Beck might as well have read her mind. “Exactly.”

“You’re a survivor, standing here so goddamn vibrant that you draw everyone to you. I’ve known Hammer for a long time. He needs you. I threatened to hit you again to see if he’d rescue you and finally fuck you, like he’s dying to.”

“He’s not.” Beck might be shocked to know how diligently she’d pursued that path, only to be rebuffed…

“Yeah, he is. Everyone else is a way to pass the time. You, he takes care of. He watches over. He guides. He loves. Don’t let him bullshit you into believing different. But I honestly didn’t see Liam O’Neill coming. That man has a serious hard-on for you.”

Yes. She’d been feeling it most of the night. Raine flushed.

“I wanted to see if Hammer would save you from me.” He grinned. “But I think it will be much more fun to see if he fights Liam for you instead.”

Raine opened her mouth to shoot off a snappy reply, but a yell interrupted her. Angry. Wounded. Unmistakably Hammer’s. Another heavy thunk of something wooden hitting the floor followed.

“Why don’t you go see what he’s up to, princess?” Beck suggested. “He sure as hell doesn’t want to see me.”

She didn’t bother answering him, but turned and jogged into the hall, heading for the stairs. Was Beck suggesting that Hammer needed her help?

Darting up, Raine ran as fast as she could to reach him, before he woke everyone up or did something reckless, like put his fist through a window.

Then she skidded into the bar and saw a shirtless Hammer lift a solid wooden barstool over his head. The muscles of his back and arms bunched and flexed as he hurled it against the wall with a mighty growl. It landed with a loud thump, then crashed to the floor. He cursed again, something really ugly that made her flinch. What the hell was wrong with him?

She was still puzzling out the answer when he zipped behind the bar and grabbed a bottle in his fist. He unscrewed the cap, then pitched the little plastic disc across the room with so much rage, Raine stared wide eyed.

Hammer took a long swig and prowled into the open room. Moonlight streamed in through the window, falling silver and bright across his face. An angry red cut marred his brow. He sported another just above his eye. A bruise formed on his left cheek and on the right side of his jaw. His bottom lip looked a little swollen.

He’d been in a fight. With Beck?

“Macen, what the hell happened to you?”

Hammer’s stare zipped over to her. He said nothing, just sawed angry breaths in and out as he drilled holes into her with an exacting gaze that promised…something she couldn’t put her finger on. Fighting the urge to take a step back, she stood her ground.

“Raine.” His voice finally thundered through the room as he slammed the bottle of liquor on the bar so hard the contents spewed from the neck like a geyser. In three long strides, he ate up the distance between them. Snarling, he gripped her arms tightly as she smelled tequila. “You honestly didn’t think I’d let him get away with that, did you? The fucking bastard!”

Raine tried to block out the zip of desire at the feel of Hammer’s closeness and his grip on her. Which fucking bastard did he mean? “Beck?”

“Yeah, Beck. Though I wish to hell it had been Liam’s face I’d rearranged. But he was too busy fucking you. Yeah, I heard you scream his name.”

His condemning tone made her feel a little sick. Not with shame, exactly. Not just embarrassment. And he sounded…jealous almost. But Raine held her tongue. What could they say that hadn’t already been said?

“Want to tell me why you’re throwing things and trying to wake everyone in the place up?”

“Leave me alone and go back to bed. Let Liam sink into your hot little cunt some more. I’m sure he hasn’t gotten his fill of you yet. In his place, I wouldn’t have,” he snarled. “But then I’ve got six years of ache for you to fuck out of my system, and I could never sate that in one goddamn night. I’d tie you to my bed and devour you for weeks. Months. Until you were sore. Wrung out. Exhausted and begging me not to fuck you again. And that still wouldn’t stop me.”

This from the man who had thrown her from his room for trying to seduce him? Raine stared at Hammer as if he’d spoken a foreign language. His every word burned desire into her. It sizzled her belly, seared her pussy. She couldn’t let herself be swayed. Crap like this was easy to spew when one was nursing tequila.

“Bullshit. You’re drunk. I’m going back to bed.” Raine whirled away, knowing she should leave the room, but just couldn’t let his little speech go. She turned back to him, hands on her hips. “Just when I think you’ve still got a decent bone in your body—Beck told me that he’s a damn doctor and that he wasn’t supposed to hurt me—then you try to B.S. me. When I came to your room, I gave you every opportunity to work out any ache you might have for me. But no. Because you don’t have one. If this is some effort to save my ego or whatever, just...stop. I know you’re never going to tie me to your bed.”

And she didn’t want to hear Hammer confirm that fact, so she belted Liam’s robe around her more tightly and, shoulders stiff, pivoted toward the stairs again.

“Goddamnit, don’t turn away from me. You look at me. Now!”

The force of his demand sent a startled glance over her shoulder. Where the hell had his anger come from?

“Am I drunk? Fuck, yeah. Because of you! Don’t think I’m doing anything to save your ego, precious. I’m saving your goddamn life.”

She turned back to him and crossed her arms over her chest with a snort. “Riiiight... I know your reputation, Hammer. You trying to warn me away from your big, bad Dom self because you want me to worry that you’d tie me to your bed and what? Fuck me to death?” She rolled her eyes. “Please... You’re so full of shit. I don’t even understand this game, but I’m done playing it. Put the cap on the bottle and go to bed. And try not to throw any more barstools.”

He rushed toward her with a burning glower, then pulled her to his broad, hard chest. His steely erection throbbed against her, prodding her from beneath his trousers. “You think I wouldn’t tie you to my bed, precious? Trust me, given the chance, I’d live out every nasty fantasy I’ve hidden for the past six years. I’d make you my dirty little whore and you’d beg me to use you in ways that would make the devil blush.”

