Page 123 of Ten Hammers

“Wait… where is the mattress?” I ask.

“In the back of my truck,” he says.

I make him promise to leave it there.

Swoooooooooon.

Chapter 43

Winnie

Max looks delicious. He obviously took great care in picking out his outfit.

Too bad all those clothes are coming off as soon as we get to our destination, Big Max, I think.

He’s driving, but I’m directing him, hoping I don’t get us lost because, if we end up in the wrong place, our first date might wind up with us both getting arrested for public indecency.

“Oooh!” I see the dirt road cutting through the trees. “Turn here, turn here.”

He glances sideways at me. “Uh… are you taking me into the woods to clock me over the head with something and roll my body into a river?”

“That was Plan B. I decided to go a different route, but your body will definitely be taken care of,” I joke. “Just drive. It will be fine.”

“Win,” he says after a few minutes. He definitely sounds apprehensive. “We are in the deadass middle of nowhere. In a fucking forest in the deadass middle of nowhere.”

“Just keep going.”

I’m getting a little nervous myself though, but thankfully, after a few minutes, the trees thin. And after a few more, we arrive.

“Ta da!” I unbuckle my seat belt.

Max raises a brow. “We’re in a field.”

He doesn’t move so I press the release button on his seat belt, too. “Come on.”

I hop out of the truck and he follows.

It’s a perfect night, clear of clouds, and the moon casts a soft glow on the scrubby land around us. He doesn’t look any more impressed once his feet are on the ground. He kicks something, a rock or dirt clump.

“When Gram died,” I say, “I found out she owned some land. This–” I gesture around us, “–is it.”

At least I hope this is the land.

“Gram owned a field?”

I sidle up to him. His hands find the small of my back, pulling me closer.

“And now,” I say, gazing up at him, “it’s my field.”

“Alright,” he replies slowly, his brows knitted together. “But what are we doing here?”

“Well,” I say. “You know, at one point in time, we’d planned for you to take my V-card. Obviously it’s too late for that now. I’ve had a lot of sex.”

“Ah, so you did bring me out here to kill me,” he deadpans. But even as he says it, he pulls me even closer. The warmth of his touch contrasts deliciously with the cool night air.

“It’s too late for you to be the first man I sleep with, Big Max. But I can… no, I want you to be the first man I make love to.”

Max’s expression softens, and I am captivated by the tenderness in his gaze. I have missed the private looks he used to give me, so much more than I realized during these last few weeks.

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