Chapter 31

Axel

I don’t mean to listen in on Winnie’s conversation with Goldie, I swear on my life.

Not at first, at least. I woke up to a barrage of online bullshit regarding a picture of Winnie dancing, got sucked in, and spent far too long anonymously battering trolls with my wit. I know, I know, useless past time, as they weren’t even bright enough to realize they were being outwitted. But before I realized, half the morning was gone.

That’s when Winnie came bursting into her room. Her room and mine share a wall, and this house has walls that are a bit thin.

So when that girl throws around words like cockhopper and love and all ten of the Hammer brothers… Well, a guy would have to physically and forcefully cover his ears in order to stop listening.

Like hell I’m doing that .

Especially when I’m fully engrossed in the story of Diesel telling Winnie that he loves her (shit, Deez, seriously? Rookie mistake, brother). I’m only hearing one side of the conversation, yeah, but I can imagine Goldie reacting to it well enough.

And I’m laughing at Diesel, quietly, but then Winnie says, “Should I just end the whole thing now? Save all our hearts before any more feelings are out in the open?” and my heart sinks down into the pit of my stomach.

No no no, that is the last thing I want. The last thing any of us will want. Except Max, maybe.

But I know that sound in Winnie’s voice all too well. She’s more guarded than Fort Knox. She wants to run, as if running away from us will make anything easier.

For her, maybe it will, but it won’t be easy for me. I have been deeply in love with that girl for too much of my life for feelings to be easy. Since long before the family pact to not date her. And now that I have kissed her, and placed my mouth in the perfect spot to pull the sweetest sounds out of her, I will fight to keep her.

“I’m a selfish cow,” she says, and it sounds like she is in tears.

My heart twists at the anguish in her voice.

“So what do I do?” she asks. “It better not be follow your heart , Goldie.”

And then I’m not sure I’m hearing things right. I can’t be.

Holy shit, did Winnie Wainwright just say that she wants all of us. All to herself? Forever and always?

Weirdly, no matter how I picture it, I’m fine with it. I’m grinning, even .

Even though she sounds close to devastated by the impossibility of the idea, if there is any girl capable of taking on me and each and every one of my brothers, it’s the incomparable Winnie Wainwright. She’s all heart, laughter, and quick thinking, and won’t let any of us piss her off without saying so.

I vow here and now to seek our girl out as soon as her conversation with Goldie ends, and put an end to any doubt or worry weighing over her about us. I’ll have to be careful not to let her know I’ve overheard her, naturally. Hopefully I can get her to talk to me willingly.

At least that’s my plan until she laughs and says, “Oh my God, Golds! All three holes at the same time?”

She’s not talking about…?

“Obviously I’m new to all this,” she says with another laugh. “Would that even be possible? They’re all so huge. I told Leo and Theo I wasn’t ready for anal but… if three of them want to try…what you just suggested…with me, I don’t think it would be possible for me to say no.”

Am I dead? Did Jack realize I haven’t yet shown up to work and has somehow murdered me? Because this has to be Heaven. There are too many words coming from that girl’s sweet cupid mouth that have my dick jumping to attention and my heart rate ramping up. The thought that she’d be up for what is basically my wildest fantasy has me losing my mind.

Also, wait, did Theo and Leo come right out and ask her for an invite to come in the backdoor? Brass balls on those two. You wait on a woman to offer that access like the goddamn gift it is .

I need to get out of my room or else I’ll wind up jacking off to thoughts of Winnie and whichever hole she might want me inside for the rest of the afternoon. Tempting, but also tempting fate a little too much when it comes to pissing off Jack.

I put on my glasses and sneak out of my room quietly enough that Winnie won’t hear me and know I’ve been eavesdropping. I’m in the hall when I hear her winding up her conversation with Goldie, so I race down the stairs and into the kitchen. I lean against the counter casually, grab an apple from the fruit basket and take a bite.

A minute later, I hear her footsteps at the bottom of the stairs.

“Hey, you,” I say as she comes into the kitchen.

“Axel. Hey. I thought everyone was across the street.”

“I was. But then I got hungry so…” I hold up the apple, nearly finished now. “Have you eaten yet?”

She shakes her head.

“Think Jack would kill us if we played hooky until after I made us some French toast and we fueled up properly?” I toss the core into the garbage can.

“Yes, I do, actually,” she says, walking over to the counter and grabbing a couple of granola bars. She tosses me one. “Let’s go.”

“Wait a sec,” I say. “I have something to run by you.”

My date with her is tomorrow night, and with the photo of Winnie dancing with Theo and Leo circulating as rapidly as it is, I doubt she’ll want to be out and about where more cameras will find her. I was going to take her roller skating, at the rink we used to go to in middle school. I thought she’d love the nostalgia of it all. But now, I have an even better idea. It’s brilliant if I do say so myself.

“What do you think about Diesel and Cruz tagging along with us on our date?”

No, I’m not just thinking I need two extra cocks for the three holes thing. But I mean. If they’re there and she wants to…

I have to fight to keep the grin from sliding back on my face at the thought. But her expression is serious. Too serious.

She’s tilted her head, contemplatively, and is chewing on her bottom lip. “Well. I’m not sure. The dates are supposed to give us, y’know, alone time. To help me choose.”

I close the distance between us, settling my hands on her shoulders. Gently massaging the crook of her neck with my fingertips, I say, “I don’t want my date to be about choosing, sweetheart. I want it to be about making sure you’re enjoying every moment of this time we all have together without worrying about choosing.”

She cocks an eyebrow at me. “How much of my conversation with Goldie did you overhear?”

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.