Tall, Dark & Hungry (25 page)

"I think he
is
thirty," Terri said.

"Is he?" Bastien asked.

Terri hesitated. Kate had mentioned the editor and his age in an e-mail to her the fall before. It had been his birthday at the time. But she wasn't now sure what age her cousin had said. "I think so. Twenty-nine or thirty."

"Well then, he won't make it to thirty-five," Vincent predicted.

Terri smiled, then merely said, "Kate never mentioned him being accident-prone. I think this is just an unlucky streak."

"An unlucky streak?" The actor laughed. "Terri, sprained ankles and stubbed toes make up unlucky streaks. This guy is a walking calamity. Instead of calling him C.K. we should call him C.C.—for Calamity Chris."

Terri smiled wider, then said, "It was probably the casserole that made him sick. All three of us tried every dish that the caterers sent over, but just a bite of each. Chris is the only one who ate a lot of anything, and that was the chicken casserole."

"We ate the trifle. Or shared it, at least," Bastien reminded her, his voice dropping to an intimate tone.

Terri blushed as his words brought memories of the past evening sharply back to mind.

"But you're right—Chris is the only one who really ate the casserole. We only had a bite each," Bastien remembered with a nod. "You didn't like it."

"And you said there was something in it that you just didn't take to," she reminded him.

"Yeah, salmonella. That's what
you
didn't like, and
you
didn't take to," Vincent commented, pointing at first one then the other. Then he turned an impatient glance back to the busy E.R. waiting area. "How much longer do you suppose they're going to keep him?"

Bastien shook his head wearily. "I hope not much longer. I could use some sleep."

"Yeah, me too. I want to be well rested for the trip this weekend."

Terri turned to Vincent in surprise. "What trip?"

"I'm leaving this afternoon to go home to California for the weekend," he told her. "I'm missing my old haunts."

"Oh?" Bastien asked with interest. "What's her name?"

"I said my old haunts, not a woman," Vincent pointed out.

"Uh huh." Bastien grinned, then repeated, "What's her name?"

His cousin hesitated, his mouth twisting with displeasure. At last he gave in and muttered, "No one you know."

Bastien opened his mouth, but before he could pursue the matter further, a woman in a white coat opened the door to the waiting area and called out, "Bastien Argeneau?" She glanced around.

He was on his feet and at the woman's side at once. Terri and Vincent watched as the two spoke, then he followed her back through the door.

"Hmm." Vincent sat up a little straighter and glanced at her. "What do you suppose that's about?"

Terri shook her head. She didn't have any idea, but it didn't seem like a good thing. The good thing would have been a pale and weak but recovering Chris Keyes coming out to the waiting room ready to return to the penthouse.

They both fell silent as they waited. As the minutes ticked by, Terri found her gaze sliding around the emergency waiting area, something she'd been able to avoid while the men were talking. They'd distracted her from where she was. It was better for her to be distracted. The first trip with Chris had been easier because it had all been in panic. By the time they'd reached the hospital, the editor had almost been blue from his difficulty breathing. There had been all that rush and fuss when they'd arrived. They'd all of them been hurried through the waiting area and into one of the examination rooms to answer the questions the doctors were barking—questions Chris hadn't been able to answer in his state. Then Vincent, Bastien, and Terri had been hustled out into the hallway to wait while the professionals worked. But they hadn't had to wait long, and Terri had been so worried about Chris she hadn't had a chance to worry much about where she was.

Tonight was different. While the editor was sick as a dog, she didn't think the ailment was life-threatening. There wasn't as much to distract her, and now there was no Bastien or Vincent holding up the conversation to distract her either.

Terri hated hospitals. Hospitals meant illness and death to her. The two most important people in her life had gasped their last breaths in hospitals: her mother and Ian. And both had been nightmares to endure. She'd stood helplessly by, watching them die long lingering deaths filled with suffering and countless indignities. She took a deep breath in an effort to ease some of the tension building in her, but let it out quickly and closed her eyes at the scent that filled her nose. Hospitals all looked and smelled the same.

"There he is."

