TALL DARK AND HUNGRY Page 0,32
in," Bastien suggested.
"Yes," she breathed. Many women would have fussed that he, a man, would hardly have any interest in visiting a women's lingerie store. Then they would have said, "Well, all right," as if really reluctant to drag him in, despite the fact that they were dying to go. Terri didn't bother with that. She wanted to go in; he had suggested she should, and she had agreed. End of story. It was wonderful.
"Come on." Taking her elbow, he urged her to the corner as the WALK sign began to flash. They hustled across the street, reaching the opposite side and ducking into the Victoria's Secret just as the light turned red.
Terri paused inside the door, her gaze shifting quickly over everything. Perfumes and escalators were in the center, and silk and lace everywhere else. Bastien could almost imagine her mind working out where to go first. Left, right, up? She went left. A log¬ical move, he silently approved. It allowed them to work the store in a clockwise fashion.
The first clerk they came across was friendly. She greeted them pleasantly and suggested they approach her if they had any questions, then she left them alone. Terri moved through the nighties in the area, oohing over this, ahhing over that, and at last they made their way around the store to the escalators and the second story full of panties and bras.
"Is there something I can help you with?" another woman asked.
Terri set down the pretty purple lace panties she'd been looking at and smiled. A beautiful, stick-thin model of a salesgirl was eyeing her in a condescending manner. "No, thanks," she said. "I'm just looking."
"Hmm." The woman pursed her lips and looked her over as if she were dog meat.
Bastien was off to the side, trying to stay out of the way. He had noticed that Terri seemed to flit about, looking here and there, and rarely stopping. He had found that if he followed her too closely, he ended up having to step to the side or backtrack to get out of the way as she whirled and changed direction. Such movements could be quite abrupt, as her eyes were constantly skating over the area ahead, and if she saw something that caught her eye, she beetled off toward it. If not, she veered off another way, or turned back. It was just easier to give her space to maneuver. But now Bastien moved forward, his protective instincts coming to the fore. This clerk obviously wasn't im¬pressed with Terri's attire, her worn jeans and T-shirt.
"We'll call on you if we need any help," he spoke up, drawing the woman's eye and her full attention.
Her attitude changed in a heartbeat, her lips un-pursing to become a warm smile. "Well, hello."
The clerk spoke as if stumbling across a lovely trea¬sure in her store. Bastien tried not to grimace. He was a good-looking man, and used to women paying him attention, but he had seen the way this one's eyes had skated from his face to the expensive watch he wore, to the family signet ring with the Argeneau A etched in diamonds. She smelled money, and liked the smell.
Bastien glanced toward Terri to see how she was reacting, only to find that she'd moved off and was now examining a rather pretty black satin bra that would look quite lovely on her. At least, it did in his mind as he imagined it. Forgetting about the clerk, he moved after Terri.
"That's lovely."
"Yes, it is," she agreed with a grin.
"There are matching panties for it." The clerk had followed, and now she couldn't be more helpful. Moving past them she returned with several pairs. "Let's see. I'm a small. That would make you... what?" She glanced down to consider Terri. "An extra-large?" she suggested innocently. Then she turned to Bastien and added in a husky voice, "I can model these for you."
Bastien had to bite his lip as Terri's eyes nearly popped out of her head. She flushed, then seemed to go terribly calm. Her voice was kind when she spoke. "That won't be necessary, I'm sure. And no, I'm not an extra-large. But don't feel bad for making the er¬ror. It's the boobs," she said bluntly. "It can be terri¬ble being so well endowed. They often give the first impression that you're large everywhere." Her gaze dropped briefly over the woman's almost flat chest, and she commented, "You're lucky you don't have any at all to cause that problem."
While