She glanced to Vincent, who had followed her out of the kitchen. "You're sure you can't think of anything special or specific you'd like to snack on?"
The man gave a desultory shrug. "You smell good enough to eat."
Terri laughed and shook her head. His flirting was kind of nice. And she was sure he was basically harmless. Unlike his cousin, who didn't flirt but lulled a girl into a false sense of security by talking about this and that and life in general for days on end, fascinating and amusing her with tales of past antics and present life, until her jaws ached from smiling so much and laughing so often. Bastien hadn't passed a single flirtatious comment since her arrival, leaving her to simply enjoy his company until,
boom!
He took her by surprise by suddenly grabbing and kissing her with an ardor that had brought her own passions to abrupt and startling life.
Passions she hadn't even known she had, Terri admitted unhappily, moving back into the kitchen to check the contents of the fridge. Bastien was definitely the more dangerous of the two men. At least to her heart.
Bastien listened idly to the chatter on the phone, his mind wandering to Terri and their shared kiss. She'd tasted of the strawberry smoothies she'd been drinking, sweet and delicious. That kiss—while far too brief, thanks to those squawking birds—had been potent. Bastien had quite forgotten himself. He'd been right there, in front of the museum where anyone might have seen, but he didn't care. He'd have liked to continue forgetting himself, too—and would have, if not for those stupid birds.
"Damned pigeons," he muttered.
"What pigeons?" Kate asked.
"The ones who interrupted my kissing Terri."
"You kissed Terri?" Lucern asked.
"I told you he was falling for her, darling," Kate said with glee.
Bastien blinked in confusion, realizing that he had somehow joined the conversation again and flowers were no longer the topic at hand. "Luc? When did you join this phone call?"
"I picked up the other phone when you put Kate on hold. It's my wedding, too," he said by way of explanation. "Now, stop changing the subject. How was it?"
"How was what?"
"The kiss."
"I—" Bastien paused, floundering. The kiss had been wonderful. Passionate and sweet, it had made him hunger for more. But he wasn't telling them that. He was saved from trying to figure out a response by a most unlikely source: Roberto.
"Ahem. Might we get back to the issue at hand?" The florist sounded pretty prudish all of a sudden. Gone was the drama and wailing.
"Oh, yes, Roberto. Of course." Kate sighed. "I think your idea is the best. Do you have Bastien's address?"
"What does he need my address for?" Bastien asked in dismay. What had he missed while he'd been mooning over that kiss?
"To send some sample arrangements to you so that you can take pictures of them with your digital camera and send them to Kate via e-mail," Lucern said. "You weren't listening, were you? Mooning over Terri would be my guess."
"I
liked you better when grunting was your communication of choice," Bastien told him grimly. He was surprised to hear a chuckle from his older brother.
"Very good," Roberto inserted, sounding as prim as an old woman. "Yes, I wrote down the address. I'll start right now and have them delivered first thing in the morning for Mr. Argeneau to take pictures. Please, please, please choose as quickly as you can, so we can be sure to get what we need in time."
"Yes, Roberto. I promise I will," Kate assured him. "Either Lucern or I will check every hour to see if he's e-mailed the pictures, and we'll choose at once."
"Good, good." Roberto took a moment to expostulate again on what a terrible tragedy this all was before saying good-bye and hanging up.
"Well," Kate murmured once he'd gone.
"Yes, well, Bastien?" Lucern queried.
"Well, I'll be sure to send those photos to you the minute the arrangements arrive," Bastien said quickly. "Now, I'd better get going if I want to be ready in time to take Terri to the theater tonight. Bye." He hung up before either Kate or Lucern could protest, and grinned at the fact that he'd managed to avoid the grilling he would surely have got.
Whistling softly, Bastien stood and crossed the room to the bar in the corner of his office. There were two fridges behind it: one unlocked and a smaller locked one. He unlocked the smaller fridge, retrieved a bag of blood, and relocked it. He then opened his mouth, extended his teeth, and slammed the bag into them as he walked back across the room.
Bastien checked the messages on his desk while ingesting the blood. None of them seemed to be urgent, which meant either he had some damned fine people working for him who were capable of taking care of matters on their own, or he wasn't as indispensable as he'd always thought.
