Page 60 of Synced to Us

“I feel like playing with sharp things today,” I say to her as I pass. “Let’s go to the hardware store.”

22

Wyn

A bright shaft of sunlight cuts through my closed lids. Cursing, I sit up while scrubbing one side of my face and search the room.

It’s instant, my search for Dee. Her scent is everywhere, but she’s gone, her side of the bed cold and flat.

The smell of our sex floats in the air, too, and I inhale, enjoying the memories of Dee squirming underneath me, above me, and sheathing my cock with her tight, warm silk.

Said cock twitches under the covers, deciding it’s time to search for the source and bring her back for more.

A sharp bang jolts me straight and I lose my smirk. Another whack soon follows.

It’s coming from outside. I’d thought the bright, late morning sunlight had rudely woken me up, but I think the bams in my dream I heard when I locked Dee’s hands above her head and drove into her were more reality than fantasy.

Pulling on a pair of shorts and tying my hair back into a low ponytail is good enough Sunday attire for me. When I hit the hallway, all the doors are open and the rooms behind them deserted, so I swing around to the staircase and head toward the source of the commotion.

The screen door is propped open and I slip through. Stepping through the doorway and into the sunlight shouldn’t be so painful on my eyeballs, but I squint and blink a bunch of times, trying to make sense of the outdoor scene in front of me.

Dee—bent low, her ass in the air while her cutoff denim shorts ride up her cheeks. Lucy’s nearby, too, digging through the back of Brad’s truck, but I can’t tear my gaze away from Dee’s perfect peach of an ass.

Until she rises with a hammer in her hand.

“What the—” I yield one whole step as she swings it in my direction. It flies down into the patio step below me with a crack.

She straightens, hands on her hips as she assesses her work with a satisfied tilt to her lips.

“Shit, Dee.”

She startles and glances up, as if surprised to see me. “Hey. I didn’t know you were awake.”

“Kinda hard not to be.” My gaze sweeps the scattered tools, measured wood, and Lucy. She swings three two-by-twos over her shoulder and lumbers over here like she’s some sort of home reno wiz. Dee’s even dressed in a plaid shirt, which she’s tied off at the waist, showcasing her tapered stomach and round, delectable hips. Grit and wood dust speckle her skin, and her ponytail contains more flyaways than I’ve ever seen her allow. But there’s an inner sparkle to her, a flush of accomplishment that rocks me enough I have to work to keep still.

It takes some doing, but I peel my attention away from her and make my own sense of their activities. Daisy and Scout play nearby by the shed, chasing each other in a game of tag until Scout becomes distracted and bends down to eat grass.

“Good boy, Scout!” I call. “Show your momma how you eat your veggies!”

Lucy sends me a questioning look, then turns towards her kids, the two-by-twos swinging with her. “Oh, for the love of—Scout! You pee on that grass! Stop eating it!”

Chuckling, I turn to study the steps. Naked wood replaces the sagging, rotted panels that were once there. The smell of fresh-cut lumber is sharp in my nose. An overwhelming shift takes place in my stomach at the sight, like the upward movement of a roller coaster. Dee’s doing this? For me? “You two are fixing the steps?”

“With some help.” Dee points to Lucy. “Her dad’s a general contractor. Did you know that? He gave us some advice, told us what we needed at the hardware store.”

My brows crunch down. “Yeah. I thought he was retired.”

“He is,” Lucy says, coming up beside Dee. The twins have moved on to collecting rocks. “But he’s not above helping his daughter now and again.”

The question must be written all over my face because she adds, “He and Brad aren’t on good terms at the moment. Brad hasn’t deemed it necessary to ask Pop for any advice regarding your Ma’s home. He says he can do it himself. But with some convincing…” Dee and Lucy share a secret smile. “…we decided to give it a go this morning.”

The mention of my brother deepens the tension between my brows. “Where is that a-hole, anyway?”

Dee jerks her chin. “Behind the shed, working on setting up the wood cutter. May will take the kids inside when he has it running.”

Dee must sense the adrenaline shooting through my legs because she hops up the steps and places her hands on my shoulders. “He and I worked it out this morning. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I need to crush him.”

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