It was almost too good to be true, like fat-free ice cream or calorie-free chocolate and yet if it was true, it was the most wonderful thing she’d encountered in her life and she wanted to believe in it. She wanted Thomas. Inez had never had such a quick attraction to a man. Usually, she had to get to know them and like them before she even started thinking of them in a romantic way, but Thomas…Well, after he’d presented her with the bath and breakfast and explained that he hadn’t meant to snub her…she’d pretty much been lost.
Goodlooking and sweet too? The man was walking, talking cheesecake. Irresistible. And, apparently, hers. All those fantasies she’d had earlier about his greeting her at the door when she got home, kissing her and stripping away her clothes to make love to her, suddenly seemed possible and she shivered in anticipation at the idea.
Suddenly impatient for Thomas to come out of the shower, Inez turned away from the windows, her gaze sliding over the room and stopping on the empty blood bag.
“You’re in for one hell of a night.” The delivery man had said and the memory of his expression brought a frown to her face. Obviously there was something different about the blood in the first cooler and the first bag Thomas had consumed, but she had no idea what. Thomas had said the S.E.C. on it stood for Sweet Ecstasy Concentrate, but what was that? She wished he’d told her before disappearing into his room, but he hadn’t and now she was terribly curious. Impatiently so. She wished she’d asked the delivery man what it was, or that she knew someone else who could tell her—
Blinking, Inez suddenly whirled away and hurried into her room to retrieve her purse. Digging inside, she pulled out her cell phone and punched the speed-dial number to call the office. Her call was answered on the second ring and she immediately asked to speak to Wyatt.
“Ms. Urso,” his secretary said with surprise, obviously recognizing her voice, “I thought you had flown to Amsterdam to help Mr. Argeneau’s cousin.”
“Yes, I did and I’m calling from there,” she said calmly. “Is Wyatt in?”
“Yes, of course. Just one moment.”
Inez paced the length of her room as she waited, her footsteps slowing when she heard the click of the phone being answered on the other end.
“Inez. How is Amsterdam?” Wyatt Kenric, Inez’s direct supervisor, asked jovially.
“Fine, fine,” Inez said and shook her head, finding it hard to believe the good-tempered man was an immortal…and that she’d worked with him so long without realizing it. She should have realized there was something fishy. He worked evenings, leaving her to run things during the day. How many company presidents did that? Sighing, she pushed the question aside and dove right in, saying, “Look, Wyatt, we got a delivery of blood here at the hotel, but I think there might be something wrong with it. What does S.E.C. stand for under the blood type?”
The sudden silence on the line didn’t surprise her. She’d expected as much and now forced a light laugh and said, “Oh, I’m sorry. Of course, you don’t know. I’m Thomas’s lifemate. He’s explained about Atlantis and everything.”
Inez actually heard his breath whoosh out over the line. He sounded both relieved and startled as he said, “Really?”
“Yes. He couldn’t read or control me. In fact, they almost called you in to wipe a memory from my mind, but then Thomas explained everything and…well…here we are in Amsterdam.”
“Well, congratulations, Inez. I’m happy for you. Tell Thomas I’m happy for him too,” Wyatt said.
“I will. He’s in the shower at the moment. Actually, that’s why I called you rather than bother him. I was hoping to have this all cleared up before he got out.”
“Oh, yes, the blood delivery,” he murmured, sounding a little less jovial. “S.E.C. you say?”
“Yes,” Inez murmured. “I don’t really know enough yet to know if that should be there or not. It might be perfectly all right, but the other blood he had didn’t have that on it, and it’s in bright red letters, so I wondered…”
“You did right to wonder,” Wyatt said seriously. “S.E.C. stands for Sweet Ecstasy Concentrate. You don’t want him drinking even one bag of Sweet Ecstasy, at least not in the concentrated form.”
“Sweet Ecstasy,” Inez repeated, hoping she sounded as if she’d never heard the term before. “What is that? Would it hurt him?”
“Sweet Ecstasy is the immortal version of a Viagara/ Spanish fly mix,” he explained. “It’s blood full of oxytocin, dopamine, norepinephrine, phenylethylamine, and various other hormones and pheromones. The donor blood has been dehydrated, removing at least half the liquid so that it’s a concentrated chemical mix. It’s then used to make Sweet Ecstasy drinks, where the concentrated blood is combined with a sweet soda as a mixer and served in a glass. One bag of the concentrate is used to make several drinks, at least four, sometimes six if the owner of the club is cheap. If Thomas drank a straight bag of the concentrate it would be the equivalent of four to six drinks of the cocktail.”#p#分页标题#e#