Sebastian groaned. "I'm fine," he said grimly. "But that damned steering wheel was rammed into me hard. I feel as though I had been kicked in the stomach by a horse."

She leaned across, worried. Without pausing to think she pushed back his shirt hurriedly and ran her fingers over the bare skin of his midriff, examining it for signs of injury, trying to see how hurt he had been. "There, does that hurt?" she asked, her fingers pressing into his flesh gently.

"Like hell," he answered, his voice suddenly hoarse.

She looked at him quickly and her heart thudded. His voice and face told her clearly enough that he was not referring to any injury. She pulled her hands away, hot color sweeping to her hairline. Unclipping her seat belt, she opened the car door and scrambled out. The rain poured down, rapidly saturating her clothes and flattening her hair to her temples. He joined her, apparently in control of his face once more, his expression grim as he surveyed the bonnet of the car. He slammed the bonnet down, making a wry face.

"We have made a mess of the radiator," he said.

"I'm sorry," she stammered. "It was my fault."

Sebastian shrugged. "At least we are alive," he said. "All I hope is that we can start the car again. We are about a mile from my brother's cottage and there is no village for hour miles back. The nearest garage is about seven miles off."

They got back into the car. "Okay, let's try again," he said, starting the ignition.

Astonishingly, it sprang to life at the second attempt, and he carefully reversed back from the tree. They started to drive around the corner and emerged onto a flat narrow road bordered on one side by trees through which she could just see a river bank. On the other ran orchards whose blossom-covered branches tossed wildly to and fro in the wind.

Sebastian sighed with relief, driving a little faster. The rain still ran in rivers across their windscreen. The sky was almost as dark as if it were night. But they were at least able to drive. He gave Andin a smile of pure relief. "Another five minutes and we should see Piers's cottage. It is the only building for miles."

"It must look beautiful when the sun shines," she said, peering through the rain at the orchards. "What a pity the storm is blowing all the blossom off those trees." Torn white petals were blowing like confetti past the car, many of them sticking to the windows in the rain. Suddenly the car began to make a strange choking sound, and Sebastian muttered under his breath. Staring through the windscreen, she said anxiously, "Sir, the hood!"

Thin coils of steam curled up at the sides of the hood and he groaned. "We are running out of water to cool the engine and the car is overheating."

At that moment she caught a glimpse of a green roof through the curtain of rain. "Is that the house?"

The steam was growing quickly. He slowed the car to a crawl, grimly watching the hood of the car. "We may just get there before it does too much damage," he said. "We will have to call the nearest garage and get them to fit a new radiator. I suspected it was badly dented. It must be full of holes. We have been losing water ever since we hit that tree."

He pulled up a hundred miles from the house. A cloud of steam was rising from the hood by then. "I dare not lift it or the engine will be drowned in rain," he said irritably. He opened the door and got out.

Andin followed and they began to run towards the house, drenched before they had gone more than a short way. Lightning split the dark sky. She gave an instinctive cry of fright, and he looked back at her. "It can not hurt you," he said flatly. "If you can see it, it can be nowhere near you. You are quite safe."

"I do not like it," she confessed, putting down her head and running harder towards the house.

She barely got a glimpse of it before they were at the front door. He banged loudly on it, pushing her under the slight overhang of the lintel to escape the worst of the rain. There was no answer. He banged with his fist, shouting, "Piers, it is me. Sebastian!"

Silence answered them. She looked at him questioningly. "What are we going to do?"

He tried the door, but it was locked. "Stay here," he said grimly, moving round the side of the house. She leaned against the door, her chest heaving after her running, brushing the wet hair out of her eyes. Thunder rolled again and again as if it reverberated around the hills. Through a line of willows, she saw the muddy brown waters of the river whirling rapidly, realizing that the cottage stood a mere hundred feet from the green banks.

She heard the front door open and turned, expecting to see a stranger, but it was not Sebastian's brother Piers, but Sebastian himself. "I had to break the kitchen window," he said tersely. "Get in here before you drown."

She went into the house, finding herself in a narrow vestibule, from which led two doors at right angles. He shut the front door and pushed her through one of the others. In astonishment and bewilderment, she surveyed a totally empty room. She turned towards him, her eyes wide. "Tian."

