Page 55 of His Build

Casey folded her arms. “You know, just because we’re at your house, doesn’t mean you have to have a say in any of the conversation.”

Graydon glared at his sister, anger burning in his chest. She needed to lay off. And the way she was looking at him, he knew she felt the same way.

“You know, I should probably go now,” Lucy said.

Both Mitchells whipped their heads in her direction.

“Please,” she added.

“Of course,” Graydon said.

“Where are you staying?” Casey asked, and when Lucy said the Lakeside she slapped a hand on the table.

“Well hell, that’s on the way home for us. We’ll take you.”

“No,” Graydon said, a touch too loud.

Lucy sat up straighter. “Actually, that sounds good. No sense putting you out,” she said to Graydon.

Graydon felt like he was trying to catch a fish with his bare hands. Everything was getting away from him.

Shewas getting away from him.

“Thank you,” Lucy said to Graydon, standing up. “For having me over.”

Graydon’s mind raced, trying to think of some way he could salvage this situation. Then he remembered. “So—the storage—do you want the barn?”

Lucy hesitated. Graydon wished the question had no weight. He wished it was a simple thing he could ask, and there was nothing attached to the outcome. But of course storing the furniture in the barn would mean she’d have to come back here. She’d have to deal with him even more than she would on the job site. And clearly it was going to be strictly business from here on out.

She shook her head. “It’s okay… I’m just going to see what furniture is still available in a couple weeks when the place is ready for it. I’m sure I can put most of the stuff on layaway.”

Clearly sensing the tension between them Casey stood up. “I’ll go get Sam.”

Once they were alone in the kitchen Graydon closed the gap between them. He stopped himself from pulling her into his arms. Lucy gripped the back of the chair next to her as if for strength.

“What the hell is going on, Lucy? What happened? An hour and a half ago we were… together. And now you can’t get away fast enough.”

She folded her arms and stuck her chin out. She seemed to be searching for the words, as if she was trying to find them on the spot. “Graydon, things are just getting too intense. It’s my own fault—I never should have agreed to come here. I never should have kissed you that first time.”

Graydon felt like he’d been kicked in the stomach. Words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. “That kiss was the best thing that had happened to me in years. Decades. Maybe ever.”

Lucy’s skin went pink and he half wanted to take her face in his hands, to run his fingers down her cheek. The other half wanted to storm out of his own house, slamming the door behind him so hard it split from its frame.

This was why he never got involved with women.This was why.

Yet here he had gotten involved. Not just with any woman, either. With one who made him feel like he was alive again in a way he hadn’t been since he was a fucking kid, before his whole world had come crashing down.

He’d handed Lucy his heart on a platter, and now this.

“I wasn’t trying to trick you into coming here, you know,” his voice was so controlled it felt like it wasn’t even his. “I told you if you just wanted to see the place that I would stay away from you. But you… we…Shit,Lucy. What’s been happening between us, it’s fucking magical. I can’t be the only one of us who feels this way, can I?”

Lucy swallowed.

He watched the delicate motion in her throat and saw the flush growing there. She was so fucking beautiful.

“We agreed,” she said. “No fireworks.” She hesitated. “I think it’s best if we keep things truly professional now.”

Graydon’s heart fell right out of his chest then. It landed on the floor like a rock at his feet. He’d known this woman only a few weeks, and the fling they’d started had torn him wide open in a way he didn’t think he’d ever be able to come back from. He knew then he’d been doomed from the beginning. The moment he’d met her he’d known it was different. Why else would he have opened up to her on the balcony? He’d fuckingcriedin front of this woman, after not daring to date anyone since he was a goddamned teenager. And seeing her around the table with Casey and Sam tonight, it felt like shefitthere.

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