Page 45 of His Build

The only word Lucy could think of to describe the ride across the lake wasmagical.

Sun glistened across the surface of the water and the rhythmic pull and swirl of the water next to her paddle was like a balm on her stressed out inner mind.

Graydon sat behind her in the back of the canoe so she couldn’t see him or even read into his expression what he was thinking. So she had no idea if his mind—and heart—were doing the tumultuous backflips hers were.

Something had passed over Graydon’s face as he’d handed her the paddle, and for a moment she wondered if she’d made a mistake agreeing to come with him. She’d already been on the fence about saying yes. She’d typed out ten different variations of ‘no thanks’ when he’d offered the barn for storage. But she’d typed yes by compulsion. And once she was on the dock… she couldn’t have said no after that kiss if someone had grabbed her by the shoulders and shaken her so hard her teeth rattled.

When she took the paddle from him, their hands brushing in the middle, Graydon had seemed to come back into the present. And when she’d last looked at him as they pushed off, he’d given her that grin of his that sent a shot of liquid fire straight into her core.

But as she’d turned back around, her mind had gone haywire again. What the hell was she doing? Why had she said yes to this very-much-a-date canoe ride when a drive to his place would have sufficed? Hell, him sending the measurements and calling it a deal would have been fine, really.

On her trip back to the city to rescue Blinky (who had of course not gone missing but had been hanging out on the fire escape getting fed by the upstairs neighbor), with lots of time to think on the way there, Lucy had come to the conclusion she didn’t know how to mix business and pleasure. At least not with Graydon. She’d decided, as she chastised her sister for freaking out over nothing, that she’d better nip the idea of a fling in the bud. And on the drive back, she’d planned all kinds of ways to tell him they should keep things professional.

But when Graydon texted about the barn, she’d felt a rise in her heart. On her two days back in the city she’d called around—no storage place in a hundred miles of Barkley Falls had a space both big enough for all the furniture she’d listed in her notebook that was both available immediately, and for only three weeks. Even though that antiquing trip had been exploratory and she wasn’t supposed to actually purchase furniture for another month, it had suddenly become inexplicably important to get that chaise; that bookcase; those chairs. The specific pieces she had picked out with Graydon. It was as if by deciding she was going to sever the personal relationship they had, some part of her wanted desperately to leave a piece of them in Barkley Falls.

Because there was no them; there never would be a them, and she was never going to see him again after this job was done.

Lucy pulled hard on her paddle, the water’s vortex spinning at her side. Once. Twice. Switch sides. Though she hadn’t ridden in a canoe since she was back in Coombes, the motion of dipping the paddle into the glassy lake was as natural to her as breathing. The smooth pull of the canoe across the water; the arc of the water dripping off the paddle as she brought it forward for another stroke. Her mind finally began to quiet the harder she pushed herself.

“Hey, slow down up there! You’re making me look bad.”

She turned back, laughing. Graydon winked at her and then paddled hard for a minute in a mock show of strength. She laughed harder.

But Graydon was strong. He had to keep his paddling light behind her so they wouldn’t start angling one way or the other.

While she’d been home, Sadie told her Cliff had dumped her—by text message. She’d been distraught, and Lucy suspected he was the real reason Sadie had needed her big sister. It had taken all Lucy had not to tell her sister she’d seen it all along, that she knew Cliff was an asshole. But she’d just hugged her sister as she cried over yet another man, saying she was sorry she’d been hurt by him. But for the first time, she wasn’t one to talk. Whatever she said would have rung hollow, because this time she couldn’t comfort her sister while personally congratulating herself for not getting involved with men.

Lucy took a breath, reminding herself to relax. She might be involved with Graydon, but it wasn’t serious. And besides, she was here now. She could at least try to enjoy herself.

That’s what Sadie kept telling her after she’d shrugged off her tears about Cliff.

Make sure you enjoy yourself.

It wasn’t hard once she’d told her runaway thoughts to stuff it. Emerald Lakewasgorgeous. The properties lining the shore were huge, so there were several long stretches where they only passed trees and grassy meadows pouring down to the lake. The leaves on shore shimmered in the breeze, and the lake houses they passed were quiet, the chairs on the decks only occasionally filled with a person who waved lazily at them as they passed. Mostly they were on their own, lost in the beauty of the surroundings.

Finally, Graydon paddled them around a bend in the lake to a private, treed scoop of land where a gorgeous but modest old red cabin sat on a small ridged finger pointing out into the water. A thin cluster of trees framed the main deck, which had been built to incorporate a giant beech tree in the middle. The deck itself was expansive, stretching almost straight out into the water. Graydon guided them toward the dock tucked around the other side of the property, and once they reached it, he hopped out and secured the canoe.

Lucy stared in awe. It was nothing short of stunning.

“You actually live here? All year round?”

“All year round,” he said. “I don’t think I could call any other place home.”

His eyes flicked to hers briefly, then away, as if he was worried he’d said something wrong. But she just nodded. “I don’t think I could either, if I lived here.”

This time she accepted his hand to get out. His dock was taller, and she was too distracted by the beauty of this place. He practically lifted her out of the canoe himself—which was no small feat. She wasn’t a birdlike woman. And while she was comfortable with the roundness of her figure, she would have felt self-conscious if he’d had to struggle.

But Graydon didn’t have to struggle.

The physical nature of his work clearly kept him strong—the curve of his bicep as her feet landed on the wood planks of the well-worn dock showed that well enough. And she remembered from the hours she’d spent running her hands over him.

The memory of that night while standing next to him threatened to loosen her knees to collapsing. He seemed to sense her temporary weakness and curved his arm around the small of her back, bringing her into him.

Their proximity changed everything, like the world stilled all around them. The effect on Lucy was immediate: her ears buzzed; her mouth went dry. Graydon looked down at her and raised a hand to her jaw. He brushed his thumb against her lower lip and her stomach went to jelly.

“Lucy,” Graydon said, his voice hoarse. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. Not for a goddamned second.”

Her mouth had gone loose and all the words she’d been planning to say thinned into smoke. In this moment, she didn’t want to keep things professional. She didn’t even want to keep things casual. All she wanted was for him to take her right there on this dock. A dampness grew between her legs at the thought of him driving himself into her.

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