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Someday, memories might be all he had left.
“Good man.” Beck clapped him on the shoulder. “Call if you need us.”
“But not too early. Now that I’m back in town, I plan to track down a certain luscious blonde and ask her out. If all goes as planned, I’ll be soaring sweet little Heavenly to the heavens,” Seth drawled.
Beck jerked around and pinned the big PI with a death glare, growling out a barely human sound somewhere between low and menacing.
Remembering the ugly, World War III-like battles he and Liam had once waged over Raine, Hammer shook his head. “Time can be short. You two should take your own advice and put Heavenly between you. Thanks for the ride.”
Macen exited the car and charged into the house with long, urgent strides. Raine and Liam leapt up from the couch and rushed toward him. He crushed her in his arms and gripped his best friend’s shoulder in a brotherly hold.
“You’re home! Oh, thank god.” Raine wouldn’t let go of him.
That suited Macen just fine. He didn’t want to let go of them, either. There would be time later to discuss the darkness. Right now, all he wanted was to lose himself in the love around him.
“She’s been climbing the walls with worry,” Liam whispered as he threaded his fingers through her inky mane. “We both have.”
Hammer cradled Raine’s face in his hands. “I saw you crumble from the back of the cruiser. Are you all right?”
“Fine,” she assured. “Really.”
Hammer kissed the top of her head, then glanced at Liam. “Thank god you were there to catch her.”
“I’m glad, as well. As you see, she’s fine physically. Emotionally, I think we’re all a fucking mess,” Liam admitted.
“Let’s talk about that later,” Hammer croaked, holding her tighter.
Liam took Raine’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Love, I think what Hammer needs now is you.”
“No. What I need now is us.”
Emotions lumped in his throat as he shoved down the fear that he might lose these two perfect-for-him people. He breathed Raine in, branding the solemn moment in the deepest recesses of his memory.
Just in case.
“Well, then…” Liam said. “Let’s give the man what he needs.”
Raine blinked up at them. Hammer sensed she was torn between talking about his interrogation and easing his strain. But she shelved it and reached around his nape to pull him down with a welcoming kiss. He covered her lips with his as she put her worry aside to help him. To serve him. To provide him her comfort, her touch, her love.
Liam stood beside him with a warm hand on his shoulder and his lips on her neck.
Their presence was the perfect balm.
They were his home.
Moments slid by. It might have been ten or a thousand. Macen only knew when he drew away from her kiss he felt calmer, almost centered again.
He drank in the tears welling in Raine’s eyes. They were all too attuned not to sense one another’s distress. Hammer hated like hell that his worry spilled onto them. He couldn’t promise forever, but he could do his best to ease them tonight.
Hammer turned to Liam. “Where are Bryn and Duncan?”
“Sleeping off jet lag. Mum should know better than to interrupt us now. I put them in the guest room on the other side of the house, just in case.”
Too far away to hear Raine’s screams. Though with Bryn, sound wouldn’t matter.
“So tonight is ours.”
“I’d like that,” Raine whispered.
Liam palmed her crown. “Let’s go.”
With a ragged breath, Hammer lifted Raine against his chest. She curled her arms around his neck and reached out for Liam. Their fingers entwined while Hammer led them upstairs to their bedroom.
Macen laid her on their bed, in the spill of the silvery light from the adjoining bathroom, and followed her down. Without a word, she opened herself to him, unconsciously unfurling her arms and legs. He covered her, braced his elbows on either side of her head, and brushed skeins of her glossy raven hair from her cheek. And he stared. Fuck, he could do that forever and not get tired of the view.
But he probably didn’t have that long anymore.
Refusing to waste another moment, Hammer lowered his head and touched his lips to hers. Everything about her was soft. He pressed forward to deepen the kiss and savored the moment as if rediscovering her for the first time.
His heart tripped.
How many times over the years had he thought of stripping her bare, taking her body, hearing her scream for him? Controlling her, undoing her, drinking in her power? Far, far too many to count. At times, he’d have sworn he would burn alive because he couldn’t have her. He’d kissed her hundreds—maybe thousands—of times since he’d become her lover, but he’d never paused to relish the gravity of the instant their lips first met. Now, the simple connection undid him.