She glanced up at that announcement from Vincent, and watched with relief as Bastien walked toward them.

"They're keeping him overnight," he announced as Vincent and Terri got to their feet.

"Is it that bad?" she asked anxiously.

"No. I don't think so. He's very dehydrated, and they have him on an IV, but they said he should be fine. It's just that he's been through so much trauma the last week, they'd feel better keeping him here to be sure of his recovery."

"Oh," Terri said. That didn't sound so bad. It even seemed sensible.

"So? Are we out of here?" Vincent asked. "Or do we have to do something else? Sign papers, or whatever?"

"We're out of here." Catching Terri's hand in his, Bastien turned toward the door.

The three of them were silent as they walked to the car. It had been a long night and they were all exhausted. At least, Terri
suspected
the men must be; she
knew
she herself was. While she'd caught a couple minutes' nap before waking to the sound of C.K.'s knocking on the bedroom door, it hadn't been enough. Bastien had tried to convince her to stay behind and sleep, but Terri had known she wouldn't be able to until they returned; she'd simply sit up worrying until she knew that the editor would be all right. Going to the hospital and pacing about hadn't sounded like fun, but at least she'd know what was going on as it happened and wouldn't be pacing alone in the penthouse.

Terri had been surprised, however, when Vincent had insisted on coming. The man's sleep had been disturbed when Chris came out of his room after another bout of sickness, still in his boxers and T-shirt, and tried to argue that he didn't really feel well enough to be traipsing off to the hospital, but he'd probably feel better after some sleep. Bastien had lost his temper and yelled, waking his cousin up in the process. Vincent had, of course, come out to discover what was going on. He'd immediately decided to join the party heading for the hospital. Terri supposed he'd been just as concerned as the rest of them, despite his comments about the editor's misadventures.

Terri yawned and slid into the front seat of Bastien's Mercedes, murmuring a thank-you as Bastien closed the door he'd held for her. He was so considerate, she thought on a sleepy sigh, watching as he got behind the steering wheel and started the car. And handsome, and sweet, and sexy, and smart.

Closing her eyes, she found herself nodding off as Bastien backed out of the parking spot and steered the car for the exit. When Terri blinked her eyes open again, it was to find they were pulling into the underground garage of the Argeneau building.

She tried to wake herself up as Bastien parked the car, but it seemed a terrible effort. Terri was still half asleep when she stumbled out, and was grateful when Bastien appeared at her side and drew her under his arm to steer her toward the elevator. Terri was even more grateful when, after she staggered wearily a couple of steps, he scooped her into his arms to carry her the rest of the way.

"She's exhausted," she heard Vincent comment. "What did you do to the poor girl?"

If Bastien answered, Terri didn't hear. She snuggled against his chest and nodded off to sleep again.

"Here you go, baby."

Bastien's soft voice roused Terri enough to realize he'd set her down on something soft, and that he was now working on the front of her shirt. She forced her eyelids up to see him bending over her, his face a picture of concentration. She supposed sitting up to help would be a good thing, but she felt almost drunk with exhaustion. Terri lay, eyes closed and half asleep, as he undressed her, removing first the top and bra she'd redonned to accompany them to the hospital, then moving on to her jeans and panties. He talked to her soothingly the whole while.

"There you are," he said.

Terri snuggled down into the cool crisp sheets with a little sigh as he drew the blankets up to cover her. Then she promptly tumbled back to sleep.

The awning over the bed was black.

Terri stared at it sleepily, wondering why that was. Her room was decorated in rose and blue, and the awning over the bed was a royal blue with stars on it that never failed to make her smile when she woke up. A sleepy murmur beside her, followed by an arm snaking around her waist, promptly gave Terri the answer.

Bastien. She wasn't in her room; he must have put her to bed in the master suite last night when they returned from the hospital. She had been too tired at the time to notice. She'd been rather exhausted by the evening's events.

Terri closed her eyes as memories of the night before washed over her in tingling clarity. Last night had been… She let her breath out on a sigh. She'd never experienced anything like it. The passion, the hunger, the need—Terri had not just
wanted
Bastien last night in the living room, she'd
craved
him. Her skin, her lips, her whole body had ached for him with a desperation that, even now, made her toes curl.

