"How do you know?" Bastien knew he sounded angry, but really his tone was to cover the hope that was trying to grow inside him. He wanted to believe his cousin was right, but he was afraid.
"This is a different era. Josephine thought you were a monster, an abomination. Terri is a modern woman, with enough intelligence to understand the science of it," Vincent argued. "And consider the benefits to her should she join us. Forever young and beautiful, and forever strong and healthy? Few would pass that up."
"She could still turn away," Bastien argued. "Not everyone wants to live forever."
"You're right, of course," the actor agreed. "She might not. So why risk it? Give her up and forget about her."
Bastien gave him a speaking glance.
"No, huh?" Vincent arched an eyebrow. "Then I guess you'll have to risk it, won't you? Every day is a risk, everything we do. Would you really give this up willingly, or bypass it altogether, to avoid possible pain later—pain that might never come?"
The answer to that was simple enough: No. Bastien couldn't willingly give her up had he wanted. She was like a drug and he a drug addict; he was constantly longing for a Terri fix. No, he couldn't give her up. He had known that for a while. What he was experiencing now was worth any price later. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to fret about what would come.
"Well, hell," Vincent snapped, reading Bastien's thoughts. "You mean to say you didn't need me to try to talk you into this? Why did you let me ramble on about it, if you already knew you were going to go for it?"
"I like talking about her," Bastien said. He shrugged. "I like being with her better, but the next best thing is talking about her. And it's always nice to have your hopes bolstered."
Vincent made a sound of disgust and turned toward the door. "I'm out of here."
"When will you be back?" Bastien asked, following him out into the entry to await the elevator.
"Late Sunday night or early Monday morning," he answered, then quirked an eyebrow as the elevator arrived and the doors slid open. "You know what that means, don't you?"
"No. What does it mean?" Bastien asked curiously.
"You have the entire penthouse—and Terri—to yourself for the whole weekend." Vincent stepped onto the elevator. "You can make love to her in any room you want, any time of the day or night, and not worry how loud she gets. She does get loud, cousin," he added as he turned and hit the button for the ground floor. "You must be doing something right."
Bastien grinned.
"Heck, you can even make love to her in the elevator." Vincent waggled his eyebrows as the doors started to close. "Catch it on tape, maybe, and keep it for posterity."
Bastien couldn't tell Vincent what he thought of that idea; the doors were already closed. But he'd never do that to Terri… unless she knew and wanted to. They could catch it on film and watch it later and… He shook his head at the idea. Too risky.
He didn't want personal tapes of Terri floating around. What if something happened and it got away from him? But he could make love to her in any room in the penthouse now. They'd already made love in the living room, on the couch, but they hadn't tried the bar. Or the pool table. Or the floor. Then there was the kitchen, the—A nice soak in the Jacuzzi with her would be nice, too. Of course they could have done that anyway, since the Jacuzzi was in the master suite, but…
Realizing that he was standing in the entryway thinking about making love to Terri, when he could be actually doing it, Bastien gave himself a shake. He started down the hall to the bedroom, realized he still carried the now empty glass, and did an about-face. He rushed back to the kitchen to give it a quick rinse before setting it in the sink. Then he headed for the bedroom to wake up Terri.
Terri tossed another acceptable flower into the appropriate box, then stretched and stood. It was late afternoon, and Bastien had yet to wake up. He had been awake already today. Twice. First, when he'd followed her into the shower, then when he'd crawled into bed at midday and woken her up in the most delicious manner she could imagine.
Bastien had kissed and caressed her awake, telling her as he slid his hands over her body that Vincent had left for the weekend, which meant they had the whole apartment to themselves. Terri had chuckled at the glee with which he'd said that, and then again as he'd told her each and every room and spot in the penthouse where he planned to make love to her. Then she'd stopped chuckling as things got serious. Seriously heated. The man was a dynamo in bed, arousing her passions like no one else could.
Despite his big plans, they hadn't made it out of bed. It hadn't mattered; they hadn't needed the extra impetus of new places to excite them—they'd done quite nicely right there in the master suite. Had they ever! Terri's body urged her to stretch again as tingles of awareness slid through her at the memory.