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."