Chapter 4 - Unraveling

Michael's persistent mouth assaulted her lips, stifling a gasp that sprang from her throat. To get away from him, Estel put her hands on his shoulders, but he took this as an opening to run his palms down her sides, across her thighs, and finally to her buttocks. He hoisted her into the grinding rhythm of his hips, his fingers curving over the rounded bumps of skin.

In response to Michael's assault, Estel experienced a disturbing, purely bodily sensual reaction that got entangled with the nausea and headache she was feeling. She was unable to process the whirlwind of sensations bombarding her. For long stretches, she just floated along with Michael's passionate kisses and the shaping of her body against his.

When Michael finally backed off, she was vaguely startled to realize that he had been breathing harshly and that his body had tightened as he tried to excite her. It appeared that he was becoming engrossed in his own game, which only heightened the already high-risk profile of the scenario.

" Michael... "As he leaned in to rasp his lips against the tender flesh of her neck, Estel moaned his name."Michael, why are you doing this? If you want-" She started to express that she was willing to apologize to him if that's what it would take for him to stop, but he interrupted her.

His low growl, "Yes, I want, Estel," came from the depths of his throat. "I want once and for all to make a woman like you face up to what's inside you, instead of condemning me for being honest." He jerked his head up, and wrath and excitement showed in his eyes. "I want you to admit you're just as capable of allowing your body to rule you as any man is instead of hiding behind a sneering, superior morality that's only skin deep!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her gently but firmly. "You dug your claws into the wrong guy at the bad moment, Estel! I can't take much more of your hypocrisy!

Estel was shocked by the response she had provoked in the man. He had been stockpiling his hostilities for quite some time and intended to unleash them on her. She had said the wrong things at the bad moment, setting off feelings she would never have imagined Michael to be capable of. Now, cutting off those feelings before she paid a much larger price than she deserved for triggering them was up to her.

She moistened her lips and forced back the sickness that had crept into her throat. She pushed futilely against his shoulders and said, "Michael, listen," but to no avail. It's the flu, Michael. I feel terrible, and I've been drinking. She refrained from begging again, but her words were

Having a negligible impact, Michael's unyielding features remained the same as before. But she had to attempt to make him know that she was genuinely unwell! "Michael, could you? It's grave; I'm ill. A bitter breath of laughter poured across her. Michael said, "I'll make you feel better," in a malicious purr.

Then he took a step back, and Estel slumped against the wall, but a second later, he lifted her into his arms and carried her into the apartment's living room, where he halted and looked about for the bedroom door. He went straight in the proper way, and all Estel could do was clutch to him, trying to fight off the nausea that was getting harder and harder to ignore.

When Michael threw Estel down in the middle of the bed, she had to cover her mouth with her palm to keep from throwing up. She was too weak to resist as he stripped her naked with an economy of motion and a scary quickness that horrifyingly suggested he had done this to other women regularly.

The man rose up and discarded his jacket after shrugging it off. Estel stared in terrified fascination as his hands began to unbutton his shirt with the same efficiency with which he had unbuttoned hers, and she had to exert all her willpower to bring her thoughts under control. Her physical form could do nothing to stop what would happen to her, leaving only her rational faculties.

" Michael, I'm going to throw up!" Estel's warning was delivered with genuine seriousness. Michael hesitated for a second as his gaze swept her face, registering the pallor of her face and the shaking of her limbs as a potent threat. Neither the cold calculation on his face nor the briefness of the interval were reassuring to Estel. He then proceeded to remove his shirt. She was ready to throw decorum to the wind and do precisely what she'd threatened when Michael turned away and moved across the room into the little adjoining bathroom.

With a dry tone, he remarked, "We can't have that," and then he was gone. Estel lay at the spot where she knew she should take advantage of his absence to go, but she felt completely immobilized. Even if she had managed to get her body to cooperate, she knew that by the time she found anything to cover her nakedness and made it out the door, Michael would have caught her.

She heard the toilet flush, and when she looked up, Michael was standing there, holding a washcloth and a glass of frothy liquid. Tossing the wet towel carelessly onto the wooden bedside table, he said, "Drink this!" before hoisting her under his arm so she could sip.

The only way Michael would let Estel lie down again was if she drank the liquid he held to her mouth while she choked and gasped. The chilly water of the washcloth hit her face in an instant. She grabbed it with both hands and pressed it to her hot skin, rejoicing in the respite from her sickness that the cool dampness and the drink were delivering.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she neglected to notice Michael until she felt the mattress give way beneath his weight, and Michael's long, warm form lay beside her. Fearfully, Estel removed the damp cloth from her face and peered up at him as he loomed over her, his gorgeous, now-naked body pressing into her side with all the overpowering maleness it symbolized.

"Feeling better?" As he snatched the handkerchief out of her hands and flung it away, he said something cynically.

Estel ignored him when he asked her a question. She was occupied trying to think of anything to say to change the subject from what he was saying.

His intent. Estel's apparent health problems weren't going to stop him. To help him reach his goal, all he had done was make her feel better. The individual lacked any semblance of moral rectitude, yet he could have had some wisdom.

"Michael, I promise you, if you go through with this, I'll have you prosecuted for rape," she promised him levelly. Unlike you, I have nothing to lose by doing this. The publicity might be devastating to your career.

When she saw the carefree grin her comments evoked, she felt a sudden pang of failure. In a low voice, Michael reassured her, "Ah, but it won't be rape, Estel," as he ran a finger from the back of her neck to her belly button. At his touch, Estel shuddered, her internal turmoil increasing as she experienced both an unwelcome physical pleasure and a terrified contempt for Michael's authority. He circled her breast with his finger and said, "Why don't you just relax and accept the inevitable?" "There's a lot of passion underneath your prim exterior, Estel," he muttered as he bent his head to touch her mouth. Allow yourself to "let it out," he said softly. "You know you want to."