Page 51 of His Build
The easy comfort and happiness she’d felt only a few minutes ago after making love with Graydon was gone, slipped away like sand between her fingers.
This felt a bit like the way that inner voice inside of her knew when she was getting too close to someone. Normally it happened a lot sooner, after a few dates with a guy. It was a warning.
But it was late. Way too late. She’d gotten in too deep this time, and suddenly she felt like she couldn’t breathe.
It was the amazing sex, that’s all. That’s why I stuck around.
But the thought rang hollow.
“Gray—” Lucy said.
But her words were interrupted by the rumble of a vehicle and the pop of gravel on Graydon’s driveway. Someone was here.
“Ah shit,” Graydon said.
Lucy’s stomach dipped as she heard a woman’s voice. “Gray?”
18
Graydon groaned. Casey. He’d completely forgotten about her invitation to dinner.
Casey was like this—if he didn’t respond to her texts, it was his own damn fault if she showed up to call him out on it.
Only now wasn’t the time. It wasn’t that he’d just finished having the most incredible sex of his entire life. Because he had. It was that the woman he had done it with, the one he’d opened his very soul to just now, was acting… strange.
And the thought that she was getting cold feet, even from this fling, made his chest feel like it had cracked open.
“Were you expecting someone?” Lucy asked, her face alarmed.
“My sister,” Graydon said. “I completely forgot she wanted me to come over for dinner tonight.”
“You forgot—” she looked incredulous. Of course, the perfect Ms. Lucy Fulham would never forget a dinner date.
He never would either, if it was with her.
“Graydon!”
“Over here,” he called out, striding out of the barn. He reached for Lucy’s hand but she strode past him, her arm up in a wave that looked friendly, but Graydon knew was stiff. Pissed off.
The sun was nearing the horizon now, their shadows long as they crossed the field, Lucy a few steps ahead of him.
Casey stood in front of her car, hand over her eyes as she peered in their direction. He could hear the jingling of her bangles even from here, her dress gauzy in the light. Casey called her style “bohemian”. He teased her that it was called “hippie”. He saw that tonight, in addition to her oversized fringed bag, she had a bulky casserole dish tucked under her arm.
Of course, she’d brought the dinner to him. On any other night, he’d have welcomed the surprise visit.
“Hello” Lucy said when she reached Casey. “I’m Lucy Fulham.”
Casey’s eyebrows just about shot through her hairline, but she managed to contain herself.
“I didn’t know my big brother had company,” Casey said.
“Graydon was just about to take me home,” Lucy said. “Weren’t you, Graydon? I was just checking out the barn. I work with Graydon, do the design on—”
“Alfred’s new place!” Casey exclaimed.
“You know him?”
“His old place was right next to us on Ruby Lake. Love Alfred. So, what’s it like working with Graydon? How can you stand it?”
