“Oh, yes. That’s a good idea,” Inez breathed with relief at the offer. It was yet another delay as well as a chance to shave her legs again and do various other little tasks that might boost her confidence. She could have kissed the man. Instead, she caught the handle of the rolling suitcase they’d bought in Amsterdam and promptly headed out of the room.
“Inez.”
She froze in the door and glanced back warily. “Yes?”
“You have to tell me what you want so I can order it,” he pointed out gently.
“Oh.” She gave a nervous laugh, babbled what she wanted in a rush and hurried out of the room before he could stop her again.
Inez rushed into the first room she came to, hefted her suitcase onto the luggage rack, unzipped it, and began pulling out items willy-nilly in search of what she would need for her bath. The room looked like a tornado had hit it by the time she was done, but Inez didn’t care. She was stressed and didn’t think she’d ever been this stressed before in her life.
She shook her head at herself as she hurried into the bathroom and dropped everything on the counter. She’d handled mergers, hostile takeover attempts, and various other business emergencies with easy aplomb, Inez thought with self-disgust as she squeezed bubble bath into the tub and turned on the taps. And it wasn’t like this was her first time. She’d had sex before and never been this distressed by it all, not even her very first time. But then it hadn’t ever really mattered before. She hadn’t cared for anyone else like she cared for Thomas.
“What?” Inez gasped the word as she met her reflection’s gaze in the mirror. But even as she asked the question, she knew it was true.
Inez had dated lots of men while at university, and then when she’d first started to work, but they’d all seemed terribly immature or even boring to her so that she’d begun to avoid dates and the whole social scene. Work had been more interesting. In effect, she’d had a love affair with her career for the last decade and hadn’t met a man who could compete.
Until now.
Thomas could definitely compete. And while she’d at first thought the most attractive part of being his lifemate was the complete lack of effort needed on her part, leaving her free to continue her affair with work, her feelings were changing on the matter. Work had never made her feel the exhilaration and excitement that Thomas could with a look or a light touch, let alone the passion she experienced with his kisses. Work had never made her laugh and feel as lighthearted as she had today as they’d toured Amsterdam. And work had never made her feel beautiful and sexy as Thomas had made her feel at the Kattenkabinet when he’d said all those lovely things to her.
Thomas could, and was, competing with work and winning hands down.
“I’m in trouble,” she murmured to her reflection, because it certainly felt like trouble to her. Thomas was the first person who had touched the calculator that past boyfriends had claimed was her heart…and he could quite easily smash it. While he had talked about her being his lifemate, he’d never once mentioned love, and Inez feared she was heading down that dark, frightening path. It put a whole new light on everything. Before, she’d just had to decide if she could handle living centuries, now she had to decide if she could live centuries with a man she would no doubt come to love with every fiber of her being, but who might not ever love her in return.
Panic giving way to a solemn mood, Inez turned off the taps, stripped, and slipped into the tub to consider the problem.
“Inez?” The soft question, accompanied by a light tap at the door brought her eyes open and had her sitting up abruptly in the water, and then quickly dropping back down until the few bubbles still remaining covered her to the shoulders.
“Oh, you’re awake,” Thomas said, peering at her through the door he’d eased half open. “I was afraid you’d fallen asleep.”
“No,” Inez said quickly, forcing a smile. “How long have I been in here?”
“Well over an hour,” he answered. “The food has arrived.”
“I’ll get out now,” Inez said and started to sit up, but came to an abrupt halt as she recalled she was naked.
Thomas smiled faintly and grabbed a towel from the rack. Holding it open, he stepped to the side of the tub. When Inez eyed the towel and hesitated, he said quietly. “Shy? You weren’t this morning.”
Her eyes flickered to his face at the way his voice had suddenly lowered and she saw that his eyes had that silver glow. Swallowing, Inez hesitated another moment, then stood, knowing her cheeks were blushing furiously even as she did. Much to her relief, he immediately moved the towel forward and she lifted her arms to keep them out of the way as he wrapped it around her. Inez’s eyes widened in surprise, however, when he didn’t then release her and step away, but lifted her out of the tub like a child. That child image died an abrupt death when he kept lifting her, bringing her up until their lips met.