Tall, Dark & Hungry (30 page)

"But—"

When her gaze dropped to the stain again, he took her arm and urged her away from the couch. He moved her toward his desk to keep her from looking.

"Don't worry about it," Bastien said again, but he knew his telling her wasn't going to accomplish the task. Terri would worry; she couldn't seem to help herself. It was as much her nature to be responsible for her own actions and worry about things as it was his. If he gave her half a chance, she'd be insisting on paying for cleaning or replacing the carpet. He wasn't going to give her the chance. A distraction was needed, and Bastien decided that, if he had to sacrifice himself to the cause, he was more than willing to do so.

"Why are you grinning?" Terri asked.

"I was just thinking a distraction is the only thing that will keep you from worrying about spilling that pop."

"A distraction?" She seemed perplexed.

"Mmmm. And I decided that I would just have to sacrifice myself to the cause."

Terri blinked at that announcement, and at the cheeky way he said it; then her lips twitched with the beginnings of amusement. "You're 'willing to sacrifice yourself to the cause,' are you?"

Bastien congratulated himself. His distraction was already working. Easing closer, he raised his hands to either side of her waist. "Yeah. I'm willing to go all the way, if necessary, to accomplish the task."

"All the way?" Terri was definitely distracted now, and amused.

"All the way," he assured her, leaning in to kiss her cheek by her ear.

"That's pretty selfless of you," she breathed. He moved to kiss her other cheek.

"Mmmm," Bastien murmured. "I'm a selfless kind of guy." Then he kissed her properly, covering her mouth with his. Terri opened to him, a little sigh slipping out and rolling lightly across his lips. He loved it when she did that. Bastien loved it when she sighed, and when she moaned. He loved it when she shifted, or arched, or writhed against him. He loved how he affected her, and he loved the effect she never failed to have on him. Heck, he just plain loved her.

That thought made Bastien pause. He loved Terri. It was a wonderful thing. If she didn't turn from him as Josephine had.

Terri pulled back as Bastien suddenly stilled. She peered at him quizzically, wondering at the expression on his face. It looked pained. Beginning to worry, she raised a hand to caress his cheek. "Are you all right, Bastien? Is something wrong?"

He blinked, as if coming out of a trance or back from deep thought, but rather than answer her, Bastien kissed her again. This time it wasn't the gentle coaxing kiss of a moment before, it was desperate and a little rough. Caught by surprise, Terri fell back a step, coming up against the edge of the desk. Bastien immediately eased up slightly, but didn't stop kissing. Not that she wanted him to. After a week of having him at her side every waking moment, the last two days had been distressing. Terri had missed him—his company, his laugh, the way he gestured with one hand when emphasizing something, the way his eyes sparkled when he was teasing, the half grin he always got on his face upon first spotting her. She'd missed talking to him, and listening to him. And though it had only been two days, it felt like forever since they had been together like this, in each other's arms, bodies pressed close together, mouths meshing.

Bastien thrust his tongue into her mouth, and Terri eagerly devoured it, her arms twining around his neck. She arched into him. She felt his hands slide down her back, but was startled when he caught her behind the thighs and lifted her up to sit on the desk.

Except for those evenings in nice restaurants, jeans and casual tops had been her uniform for the majority of this trip, but today was an exception. Knowing they were eating in the office, Terri had borrowed a dark blue skirt from Kate. She hadn't wanted to look like a bum among all the Argeneau employees in their business clothes. She'd also borrowed a matching blue silk blouse. Bastien reached between them and set to work on the buttons.

He was very good with them, Terri noted absently as he undid the last reachable button and tugged the top out of her skirt to get the remaining few. Once that was done, he pulled the shirt open and broke their kiss to look at what he had revealed. His fingers immediately moved to run lightly over the upper curve of her breast and the top of her white satin bra.

"Beautiful," he murmured, and Terri glanced down. Her breasts rose pale and round from the white material, framed on either side by the edges of her blue top. Then Bastien pushed the top off of her shoulders, and reached behind her to unsnap her bra. It too slipped away.

