Terri being at Kate's; he didn't have to drink out of a bag anymore, grabbing a quick fix behind closed doors. But that was the only nice thing. And he'd gladly ingest bagged blood forever to have her back. He dropped onto the couch with a sigh.
"So?" Lucern peered at him curiously. "How is it going between you two?"
Bastien frowned, then admitted, "I don't know." Luc's eyebrows rose. "You don't know?" He shrugged. "Yeah. I don't know." Sighing, he sat forward and set his glass on the coffee table and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I thought things were going great. I mean, Luc, you wouldn't believe how well we get along. Even I don't even believe it. It's all so perfect and natural and easy. We talk all the time, finish each other's sentences, we just... I don't know. Click. It's like she was made for me." Bastien shook his head, then added, "I'm even eating. And it tastes good. I can hardly believe now that I actually got bored with doing so in the past."
Lucern grinned. "That's pretty serious."
"Yeah." He nodded enthusiastically. "And every time we kiss? Pow!" Bastien slammed the palm of one hand against the other. "We have a sexual chem¬istry like I've never experienced. And it isn't just sex¬ual. I mean, I want her all the time--but it isn't just wanting sex. I want to..." He paused, searching for the words to explain. "I want to give her pleasure. I want to hold her while she finds her pleasure. I want to take her inside me, my heart, and keep her there warm and safe and always a part of me."
"Yeah. That's how I feel about Kate," Luc said softly. "Have you tried to read her yet?"
"Yes, I have. And no, I can't."
"It's sounding pretty good then."
"Yeah."
"But?" Luc asked when Bastien sighed.
"But I don't know how she feels," he said miser¬ably. "I just assumed that she felt the same, but then you guys showed up and she hardly looked at me af¬ter that."
"Oh, well, I wouldn't worry. She was probably just happy to see Kate. They're pretty close and--other than those few minutes last Friday when Kate dropped off Chris and grabbed me to go to that con¬ference--they haven't seen each other in over six months." Luc clapped a reassuring hand on his shoul¬der. "They'll talk up a storm tonight and get all that girl stuff out of the way. Then, tomorrow at the re¬hearsal, she'll be all over you."
Bastien nodded, but wasn't sure he believed the prediction. He understood that Terri hadn't seen Kate in a while, but she hadn't even looked at him to¬night. What if she regretted what they'd done? Or what if she didn't want Kate to know about it? Maybe she was thinking of this as just some vacation fling and wanted to keep it secret to avoid pressure from Kate. He really didn't think Terri was the type--he was almost positive she wasn't--but then again, he never would have predicted that once Kate and Lucern showed up, she'd avoid touching or even looking at him.
Bastien supposed he'd have to wait until the re¬hearsal to get a better idea of what was going on. He'd wait to see how Terri greeted him and go from there. If she acted like her normal cheerful and affec¬tionate self, he'd know it was all going to be okay. But if she acted reserved and avoided eye contact, he'd know something wasn't as it should be.
Personally, Bastien hoped Terri would just walk up and either take his hand in hers or slip her arm through his, or even kiss him hello. He preferred the last option, though if she did walk up and kiss him, he couldn't promise he wouldn't kiss her senseless on the spot. But he didn't really expect that to happen-- they'd be in a church after all. Still, Terri was natu¬rally affectionate, and if she liked him as he hoped, she would greet him with some outward show of af¬fection. That would free Bastien to be openly affec¬tionate back. The ball was in her court.
Chapter Fifteen
"What is Bastien doing?" Kate asked. The minister had just finished giving his last-minute words of ad¬vice, wished them good evening, and moved off to speak to the wedding coordinator.
Lucern glanced down at her, then followed her gaze to where his brother stood silent and grim-faced beside Terri. "Standing there," he said.
"Well, I can see that. Why isn't he talking to Terri?"