Page 79 of Down & Dirty

A giddy wave rippled through me as I got changed and brushed my teeth. It had been so long since I’d had sex, I’d almost forgotten how good it could be. But the idea of snuggling up next to Cory for the night soothed a special kind of longing. I’d been wrapped in the safety of his arms before, felt how sure his body held me. Being next to him all night was so enticing I practically trotted back into the room.

The warmth of his smile when he saw me only made that giddy wave topple further. He yanked the covers back and patted the mattress, a coy invitation to join him. I schooled my expression, masking some of my excitement so the man didn’t think I was nuts.

But when I sidled in beside him and turned onto my side, he was right behind me, notching his knees into the bend of mine, draping his arm over me and tugging me close.

“Is this all right?” he asked.

I heard the smile in his tone. He knew it was okay.

“It’ll do,” I replied coolly, and I’d have bet money he picked up on my smile, too.

He reached past me to hit the bedside lamp, settling his arm over me again with a sigh.

Normally, after a day of traveling I’d have crashed into a deep sleep. But not this time. It might have been the excitement of being in Cory’s bed with him, but even as that waned, I couldn’t slip under.

“Do you want me to let go?” his voice came out of the dark a while later.

“No,” I said, tucking his arm against my chest.

“Then what’s up?”

A ball lodged in my throat, thick and uneasy. After such a nice day, and the kiss out at the pond, I didn’t want to ruin things. But I couldn’t stop turning over and over on the way everything about him shifted when he mentioned his mother. It didn’t feel like my place to ask about something so personal, but it was just as hard to let it go when I could tell it still brought up so much for him.

“Spit it out, gorgeous, or we’ll both be zombies tomorrow.” He sighed, kissing the back of my neck. “Besides, I think I already know. So, just ask.”

“How do you know?” I’d worked really hard to not pry, no matter how curious I was.

He surprised me, giving my shoulder a gentle but firm bite before he growled, “Skylar.”

I huffed out a breath, letting the words tumble out. “I’m thinking about your mom, and what happened to her.”

The hair on my neck blew across my skin as his loud exhale gusted over me. I froze, trying to read Cory’s body language in the dark.

When he kissed my neck again, nestling closer to me, I tightened my grip on his wrist, trying to give him whatever support I could, almost sorry I asked.

“I was eight years old. She’d come to pick my brothers and I up from a birthday party. It was February, and a storm was rolling in. We’d been out in the woods riding bikes and I didn’t want to come in yet.” He shivered, and I snaked my leg between his even though I knew he wasn’t cold. “I should have just listened. But I took off. It was over an hour before I finally came back to the house and we got on the road. By then the snow and sleet was coming down and the pavement was slick...”

When he paused, I held my breath. Wherever this story was going, I could hear the remorse in his voice, the way his words scraped out. My heart was pounding painfully, imagining the little kid he was back then.

“There was a steep hill, and a curve, and she lost control.”

His voice was so low, so hollow. I knew he was reliving it all and I felt awful for pushing him.

“The bank dropped off and we went down the hill until we crashed into a tree. She was trapped. I didn’t understand at the time that the steering column...” When he paused, I tugged him closer again. His fingers laced with mine. “She sent us for help in different directions, Mack and Beau in one and me in another. We weren’t that far from home, but the houses are pretty spread out here, and we each went running to find someone to call 911.”

I wanted to turn, to hold him, but I was afraid to move.

“By the time I got back, the paramedics were taking her away. Mack had left Beau with the neighbor, but he was there. He never said anything, he just stood staring at the stretcher, his face white as a ghost.” He sniffed, his legs shifting to wedge more tightly between mine. “I never saw her again. The police brought us to the hospital, and dad got there a little later. But she’d already died. No one ever said that, but I could tell. Mack knew. He just didn’t say it.”

“Cory . . .”

He blew out a harsh breath. “If we’d left when she got there, the roads wouldn’t have been so bad.”

No. I couldn’t hold back any longer. I spun in his hold, taking his face in my hands. “Don’t do that. You didn’t cause the accident. You were a kid.”

His eyes were glassy, his jaw so tight I thought it might snap. “All I had to do was listen.”

“She might have crashed even if you’d come back right away. You aren’t to blame for that.”

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