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“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.
