her hard, making her heart squeeze. Sexy, seductive, so good at talking her into things. Charming, smart, and completely compelling. Look what he’d done already.
In the space of two hours she’d agreed to let him work for her without proper credentials, to build an over-the-top five-star resort that would tax her professionally, financially, and emotionally, and she’d all but made a date to sleep with him.
He’d done that with one scintillating conversation, a sexy drawing, and a few hot kisses.
She pushed the hammock from side to side with all the resentment and second-guessing that was building inside her. What was wrong with her? Hadn’t she learned anything from her experience with David? Sure, she’d been careful with men for the last fourteen years, maybe too careful. But Clay Walker was David Fox all over again and she wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
Tears stung and she blinked against them. Damn it, why did David have to show up now and make her realize exactly how wrong Clay was? Just when she was about to have some fun? She never had fun, not the kind this young, hot, carefree guy was offering.
All she did was scrape together a living baking cakes and trying to drum up business, then she gave every ounce of remaining energy to drive Ashley around and make sure her daughter had everything she wanted and needed. In her spare time she’d held that old house together with duct tape and hope. She’d had exactly six dates in the last five years and not one of those men had made a single cell in her body tingle.
And then she’d met Clay and, well, forget tingling. He made her feel like she’d sucked her finger and stuck it into a light socket.
But that’s how you get electrocuted, Lacey.
A lump of confusion mixed with bitter self-pity filled her throat, sending a teardrop down her cheek. She swiped it. She had no time for this kind of wallowing. She had to be focused and serious about building a new life, not dreaming about sex with the architect she’d hired to do it.
Screw that up and what would happen? She’d quit, like always.
No, she couldn’t have the complication of sex with Clay. That was the one thing that had to go. If she didn’t sleep with Clay, then she wouldn’t be making the same mistake twice and she wouldn’t be risking her heart along with her building project.
The minute she saw him again she’d tell him she couldn’t—
“So, I’m guessing you dug deep enough to find an excuse to blow me off.”
She turned suddenly, the album tumbling off her stomach. She lurched to grab it and rolled right out of the hammock onto the grass, staring up at the most gorgeous man she’d seen since, well, since that morning.
And, damn it, all she wanted to do was reach up and kiss him. Just for fun.
Chapter Twelve
Clay kneeled next to Lacey, setting down the six-pack of beer he held in one hand and the DVD from the other. She didn’t move right away, looking up at him, her hair spilling everywhere, a tear streaking her cheek.
“Are you crying?”
“I’m fine.” She let him help her sit up, and just the contact with her bare shoulders made his hands itch for more.
“Really?’Cause you don’t look fine.” He couldn’t fight the urge to brush a wayward curl from her forehead, getting a flash of gold in her eyes in response. “Is this why you didn’t answer my call?”
She tried to swallow, and it looked like it took a monumental effort. “Something came up.”
He gave her a wary smile and lifted the six-pack of Mich he’d grabbed on the way to her house. “Better watch it. I brought Excuse Juice. Every time you make one, you gotta drink. I should have you good and loaded if you’re starting off with ‘something came up.’”
She laughed softly, pushing herself up and making another quick swipe at her eyes. “I’ll take one of those. How’d you find my—never mind. You went to the Super Min, didn’t you?”
He smiled. “Gloria was covering the register, and she told me where your parents’ house is.”
He eased her back into the hammock, which swung under their combined weight and pushed their hips right next to each other. “You all alone out here, Lacey?”
Pulling a bottle out of the carton, he kept his gaze on her while he twisted it open. “Where are your girlfriends? Where’s Ashley?”
“My friends are staying on the mainland.