Page 76 of Ten Hammers

I shake my head.

“I can help, if you want. Or try, at least.”

There’s a big grin in his voice. I roll over and look at him, even though it’s too dark to see him.

He finds my mouth and kisses me.

“You tasted me earlier,” he whispers against my lips. “All I can think about now is tasting you.”

I’m fully awake now, but that’s not a problem at all as he kisses his way down my body, landing tongue-first between my legs.

We eventually do fall asleep, our boneless limbs tangled together, but it takes several orgasms apiece first.

Chapter 28

Winnie

As the days and nights pass, the anxiety I had felt about spending so much time in my childhood home drains away, thanks to my ten gorgeous men. In the span of a few days, my life has shifted and widened in unexpected ways. The relentless rhythm of hammers striking wood, and the sweet symphony of the brothers’ laughter, fills my world like never before.

By day, my boys are the architects of the house’s transformation. By night, they’re the architects of my transformation. If I were to sit down and write my memoir today, I’d call it From Virgin to Vixen: Renovating Winnie Wainwright. This has all happened so fast. I still can’t believe it is happening at all. The time before I started dating my boys, in some ways, seems like a distant memory already.

As I walk out of the Hammer house, I can’t help singing about myself in third person—as sexually and emotionally satisfied women obviously do.

“Winnie has work to do, Winnie has work to do!”

I have the silly, giddy urge to stop in the middle of the street and yell at the top of my lungs, “My name is Winnie Wainwright and I love my life!”

I waltz into the reno house—which is how I’ve started thinking about it to keep myself from getting dragged back into the mire of emotions from the past every time I walk through the door. I expect one of the boys to shout at me about what zones I’m forbidden from entering, as they usually do upon my entry. They’re so adorbs with their secret projects.

Though, I can’t lie. I’m a little nervous about what’s going on in the room that used to be my dad’s. I haven’t been allowed in there at all. One of them even put a padlock on the door.

Today, the house is still and silent.

“Hello?”

I’m earlier than usual, but some of the brothers have to be over here already? I didn’t see anyone in the Hammer house as I left, but sometimes the guys go on breakfast runs.

Not all at once, though.

“Hello?”

I walk through the house. Movement outside a window catches my eye. Taking another look, I see that Gunnar and Cruz are in the backyard. They’re both looking at a phone.

Cruz’s expression is hard to read. Gunnar looks pissed.

Unease prickles through me.

The second I open the back door, they fumble the phone like I’m Anna and they’re twelve and I just discovered them googling big naked boobs. Gunnar jostles Cruz, who drops the phone.

Gunnar catches it mid-fall. He hands it back to Cruz who shoves it in his back pocket.

“Good morning, baby,” Cruz flashes me a grin. “You were up late last night.”

“Um, we were all up late last night.” Binge-watching episodes of some new zombie show, but Jack’s not going to let any of us use that as an excuse to sleep in.

“Still, why don’t you go back to bed for a while? And by bed, I mean my bed. I’ll come with you. We can get it on.”

He rocks his hips back and forth, comically thrusting. His energy is frenetic, awkward. He’s talking too fast, trying to flirt, which tips me off even more that something is up. Cruz doesn’t have to try.

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