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CHAPTER 5

LIZZY

JAGGED LINES

I knew this was eventually going to happen. I was going to have to see him . And now he’s going to be my best friend’s brother-in-law. Of course, my Tour de Lizzy would come back and bite me.

But that doesn’t make it any easier, especially when he’s shirtless on the other side of the hot tub from me. I knew he was fit at the bar, but holy shit, this is just unfair. Clay has boulder shoulders and pecs covered in a thin smattering of dark chest hair that would make a Hemsworth brother jealous. The tattoos I saw on his neck continue down his shoulders in an intricate, flowing mix of roses and vines. There’s a growling bear’s head on one side of his chest, mirrored by a snarling wolf’s head on the other. He is a piece of art, and not just the tattoos.

That’s not why it’s so hard though. He clearly remembers me. And it’s painful. He’s barely said a word since I walked out with Grace and Veronica and just quietly nursed his beer while either wearing a muted scowl or just staring out towards the ski slopes.

And I’m not the only one to notice.

“Who pissed in your beer?” Tanner leans across the hot tub, shoving his brother. “Come on, let loose a little. You don’t have to have a stick up your ass all the time.”

Clay shakes his head and looks back at everyone in the hot tub, his glare briefly lingering on me, clearly shaking himself out of some kind of trance. Or maybe he’s just pissed at me? His expression is so cold, borderline indifferent.

“Sorry.” Clay mutters before taking another sip of his beer. “Been a long day. ”

He looks at Tanner and then Veronica and for the tiniest moment, I can see one side of his lips quirk up and his jaw relax. I can almost make out one of his dimples popping through his five o’clock shadow, giving me a glimpse of the playful man I saw last night. He takes a deep breath and his broad chest fills out. “I’m happy for you guys. V, glad you’re officially joining the Chapman family.” He tilts his head over towards Grace. “Maybe you can keep this feral granola girl in check.”

Grace huffs and glares back at Clay, then gives him the middle finger.

“Thanks. But that sounds like a challenge. We know she’s the free spirit of your family.” Veronica’s been sitting in Tanner’s lap, wrapped in his arms all night. She’s glowing and I can’t blame her. Who doesn’t want a hunky 6’4” tattooed mountain man that’s completely obsessed with you for a fiancé? I mean, sign me up. She smirks back at Clay.

“And I hope you’re ready to get close with Lizzy.”

Our gazes snap to each other and Clay has an equally startled expression.

“Um. What?” I give her a puzzled look, holding my glass out and tipped towards her, asking for a refill.

Tanner wraps her in his arms tighter, planting a kiss on her neck before looking at Clay then me. “Yeah. We obviously want you two as our best man and maid of honor.”

Shit. Shit. Double shit. Tour de Lizzy is definitely biting me in the ass now.

I put on my best cheery smile, even though I’m terrified about the idea of having to be next to this man for all the wedding stuff. I can probably manage small doses of Clay - that would spare me from my embarrassment. But spending lots of time together? When he clearly is less than thrilled to see me based on his scowls and glares? That might be hard .

“Of course! You know I’m your girl.” I clink my fresh glass of champagne against hers.

I look at Clay, whose face looks like he’s forcing it into some kind of contorted, painful smile. Is he serious? That face better not be about me. I am not that bad. I can be a bit much, sure. And I did run off last night without any explanation. But he won’t have to spend that much time with me. I’m sure V will make all the plans and itineraries and we’ll barely have to work together. We’ll just have to show up and smile.

“Just let me know what you need. But hey, I’m going to call it a night. Have to be at the job site at seven tomorrow morning.”

I watch as he stands up, the water beading off his abs with the faint trail of hair running to his waistline. You have to be kidding. I didn’t even know you could have that many abs. And the way they taper into that V right where his trunks hang off his hips. It takes every ounce of self control to not bite my lower lip and moan thinking about touching him again.

He’s built like a young David Beckham. But not the weird, blonde one. No, more like if you took tattooed, fit, mature Daddy Beckham, and just made him twenty-eight years old.

And…

And yeah. I have to tear my eyes away from the way his swimsuit clings to him. I’m starting to see why he was that cocky last night.

I’m about to begrudgingly look away when he stands completely up. There are tattoos on both of his defined thighs peeking out of his mid-thigh shorts, but it’s his knees I can’t look away from. Each knee has a brutal looking scar. The jagged line on his right knee stretches from the top to the bottom and his left knee has a similar, but smaller scar. A small part of me winces at the thought of what caused those.

He gets out of the hot tub and walks towards the door. I’m glad he’s walking away otherwise he’d probably smirk knowing how I’m staring at his muscular back and ass. This guy should seriously take up underwear modeling or something.

I don’t know why, but against my better judgement I find myself calling out to him. “Do you know your way out? I can show you.” The rest of the group is busy talking and aren’t paying attention. Maybe I want a moment alone with him to talk about last night or to apologize for running off. Maybe I want to make sure we can be cool with the whole wedding thing. Either way, I feel like we need to talk.

He looks back at me, standing by the door of the patio with a towel wrapped around his shoulders. He flashes that same sinful grin he gave me last night at the bar, this time without a hint of the playfulness underneath it.

“Thanks, princess. I’m good,” he says before smirking at me. “I know the way out.”

The way he says it is almost a taunt, like he’s baiting me to ask so he can deliver the punchline to an inside joke. And against my better judgment, I give in.

“Oh, so you’ve been here before?” I lean over the side of the hot tub, folding my arms and resting my chin on them, waiting for his answer.

He lets out a low laugh. “Yeah. I work in construction. I’m the first one at the job site every morning.”

Holy. Shit. Clay is the ape that’s been stomping around the floor above me. Not only did I not sleep at all last night because I was thinking about him, but he is literally waking me up in the morning. “Oh. So that was you loudly banging around up there this morning? Can you like, tone it down a notch? I’m trying to sleep in the unit under you.”

He shrugs. “It’s a construction site. Kinda hard to be quiet. If I’m too loud, you could just run off though.” He looks back at the rest of the group before turning to open the door and disappears inside.