Page 52 of Ten Hammers

Oh my God, is he going to take me across the street, up to his room, toss me on his mattress, and have his way with me?

How am I already this incredibly turned on again? Surely I must have some kind of Horny-for-the-Hammers disorder.

As soon as we reach the curb, Jack swerves off toward his truck, and when he puts me down, it’s so that he can open the passenger side door.

“Soooo… where are we going?” I ask as I slide in. It’s odd for him to want to do this so spontaneously. After all, he is Mr. Man with the Plan.

“The hardware store,” he says.

I glance at him, looking for any trace that he might be kidding, but his expression is dead serious.

“That okay?” he asks.

I mean, my guys all love tools, but the hardware store isn’t exactly the place for top-tier romance. Does Jack really see me as a woman he can be with romantically or does he just see me as the friend with an eye for picking out tile?

But his smile is warm, and with enough heat in his eyes to have me answering, “Well, I am fond of hammers.”

Chapter 19

Winnie

Jack held my hand as we strode briskly through the aisles of the hardware store. Well, he strode briskly, dragging me along. But his legs are much longer than mine, so to keep up, I was doing the kind of run-walk scampering you do when a car stops to let you walk across the street. He was on a mission.

“Is there a BOGO sale on screws ending in the next sixty seconds or something?” I pant, tugging on his hand. “Slow down. You’re going to detach my arm from its socket.”

“Oh shit,” he said, halting in his tracks. “I’m sorry, Winifred. You know how I get when I’m on a mission.”

“I do,” I said. “I’m assuming whatever your mission is you want to accomplish it with all of my limbs still attached though, so…”

“Definitely want all your limbs still attached,” he said, squeezing my hand and slowing down the pace. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay,” I say. I can feel his excitement, and it’s contagious.

“Aha,” he says, finally.

The sign above our heads reads Outdoor Recreation.

“Are we going to rec-reate outdoors?” I ask, wrapping my free hand around his forearm. There’s something about Jack that makes me want to hold onto him in every way I can. Always has been.

He laughs. “We are.”

“Are we going camping? Because I kind of don’t want the first time we have sex to be in a tent,” I say and feel my face flush.

He stops in his tracks again, giving me serious side-eye. “The first time we do what now?”

I stand up on my tiptoes and whisper, my lips against his ear, “Have s-e-x.”

“Good God,” he says, with a groan. “If you want to see a tent, just check out the front of my pants right now.”

I giggle. “Never change, Jack Hammer. Never change.”

He’s really looking at me now and there’s so much affection in his expression. “You’re blushing.”

“So are you.”

“Well, anyway. You’re being awfully presumptuous about the s-e-x thing,” he says, as he starts walking again. “Because I am not that kind of guy, Winifred.”

I snort. “Ohhhkay, Jackalope. If you say so.”

---