"I know. He is not here either," replied Sebastian with a sigh.

"I am sorry."

"Don't be. It is fine. He and I are both adults. We take care of ourselves." He shrugged off his shirt and squeezed the water out then wore it again. "I only came here because of my mother's incessant whining anyway." He pointed at her shirt and said, "We should get you dry."

"You don't mean it," she answered with a sad smile on her face.

"Oh, I do. If you do not get yourself dry, you might catch a cold."

"I mean about coming here." She took a step forward and put one hand on her shoulder. "You did not come all the way here because your mother told you to. You have gone looking for him yesterday so you could simply tell your mom that you have tried but could not find him." She moved her hand to cup the side of his face, her thumb rubbing his cheekbone. "No, you came here, you looked for him twice, because you care." He was about to open his mouth and argue but she put one finger on it and said, "Don't say that you don't because deep down inside, you know it is the truth."

"Perhaps I do," he cast his gaze down, a deep frown forming on his forehead. "But I should not. He had hurt me, Andin. I should not forgive him. I should not look for him. I shouldn't have cared."

"Yes, he has hurt you in the past but he is also your big brother. Someone you looked up to growing up, right? What happened sucks but it does not immediately throw away the many years of relationship. He is your big brother, still." Andin slid her hand to the back of his neck and hugged him. Slowly but surely she felt his arms enveloping her. "It is okay, Tian. It is not a weakness to show that you care."

"I hope not." He let out a deep sigh and then added, "And I do mean what I said, Andin. I do care about you."

"I know." She smiled against his shoulder. "And I care about you too."

At her words, Sebastian abruptly pulled away, his hands on her shoulders. His eyes widened. Water dripped down his forehead and stuck his eyelashes together but he did not move. He just stood there staring at her like he was lost. Droplets ran down his cheeks as his gaze lowered from her eyes to her mouth. "Do you?"

"Yes. I do care about you despite everything that happened."

He watched her mouth when she said it as if to make sure he was not hallucinating. His breathing grew hard and he swallowed. "You have no idea how much that means to me. You have no idea—"

Cold droplets hit her face and neck and Andin lifted her face and stood on the tip of her toes. Her mouth met his in a kiss.

"I'm sorry. So sorry," she quickly apologized. "I did not mean to do that. I, um, don't know what comes over me. I thought you were hurting so—"

"So you wanted to make me feel better?" he provided with a smile.

"Well, yeah, I just thought—"

"You are truly a lovely person, you know that, right?" He breathed, and gently and unhurriedly he took her into his arms.

Feeling slightly mesmerized, Andin went forward. Sebastian kissed her and never before had she known such a warm, giving, yet tender kiss. A kiss that lingered. A kiss that was unhurried. At first, it was just a small, innocent kiss she gave him to comfort him but soon it turned into something hot and demanding. His tongue touched hers, swirled, and tangled. Heat radiated from his hand and mouth and warmed up places deep in her belly and between her thighs.

He pulled back first, and there was a shadow across his eyes and nose. Her heart pounded like the chaotic sky outside, and she fought for breath, sucking in cold air and him. She could not see him clearly, but she didn't need to see him in order to know that his blue eyes burned with his desire. It surrounded them both in hot waves. Pressing in and demanding satisfaction. The kind that could only be sated with hot skin against hot skin. And in all honesty, Andin was tired of fighting it. She was tired of fighting her own desire, the demand coming from her body and her core. She grew tired of pretending that he did not attract her. So she decided to finally let loose. She would have this, she would make love to him and let him make love to her simply because she loved him. Just like how she had told Roberto previously, it was not marriage that would be the reason to make love. It was love itself and she was prepared to give all her love to him now.

She leaned back against the door and watched as he reached down his back, grabbed a fistful of his drenched shirt, and pulled it over his head. The bottom of his shirt lifted from the waistband of a pair of worn Levi's resting low on his hips. It rose up the narrow dark line of hair on his flat, six packs belly. His happy trail circled down his navel then climbed up the ridges of his abdomen. He used it to wipe his face and then dropped the shirt on the floor. He stood before her in wet jeans and damp skin. He shook his head like a dog, sending droplets everywhere.

