Page 33 of Down & Dirty

She had no idea how wrong she was. At that moment, I was all ears. “Baby, you have my full attention.”

The way she rolled her eyes reminded me of the first time we met. Her attitude was a lot easier to understand now. However, her accepting my offer was even more surprising. But as we placed our orders and settled in to an amiable set of topics, I noticed the people around us smiling our way and knew we were pulling this off. We were going to make this work.

“So,” she started, leaning into my shoulder as we stepped out into the dark parking lot. “Did Billy buy it today?”

I got the sense she’d been dying to ask me that, as if she’d beenanxious to hear how her performance had gone over with people actually in our lives. She was really trying to play her part.

“He’s a skeptical guy by nature, so I’m not sure he believes this is happening. But he doesn’t think we’re faking it, either.”

“How do you know?”

“’Cause he knew about the other girls, but didn’t even imply that you were the same.”

Sky pulled up short. “Billy knew all those years?”

I nodded with a shrug. “Besides my brothers, he’s the best friend I’ve ever had. He’d never rat me out. And we’re too close. I could never have kept something that big from him all this time.”

“But you can keep this from him now?”

Her question gave me pause. It had crossed my mind that telling Billy would probably not have been a big deal, but something had held me back.

“I just figured it would be easier to keep up the act if he didn’t know. His skepticism is a good barometer for what everyone else will think.”

“Got it. So Billy is the benchmark.”

“I wouldn’t say that. I think how your family takes it might be even more telling.”

“Ronnie has yet to notice, so he’s no help on that front. But I’ll let you know when he finally gets a clue.” Sky leaned casually against her car door, looking decidedly more relaxed than when we’d arrived. “And what about your family? You never talk about them.”

“Sure I do. Just not with you.” She scoffed, clearly offended. I loved my family, even if they were a complicated bunch. “They’re not out here, so they just don’t come up as much as yours.”

“Well, what will they think?”

I shrugged again. My brothers didn’t spend too much time thinking about what I was up to, dating or otherwise. Mack had the construction business to run and Beau was in the military. And my dad would probably roll his eyes when he saw the headlines, like he always did. Nothing I’d done in the motocross worldhad ever seemed to matter to them, and I’d stopped trying to garner their support a long time ago.

“They won’t. My dating life is the last thing my brothers would concern themselves with. And Jake would never ask.”

“Jake?”

I shifted on my feet. “My dad.” Her eyebrows raised, so I answered her unspoken question. “We weren’t always close, so I don’t always call him dad.”

Her expression cooled as she nodded. But then she kept going, narrowing her gaze at me. “Do they know how you hire women to make you look good?”

I sniffed, lifting my eyes to the city behind her. “And tarnish the glamor of this jet-set image? Come on now.”

She yanked open her door. “You’re right, how foolish of me to think you had any genuine connections to anyone,” she paused, tilting her head thoughtfully, “besides your mechanic.”

I gave her a halfhearted smile. I didn’t know why it bothered me that she’d pointed out how little my family knew about my life. They thought I was too old to be riding and I thought they worried too much. It was a gap that had grown so slowly over the years I hadn’t even noticed it. Leave it to Sky to shine the spotlight. Not everybody’s family could be as tight as the Stone clan.

She hopped up behind the steering wheel. “So, you’ll text me the details of our nextrendezvous?”

She mimicked my horrid French accent from that morning and it made me smile for real. “Yep. And if there’s anything you’d like to do, any place you’ve been interested in going, just let me know. I can get us in almost anywhere.”

Her eyes rolled so hard I thought they were going to get stuck. “Braggart.”

“You say that now, but when I’m getting us a table at the exclusive restaurant you’ve been dying to try, you’ll change your tune.” I was using my old tricks to try and impress her, realizing a moment too late that was a mistake.

Sky started the engine, glancing back at me one more time asshe reached for her door. “I’m happy at Del Taco, okay? Save your overpriced entrees and culinary orgies for the Hollywood set.”

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