Page 64 of Down & Dirty

She looked back at me, caution in her eyes. “But can we keep it a secret? At least for now?”

A crack formed down the middle of the picture I’d been building. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said quickly, taking a step closer with wide eyes that clearly saw my concern. “I just need to give my folks time to adjust to all this.”

Ah. The scoop from last night had spread far and fast. I could see it on her face, the remnants of what I could imagine was an unpleasant conversation.

“How bad did they take it?”

“Not bad,” she said, shaking her head with a lopsided smile. “It was just a step up from the other photos and they don’t know you, that’s all.”

“Sure. Makes sense.” I nodded stiffly, trying to hide the disappointment that needled me. No parent would want their daughter with a guy like me. Too old, too broken, and too shallow. If they were anything like Sky, there’s no way they’d have thought of me as anything else.

“Just a little while.”

I tapped my leg with the envelope in my hand. “Not a problem.”

Sky’s eyes landed on it. “What’s that?”

“The contracts,” I replied, feeling foolish now for having rushed to get them.

She looked behind her, making sure no one was within ear shot, before she whispered, “Marriage contracts?”

I laughed under my breath at her wariness. “Prenups.”

“Oh, right. Of course.”

I shook my head at the resignation on her face. “I think you should wait to read it before you go thinking you know what it says. But if you need more time to decide on this, that’s fine.”

Sky sucked in a shaky breath, licking her lips. “Are you still sure?”

My spine stiffened. “Hell, yes.”

“Even if we can’t talk about it at first? If the press doesn’t know?”

I couldn’t tell if she was testing me or not. But if she was, I had no problem proving to her that this wasn’t all about me. The benefits of us getting hitched ran both ways. If her portion was delivered first in the form of more financial ease, then so be it.

“We said a year, right? Do you think you’re going to want to wait that long?”

“No,” she said, her brow scrunching so fast it was almost comical.

I liked that. That the idea of waiting that long was distasteful to her. And that settled the rattle in my chest.

“Then we’re good.” I held up the envelope. “You should read this and then get them back to me when you’re ready.”

Her eyebrow quirked up, as if I’d challenged her somehow.

“I’m ready now.”

“Still, read them.”

“Is there anything in there that could hurt me?”

My head jerked back. “No, of course not.”

“Then hand them over.” Her mouth was in a hard line, defiance written all over her face.

“I think you should think about this.”

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