One droplet landed on her top lip and she took a breath in an effort to slow her racing pulse. "Sebastian, I need to tell you something." She dragged her gaze from his chest and pecs that looked surreal and glanced down at the wooden floor beneath them. "I, um, there is no easy way to say it. But I think you should know that I—" Andin found it hard to inform him that she was a virgin, that she had never betrayed her own principle or even close to betraying them, not until now. Not until Sebastian.

"That you've never done it before?" he asked softly.

She was surprised that he knew and in disbelief, looked up to meet his eyes. In his baby blues, she caught the same softness as there was in his voice and it made her heart melt.

"Andin, we do not have to do this," said Sebastian even though she could clearly see the obvious bulge in the front of his pants.

"Do you not want me anymore?" she teased.

"Oh, I do." He closed the gap between them and cupped her face with his big, warm hand. "I want you so badly but this is important for you. The choice is yours. If you do not want to go through with it, just say it and I will have a cold shower, no problem." He planted a kiss on her forehead and smiled.

"No," Andin shook her head, linking her arms around his waist. "No more cold showers for either of us. At least not this time."

Sebastian smiled and then his head came down to hers. His mouth against her own was the salve she needed. In the harbor of his arms, all feeling of restlessness vanished. One kiss became two, and as he held her firmly to him so she wanted more and more of him. He did not seem in any hurry to let her go. Soon passion began to flare between them, going from warm to hot, to fire, as he traced kisses down the side of her throat and pressed her to him. She arched toward him, and her simple move caused his desire to grow bigger. She felt him, his body heat through her wet clothes, felt his hands low on her waist, at the curves of her behind as he pulled her into him.

Sebastian sucked in a breath, pulsing urgency thumped through his veins. His lungs squeezed, and the pit of his belly got tight. His dick was so hard, he hurt. He locked his knees to keep from falling and lowered his head. He wanted to take it slow. She deserved slow, sweet sex, but the instant his lips touched hers, the raw, naked edge of desire cut straight to the primal place in his core that demanded he went for it. No finesse. No thought beyond throwing her down and going completely caveman on her. Still, he had to give his best effort to make this sweet. Not for him but for her sake because this would be her first. He had to make it special.

At last, the long kiss ended and they pulled away to catch their breath. Andin told him impishly, if admittedly rather huskily, "You do that again, Mister Summers, I will not be responsible for the consequences."

Unlike those times when hearing her calling him 'Mister' or 'Sir' caused him so enraged, this time he laughed a warm, pleased, yet seductive laugh. And when his head came near she was not responsible for the consequences. She was quite unable to think straight anyhow as he gathered her closer to him. Her lips parted to receive his kiss, and as he accepted their delights, his own lips parting to enjoy hers, Andin put her arms around him. She held on to him, loving him with all of her heart.

Feeling her full response, he deepened his kiss. He held her yet closer to him, and she was enraptured to be held close up against his hard male body. "Sir!" she whispered shakily, and he pulled back to search her face.

"Is something wrong?" he asked gently.

"Only if you stop," she answered, and did not care a bit then that she might sound forward, because he grinned, as though enchanted by her, and claimed her mouth once more. Ageless minutes ticked by and she was totally enthralled by him, by the kisses he gave and took. She was enthralled just to be in his arms, held near to the man who held her heart. She loved the touch of him, his lips, his hands, his kisses to her throat. She simply adored him.

Just like she adored the way that after some gentle while, his hands at her waist began to explore the hem of the shirt she had on. "You should probably take off your shirt before you catch a cold," he whispered huskily.

She tilted her head to one side and glanced back up, all the way into his blue eyes, all sleepy with lust and desire. "Are you worried that I might catch a cold?"

He chuckled, music to her ear. "I'm more worried you won't take it off."

"Why don't you do it then?" "She raised her arms above her head, and when he stepped toward her, the place between her thighs got all tight and needy. His fingers curled into the bottom of her shirt and racked her sensitive skin up to her sides. He pulled the damp shirt over her head and dropped it next to his shirt.