Tall, Dark & Hungry(85)

"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?