Raine reached out to touch him, then seemed to think better of it and jerked her hand back. “My famous hangover remedy? I can’t make it for you, but...” She sighed. “Scramble yourself an egg and make dry toast, chase it with Gatorade, which you should mix with some of the Siberian ginseng in the spice cabinet. Take a B-complex vitamin. Then drink a lot of water today.” She scowled at the coffee in his hand. “And stop drinking that crap. It dehydrates you and will make you feel worse. And I’ve said enough.”
Hammer watched her go with a little smile. Raine hadn’t exactly broken the rules, but she’d bent them. For him.
“Thank you, precious,” he called after her.
As evening fell, Raine yawned and knocked on Hammer’s office door. Since she’d seen him a few minutes ago mingling with guests upstairs, she didn’t expect him here. Of course, he’d been holed up in here not thirty minutes ago with—gag me—Marlie. Blessedly, his “session” with the plastic skank was over for the day. Raine had stopped asking herself long ago what Hammer or any man saw in the Barbie doll.
When no one bid her to enter, Raine pushed the door open and dragged her trash bag in, then set about emptying the bins in Hammer’s private rooms.
It was kind of a gray area of Liam’s rules, but honestly, if she was in the office with a trash bag in hand, doing her job, why not take the extra ten steps to empty the bins in his personal areas? And okay, maybe she wanted to spy a little...
The trash cans in his bedroom and bathroom were both virtually empty. She tried not to imagine what it meant that, for once, there wasn’t a handful of used condoms at the bottom of those bins after one of Marlie’s visits, just a disposable razor and the box that had once held a bar of soap. Her ridiculous relief annoyed her. And made her feel guiltier than hell. She might have a future with a man who cared about her, who wasn’t pushing her away at every turn. She had to stop thinking about Hammer as anything other than a boss. She definitely had to forget about him as a lover.
Easier said than done. She didn’t care about Liam less. In fact, he’d shadowed her for most of the day, making her rest when she was tired. He’d also been there when she’d been too stubborn to stop and eat lunch. More than once, he’d demanded to know her emotional state, and he’d waited unblinkingly until she’d answered. She couldn’t ask for anyone more watchful, and her heart gave a silly thump every time he smiled at her.
But Hammer and the sadness in his eyes haunted her. She didn’t know what to do next, what to say to him...how to act. Every time their eyes met, she saw his carnal knowledge of her there, and her traitorous body tightened.
God, why couldn’t she just figure all this shit out and live a normal life?
After emptying the little bin under Hammer’s desk, she gathered trash from all the other private guest rooms, the main office, and the kitchen, then shoved open the door to the alley.
Raine had to gather her strength to toss the full bag into the dumpster. Damn, she was beat, and every bone in her body hurt. Tonight, she’d finally get a whole night’s sleep...unless Liam had other plans for her.
And that idea didn’t upset her at all.
Behind her, the door to the alley opened again, and she turned, half expecting to see him there, offering to help her lift the bag. But she was puzzled to find Marlie instead. The woman barreled toward her with as much of a snarl as she could manage around all that Botox. Marlie walked right up to her, eyes thundering, then slapped her cheek. Raine raised a hand to the side of her stinging face. Her mouth hung open as her thoughts raced. If she didn’t work at the club, she would have hit the bitch back.
“What the hell is the matter with you?” she demanded of Marlie.
“You fucking cunt! What did you do to Hammer?” A howl of fury tore itself from Marlie’s throat as she raised her hand again.
Raine warded off Marlie’s oncoming palm with a shove. “I didn’t do anything to him.”
“You’re a fucking liar! He was the best fuck I ever had, and you, you just couldn’t stand the competition, could you? Now he’s totally useless.”
“What do you mean useless?” Raine frowned. “And don’t ever hit me again.”
“I’d rather scratch your batting blue eyes out. What do you think it means?” She railed. “I can’t imagine why he would ever waste his big, gorgeous cock on you when he’s got me. Like you’d know what to do with it…” She rolled her eyes. “But today during our session, he refused to touch me. All he wanted to do was chastise me for not being as kind as you, as sweet as you, as submissive as you. He wanted me to be more like you. As if I would lower myself, you good-for-nothing piece of white trash!”