he broke away just long enough to reach his pants on the floor and fish in his pocket for a condom. he rolled it on, then she was on her back again. he pushed his way between her legs and held himself at her wet, clenching opening.

his breathing was fast, his face harsh, his stare into her eyes insistent. "take all of me, love."

raine spread herself wider and lifted to him. "everything you'll give me."

after a calming breath, he worked inside her one slow inch at a time. he held every muscle in his body under such rigid control that she could feel him trembling to hold back.

finally, he slid completely inside her with a long, low groan. raine felt that penetration all the way to her soul. it wasn't just sex. they joined-thoughts, breaths, skin...hearts. the moment was almost reverent. she clung to him.

"love, you're like melted chocolate around me. so slick and smooth. i've got to fuck you."

"i'm not made of glass, liam. you won't break me," she promised. "please fuck me."

liam withdrew, then drove into her again, gripping her hips with unmistakable ownership. "normally, i'd paddle you for your language, but when you're saying it to me like that... bloody hell, it makes me want you more."

his words melted her, and her body welcomed him inside, immersed in the sensations of being with him. shock pinged her when she felt a deeper fastening between them, the moment so pure and visceral.

"how wet and juicy your wee cunt is. there's no one like you. i can't wait 'til you're healed. oh, my sweet lass, the things i'll do to you..."

he buried his face in her neck as he plunged his cock to the hilt again, wringing a gasp from her.

"that's it. give me every little sound. christ, you're so perfect! come for me, raine. let me hear you."

he adjusted himself, lifting his hands under her ass, raising her hips to him. then he delved into her in earnest, one pounding stroke after another, no pause, no respite, no way to hold back the spiraling orgasm.

she cried out, and he gave her a wolfish stare, then looked down their bodies in the moonlight, watching as he drove in and out of her pussy."

"that's it, my beauty. you like that? yes... i can feel you squeezing me tighter each time i fuck my way into you," he moaned in her ear, making her whole body shiver. "oh, it's so good."

liam made her feel feminine and small...but so powerful. the way he stroked her now, even deeper than before, had her stretching to the stars.

and raine couldn't catch her breath. "i'm going to-"

"look at me." he grabbed her hair in one fist and fused his gaze to hers as the crash of pleasure splintered her. her back arched. her scream echoed off the ceiling. her pussy clamped down on him. she couldn't look away as she unraveled under his touch, his cock, his control.

"raine!" he cried out, buried deep inside her, then growled out his completion.

gradually, his fingers released their grip on her hair. their breathing slowed. her heart stopped its mad beat. but neither of them looked away or said a word in the exquisite moment.

it hung silent, infinite, its gravity so stunning. tears pricked her eyes.

"how did this happen so fast?" she'd only meant to think the words, but the surprise on his face said she'd spoken them.

"i'm not really sure, love." he brushed his fingertips over her cheek. "one minute we were talking, and the next...i couldn't stop claiming you as my own. but i'm not questioning it anymore. i-"

the emergency chime on his phone interrupted whatever he'd been about to say. with a curse, he slid free of her body, grabbed the device, and padded to the bathroom. a moment later, he returned with a warm cloth and sat beside her, holding the mobile to his ear. "what do you want, beck?"

raine sat up, watching liam intently. for beck to call a man he barely liked in the middle of the night, something terrible must have happened. hammer. her heart chugged with fear.

"what are you going on about?" liam demanded. "what's wrong?"

"what the fuck do you think is wrong?" beck shouted the words so loudly, she couldn't fail to hear. "you come here and fuck hammer's girl in front of the whole goddamn dungeon, make a fool out of him, then steal her away without so much as a 'fuck you.' what problem could there be?"

"i wouldn't change it if i could because i don't regret it." a tick beside his eye twitched. "and since you hurt raine, i've nothing to say to you except fuck off."

"don't you hang up on me! your best friend has been a basket case ever since you took her away." he shouted. "you listening? get the girl's ass back here pronto and sort this fucking mess out!"

"he's no longer my best friend, and i'll not be taking her back."

he didn't wait for a reply, just hung up.

raine's heart seized. "liam...we have to go."

calmly, he added a few drops of tea tree oil to the hot rag and smoothed it against her swollen pussy. it might have eased her if she hadn't been so worried.

"liam?"

he ignored her.

"then you stay. i'm going. hammer needs me."

she tried to push the cloth away, but he gripped her hands and finished the job without a word. the intimacy was startling, but she was about to decide that was the norm with liam. still, she couldn't quite focus with the panic burning her veins.

"did you hear me?"

"yes." liam's answer was clipped, almost angry.

"i have to go back home."

"what makes you think i have any intention of taking you back there? i'd intended to send for your things eventually, but i'd never planned for either of us to darken his door again."

"but it's my home. i..."

in a way, she supposed his resolution made sense. nothing would ever be the same between hammer and liam again. and she bore the guilt for that.

nor would anything be the same between her and hammer. and she didn't think for a second that seeing him would be easy.

"that's not your home anymore, lass."

raine gasped and wrangled free, scrambling back on the bed. "it is. it will always be home."

"one you were ready to leave just days ago. why the sudden change of heart now?" he narrowed his eyes, as if daring her to say hammer's name.

