CHAPTER THIRTY

She woke up the next morning naked and alone in Hammer's bed. Which didn't surprise her at all. She slept through him taking her to bed and removing her clothes because they never slept together clothed, but she couldn't even recall if they slept together at all. She looked at Hammer's side of the bed. It looked as if he'd been there at some point through the night, but she had no recollection of it. All she knew was that she'd had a good night's sleep. Sleep she desperately needed.

She got out of bed, made her way to the bathroom, and brushed and gargled and showered. When she got out of the shower, she put on another one of his clean, oversized dress shirts. It was still early morning. She had no idea if they would find out anything any time soon.

She brushed her long, wavy hair down her back and then made her way downstairs. She could hear Hammer's muffled voice as soon as she hit the bottom stair. Her instinct told her it was an important call he was on. That was why she eased her way up the hall to the home office where Hammer's voice was coming from. The door was slightly ajar and she peeped inside. Hammer was pacing the floor, his secure phone in his hand and it was on Speaker. Amelia wasn't certain who it was he was speaking with, but the voice sounded like Newt Guidinger, the United States Secretary of Defense. And he wasn't happy.

"Do you realize how many operations we have hot right now across the globe with your name on it?"

"I understand that."

"Nobody can command all of those ops at once and do so efficiently like you, Hammer. Nobody. I was a general in the military for thirty years and I never saw a commander like you."

"I understand that."

"Stop understanding it, gotdammit," Newt yelled, "and do something about it! Get your ass back here to DC so we can brief you on another front we have to open up."

"I told you I'm out, Newt."

Amelia was confused. He was out? What did he mean he was out? She knew he had taken a leave of absence to help get her straight. But out sounded different. Out sounded permanent. Amelia watched, and listened, intensely.

"I told you this is it for me," Hammer continued.

"Don't say that, Ham."

"I've already said it. I'm out. I told the President. I'm telling you."

"She's mad as hell. That's why she made me call you." Then Amelia could hear Newt let out a harsh sigh. "Don't do this, Hammer. They won't refile those charges on your wife, we'll see to that. Just bring your ass back to DC. We need you."

"And I need my wife."

Amelia held her hand to her heart when he said those words.

"And I'm going to have her," Hammer added over the phone.

"Okay, okay. You need your wife. Fine. But you don't have to get rid of your obligations and duties to your country. You can have her and us. You can have both."

But Amelia saw Hammer shaking his head. "No, Newt, I can't have both. I tried that shit, remember? And all it got me was Divorce court. I have submitted my resignation. Accept it."

Amelia could feel tears trying to materialize when she heard him say that he had resigned. It was unbelievable to hear.

And Newt still couldn't accept it. "When the dust settles and she's no longer in harm's way, you'll be back," he said to Hammer.

But Hammer was equally certain. "No, I won't."

"But what the hell are you going to do? Take up knitting? You're Hammer Fucking Reese. What are you going to do if you leave us?"

"I have a nightclub, and Amelia, to run."

"Give me a break. I know that dame, remember? Nobody runs Amelia."

"She needs somebody to run her. She's been running on empty for far too long and I've been too damn busy to take care of her. Taking care of her and my son is my job now. My number one priority. And I'm the only man for the job."

Amelia was in tears when he spoke those words. Because it was true. Everybody knew her as this tough he-woman who didn't have a vulnerable vein in her body. But Hammer knew better. She wanted nothing more than to have him the head of her household. Because Hammer was the only man alive who understood that she was extremely tough and self-reliant, but equally vulnerable and in need of care too. And he was right. He was, in her heart, the only man for the job.

Even Newt seemed to be coming around to that reality too. "You sure about all of this, Ham?"

"Never been surer about anything in my life," Hammer responded. "I had to make a choice. I choose my family. Had I been around the way I should have been, nobody would be trying this bullshit with her. I left her vulnerable. I left her exposed. I'll never do that again."

Amelia covered her mouth as the tears fell down.

"Okay, Hammer. But the Prez is pissed. She feels you owe her."

"I don't owe her shit!" Hammer said loudly. "She owes me!"

Amelia could hear Newt exhaled. "Nobody in their right mind would disagree with that. Not after all you've given for your country. Have a good one," Newt said, and ended the call.

But as soon as the call ended, Amelia couldn't hold back a moment longer. She burst into his office and ran to him.

Hammer was shocked that she was even downstairs. And when he saw her in tears and running to him, he at first thought something terrible had happened. But her expressive eyes didn't show terror, but something else. Joy, maybe?

It was joy, he realized, when she cried out, "Oh, Hammer, I love you," and rammed into his arms.

He smiled when she embraced him so heartily. "Oh, Hammer," she said again.

But he pulled her back. To make sure. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," she said with a smile through her tears. "You chose me."

"Yes. And?"

"Nobody has ever chosen me before," Amelia said so heartfelt that it broke Hammer's heart. Because he knew it was true. From the moment she was pawned off as a teenager in a marriage to a perverted old man until she became Hammer's wife on paper only, she'd never been first in any man's life.

Until now.

He pulled her even tighter into his arms.

When they finally stopped embracing, they looked into each other's eyes. And when their emotions changed from love and appreciation to love and romantic pulsations, they moved closer and kissed a long, moan-filled, passionate kiss. And they embraced again.

"You always smell so good," a now fully-aroused Hammer whispered in her ears. "And you know what?"

"What?" an equally aroused Amelia responded with a whisper of her own.

"I haven't tasted you in a good while."

Amelia closed her eyes in a kind of quiet, hopeful plea. Were they getting back to happy? "No, you haven't."

And Hammer didn't waste another second. He lifted her into his arms, took her upstairs to bed, removed the shirt she wore and laid her down, and then undressed himself and got on the bed between her legs. And he didn't stop kissing, sucking, eating her until she was cumming hard. Then he moved up and began sucking her breasts as he entered her, prolonging her cum.

She held onto him for dear life as he pumped and pumped on her so hard that it felt as if she was the last fuck he was ever going to have, and then he poured into her with such love and passion that she came again. And that was a sign to Amelia. They were back. He showed her that he was willing to give up something near and dear to him to win her back.

But what Amelia knew he didn't understand was that he'd already won her. He just needed to claim her.

That morning, as he collapsed on top of her after a rousing session of love, he finally claimed her. And she was thrilled to be his again.

And then they heard a buzz that alerted Hammer that somebody was coming up the mountain. Then the monitor that was on the wall in every room in Hammer's mansion came on. And they saw the big Escalade on its way up the hill to Charlemagne.

"We got company," Hammer said as she eased his long, thick dick out of her and then got up.

"Do I have to move?" asked Amelia. "The way you laid my tracks, I'm certain I'm not going to be able to walk."

Hammer laughed. Amelia made him feel more masculine than any post he'd ever commanded.

"Can I just stay in bed?" she asked as he went to the bathroom.

"No," he said as he peed. "We have guests and you're the woman of this house from now on. Get your black ass up."

Amelia laughed out loud. She'd never heard Hammer so playful. And she loved what he said. Because she craved living with Hammer and being the woman of his house that was now their house again, and she wasn't about to fight what she wanted and needed most in this life. She gladly got up.

But she wasn't lying. Her legs were rubbery and she could still feel Hammer as if he was still deep inside of her.

When he slapped her ass as she entered the bathroom, she turned to looked at him. But just in doing that simple motion, broke it wide open for both of them. And he finished his piss, put her on the huge vanity, and did her once again. This time a quick hit and run that was even more electrifying.