Bit the Jackpot (Vegas Vampires #2)(21)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Shit. She had been positive he’d say no.

He must have seen her surprise because he gave her a slow, sensual smile that made her breath catch.

"You’re a beautiful dancer, Cara. And despite what you said earlier about me not reacting to you, I pretty much only need to glance at you and I’m turned on. I’d be insane to turn down your very gracious offer."

His accent had gotten deeper with each word.

She liked the way he sounded—aroused and arrogant.

"Why am I so attracted to you?" she asked, genuinely puzzled at the same time she gave a tentative swivel of her hips, testing her balance as she spread her legs on either side of his thighs.

Seamus’sfingers trailed over her waist, his eyes clouding with lust. "I don’t know, but I’m just as attracted to you. And I don’t believe in destiny anymore. Random, capricious things happen, and we react. Nothing happens for a reason. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy them all the same."

The words weren’t bitter or cold.Just matter-of-fact. But they made her feel unaccountably sad.

She’d never thought about destiny as irrefutable either. Her whole adult life had been spent trying to shape and mold her own future, to maintain control. It wasn’t destiny that determined her actions—she did. But on the other hand, she wasn’t sure she believed in total randomness either. Look at how she had tried to control her relationship with Marcus, and the awful, humiliating way it had ended. That had been two years ago, and in all that time, she had never managed to convince herself that it had been for the best that it had ended the way it had. She didn’t know now why she was so attracted to this man—vampire—in front of her.

All she knew was that Seamus Fox was dangerous to her control, to everything she had worked for. All that dignity she had wrapped around herself like a blanket after she’d found out Marcus had cheated on her about nine times over.

Yet despite her fear, she wanted Seamus, desired him in a way she had never, ever wanted her ex. Her need for Seamus was exciting, sexy.

Even as she thought it, her body was warming under his stare, limbering up and relaxing. It should have felt odd to be arching her back, thrusting her br**sts toward him, rocking her hips slowly, but it didn’t. She wanted to feel desirable, wanted Seamus to appreciate how he had disrupted both their lives. Realize that there was something that flowed between them that had her on edge, confused, desperate.

"So this is random?" Cara brushed her chest against his as she undid the button on her pants. That was the only explanation for why she was even doing this.

"Very." Seamus moved his lips over her jaw. His fingers shoved her jeans down the second she undid the zipper.

She shimmied out of them, aware she was wearing rather ordinary stretchy seamless hot pink panties. But they covered her backside, and she needed that for the moment. "Does this feel randomly good or randomly bad?"

Heart thumping, Cara held on to Seamus’s shoulders and climbed fully into his lap. Given the grunt/groan he gave, he hadn’t been expecting that.

"Randomly good."And as if to prove it, he grabbed her hot pink panty—covered ass. "Cara."

"Yes?" She got some leverage and moved up and down, hips turning, back rolling, br**sts giving a little bounce. He had nice, hard thighs, and she was starting to get turned on all over again. He seemed to have that kind of effect on her.

He ground his hands into her taut flesh, lifted his own hips to crash against her. "I don’t know. Was I saying something?"

"I think so." Cara leaned against his shoulder, breathed hard as overwhelming need rolled over her. "Don’t you remember?"

"No." He nuzzled her neck, licked her flesh.

She shivered in anticipation. He was going to bite her. She wanted him to. Bite her hard, mark her,make her have yet another orgasm. She felt greedy and excited and aware that she was different, sharper,stronger .Hornier.

"Take your panties off. Let me inside you."

The teasing tip of his fangs put pressure on her skin, distracting her. It felt so good, the rocking, the heat, the hard push of his hands on her waist, his teeth torturing a tingle of anticipation from her body.

But when he lifted her backside, began shoving down her panties, she snapped back to reality. There was something he didn’t know about her, didn’t understand.

"We can’t."

"Why not?"He continued fighting with her underwear even as she tried to wiggle back out of his reach.

"Because I’m a virgin."She was starting to panic now. She didn’t want to sleep with Seamus Fox. Not when she seemed to have no control over herself. Not when she was at the mercy of her new urges, not when she was confusing feeding with sensuality, and was clearly exhibiting some kind of bizarre infatuation for the man who had saved her from death.

Seamus stopped moving. Then he burst out laughing."A virgin? Please."

Please what? Feeling like she’d been slapped, Cara jerked back off his lap and planted her feet firmly on the ground. "Yes, a virgin."

"If you don’t want to have sex with me just yet, all you have to do is say that." Seamus shook his head, a grin still plastered on his face. "You don’t have to lie."

"I am a virgin."

"Whatever." He patted her butt.

Cara moved out of his reach and pulled her pants up. That was it. She did not want to see Seamus for the rest of the night. He could take his vampire persuasion, sarcasm, and dickheadedness , and leave her alone.

"Get out." She would not suffer any more humiliation.

The smile fell off his face. "Oh, shit, are we starting this again? I thought you were over that."

Zipping her jeans, she headed in the direction of the bedroom, so frustrated she wanted to scream "Die vampire scum!" at the top of her lungs.

"And this is my apartment, by the way."

"Then I’ll leave." Cara yanked her suitcase up, forgetting her new strength. The little wheeled bag hit the ceiling, scraped the plaster, and ricocheted back down to the carpet.

"You can’t leave."

As if he hadn’t told her ninety times."This topic is getting boring. I’m leaving. And you can’t stop me."

Fueled by indignation and irritation, Cara called her animals, ran to the front door, threw it open, and tore out into the hallway with her suitcase, not sure where in the hell she was going, but wanting away from Seamus.

It wasn’t a big surprise that he followed her. What was startling was how fast he got there. In about one point six seconds he was at her back, another blink and he was in front of her. She slammed into his chest, unable to stopherself , and he stumbled back a few feet, causing her to trip over her suitcase. They hovered together, tangled arms and ankles, for a movie-like hang time, then they both crashed to the floor, Cara knocking hard on Seamus’s rib.