Page 74 of Down & Dirty

“Hi,” Skylar squeaked, her voice higher than I’d ever heard it.

My father’s shorts were so tight, there was nothing left to be imagined, and I drew my eyes up to the ceiling regretful that I knew that. “Wanna change, Dad?”

As if he’d forgotten what he was wearing, his hands flew in front of his crotch and the redness already on his face got worse.

“Yeah, I’ll be right back. Shit. Give me one sec.”

“Take your time,” I said, averting my eyes, as Sky started to laugh behind me. He darted into his room and I turned to her with a scowl. “This is not funny.”

“Like hell it’s not. You should see your face.”

I shook my head, trying to dislodge the image of my father’s package from my brain and stifle a laugh at the same time. She didn’t need the encouragement; her giggles were already bringing tears to her eyes.

“Let’s put these in my room,” I said, reaching for the handle of her luggage.

As I dropped the bags on the bed, Sky ducked into the bathroom next door. While I waited for my turn, I walked down the hall, finding Beau’s room stacked floor to ceiling with boxes. His bed was covered so completely you could hardly tell it was there. It didn’t look like he’d been home in a while.

Slipping into Mack’s old room—that had been turned into a guest room years ago—I sorted out what my father had been up to. The bed was gone, and in its place was a treadmill, stationary bike, and a weight rack. There was even a full-length mirror propped against one wall, and I covered my mouth with my hand as another bout of laughter started to rise up.

“What’s so funny?” Sky asked, startling me.

“This. A home gym inthishouse? My father has never worked out a day in his life.”

She stepped in beside me, giving the place an assessing once over. “This is good, then.”

It was good. It was just surprising. And now, also inconvenient. “It’s good for him. But for you, not so much.”

Her eyes whipped up to meet mine, suddenly wary. “What does that mean?”

I leaned low, unfurling my lips into my most devilish grin before I whispered in her ear, “Means we’re sharing a bed, sugar.”

Her mouth popped open, but no words came out. I chuckled as I straightened, and heard my father’s door open.

“Okay, I’m decent. You can turn around now.”

“Is he telling the truth?” I asked Sky, snapping her out of her confusion.

She pressed her lips together, but looked around me. “Yeah.”

When I finally turned around, my father was standing in the hall, his typical flannel back in place. His arms were crossed and his trademark scowl had returned. Suddenly things felt a lot more familiar, and my shoulders dropped away from my ears.

“Dad, this is Skylar Stone, my...” I hesitated, turning back to find her wide eyes on me. “My girlfriend.”

That seemed to please her. Or at least douse her fear that I was about to call her something else. Partner. Betrothed.Wife...I guessed we had options. Relief was written all over her face as she moved around me to hold out her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Ellis,” she said, her cute pink cheeks pushed up into a smile.

“Jacob or Jake, please,” my dad replied, taking her hand and giving it a gentle shake.

He had the same big hands as Mack. Bear paws, I used to call them. They dwarfed Sky’s delicate fingers, but his grip was careful and he grinned at her like she was Christmas morning. It was alook I’d seen so rarely on his face, it almost made me uncomfortable.

“Is this your first time in Maine?” he asked, turning to lead us back down the stairs.

“It is.”

“Well, welcome. It’s not as cold as Cory probably made it sound.”

“Bullshit,” I coughed into my fist.

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