Insatiable

her felt a little bruised. In a good way.

Jack Bauer, from the pile of clothes he’d fallen into, gave a low growl.

“Oh,” Lucien said, breaking the kiss and throwing the dog an inscrutable look. “And I’ve

walked your dog.”

Meena raised both eyebrows. This was too good to be true. “You have ?”

“Well,” Lucien said, “perhaps I should have said I’ve had him walked. He seemed to

want to go out, and the doorman was happy to take him. In any case, you needn’t worry about

him. Now go.” He pointed a little imperiously at the bathroom door. “Before you distract me

even more than you have already.”

Meena laughed. It was kind of fun to be bossed around by a handsome man in a pair of

gray silk pajama bottoms.

Especially one who had done the things to her last night that Lucien had done.

So, gathering the sheet to herself, she popped off the bed and headed into the large,

brown marble bathroom, Jack Bauer trotting at her heels. What she saw in the vast mirrors

there reassured her. She didn’t look like a total train wreck. She actually looked sort of…good.

Maybe because for the first time in a long time she’d had a good night’s sleep? Well, what

little sleep she’d gotten had been good.

And for once, Meena had actually woken up happy. She hadn’t even missed her night

guard. She didn’t think she’d ground her teeth once during the night.

The huge Jacuzzi tub was half filled with steaming hot water. She wondered what

Romanians considered a comfortable bathing temperature and turned on some cold water to

even it out, then sank into the deep water when it felt just right.

Bliss. Except for Jack Bauer, nervously sitting beside the tub. She could see the tips of

his ears, just over the side, tilted toward her alertly. She tried to ignore him and bathe in peace.

But his anxious, foxlike little face peering up at her when she stepped out and reached

for one of the thick fluffy white robes she’d found hanging on the back of the bathroom door

made her feel guilty. Where had Jack Bauer spent the night? Had she really locked him into

this bathroom? At least the bath mat was as thick and fluffy as the robes and had probably

served as a comfy bed.

That was it, though. She’d been a horrible pet owner. She was going to have to give him

a good, long walk to make up for her bad behavior….

She slipped into the robe—it was so big on her, she had to roll up the sleeves to keep her

hands from being lost inside them—then rinsed with some mouthwash she found. She had

some makeup in her purse. She put some on, but her cheeks and mouth were so red from the

chafing they’d endured at the assault of Lucien’s lips that she needed only a little mascara and

eyeliner.

She discovered her dress slung over a black leather ottoman and her underthings strewn

across the floor. She pulled them on, thinking about how later, after work, she’d have to do the

walk of shame in front of her doorman. Would whoever was on duty realize she was wearing

the same clothes she’d left in the night before? She prayed Pradip wouldn’t be there when she

got home. Not that she cared what her doormen thought of her.

But what if she ran into Mary Lou in the elevator? Not what if. She would run into Mary

Lou in the elevator.

But maybe, given what had happened last night, her luck was finally starting to change.

She refused to think about whether or not Lucien was going to ask her out for tonight.

Friday night. She wouldn’t mention it, either. No game playing. They were both too old for

that. He was in town on business. She wasn’t going to seem needy….

“Are you free tonight?” Lucien called from the kitchen, where the smell of bacon, now

joined by coffee, was stronger than ever.

She called, “Uh, I think so,” and followed the sound of his voice. Lucien had set the

glass and steel dining-room table with one place. One dark gray cloth napkin, one set of

silverware, one cup of coffee, one glass of orange juice, one everything.

Lucien, noticing her curious gaze from the other side of the pass-through, said, “I hope

you don’t mind, but I had mine earlier. I went for a run and I was famished after. I didn’t want

to wake you…you were sleeping so sweetly. Like an angel.” He winked at her.

Meena said, “Oh, no. That’s fine.”

That’s just weird, she thought.

She slipped onto the chair behind the table setting just as he came out of the kitchen

holding a plate. He presented it to her with a flourish. On it sat three curls of perfectly cooked

bacon, two eggs scrambled to a golden yellow, a slice of delicately toasted whole wheat toast

with apricot jam, a few paper-thin slices of orange, and a plump, perfectly ripe strawberry.

Meena stared down at it with her mouth hanging open.

Lucien pulled out the chair beside hers. “I wasn’t sure how you take your coffee. There’s

sugar and cream on the table.”

“Thanks,” Meena murmured when the ability of speech finally returned.

He’s a prince, she told herself. This isn’t so unusual. All princes probably do this to

impress their girlfriends the first time they spend the night.

Maybe, she thought, lifting her fork and idly admiring how his biceps looked in the

daytime, the thing about his going running already isn’t so weird either. He has to work out to

stay looking so nice. I should start working out, too. We could work out together. Before he

goes back to Romania, I mean.

“I thought tonight we could go to the symphony,” he said. “If you’re free. I have tickets

for the Philharmonic. Masur is conducting Beethoven. I don’t think you’ll hate it too much.”

Meena looked at him primly over a forkful of eggs. “I won’t hate it at all. I happen to

like Beethoven.” She wondered how long it would take for him to catch on that she had no

idea who Masur was. She supposed she could use the time during the concert to think up some

good dialogue for the new vampire-hunter proposal she was going to pitch to Sy.

“Excellent,” he said. “Unfortunately I have an early dinner engagement with a colleague.

Shall I meet you by the fountain at Lincoln Center at seven thirty?”

“I’ll be there,” Meena said. “And without him.” She shot Jack Bauer a meaningful look

since he was sitting beneath the table, alternately growling at Lucien and looking up at her

beseechingly for any crumbs of food she might spill.

“He’s a very loyal companion,” Lucien observed mildly.

“Yeah,” Meena said, taking a sip of coffee. “Something like that. How long do

symphonies usually last?”

“If you’re asking because you want to know how long it will be before I once again rend

off all your clothing and perform the kind of indecent sexual acts upon your body that I

performed last night and that would horrify your mother were she ever to find out, we could do

that right now,” Lucien offered.

Meena, who’d been staring at him with cheeks growing ever more deeply crimson as he

went on, said, as she pushed herself away from the table, “I can’t. I mean, I-I’d like to. But I’m

already late for work. So I …I better go. I’ll see you at seven thirty.”

Lucien laughed and, rising from the table as well, caught her up in his arms. “Did I

mention how much I enjoy seeing you blush?”

Читать дальше