Tall, Dark & Hungry(50)

It was hard to resist. It had been so terribly long since he had lain with a woman. It seemed forever since he had even had the urge to do so; yet now the hunger in him was worse than any he'd ever experienced. Even his need for blood had never surpassed this yearning he was currently feeling.

Terri groaned and shifted against him, arching upward when his hand found her breast again through the soft fabric of her sweater. Bastien was, at first, frustrated that it wasn't a shirt he could unbutton and open, but his brain started working again and he broke their kiss to lean slightly away. Grabbing the hem of the top, he pushed it upward to reveal the pink lace bra she wore beneath.

The words color-coordinated and feminine ran through his mind, and Bastien nearly laughed at the inane thought. Then he noticed the darker cinnamon of her nipples visible through the pink bra, and a shudder of anticipation ran through him. Before he even realized what he intended, Bastien had lowered his mouth to cover that still erect and excited nipple through the lace of the bra.

Terri cried out and trembled. Her hands caught violently in his hair, clasping him tightly to her, and urging him on. His tongue moved over the textured material of her bra, dampening it and the hard nipple beneath.

"Bastien!" She gasped his name on a cry of pure need, and began to tug at his hair. He gave in to her demand and lifted his head, allowing her to pull him back up to cover her mouth with his.

"Ahhhhh!"

Terri stiffened beneath him. That shout had come from outside, and reached them in the office. Both of them went still, waiting. When silence followed, Bastien relaxed and began to kiss Terri again, only to pause when a second shout followed.

Heaving a sigh, he lifted his head and met Terri's gaze.

"Maybe if we leave it alone, whatever it is will go away," she murmured hopefully.

"Maybe," he agreed, then glanced worriedly around at the sound of shattering glass. It was followed by a warning shout from Vincent, which helped Bastien identify that the first two shouts had been Chris Keyes's. It didn't look as if the situation were going away, whatever it was. Turning, he pressed a kiss to Terri's nose.

"I'm afraid I have to go see what the kids are doing," he said with grimace.

Terri released a sigh, but nodded and even managed a smile. She withdrew her arms from around him so they could both sit up.

Bastien helped her straighten her clothes, then stood, pulling her up with him, and led the way into the living room. What they found was like a scene from some insane, drug-induced dream. When they walked out, it was to find Chris hopping madly about the coffee table on his good leg, waving one crutch wildly in the air as he alternately sneezed and squawked. His second crutch lay forgotten on the floor between the couch and table.

As for Vincent, Bastien's cousin had removed his cape and was following the editor, snapping it in the air about the man's head in a half-crazed fashion that hit Chris in the head every second or third snap. Bastien couldn't decide if it was some new dance he was witnessing, or his cousin was attacking C.K.

He glanced at Terri uncertainly. "Is this another scene from the play?"

"I don't know," she admitted. Her expression was torn between concern and bewilderment. "It could be, I guess."

"Hmmm." Bastien turned back to the dancing duo, wondering if he should interfere. Or if he even really wanted to. Then he stiffened. Chris had made almost a full circle around the coffee table, and was now hopping toward where his abandoned crutch lay. Unfortunately, he was too busy swinging wildly with the other crutch to notice.

Bastien opened his mouth in warning, but Terri had also seen the trouble too and beat him to it.

"Chris! Look out! Your—" She winced as he stumbled over the crutch, flailed madly for a minute in an effort to regain his balance, then cried out as an equally unobservant Vincent slammed into him from behind. The two went down, crashing to the floor in a tangle of flailing limbs.

"—crutch," Terri finished on a sigh.

"You tried," Bastien said, patting her shoulder comfortingly. Then they both rushed forward as Vincent struggled to disentangle himself from a moaning C.K.

"What were you two doing?" Bastien asked. Grasping his cousin's hand, he tugged upward, helping Vinny get to his feet and off the editor, who was definitely suffering the worse of the struggle.

"There was a bee," Vincent explained.

"A bee?" Bastien gaped at him in disbelief. "All this nonsense over a little bee?"

"That bee?" Terri gestured to a small insect now buzzing in circles over the editor's head.

Chris had been lying, eyes closed, trying to catch his breath. Those eyes now popped open, round with terror. "What? Where is it?"