Page 45 of Down & Dirty

Elle was sitting across from me, her mouth agape and her eyes pinging between mine as if she couldn’t believe what I’d just told her. I guessed it was as crazy-sounding as I’d originally thought.

“He’s paying you to be his fake girlfriend?”

“Yeah,” I sighed, the weight of that lifting from me was practically euphoric.

“You’re pretending that you’re in love with Cory Ellis for money?”

I sniffed, scrunching my brow. “I’m pretending to not hate him in public. That’s all.” The denial felt a little hollow, since we’d moved past the hatred part pretty easily after that first dinner.

“Okaaay,” she drew out the word, clearly still piecing this together. “And that’s why he took care of you when you got hurt? Cause of this press thing?”

I dropped her gaze, glanced down as I picked at my nails. “That’s just it, it didn’t seem like that. He gotupset.” I looked back up at her, feeling the rush of emotion all over again at seeing Cory’s concern. “Like really upset. He was ready to kill the guys, but then he took me back to the infirmary to clean me up and he was shaking.”

My sweet friend’s expression folded with worry. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I promise, it was nothing, it’s his reaction that wasn’t. But when I asked him what was going on, he shut me out. Which I guess makes sense, we’re not really dating, so he has no reason to confide in me. But I’m sure there was something going on. He looked so haunted.” It felt so good to be thinking this out with someone else.

Elle pressed her lips into a line like she was trying to keep from smiling. “He might just really like you, Sky.”

I rolled my eyes. “Stop. I know when a man actually likes me, and he doesn’t. We’re supposed to be cleaning up his image, and he hasn’t even arranged for us to be photographed yet. He might be rethinking the whole thing.”

“The sex tape scandal. I heard about it.”

I’d never really dug into what Cory’s ex had done to put him in this position, but hearing Elle mention a sex tape so casually reminded me the woman worked in PR. She wasn’t fazed by much, whereas the mention of Cory and a sex tape in the same conversation had my stomach churning, even if I knew it wasn’t his.

She went on. “So, you think he’s reluctant to get your relationship out there because he doesn’t like you, but then at the same time you think he was distraught at the sight of you hurt? You do hear how that doesn’t work, right?”

She was laughing and I had to admit, those two things might have lined up better in my head. “I think his reaction was way too extreme for it to have been entirely about me.”

Quelling her laughter a little, she considered that. “If you want to know more, you should ask him.”

Anxiety punched me in the gut. “I’m not so sure I should to go there.” I paused, watching Elle’s face fall with confusion as I tried to explain it. “I’ll admit my impression of him has changed. I might even say I like the guy, fine. But this is supposed to be a six-month business relationship. And we’ve already stretched the boundaries more than we should. If this is all temporary, it’s stupid of me to get invested in who he is, and why he is the way he is. You know? I should just let it drop.”

That would be the smart thing. And I wanted my very intelligent friend to agree with me, encourage me to keep my head on straight. Collect the paychecks and get on with my life. That was why I’d told her all this, so she could help me see past the emotions that were starting to leak in, to the cold truth of the matter.

“Are you serious right now?” she asked, absolutely baffled. “Who cares how this thing started? If he has real feelings for you, don’t you want to explore it and see where it could lead?”

That was just it; I wasn’t sure. Cory was clearly more complicated than I’d planned for, and my life wasn’t exactly without its own issues. Did I really want to open myself up to something that was almost certainly doomed?

“Momma!” Micah called, exploding from his room. The curls on the top of his head bounced as he bounded toward me, and I opened my arms for us to collide, careful to keep my knee away from him. I kissed the top of his head, inhaling the soft scent of his shampoo. The peace I got from holding my son was the perfectantidote to my anxiety about this thing with Cory. Micah would always be my focus; I couldn’t forget that.

“Hey kiddo, how was your day?”

He pulled back to look at me, smears of peanut butter and jelly on his round cheeks. “I got to go down the big slide on my belly!” He cackled at himself, and I had to laugh at the image.

“Head first?” I asked, glancing over at Elle who just shrugged. Micah was definitely my son, all rough and tumble. And fearless. But she was great at keeping him from actual harm while he tested the world.

“No, silly,” he said, turning for his juice on the table. “No one likes to eat dirt.”

There was no doubt in my mind that was a direct quote from Elle, and one look at her wide, proud grin confirmed it.

“No one does, bud, that’s the truth.”

“Let me get your present.” He bolted for his room, his heavy footfalls echoing in his wake.

Elle pushed up off the couch. “I’m not sure exactly what is going on with you and,” she glanced back at Micah’s room, “your friend. But you should just see what happens, Sky. It wouldn’t hurt to have some fun.”

Her encouragement was sweet and well meaning. But I knew myself. I didn’t date for a reason. My idea of ‘fun’ didn’t involve superficial and short-lived connections. It never had, but with Micah, there was even more reason to keep things from getting messy and complicated. And at the moment, Cory Ellis had the potential to be both.

---