Vampires Are Foreve(71)

Bastien had immediately called the hotel, hoping to verify that Marguerite had been one of the guests in the suites, but all he’d learned was that Mr. Notte had requested three of the bedrooms in the suites have twin beds.

Deciding she had to have been there, he’d then tried to arrange train tickets for Thomas and Inez to York, but their flight from Amsterdam arrived too late for them to catch a train. He’d apparently checked into flights, but that wasn’t possible either, so he’d booked them into the Dorchester Hotel for the night, reserving them a two-bedroom suite. They were to take a train to the walled city early the next evening.#p#分页标题#e#

Thomas had passed on all of this information in solemn tones, but then his eyes had flared silver as he pointed out that it meant they had a free night to themselves.

Inez had been a nervous wreck ever since; contemplating what was to come with an anxiety that had grown with each passing moment as they waited to be called to board their flight, on the flight, and during the taxi ride to the hotel.

Now the time was nigh, Inez thought with more than a touch of panic. Really, the anticipation was horrible. She hadn’t been sitting on the flight remembering what his kisses had been like and imagining what the rest would be like; Inez had spent the entire flight wishing she’d known this was coming a couple months ago so she could have chosen not to skip so many trips to the gym in favor of work. She also would have bypassed some of the muffins she’d had for breakfast, and…

The ands were endless; a manicure, pedicure, facial, body wax, body wrap…Anything that might make her look better while naked ran through her head as something she should have and would have done.

Once Inez had finished shredding any confidence she’d previously had in her body, she’d turned to her sexual technique, or lack there of. She was no virgin, but she really had neglected her social life in order to concentrate on her career, and while that had got her promoted to vice president, it had basically left her social life, or more specifically her love life, in the toilet. It had been a long time since she’d even dated anyone, let alone slept with them…A very long time. It wouldn’t have hurt to pick up a book that could give her a quick refresher course.

Inez knew it was a ridiculous idea even as she had it. It wasn’t like she’d forgotten what went where and so on, but perhaps there were new skills or techniques she’d never heard of. A secret spot, for instance that you could press on to make the man blind so he wouldn’t notice your imperfect body.

She was grimacing at the likelihood of there being such a spot when something brushed her shoulders. Startled, Inez squealed, jumped, and whirled around, eyes wide as she saw Thomas standing there, hands raised, obviously to place them on her shoulders, eyebrows practically disappearing into his hairline at her reaction to his gentle touch.

They both stood still for a moment, and then Thomas cleared his throat and said, “Are you all right? I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I’m fine,” Inez said at once, wincing as her voice came out a high-pitched squeak that would have done Minnie Mouse proud.

“Hmm.” Thomas eyed her thoughtfully, and then said, “Well, I was going to suggest we order room service. Are you hungry?”

“Yes,” she gasped, grabbing at the suggestion. Anything to delay what was coming.

“Right,” he said slowly, still appearing thoughtful. “Well, why don’t you look at the menu and see what you want?”

Nodding, Inez moved swiftly across the room to grab up the menu. Thomas took her place at the window, peering silently out as she made her selection. It wasn’t quick. Her decision was, but then she spent a good, long time perusing everything on the room service menu at least three times in an effort to delay things. By the time Inez closed the menu, she figured she’d gained herself a good ten minutes with her dallying. And then she felt a hand on her shoulder. Inez jumped nervously, but managed not to squeal like an idiot this time.

Thomas was good enough to ignore her reaction. His voice was light as he asked, “Decided?”

Forcing a smile, Inez turned to face him, managing to take a step back as she did, and nodded. She held the book out between them and asked, “Do you need the menu?”

Thomas didn’t say anything, but she could have sworn his lips twitched with amusement as he took the book.

“Thank you,” he murmured and then glanced at her and suggested, “You seem a little tense. Why don’t you pick your room and take a nice relaxing bath. I’ll wait to place our orders so you can have a nice long soak.”