Terri groaned as his hands replaced the lacy cups, her eyes dropping half closed as he caressed her breasts. She watched for a moment, her breath coming faster with every passing second, then she reached for the buttons of his shirt. She wasn't as practiced as Bastien apparently was. Terri was also slightly distracted by what he was doing to her, but she managed to undo his shirt. She let her hands slide over his skin, shifting them around to his back, when he suddenly knelt to first lick and then suckle at one of her breasts.

"Bastien," she breathed, arching into his attention. Terri loved the things he did to her. She loved how he made her feel. She loved the way he made her laugh, the way he made her feel safe. She loved
him.

The thought caught her by surprise, and Terri blinked her eyes open, staring blindly at the office beyond his shoulders. Bastien continued to caress her. Her stunned mind grappled with her feelings, trying to wrap itself around them.
Did
she love Bastien?

The question was pushed from her mind as he slid one hand up along the top of her leg, pushing the skirt before it. When his hand shifted, slipping between her legs, Terri released a groan. It was cut off by Bastien's mouth as he freed the nipple he was suckling and raised his lips to claim hers. She kissed him frantically, gasping into his mouth and arching on the desktop as his fingers slid beneath the edge of her panties.

Bastien was moving so quickly it was leaving her dizzy, but dizzy with want. How had he done this to her so fast? she wondered faintly, but in the next moment she didn't care. He slid one finger into her. Terri sucked on his tongue desperately as he slid the finger out, then in again. Then he brushed the nub that was the center of her excitement with his thumb, and she nearly leapt off the desk in reaction, her body jolting under the sudden shot of pleasure that radiated from that one small spot. Tearing her mouth away, Terri leaned her head back, gasping for air. Bastien's mouth worked its way along her throat and his fingers continued to caress and excite her.

"Bastien. Please," she said at last, straightening to clutch his shoulders. "I need you."

It was all she had to say. Bastien grasped her hips and slid her to the edge of the desk, even as he reached for the zipper of his pants. In the next moment, he had them undone and was sliding into her.

"Oh!" Terri gasped as he filled her, then moaned as he withdrew.

Bastien turned his head and caught her next moan in his mouth, kissing her, his hands sliding beneath her bottom to hold her still as he drove back into her. Terri clutched her hands in his hair, her fingers curling and unintentionally tugging as her mouth became more demanding. Then she wrapped her legs around his hips, and held on for dear life.

It was fast and hard, neither of them either willing or able to go slow to drag out the pleasure. Within moments it was over, both of them crying out together as release overtook them. Then they stayed, leaning weakly against each other, trying to catch their breath.

"Well," Bastien murmured after a moment. Taking his weight off her, he caught her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. "Hello." He next kissed Terri's nose as it wrinkled with perplexity, and explained, "I might have forgotten to say that when I came in."

"Oh. I think I may have, too." Terri gave a breathless laugh. "Hello."

Bastien kissed her mouth again, not urging it open this time, but simply moving his lips over hers. Then he had a quick nibble at her plump lower lip, but was interrupted when a knock sounded at the door. He pulled back slightly and glanced over his shoulder toward the sound. When a second knock came, he turned back and smiled at her wryly. "I think our lunch is here."

Chapter Sixteen

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Bastien unlocked the refrigerator in his desk and set the two small vials inside. He'd finally remembered to bring them up to the penthouse. They'd been in his office all week, since the day Terri had come for lunch, Monday. He had just been getting ready to leave for his appointed meeting with the lab guys that morning, when James came into his office to give him the new synthetic enzymes for Vincent to test. They were the latest effort to treat the condition that forced Bastien's cousin and uncle to feed from living donors. Life would be much easier for both men if they could survive off of bagged blood as most of the rest of the clan did. Vincent was usually the one who tested each new serum and, knowing that he was staying in the penthouse at the moment, James had brought the serum to Bastien.

