mind like it was a big decision. “Boys only?” he whispered. Sky cleared her throat.

“I don’t know pal, she seems like she means business.”

“She always means business,” he said, blowing out an exasperated sigh. “Okay, Momma,” he finally said, “You can come in.”

Sky had barely gotten on the floor before Micah bolted from the room, calling back that she needed a fruit roll-up, too.

“You having fun?” she asked. Her tone was playful, but there was doubt in her eyes.

“I am,” I told her, combing her hair from her forehead. She still looked tired, but a little of her color was back. “You need more soup.”

“You didn’t have to do all this.” She dropped her gaze, picking at a strand of the carpet. “Babysitting wasn’t really part of the deal.”

“Hey,” I said, my voice a little firmer that I intended, but I needed her to hear me. “I’m here because I want to be, Sky. This isn’t about any deal. And it’s not too much. You’re in my life, and Micah is a great kid. I’m happy to be here.”

She looked back to me, eyes wide and vulnerable, and I felt a cinch around my chest.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Thank you for coming.”

I leaned forward, my lips landing on her forehead. I kissed her and held them there, partly to feel for a fever, and partly because I just liked touching her too much to stop. “You never have to thank me for this, Sky. Ever.”

Micah came crashing back into the room, sliding under the blanke t with such force he knocked one of the chairs over. The fort collapsed on top of us all, and laughter peeled out of the kid so loud I thought he was going to crack in half.

When we put on a movie, the three of us crowded on the couch together. Micah tucked into one side of me, while his mom stretched out on the other, her head in my lap. It was surreal at first. I wasn’t sure I was entirely fit for any of this. But as both of them snuggled closer, I decided to just enjoy it. It felt like a new level of contentment was unlocking inside me, and all I had to do was grab on.