Page 85 of Release Me

I see the exact moment Sebastian decides he’s going over there and immediately protest. “Just leave it alone, babe, come take a shower with me.”

He shakes his head, dropping his hands to his side. “Take your shower, precious. I’ll be right back.”

“Sebastian!” I call for him, but he’s already gone. And since I’m naked, going after him isn’t exactly an option, so I take my shower and hope he won’t be in handcuffs by the time I get done.

When I emerge from the bathroom, wrapped in a towel and still a little damp, he’s just returning to the bedroom. I pause in the middle of the floor, while he lingers in the doorway.

“Did you take care of it?”

“I did,” he says, closing the space between us with long, confident strides. One of his hands go to the overlapping edges of the towel and tugs, sending the soft cotton flowing to the ground. “Now you can be the noisiest thing on the floor.”

My head is still on all the pleasure-laced noises Sebastian wrung from my body the night before when Zoe appears in the doorway of my office. It’s a little after one in the afternoon, and I’m neck deep in several emails, but I’m happy to see her.

“Hey, Zo! What are you doing here?”

I start to get up, but she waves a hand at me. “Don’t bother, I’m only staying for a minute.”

Despite her proclamation, she takes a seat on the opposite side of my desk and kicks her pink Converses up on my desk, making herself comfortable. I raise a brow at her.

“You sure about that?”

“Yeah, I just came to see Seb, and he told me about volunteering you to help Mom with Thanksgiving dinner.”

I sit back in my seat, studying her face for any signs that she’s upset. “Is that okay with you? I mean, I don’t know what kind of traditions you guys have, but Seb made it seem like?—”

“Oh, no, Nadia, I’m not upset!” The words come out in a rush, accompanied by a laugh. “I have no interest in getting in the kitchen with Mom on any day, but especially not Thanksgiving. She can be kind of…intense.”

“Oh, okay.” I find myself smiling. “Thanks for the warning, I don’t think she could be any worse than Elle is during the dinner rush though.”

“You’re not in the kitchen cooking alongside Elle during the dinner rush, Nadia,” Zoe deadpans.

“Sooo, should I be scared?”

“Not scared, just vigilant.”

“Got it. Anything else I should know about navigating my first Adler Thanksgiving?”

She twists her lips to the side, gazing heavenward. “Umm, it’s usually just us, but I think Aunt Adrienne will come this year since she just moved to New Haven.”

“Aunt Adrienne, that’s Vince’s mom, right?” I fight to hide the tremor of disgust that runs through me when I say Vince’s name.

“Yep, she’s very sweet, though, you’ll like her.

“Will Vince be there?”

Zoe’s brows pull together. “I’m not sure, but he usually goes wherever Aunt Adrienne does during the holidays. He’s a huge mama’s boy.”

I laugh when she rolls her eyes. I’m sure she’s spent her whole life exasperated by her brothers’ and cousin’s obsession with their mothers.

“I hear you. Thank you for the info, Zo.”

“Of course,” she says, hopping up out of her seat. “I knew I had to come give you the 4-1-1 because Sebastian wouldn’t. He thinks threatening everyone to be on their best behavior around the woman he loves is enough to make everything go well.”

The woman he loves.

My heart flutters and then starts to pound. Zoe must sense that something is wrong because she pauses and gives me a strange look.

“Did he..did he say that to you?” I wheeze my way through the question. “That he loves me?”

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