granite. “I thought you were morally, ethically, and parentally opposed to that.”
“They got me at a weak moment, and it’s really a beginner’s cave. I trust him, and I need the day to rehearse and prepare.”
And lick my wounds.
“Honestly,” she added, “I’m not afraid of him letting her swim tethered in a cave, but I’m scared to death she’s going to tell him Clay had me in tears last night, and now David’s going to drag the whole story out of her and think he has a chance with me.”
“Does he?” Tessa asked.
“Not even a small one.”
“Then come on, Lacey, let’s go,” Tessa insisted. “So what if you see Clay? You know where he stands now.”
“He stands with his father’s wife.” Zoe made a face. “Eww.”
Lacey grabbed her purse. “You’re right. Let’s go.”
Zoe drove while Lacey sat in the front and tried not to summon memories from places she’d been with Clay. When they pulled into the parking lot of Hibiscus Court, she couldn’t resist looking at his empty parking spot, remembering a few hot kisses in his truck before they stumbled into his apartment, and into his bed.
Memories, all bittersweet memories now.
“See? Coast is clear.” Zoe took the space and turned off the ignition, patting Lacey’s leg. “You feel better or worse knowing he’s not here?”
“I just feel empty.”
At his unit, no one answered the knock. She felt even emptier when she opened the door using the key he’d hidden and found exactly what he’d promised: the boards and 3-D model of the resort all neatly lined up on the kitchen table and counter. Everything else—the CAD system, the laptops, even the drafting table—was gone.
But her stomach turned into a hollow pit when she walked down the hall to the bedroom and saw the open closet door with nothing but hangers inside. The bed was partially made, the comforter sliding off, the sheets pulled up like no one had slept there. In the bathroom a dry towel hung over the shower door, but there was no other evidence that a man had been living here for weeks.
Or that a couple had turned it into a love nest.
“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Zoe said, standing in the doorway.
Lacey turned to her, aware that Tessa was already at work taking the first load of stuff to the car.
“What happened?” she asked Zoe.
“You fell in love with the wrong guy, Lace. Oldest story in the book.”
“Is that what happened with you and Oliver?”
She paled slightly. “’Fraid so.” Instantly Zoe turned back toward the living room. “I’ll get the rest of these boards. You say your last good-byes to the fond memory of all those life-changing orgasms you had in that bed.”
When she heard Zoe go out the front door, Lacey let out a long, pained breath and sat on the corner of the bed. “They did change my life,” she said to herself. “You helped me realize what I was capable of, Clay Walker. So I’m eternally grateful.”
She blew a kiss to the pillow and picked up the comforter out of habit. As she pulled it over the sheets, her foot tapped something tucked beneath the bed.
The drawings. Her heart practically launched into her throat.
He’d left the drawings behind.
Slowly she eased out a roll of paper, glancing over her shoulder to see if the others had come back yet. Still alone, she rolled the rubber band off and started to spread one of the drawings out on the bed.
Before it was fully open, her legs felt unnaturally heavy, like she’d had a half of bottle of wine and tried to stand suddenly. She flattened the paper, instantly recognizing his sure hand drawing their favorite beach, and the penciled outline of Lacey, lying back on the sand, a dress falling open, her breasts partially exposed.
Memories of things that haven’t happened yet.
She slid the picture to the side and looked at the next one. “Oh my God,” she whispered, stunned by the tableau of Lacey and Clay in the water. They were naked, entwined, her backside tucked into his front, her head thrown back as he captured the moment she’d had one of those life-changing orgasms.
That particular moment had most certainly happened. It was burned into her personal memory bank.
She was almost afraid to look at the next one.
It was the drawing of Ashley holding a hammer. But Clay was in this picture, too, holding the wood that Ashley nailed. Building the house together?
I expect her to help build the house, don’t you?
“What are you looking