“But Herb gave me new coordinates and we don’t have a lot of time.”
Inez drooped with disappointment as she realized he was rejecting her, but he continued.
“And I don’t want our first time to be rushed, or interrupted, or while I’m distracted. I want it to be special and slow. I want to give you the attention and time you deserve.”
Inez swallowed, feeling tears suddenly glaze her eyes at his words. He was such a sweet considerate man…and right at that minute she almost wished he wasn’t. She didn’t want consideration. Inez wanted hot sweaty sex in the shower. She wanted to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this man wanted her as much as she wanted him.
“I want to do this so that I can give you so much pleasure that you can’t resist agreeing to be my lifemate,” Thomas added, and his words along with the grin suddenly splitting his lips made her own lips tip reluctantly into a smile.
So, okay, maybe he wasn’t rejecting her. The man was plotting her seduction as carefully as she would plan the take over of a company. No one had said Thomas was stupid. Right at that moment Inez thought she might agree to being an immortal just to get his pants off. Probably not a smart way to make the decision, she acknowledged. Act in haste; repent at leisure as they said, so she wouldn’t try to tempt him to change his mind. She’d accept his decision and spend some time getting to know him better and considering the pros and cons of becoming his lifemate…and an immortal.
Her thoughts died an abrupt death and she jerked in surprise as he suddenly slapped her wet behind.
“So finish your shower and get dressed. We have to get moving.”
“I’m done in the shower,” she said, straightening away from him as his arms slipped away. “You can take it over if you like. The water’s already warm.”
“I think I will,” Thomas said and then glanced around and frowned. “You have no towels in here.”
“Oh.” She tsked with exasperation at her lack of forethought. “I took them out to the living room last night. I’ll go get them and bring one for you too—” Her words died and her eyes widened in surprise as Thomas suddenly urged her back under the shower.
“Stay there and keep warm. I’ll fetch the towels,” he said and closed the door.
Inez stared through the beveled glass as he zoomed out of the room and then shook her head and closed her eyes as the water rushed over her. He really was a very considerate man. That was very important. Of course, men were often more considerate when wooing a woman than they were once they’d landed her, but even if Thomas’s consideration dropped in half later, he’d still be far more considerate than any of the mortal men she’d known in her life. Inez supposed she had Marguerite to thank for that.
Her thoughts turned to the missing woman and her hunt for her last night. Thomas had said that he hadn’t controlled her or wiped her memory, but someone had. She was beginning to think there was a lot more going on here than any of them suspected.
Until now, Inez had half suspected Marguerite Argeneau had just got busy, perhaps following a hot lead on this case she was on, and forgot to call her family. After all, three days without contact wasn’t really that long. These were her children, not a husband or life partner. Inez only called her own mother once a week, usually on Sundays because the rates were cheaper and she had to call all the way to Portugal. They were usually long phone calls and she made them religiously, but…
Of course, the Argeneaus probably didn’t worry much about cost. Still, the woman was in Europe and they were back in Canada so surely three or four days without a call shouldn’t send her family into a panic. Even if she lived in Portugal, Inez wouldn’t worry if her own mother didn’t call her for three days.
That had been what she’d been thinking before this, but now Inez was beginning to fear she’d been wrong in that assumption. She was beginning to suspect the woman might be in trouble. Someone had taken control of her and kept her from calling Marguerite’s phone and finding her. She doubted very much if it had been Marguerite herself. That meant someone else had and she couldn’t think of any good reason for an immortal to want to keep her from finding Marguerite and setting her family’s minds at ease.
The shower door suddenly opened, breaking her train of thought and Inez smiled with gratitude when she saw Thomas holding up a bath towel for her. He held it open for her to step into, which she did.
“Thank you,” Inez whispered as he closed the towel around her.