TALL DARK AND HUNGRY Page 0,97

then in again. Then he brushed the nub that was the center of her excitement with his thumb, and she nearly leapt off the desk in reaction, her body jolting under the sudden shot of pleasure that radiated from that one small spot. Tearing her mouth away, Terri leaned her head back, gasping for air. Bastien's mouth worked its way along her throat and his fingers continued to caress and excite her.

"Bastien. Please," she said at last, straightening to clutch his shoulders. "I need you."

It was all she had to say. Bastien grasped her hips and slid her to the edge of the desk, even as he reached for the zipper of his pants. In the next mo¬ment, he had them undone and was sliding into her.

"Oh!" Terri gasped as he filled her, then moaned as he withdrew.

Bastien turned his head and caught her next moan in his mouth, kissing her, his hands sliding beneath her bottom to hold her still as he drove back into her. Terri clutched her hands in his hair, her fingers curl¬ing and unintentionally tugging as her mouth be¬came more demanding. Then she wrapped her legs around his hips, and held on for dear life.

It was fast and hard, neither of them either willing or able to go slow to drag out the pleasure. Within moments it was over, both of them crying out to¬gether as release overtook them. Then they stayed, leaning weakly against each other, trying to catch their breath.

"Well," Bastien murmured after a moment. Taking his weight off her, he caught her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. "Hello." He next kissed Terri's nose as it wrinkled with perplexity, and explained, "I might have forgotten to say that when I came in."

"Oh. I think I may have, too." Terri gave a breath¬less laugh. "Hello."

Bastien kissed her mouth again, not urging it open this time, but simply moving his lips over hers. Then he had a quick nibble at her plump lower lip, but was interrupted when a knock sounded at the door. He pulled back slightly and glanced over his shoulder to¬ward the sound. When a second knock came, he turned back and smiled at her wryly. "I think our lunch is here."

Chapter Sixteen

Bastien unlocked the refrigerator in his desk and set the two small vials inside. He'd finally remembered to bring them up to the penthouse. They'd been in his office all week, since the day Terri had come for lunch, Monday. He had just been getting ready to leave for his appointed meeting with the lab guys that morning, when James came into his office to give him the new synthetic enzymes for Vincent to test. They were the latest effort to treat the condition that forced Bastien's cousin and uncle to feed from living donors. Life would be much easier for both men if they could survive off of bagged blood as most of the rest of the clan did. Vincent was usually the one who tested each new serum and, knowing that he was staying in the penthouse at the moment, James had brought the serum to Bastien.

By the time the scientist had finished explaining the requirements for a true test of the enzyme--Vin¬cent had to refrain from feeding off living donors while taking it, and he would need to be tested daily to see if it was working, as well as to be sure he wasn't suffering any damaging side effects--Bastien was running really late. He'd thanked the fellow and merely tossed the vials in the large unlocked fridge, rather than waste time on the locked one. Then he'd rushed off to his meeting.

But of course he'd forgotten the vials that night when he'd gone up to the penthouse. In fact, Bastien had forgotten them repeatedly until today, but he hadn't forgotten to bring the matter up with Vincent. His cousin had agreed to try the serum, and to switch to bagged blood, but refused to do so until the week¬end following the wedding. He didn't want it to in¬terfere with his play rehearsals, or with Lucern and Kate's wedding if there did happen to be side effects.

Bastien understood. He'd checked with James to be sure that the vials of serum wouldn't expire, but had only finally remembered to bring them upstairs with him tonight. He would keep them in the pent¬house office refrigerator until Vincent was ready for them.

That chore out of the way, Bastien grabbed a bag of blood from the now