Unbound by April Vine Page A

the only man who will do.”
    Great, there was no escaping him at all. “How long will this take to wear off?”
    “A day, maybe two. Nothing longer.”
    Best get it over with.
    “What do I have to do?”
    “I’m taking you to the house.”
    She hadn’t entered Sebastian’s home at the foot of the mountain since that day. She vowed she’d never set foot in there again, had embarked on a campaign to relocate her aunts and herself, but they pointblank refused to budge. And because she felt compelled to take care of them, she had to stay too. They were prone to careless fires and other fatal mishaps, never to be left on their own. So she stayed and soon the house, for all its palatial proportions, disappeared from her sight. Just as she had disguised her feelings for Sebastian with a mask of indifference. And how well she’d succeeded only to have this happen to her.
    Now she had to go back in the capacity of a shameless…slut with her solid belief of not loving Sebastian even a bit crashing around her.
    “Okay.”
    “Oh, there is one other thing we need to discuss,” Aunt Surtie said.
    “Indeed. Protection, sister mine. Wouldn’t want to be caught with our pants down when the passion gets into a frenzy, now would we?” Aunt Lindie asked.
    “Now—”
    “I’m clean,” Sebastian answered before Aunt Esmie could ask the question.
    “So am I,” Michelle said softly. Only in her world would her sexual health be discussed with her aunts in tow. She was too tired to ask why again.
    “There, nicely settled,” Surtie said.
    “I’ll wait in the car for you.”
    She nodded at him before escaping into her bathroom for a quick shower, hoping the sharp jets of hot water would instill some courage in her. She didn’t want to face Sebastian, not after she kissed him as if she’d been starved for life. She dried herself, dressed and pulled her damp hair into a ponytail before she braced herself as she walked to his car. He had the passenger door open for her.
    “I would appreciate it if you didn’t say anything at all about what happened before, in my room.” She stared straight ahead of her. The best thing was to set the rules and hope he’d agree.
    “You can’t kiss me like that and expect me not to say anything.”
    Then again, why did she think he would obey her.
    “Please.”
    He covered the hand on her thigh with his own, brought it to his lips and kissed the inside of her wrist. The heat of his mouth seared her.
    She whipped her head around to face him. He turned to meet her head-on. She wavered first, whisking her hand away and planting her gaze straight ahead of her again. She couldn’t do this with him now.
    By the time he parked his car, the unyielding panel she enclosed herself in dissolved. She fidgeted, restlessness scaled her resolve. She allowed her anxiety thirty seconds of life before she straightened her shoulders, alighted from the car before he had a chance to open the door for her and attacked the stairs leading to the front door.
    She turned to face him with an expectant look on her face as he stood at the bottom of the stairs. He smiled, taking two steps at a time to meet her. He swung the door open and gestured she enter first.
    She hesitated. Her life as she knew it ended here ten years ago by the hand of Catherine Simmers, no less. The memory jackknifed her with the same stark force it did then. She exhaled and stepped into the high-ceilinged, tiled foyer of the Grays’ mansion. She wasn’t the same person from a decade ago.
    “Michelle? Is that you?”
    Heat rushed into the skin on her cheeks. She remained limp as Zachery Wilson wrapped his arms around her. Too shocked to say anything in return.
    “It is you.” Nickolas Coutrane stole her out of Zach’s arms and bear-hugged her. “Wow, look at you. You’re stunning.”
    A wan smile tipped the corners of her mouth. She hadn’t seen Sebastian’s friends in as long as she hadn’t him. The four of them were tight knit