Page 107 of Ten Hammers

But I grin. “We’re going to smash things.”

“A demolition place, though?” She looks perplexed and I know what she’s thinking.

“I promise you, Win, this is going to be way different than just taking a sledgehammer to falling apart cabinets on demo days.”

“Okay,” she says, flashing me a full-fledged smile.

I send up a quick prayer that I’ve done something brilliant here and not something shit. You can’t shine a shit, after all.

We walk inside. I want to hold her hand, but this is kind of in public, so I resist the urge.

“Mace!” the girl behind the counter cries as we enter. “When Devon told me you were coming, I didn’t believe it.”

“Hey, Linds,” I say to her. Then I explain to Winnie, “Lindsey’s brother Devon is a good buddy of mine. He owns this place. Lindsey, this is–”

Lindsey holds up a hand. “Mason. This amazing woman needs no introduction. I don’t want to make things awkward, but since the first season of 1 Girl, 10 Hammers, I have had the biggest girl crush on you! You are a force to be reckoned with, lady. I want your autograph before you leave.”

Winnie lets out a surprised laugh. “Why, thank you.”

“Actually,” Lindsey says, “I need both of your autographs now. You didn’t e-sign the waivers in advance, and we need to take care of that real quick.”

After we do, Lindsey hands me a stack of gear. “Your room is that way. Devon has everything set up around back when you’re done.”

Winnie slides a curious glance at me.

Pressing a hand to the small of her back, I guide her in the direction Lindsey indicated. I sincerely hope this goes over well. My plan seemed fucking impeccable as it rolled out in my head, but now I’m wondering if maybe I should’ve asked one of my brothers their opinion before steamrolling ahead.

We stop at the door that has a sign on it reading Hammer - Party of 2. I think about what’s on the other side of that door and wonder if maybe I should warn her about it first.

“We have to suit up before we go in,” I stall, handing her one of the two gray jumpsuits Lindsey gave me.

Once we have those and our safety goggles on, I take a deep breath and open the door.

“Damnnnnn,” she says, as we cross the threshold.

I reserved the biggest space they have, which has a huge garage door on the exterior wall. Winnie’s gaze is the wall to our right, that holds everything from pickaxes to baseball bats on hooks.

“What’s your poison, Hammer? I think I’m going to go with the…”

Her voice trails off as she glances to the left and I can see her facial expression change as she starts noticing things. It would be pretty fucking hard not to notice the car in the middle of the room.

“Is that Gram’s Ford Escort?” she asks. Then her gaze travels the space and I watch her expression change as she takes in the things–most of it pretty trashed, already– we removed from her grandmother’s house.

Belongings of her grandmother’s and her father’s, which we were supposed to take straight to the dump.

The vehicle in question had been on cement blocks in the Wainwright backyard as long as we’d known Winnie.

“Yeah,” I say. “It is.”

She whips around and faces me, her eyes glassy. “Mason.”

She’s starting to cry. Shit. I really hope I haven’t fucked up. I’ve seen such a change in her since we began the renovation. She practically trembled with fear when we first began, but now she marches in boldly.

I thought she was ready for this, and I’m about to apologize for being such a dense bastard, when she rushes at me.

And then I have to steady us both as she jumps into my arms, so we don’t fall over sideways because she’s caught me completely off guard.

She’s good at that, her unpredictability. And her brand of unpredictability is always fun, especially when she’s planting her sweet, smiling mouth on mine in a kiss that will rival even our kitchen kiss.

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