Raine went wide eyed. She barely had time to process his silky threat before he grabbed her hair and tugged, forcing her gaze to his. His stare delved, branded, commanded.

The truth hit her. She swallowed—hard. Oh god... “You’re serious. All these years, you’ve wanted...” She gaped at him, trying to reconcile everything she thought she knew with the dark thunder of desire pounding across his face, charging up the air between them. “Me?”

“Every fucking hour of every goddamn day. Do you have any idea how insane I was when I found out you’d given your virginity to that piece of shit, Zak? He won’t be back. Ever. I made sure of it.” Something dangerous and lethal flashed in his eyes.

Pieces of the puzzle started snapping together. “I know you’ve made everyone who ever touched me go away.”

“That’s right. And I always will. I’ve wanted you almost since I took you in that hot August night six years ago. You weren’t quiet eighteen yet, and I called myself every name in the book: pervert, pedophile, dumb fuck. None of it stopped me from wanting you.”

God, she didn’t understand this complicated man. “I’ve been here all this time. I’m not a teenager anymore.”

“I noticed. When you grew up on me and blossomed into the incredible woman you are now…” He stopped and trailed his thumb over her bottom lip.

Raine found it hard to breathe. His information was almost more than she could absorb. Reconciling it in her head was like suddenly hearing that the sky wasn’t actually blue.

He. Wanted. Her. The shock of that just kept rolling through her system. After hiding it for years, why admit how he felt now? Because he was drunk enough to finally be honest?

The way his thumb kept brushing her lip and his stare lasered in on her mouth made her insides jumpy, her folds turn damp.

“Wait. You’ve always treated me like a child.” Remembering all the hurt and anger, she jerked out of his embrace. “Like your sister. What’s changed? Did you watch Liam fuck my ass and suddenly decide I’m grown up and, therefore, fair game?”

“You’ve been grown up in my eyes since you turned eighteen. In some ways, even before then. As for Liam…” He curled his lip in a condescending sneer. “He can’t handle you. You’re going to walk all over him, precious. You need a strong Dom who can keep you under his thumb and your sexy ass in line. I’m the only one who could ever give you those boundaries you crave. Don’t kid yourself. He’ll be a fun play toy, but that’s all. You’ll always hunger for me to be firm with you and push your limits.”

Oh, she understood now. Same song, different verse. “Before, you told me that I wasn’t mature enough, good enough, strong enough. Now you’re going to dangle that cock in front of me because I’m taken, so I still can’t have you. Then what’s the point to this dazzling truth?” she spit at him. “You’re never going to touch me. Malign Liam if it makes you feel better, but he’s tender and wonderful and has the guts to treat me like a woman.”

She stalked over to the bar, grabbed the bottle, and guzzled from it. The tequila burned going down, and she welcomed the fire as she slammed the bottle aside and fastened her stare on him again. Her blood sang. Her body buzzed, and not for anything would she admit that to him. “And you never will. So take your boundaries and shove them up your ass.”

Before she could draw in another breath, he pursued her, pressing his hot body against hers. His bare chest heaved and his lips were drawn in a tight, angry line.

He glared down into her eyes. “I never said anything like that. You’re the one who conjured up self-depreciating reasons, not me. If I were going to dangle my cock in your face, I’d sure as fuck instruct you how to suck it. Trust me, it’s not my ass that’s going to get reamed, and it’s not boundaries I’ll be shoving up yours.”

Grinding his heated arousal against her, he closed his eyes and moaned, making her shake all over. When he opened them again, she saw savage hunger blazing there. “Hammer, I…”

“Not another fucking word, Raine.”

He slanted his mouth over hers, his lips seizing her own, taking, claiming, demanding everything from her. Shock pinged through her. Raine’s head spun. Her heart roared. Her pussy wept. And she opened her lips to him, couldn’t help but kiss him back.

He grabbed handfuls of Liam’s robe in his big fists and dragged her even closer. She hadn’t known that was possible, but every inch of her was covered by him. His brutal grip parted the silk, and she felt nothing but his trousers against her swelling folds as he all but inhaled her, stabbing his way into her mouth like he owned her.

Raine melted, her head swimming, dizzy. She moaned and opened wider to him, arching against him in a silent pleading for more, just like she always had...

How long before he put a stop to it and pried himself away this time?

Tearing herself from his kiss and jerking from his grip, she panted and stared at him through the shadows, backing up until she hit the bar. “Stop. I’m not playing this game. I’m Liam’s now.”

But he wasn’t looking at her face. His hot stare was fixed decidedly lower, on one of her breasts he’d bared by clawing at the robe. The pale orb hung heavy in the moonlight, nipple drawn up tight. She reached for the lapels of the garment to cover herself, but Hammer, with a muscle ticcing in his jaw, was already on her.

“No game, precious. Tonight, you’re mine!” He fastened his mouth over her exposed peak, sucking her deep. His teeth sank into her tender flesh as the tip of his tongue flicked over her nipple, immersing her in a blistering combination of pleasure and pain. He cupped her breasts in his big palms and teased her distended tips, alternating from one to the other with his teeth, lips, and tongue.

The sensations drowned her instantly. Macen touching her was everything she’d thought it would be and more. Pleasure dragged her under to a dark, lovely place. She tossed her head back, clenching and unclenching her fists. It was her only defense against the need to wrap her hands in his hair and hold him to her. But it didn’t work for long.

Suddenly, a moan slipped from her throat, and Raine cradled his face as he tongued her nipple. She felt the jolt straight to her clit. Her back arched. She curled her leg over his hip. God, she was all but rubbing against him. And she still didn’t really understand why he wanted her now. Just because he was drunk enough not to care about tomorrow? Well, she cared.