TALL DARK AND HUNGRY Page 0,54

when it began to spit and roll around on the hot surface. "The flow¬ers arrived just as I was starting to make the omelet. I couldn't believe how many there were when they fi¬nally finished bringing them up. I think the florist has gone nuts."

Bastien smiled and watched her pour the omelet into the pan. "I didn't know there'd be so many, ei-ther. I'll start taking pictures right after this."

Terri gave him a sympathetic smile as she set aside the now empty bowl. "That's a lot of pictures. I can help if you like."

"I'd like."

They were both silent for a moment. Terri was busy moving the omelet around in the pan to keep it from burning. He was busy watching her. The kitchen quickly started to fill with the rich aroma of onions and spice.

"I had a nice time last night," Bastien blurted sud¬denly, and could have kicked himself. But Terri met his gaze, a smile blossoming on her lips.

"So did I," she admitted shyly.

They fell silent again; then Bastien lifted a hand to run the knuckle of one finger down her cheek. Her eyes closed at once, and Terri tilted her face into the caress like a cat being petted. That action made it im¬possible for him to resist: Letting his hand slide around to catch her behind the neck, he pulled her forward and covered her mouth with his, smiling as her lips parted. Bastien immediately deepened the kiss. She tasted of herbs and spices and something sweet. Orange juice, he thought. If breakfast was as good as she tasted, it would be a pleasure to eat.

A small moan reached his ears and fanned the flames inside him. Bastien's kiss became rougher, more demanding, and Terri responded by opening further to him. Her hands crept around his neck.

She gasped, then arched nearer as Bastien let his hands rub down and across her back. She felt right in his arms. She belonged there. He liked having her there. She felt good, smelled good, and tasted good too. And the way Terri moaned, stretched, and pressed against him was irresistible. He could go on kissing her forever.

"Your omelet," she murmured when he broke away to trail kisses down her neck.

Bastien's mouth stilled by her ear, and he almost cursed but caught it back. Heaving a sigh, he placed one last kiss on her nose, then released her.

Terri smiled sympathetically at his less than pleased expression, then turned to the stove. Fortunately, their distracting little interlude had not seen the omelet burn. It was light and fluffy and smelled heavenly when she served it up on a plate and handed it to him several moments later.

Terri sat with him while he ate, and Bastien ended up devouring the entire omelet. As good as it was, he suspected he ate it in an effort to sate another hunger that was plaguing him. The one he had for the woman who sat across from him, drinking coffee and chattering cheerfully away.

Bastien was glad he had eaten the entire omelet when Terri commented happily that this was the first time she'd seen him actually eat anything substantial since her arrival. She looked pleased as punch, and proud too that it was her cooking. Bastien assured her it was absolutely delicious, then kissed her and thanked her for the meal before heading out to the living room. He had to see about the flowers and the photos he was supposed to take.

Terri soon joined him, and she suggested they re¬move the flowers to the penthouse office one at a time to take the photos, then remove them from the apartment entirely to be sure there weren't any missed or double shots. At least, that was her excuse. Bastien suspected that she really hoped to alleviate some of the editor's discomfort by removing the source of his misery. He didn't mind. The office got better light in the morning anyway and the photos would work better in there because of it. After hun¬dreds of years without daylight, he enjoyed seeing the sun and could do so, so long as his windows were treated to keep out the UV rays.

Terri was very fussy with the arrangements. Bastien would have just walked around snapping pic-ture after picture until he was done, but she insisted on the right backdrop and lighting for each shot so that Kate could get a "true picture" of each arrange¬ment. Between that and the process of downloading them every third or fourth photo, it