Page 87 of Ten Hammers

Well, so much for keeping her from finding out about my foray into eavesdropping. Maybe subtlety is not my strong suit. But at least I’m not dropping any L-bombs on her and making her more confused about her feelings.

“A little,” I admit. “But I’m glad I did.” I run the pad of my thumb along her lower lip. “We’re supposed to be open and honest with each other, remember? I can’t speak for all of my brothers, Win, but if you’re not ready to choose one of us when the reno is done, I don’t see why you should have to. You should have as much time as you need. It’s not a decision that you should have to rush. And I’m personally fine with things staying just the way they are until you’re comfortable with changing the situation.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Isn’t that just putting off the inevitable, though? Prolonging it is only going to make things harder.”

I push her curls out of her face. I need her to stop thinking about what happens in a couple of weeks or a couple of months or whenever and just enjoy now.

All of a sudden, her cheeks flush bright pink. “Oh, my goodness. Did you hear the part about–”

I raise my eyebrows. “The part about what?” I ask, innocently.

“Oh, no, you heard. You heard.”

She goes to cover her face with her hands and I capture them with my own before she can. I kiss one flushed cheeks, then the other, and whisper, “Winnie. I don’t ever – and I mean ever – want you to be ashamed or embarrassed about any fantasy you have. Okay? If you don’t promise me anything else, promise me that no matter who you end up with, it’ll be a man who moves heaven and earth to make every one of your fantasies come true, and never ever makes you feel any damn kind of way for having those fantasies.”

Her beautiful, thoughtful eyes are wide.

“So…” She twists my fingers with hers. “You’re saying if I wanted to… do what Goldie and I were talking about…”

“You just say the word.”

She scrunches up her nose. “Is that why you want Cruz and Deez to come with us tomorrow night?”

I shake my head and drop kisses onto her knuckles. “Nope. No pressure on that front. Or rear, as it were.” I grin at her. “I just want to remind you that we are very, very, very good at sharing, so you understand that none of us are going to pressure you into making any kind of decision before you’re good and ready. We never should’ve given you a deadline.”

Will everyone else agree with this? I don’t know. But they sure as hell better.

I study her face as she considers my words. She’s deep in thought, and I’ve wished I could read minds for the first time since we were kids and picking super powers.

“So where are we going on our date?” she finally asks.

“It’s a surprise,” I tell her.

“Because I really don’t know if I want to be out in public with the three of you after… You saw the picture, right?”

“I might’ve, you know, spent my morning baiting some trolls.”

She rolls her eyes and wags a finger at me. “You’ll never learn.”

“I’ll never stop defending your honor, Miss Wainwright. Even if I have to do it as RandoGuy75121.”

She doesn’t have to worry about any cameras tomorrow.

It’ll just be me, Cruz, Diesel, a helluva lot of trees, and maybe a squirrel or two.

I tell her so, and then, even though Jack might try to kill me for making us even later, I pull her to me, and drop a kiss on her lips.

I might not be able to read minds, but I know, as she starts to pull away, that she doesn’t want us to be even later… so I deepen the kiss. She sighs sweetly and I know I’ve got her. My hands tangle in her curls as she surrenders her mouth to mine. It’s hard not to test how long she’ll let me kiss her, or if she’ll let me touch her, too.

This girl. I want to kiss her forever. But with every moan she makes, I can’t help but picture Jack lurking by to catch us.

“Come on,” I finally growl as I reluctantly pull away. “Let’s get this day over with so that we can be closer to our date, and pick this up without the fear of Jack lurking over our shoulders.”

She laughs. “You keep picturing him jumping out and catching us, too, don’t you?”

“Waving a hammer at us, yeah.”

She grabs my hand, lacing our fingers together. “Terrifying, now let’s go,” she says with a mock-shiver as she pulls me toward the door.

---