Bastien sighed in his sleep and rolled away, withdrawing his arm as he did so. Terri took advantage of the moment to ease out of bed. She needed some time alone to think. Things were moving so quickly, time rolling by so fast, her emotions were building at a frightening rate. She just needed a little breathing space, time to think over what had happened and what to do next.

If there was anything to do, Terri thought, collecting her clothes from the floor, then crossing the bedroom to the door to the guest bathroom. Of course, she did have a choice in this matter. Either she continued in the affair she'd started with Bastien last night—though "affair" seemed a cheap word; the man wasn't married and neither was she, and that was what "affair" usually connoted—or she stopped it now. Which wasn't really any choice at all, Terri decided. She didn't want to stop.

A little sigh slipping from her lips, she turned on the shower, adjusted the temperature, and stepped under the spray. The water beat down hot and pulsating on her head and shoulders, and Terri turned slowly, sighing with pleasure as it massaged her back, her side, her chest, and then her other side. Finally, she paused in her slow spin with her back to the spray again.

No, there wasn't any choice at all, she thought as she reached for the soap. Closing her eyes, Terri tipped her head backward and allowed moments from the night before to drift through her mind. She ran the small bar of soap over her skin. Bastien's tenderness, his passion, his kisses, his body driving into hers…

She wasn't at all surprised at the way her toes curled against the tile floor of the shower, or the lingering tingles that spread where her hands moved the soap. Just thinking of what she and Bastien had done, what she'd felt, made her hungry to experience it again and again. Who could willingly give up the chance at more of what she'd enjoyed last night? Or any of the laughter and sharing and pleasure that Terri had experienced since coming to New York?

She couldn't, and she was willing to admit it. But she was risking her heart and knew that, too. That was where the problem came. Every moment that Terri spent with Bastien pushed her that much closer to loving him. He was special. She'd never met anyone like him, and she knew she never would again. It was as if Bastien had been custom-made for her, and put on this earth for her to find. They talked endlessly when together, liked and disliked many of the same things, worked well together in a crisis—and as for last night, if he'd found it as pleasurable and explosive as she had…

Terri opened her eyes and turned in the shower to allow the water to spray away the lather on her body.
Had
Bastien found as much pleasure in last night as she? She thought he might have, but perhaps it was always like that for him. Perhaps it had only been so new and explosive for her because of her lack of general experience. She and Ian had been young, and eager, and filled with the selfishness of youth. Looking back, she could see that now. At the time, Terri had no more concerned herself with his pleasure than he had with hers.

But the answer to her question seemed simple. If the choice was to end it or to continue her enjoyment for as long as she could, then she would continue as long as she could. Even if it only lasted the two weeks—one week, now—that she had left here in New York. It might hurt like the very devil when it ended and she went home, but oh, the memories!

Deciding that, since she had only a limited time here, she would go right away to make some more memories, Terri turned off the taps, slid the shower door open, and stepped out onto the fluffy rose-colored bath mat. She snatched a small towel, wrapped it around her wet hair, then grabbed a larger one and wrapped it around herself. Then she started forward, only to pause in surprise at the sight of Bastien standing in the open bathroom door. He was completely and unselfconsciously naked. And he was breathtakingly beautiful.

"I woke up and you were gone," he said simply. Stepping forward, he slid his arms around her, pulled her against his chest, and lowered his head. Terri thought he was going to kiss her. He didn't. Instead, he nuzzled his nose into the crook between her shoulder and neck, and inhaled. "You smell like peaches." He licked her neck. "Good enough to eat."

"Peach soap," she breathed, her eyes drifting closed.

She tilted her head slightly to expose her neck to him. Bastien took advantage of the offering, and he nibbled a path to her ear. Terri moaned and shuddered, then lifted one hand to catch her fingers in his hair. She held him in place as she turned her face until their lips met. Bastien accepted the offer at once, kissing her hungrily.