Perhaps that was a good thing, Bastien thought as he tossed the now empty blood bag in the wastebasket under his desk and left his office. He said good night to Meredith, who was gathering her things in preparation for leaving, then walked to the elevator to the penthouse.
Bastien considered the night ahead as he rode upstairs. He had about an hour to get ready for the play, which was plenty of time. And he'd made late reservations at a nice little Italian restaurant not far from the theater. He hoped Terri liked Italian. As he recalled, it had always been one of his favorites back… well… a long time ago, when he still used to find food interesting.
He was debating whether they should take a taxi to the theater, or go by car, when the elevator opened onto the penthouse. A taxi, he thought, would be the better option; he really didn't want to be bothered with finding parking.
"Do you like cheese on your salad?" Terri asked as she finished slicing celery. She'd decided that salad was the smart choice to snack on: healthy, quick, and light enough to tide her over until the meal after the play; and it wouldn't leave her uncomfortably full. "Whatever you like," was Vincent's answer. He was leaning back against the counter beside her, arms crossed over his chest, legs crossed at the ankles in a relaxed pose as he watched her work. They'd been chatting amicably about her stay so far. Vincent seemed curious to know where Bastien had been taking her, and if she was having a good time.
Terri had enthused about everything she'd seen and done, and how kind and amusing and smart Bastien was, and how he seemed to make everything more interesting, when she heard herself and realized she was gushing. She sounded pathetic—like a woman falling in love.
She'd quickly cut herself off and asked about the cheese to change the topic.
"I haven't seen Bastien like this in a long, long time."
Vincent's announcement drew Terri's curious gaze. "Like what?"
"Happy."
Terri felt a leap of hope and excitement, but quickly stifled it. Ducking her head, she turned her attention back to what she was doing. "Oh?"
"Yes. We were a lot younger then. Practically boys compared to now." There was an irony in his tone Terri didn't understand, but she forgot all about it when he added, "And he was in love."
Those words had the oddest effect on Terri. First she was hit by shock. That was followed by a twinge of pain in the vicinity of her heart. Stupid reactions, the both of them, she thought faintly. A man would hardly reach Bastien's age without falling in love at least once. Terri hadn't yet asked, but she was assuming he was her age or a little older. Besides, she didn't "love" him, she assured herself, so she had no right to feel anything about his having loved before.
"That woman broke his heart," Vincent announced. "I'd hate for you to do the same."
Terri was so startled by the comment, and the assumptions it made in regard to Bastien's feelings, that she jerked her head around to gape at him in the middle of slicing the last bit of celery.
Vincent's eyes didn't meet hers; they were on the celery she was cutting. Terri saw concern flash across his face as he called, "Be careful, you're going to cut your—"
"Ouch!" Terri jumped and dropped the knife as pain radiated up from the pointer finger of her left hand. Reacting instinctively, she caught the wounded digit in her right hand and pressed it close to her body, holding it tight in an effort to end the pain, not to mention cut off the blood that was probably coursing from it.
Vincent rushed over to her. "Here, let me see it."
Terri hesitated, then raised both hands and forced herself to open her fingers and reveal the wound, then flushed with embarrassment. It had hurt like the devil, but was really just a small cut she saw with self-disgust. She'd reacted as though she'd lost a limb.
"Sometimes the smallest cuts are the most painful," Vincent commented, as if he'd read her thoughts. He was examining the wound, and the small bit of blood leaking from it, with a fascination that was a little unsettling. Especially when he suddenly inhaled, as if smelling a wildflower.
"Vincent!"
The crack of Bastien's voice made both Vinny and Terri jump in surprise. Retrieving her hand, Terri turned to smile uncertainly at her host. He didn't even notice the effort, let alone appreciate it. His eyes were focused on his cousin.
"Hello, Bastien. Rough half hour at the office?" Vincent teased lightly. Then he gestured to Terri. "She cut herself slicing celery. I was just looking at it for her."
