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Curling his tongue around hers, he feasted on her addicting flavor, hungry to memorize it. One kiss melted into the next, and he devoured her, inhaling her into his lungs. She turned to liquid desire against him, wild and tumultuous. One leg slid surreptitiously around his, capturing his calf, pulling him in tighter against her small frame, splitting her thighs open. He should pass up that perfect invitation, but he didn’t. Instead, he ground himself against her pussy, leaving her no doubt that he desired her. Despite Raine’s little skirt, her flesh burned him. A low groan ripped from his throat. He didn’t need air or space or tomorrow, just more of her. Right fucking now.
Liam imagined her body welcoming him, her cunt opening to him. He groaned. Lust thundered through his veins. The urge to possess her burst in his brain as she surrendered to the moment. To him. He curled his fingers into the top of her blouse, ready to rip it wide open. Her little startled whimper brought him back to sanity. He tore his mouth from hers, breathing hard.
Raine was his best friend’s girl. But even knowing he must secure her trust if he intended to resurrect Hammer from the depths of the past, he couldn’t deny that something about her had shaken him down to his very bones.
“Don’t worry about Hammer’s consent now,” he managed to spit out. “I’ll see to him. You need training, and I’ll give it to you. Can you deny the passion sizzling between us?”
She swallowed. “No.”
Good. He needed to kindle Raine’s desires to keep her here, but the kiss had proven that arousing her would be a double-edged sword. The more she responded to him, the more he wanted her.
Liam pushed the thought away. “Be aware, lovely, if you say yes to my offer, I’ll test your submission and expect you to give me everything, no less. You deserve some happiness. God knows, I could use a little myself. Think about it. Find me when you’re ready.”
Liam released her, turning away and striding out of the room as quickly as he had come. Nothing more he could do now. And if he stayed, he feared he would do far more.
The ball was in Raine’s court.
Sleep was impossible, and Raine was tired of trying. The night was warm for November, and she couldn’t get comfortable in any position in her bed. In fact, nothing about her life felt comfortable now.
Liam O’Neill had to be brave. He’d thumbed his nose at Hammer’s no-touching rule and kissed her. Actually, he’d more than kissed her. In that shocking moment, he’d owned her, and she’d been desperate for his mouth on her own, to feel his naked body sliding against hers as he spread her legs with his powerful thighs and filled her completely. He’d do her the way he did everything else: well and with a single-minded purpose. She might love Hammer, but Liam was very easy on the eyes and he intrigued her. No denying it had been forever since any man had touched her, but Liam had proven he could more than take her breath away.
More importantly, he was offering her something she needed: A chance to see if the submissive path was truly right for her.
She swallowed. It was probably time to give up on the dream of being Hammer’s. But Raine could barely remember a time she hadn’t loved him. He’d not only taken her in as a runaway, but given her a roof over her head, food in her belly, and a job she loved. He’d also taught her to drive, urged her to get her GED, and helped her pay her way through college until she had earned her bachelor’s degree. Hammer had held her and listened to the bits she’d confessed about her terrible childhood, then reassured her with his compassionate words that she wasn’t to blame. In many ways, he made her feel safe and cared for. And utterly treasured.
Just not as a woman.
The painful realization that he didn’t love her as anything more than a little sister made her soul bleed. And so her life had come to a fork in the road. Stay on the same path she’d dogged down for six years? Leave Shadows altogether? Or take a new trail to explore her submission with Liam?
Hammer probably wasn’t going to suddenly fall in love with her, not when he had women like Marlie at his beck and call. But if she gave up before she ever gathered her courage to show him that she was a woman who could please him, wouldn’t she always regret it? Could she say yes to Liam’s offer in good conscience if she was always haunted by the thought that Hammer might have come around if she’d just waited a bit longer?