By the time the scientist had finished explaining the requirements for a true test of the enzyme—Vincent had to refrain from feeding off living donors while taking it, and he would need to be tested daily to see if it was working, as well as to be sure he wasn't suffering any damaging side effects—Bastien was running really late. He'd thanked the fellow and merely tossed the vials in the large unlocked fridge, rather than waste time on the locked one. Then he'd rushed off to his meeting.

But of course he'd forgotten the vials that night when he'd gone up to the penthouse. In fact, Bastien had forgotten them repeatedly until today, but he hadn't forgotten to bring the matter up with Vincent. His cousin had agreed to try the serum, and to switch to bagged blood, but refused to do so until the weekend following the wedding. He didn't want it to interfere with his play rehearsals, or with Lucern and Kate's wedding if there did happen to be side effects.

Bastien understood. He'd checked with James to be sure that the vials of serum wouldn't expire, but had only finally remembered to bring them upstairs with him tonight. He would keep them in the penthouse office refrigerator until Vincent was ready for them.

That chore out of the way, Bastien grabbed a bag of blood from the now restocked shelves of the fridge. Thankfully, he'd at least remembered to have that done. Although he was surprised he had even managed that. He'd been a tad distracted all week, what with finding ways and times to squeeze in visits with Terri. She wouldn't go out with him alone when Kate was free, explaining apologetically that she had come to be with her cousin before the wedding and didn't feel right about abandoning her at a time when she was so excited and nervous about the upcoming nuptials.

Bastien understood. Besides, they spent time together. It was just that, in the evenings, they only managed to see each other on double dates with Lucern and Kate. The other couple didn't wish to go without seeing each other, but insisted on chaperones when they did. In an effort to make sure their wedding night was special, Kate refused to be alone with Lucern until then. And, as long as Kate and Lucern couldn't be alone together, neither could Terri and Bastien. Which meant, to spend any time on his own with Terri, Bastien had to arrange to see her while Kate was at work. While he himself should be working.

After taking off the first week of Terri's stay here in New York, Bastien was swamped trying to catch up with everything he'd neglected. But he had still managed to make time to be alone with her for at least an hour every day. He had made it a point to be sure they went places, too. After that first lunch in the office, Bastien hadn't wanted her to think that his only interest in her was sexual. But, somehow, no matter where they went or what he had planned, they always ended up making love. They'd made love in some interesting and unexpected places this week, and it wasn't always he who initiated it. Terri was turning out to be as insatiable as he had found himself becoming. She was doing a good job of making up for the years of abstinence since her husband died.

"Bastien?"

"Yeah?" He glanced up as Vincent opened the office door.

"Terri just buzzed. She's on her way up in the elevator."

Smiling, Bastien tossed the now empty blood bag into the waste basket under the desk and gave the fridge door a push to close it. He stood and hurried around the desk.

Today was the only day he hadn't managed to book a free hour to see her. And while Kate would be here soon for the stag and doe party, helping to set up for it was a perfectly legitimate reason for Terri to come early. He hadn't expected to be so lucky as to have her show up this early though.

"I thought that news would cheer you up," Vincent said. His amusement was apparent as Bastien approached the door.

"You thought right, cousin." He slapped Vinny on the shoulder and moved past him into the hall. "You thought right."

"Well then, this news might make you even happier." His cousin followed him.

"What's that?" Bastien asked with distraction.

"I have to pick up my date and take her to dinner before the party, so you'll have this place to yourself until the guests start arriving. Or at least until Aunt Marguerite, Rachel, and Etienne come back from collecting Lissianna and Greg from the airport. That should give you about two hours. You'll have to set up for the party on your own, but—"

"You're  a  good  cousin, Vincent,"  Bastien  said solemnly as they reached the entry. "And a good friend."

"I'll remind you of that the next time I need a favor," his cousin said lightly.

"You do that," Bastien agreed. The elevator arrived and the doors slid open.

"Hello, beautiful," Vincent greeted Terri as he swapped places with her, taking her spot on the elevator. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he added as the doors started to close. "And since there isn't much that I wouldn't do, that means the two of you should have lots of fun."