Bastien immediately started forward, his expression softening with concern. It was a relief to know the blood he'd smelled upon entering the kitchen hadn't been from a bite. That scent, combined with the way the two had been huddled together, had led him to think Vincent had bitten Terri. He was glad he was wrong. "Is it bad?"
"Fortunately, no." Vincent stepped aside to let him take his place examining Terri's cut. "A bandage should take care of it. I'll go see if we have any."
Bastien was aware of the other man slipping from the room, but merely clasped and lifted Terri's hand to examine the injury for himself. Much to his relief, his cousin was right and it wasn't a bad cut. It was small and shallow enough that it didn't even really need a bandage, but the smell of the few drops of blood that had slipped from the wound was strong enough that Bastien was almost heady from it. He supposed it would have been worse for Vincent, who hunted at night so had yet to feed today. Which meant Bastien probably owed him an apology. He had just ingested a bag of blood, yet was hard pressed not to stick Terri's finger in his mouth and suck away the small bit of blood. Yet, Vincent had been managing to resist, despite likely being ravenous.
"It should be fine, but I'll go see how Vincent is making out finding that bandage," Bastien said gruffly. He released her hand and left the kitchen quickly, fleeing the temptation in search of his cousin. He found Vincent in the office at the back of the penthouse, prowling like a hungry tiger.
"I didn't bite her," he said at once. "We were just talking about you."
"I know. I'm sorry," Bastien began; then he paused and blinked. "About me?"
Vincent relaxed and nodded. "She likes you, Bastien. I mean
really
likes you. But there's something else there. Some fear is keeping her from giving in to her feelings. She may not be an easy conquest."
"I don't want to conquer her, Vincent. She isn't a foreign country with riches I covet."
"Then what do you want from her?"
Bastien was silent. He didn't know the answer. He hadn't been this fascinated by a woman in a long time, perhaps ever. He didn't even remember feeling this drawn to Josephine. He certainly had never felt so comfortable with the woman he'd always considered the love of his life. There was something so natural about Terri. She expressed what she felt with a distinct lack of concern for what people would think; she didn't bother to try to act as if she knew something when she didn't, lest she look foolish. Terri was honest and accepting and made Bastien feel as if he could be himself around her, as if that was enough.
He wanted to be just as honest in return. That was a feeling he was constantly fighting, afraid that if he revealed the facts of his vampirism, she would shun him as Josephine had.
"That's a risk you'll have to take eventually, if you want a serious relationship with her. This is a new era, though. Vampires are 'in' right now. Terri might not react like Josephine at all." Vincent didn't bother to try to hide the fact that he'd been reading his cousin's mind. Wrought with turmoil as he was, Bastien hadn't remembered to guard his thoughts. "Can you read her mind?"
Bastien shook his head. He'd tried while shopping that afternoon and hadn't been able to read a thing.
Vincent nodded solemnly. "You'll have to tell her eventually. Perhaps Kate can help you. They're cousins. Terri might take it better from her anyway." Vincent moved to the door. "I'm going out for a snack. Enjoy your night."
Bastien watched the door close behind his cousin, then stood unmoving for several minutes. He felt restless, empty, hungry. That last thought had him crossing to the locked fridge in his desk to retrieve a bag of blood. He popped his teeth into it, ingested it quickly, then tossed the empty bag away in disgust. It didn't help what ailed him. Bastien still felt empty. Blood wasn't what he was hungry for. What he yearned for. What he really wanted was someone of his own. Someone to complete him. He wanted to belong to someone. To someone who could accept his differences and embrace him with them. He wanted unconditional love. More to the point, he wanted
Terri's
unconditional love.
"That was wonderful."
Bastien smiled at the enthusiastic smile on Terri's face and the excited color in her cheeks. Thinking she'd enjoy it, he'd taken her to see
The Phantom of the Opera,
and found he'd quite enjoyed it himself. "Are you hungry?"
"Starved," she admitted with a laugh. "That salad stopped tiding me over about an hour ago. What about you?"
"I could do with a little something," Bastien answered vaguely. He wasn't really hungry, but was looking forward to sitting across a table from Terri, watching her eyes dance and sparkle and her expressions change as she talked. "The restaurant is only a block or so away. Can you walk that far in your high heels, or should I hail a taxi?"