"i threatened to leave, but it was killing me inside. i didn't want to go. i just didn't see a choice, but now...i have to help him."

"hammer is a grown man. he can take care of himself."

"clearly he can't or beck wouldn't be calling in the middle of the night. i owe hammer." liam looked at her impassively, and she balled her hands into fists. "i goddamn owe him!"

"language, or i've got a bar of soap with your name on it."

"fuck that! we're talking about a man we both care about, not a little bit of protocol. i can't let him self-destruct. he could have let me do that years ago. but he refused. he saved me. i have to repay the favor. i'd rather do it with your help, but i'll do it without you if i have to."

he clenched his teeth and stalked over the bed, taking hold of her arm and hauling her against him. "are you repaying a debt...or are you still holding out hope for him since he's going mad with missing you?"

even she didn't know the answer to liam's question with absolute certainty. hammer really missed her? surely, he wouldn't be falling apart because she'd gone, right? raine licked her lips. her head told her anything with hammer was hopeless, but she couldn't desert the man.

"think whatever you want. you're going to anyway." she jerked out from under him and marched into the bathroom.

her hands trembled as she started the shower. exhaustion pulled at her. every muscle in her body protested, screamed at her to lie down and rest.

ruthlessly, she yanked the shower door open and stumbled inside. she had no idea what liam would do now, if he'd wash his hands of her and take all his sweet caring away. as she stood under the hot spray, tears fell. she might lose him, lose everything. the thoughts crashed down on her, and she slid to the ground, head in her hands, sobbing.

but she didn't see another choice.

liam pulled open the shower door with a heavy heart and hovered above her, watching raine's body shake with every one of her tears. goddamn hammer.

with a sigh, he knelt. "there's no need to cry, lass. your disrespect toward me is unsettling, but that's not what has me seething. it says a lot about your soft heart that you'd want to save a man who used you so badly."

"it wasn't terrible. i liked it," she confessed.

the words were like a slap in the face. he stood again, glared down at her, hands on hips. "why did you come with me, then?"

a pregnant pause hung between them. he'd bet she didn't even know the answer to that herself. the only thing to brighten his life in years...and she didn't feel for him half of all the need bursting in him for her. fuck all!

"because..." she said finally, "with you i could have everything i want. you've made me feel like a woman, like i'm alive and pretty and worthwhile. do you know how badly i've needed that? and for how long?" she shouted. "i had to stop chasing a dead end. i had to get smart. you've shown me so much about myself and what we could be together. how could i not want that?"

liam digested her answer, prying it apart word by word. her head told her that he was the better bet. but her heart...it still lay with hammer. he'd been a fool when he'd told her that he only needed her trust, not her love. he'd been so fucking wrong.

he stared, held her gaze, not certain what to say. possibilities rolled in his head. two days wasn't long enough to make her fall in love with him. he might need weeks. months. but he would do it. he would snatch her heart from hammer's grasp eventually. one thing he knew to be true about himself...he could be patient. and ruthless.

the key was in giving her everything hammer hadn't.

liam sighed. "all right, then. i won't be keeping you here against your will. i'll take you back. understand that you'll stay by my side. and you will follow my rules. if you're so bloody worried about hammer, i suggest you not let him drag you off to his bed again." he allowed the implied threat to hang for a long moment. "i won't let him be driving a wedge between us. is that understood?"

"yes."

time to reinforce his role in her life. "yes, what?"

"yes, sir. thank you."

raine sat up on her knees and lifted her face to his. liam bent to her. christ, she smelled good. even though he'd just fucked her, he wanted her again.

he let a heartbeat pass. still, she didn't open her eyes. finally, he palmed her neck and seized her mouth for a quick, desperate kiss. it wasn't enough, but all he could take for now or he'd be laying her down on the tile floor and sliding into her again.

"don't be forgetting it." he stared at her, silently demanding acknowledgment.

she nodded. "i won't, sir."

"after your shower, get dressed. i've arranged a few clothes for you. they're in the closet. i've a couple of calls to make, then we'll be going. be ready in half an hour."

she breathed a sigh of relief and stared at him with gratitude that ripped him open. she was happy, all right-to go see her other lover. liam shoved down his boiling blood and exited the shower.

then he sat on the side of the bed with a curse, elbows on his knees, and let his head drop. how the fuck had all this come crashing perilously close to the end so quickly? he's wasn't thick ordinarily, but this...connection with raine had felt so real, so much more than even his link with gwyneth during their marriage.

he rubbed a big hand across his forehead, dug his finger and thumb into his eyes. fuck if he knew what would happen once they reached shadows, but he'd be damned if he'd just let raine go. if hammer wanted her back...well, liam wasn't above playing dirty.

chapter 13

sunlight burned hammer's eyes, and he squinted. what felt like a full brass band thundered in his head. fucking hangover. all he'd learned was that he couldn't drink raine away.

rolling out of bed with a groan, he slumped into the shower, hoping the hot water might assuage his throbbing head. even his eyes pulsed in time with his heartbeat, like they were going to pop from their sockets.

bits and pieces of the night before filtered through his brain, and he vaguely remembered beck playing armchair psychologist. and he'd spilled his guts like a fucking pussy.

"great!" he barked as embarrassment clawed up his spine.