Page 61 of Down & Dirty

Cory: Sky, I promise you. I would never have set that up and not told you about it.

Sky: Oh, that.

Cory: You saw them?

Had she already seen the photos before she’d answered me? I wasn’t sure what that meant, but my immediate, overwhelming reaction was relief. Trust was not easily earned from Skylar, and putting her in the position to be covertly photographed would have burned up any currency I had. Plus, it would have been a dick move. I was trying to be better than that.

Sky: Yes. Tommy let me know he didn’t like my dress.

That was a fucking lie. No man could have disliked that thing. Black and sparkly and tight all over. Whatever he’d said to her about the pictures, it wasn’t about the dress.

Cory: I’m sorry. I didn’t know they were there.

Sky: I know. It’s ok.

Cory: Yeah?

Sky: It’s what we were going to do anyway.

She was right. But there’s a big difference between a staged kiss we’d agreed to and orchestrated and what I was seeing on this blog post.

God, she was beautiful.

Flushed cheeks and crimson lips. Blue eyes that could start a war. And that smile. She was embarrassed by her blushing, but not even that could hide the glimmer in her eye.

As much as I wanted to fuck up whoever it was that had intruded on this moment, I had to admit that the photos were likely better than anything we could have put together. This was no show. This was just us. And it looked real.

It looked so real, in fact, that I couldn’t pull my eyes away. Billy, Sky, even my father, all had texts coming in, making my phone dance in my hand. But I didn’t want to stop staring. We looked happy. And there weren’t many photographs in my life that had the power to bring back that sensation so completely as these did now.

Billy: Ellis? You breathing?

Cory: Barely.

Billy: Cause Sky is choking you out for making her tabloid fodder?

Cory: Something like that.

Billy: For real. That’s some messed up shit. She okay?

Cory: I don’t think she’s happy. But we’d talked about the chances of this happening.

Lying to my friend never felt right. But at this point I was too far into this to change course now. And last night I’d gone and made things even more complicated. I didn’t regret it—asking Sky to marry me. Not for a second. I just thought my days of acting on impulse and the high of the free-fall were behind me.

Instead, I’d found a new cliff to drop from.

Sky: Are you okay?

Cory: Honestly, I’m pretty pissed.

Sky: Really? I would have thought you’d be pleased. Mission accomplished.

It was a quick stab between the ribs, but the twinge of pain was impossible to miss. I didn’t like the reference to this still being about my reputation. Even if that’s exactly what it was. There was more to this now, more to her. Holding her in the hospital last night, putting Micah to bed. I might not understand what the hell was happening, but I was past the point of denying that something was. But was it for her too?

Cory: We didn’t deserve to have that moment stolen. I wanted to do this on our terms.

The bubbles popped up and went away several times and I waited, swallowing down the apprehension that grew with every second.

Sky: It was a good moment. Next time we’ll be more careful.

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