Bit the Jackpot (Vegas Vampires #2)(25)
Author: Erin McCarthy

"I guess I’ll just run out tomorrow night then and get it myself. Fritz is on the verge of starvation."

Fritz was ten pounds overweight and sleeping on the couch at the moment, gut sagging toward the floor. "I’ll get it tomorrow. Sorry I forgot." Seamus went to reach for a pen to writehimself a reminder note and discovered all his writing utensils had been deposited into a hot pink, swirly container with a fluffy pink feather glued to the front. "What the hell is this? I can’t find a damn thing!"

"That’s because I organized everything for you. Once you get used to the system, you’ll see it’s so much more efficient."

Seamus supposed this was his fault. He had said no togiving Cara a suite of her own. He could be all alone in his bachelor contentment if he hadn’t been stubborn. But he didn’t want that.Despite the pink fuzzies on his man parts. He wanted Cara.In bed and out. Only she seemed to have lost any sexual interest in him, even while feeding.

If Ethan found out Seamus was guzzling twice his normal blood allotment for the sole purpose of self-feeding Cara, he was going to hit the roof. And blow right through it.

Cara seemed to take it as a matter of course that he was supposed to feed her. Only once had she asked how he ate, and he had told her the truth—from a refrigerated blood bag. She’d tried it twice, drinking a whole bag, before crinkling her nose. "I like it warm," she’d said.

Yeah, so didhe .

"More efficient.Perfect." What would be perfect would be if she’d take off her clothes and let him spread her out on this table next to the fuzzy pen holder.

Maybe he should try again. Make another move, and let her know he wanted her desperately.Had the erection to prove it. She had been interested that night of the aborted lap dance, he was sure of it.

"Cara " He snapped the pen in his hand in half. Damn, he was so pent up and confused and off-kilter. He had no clue what he was doing. "Cara "

"Can you take out the garbage?" she asked as she clicked the rod and the hideous vomit-inducing curtains onto the wall.

"What?" Between his lust and the blinding pink and orange, he’d had a hallucinogenic moment and hadn’t heard what she’d said.

"Take out the garbage, please. It’s full."

No, he’d heard that. He’d just assumed he had misheard because he didn’t give two shits about the garbage. He was horny, damn it. "Sure, I can take out the garbage."

"Oh, and when I was ordering the new comforter online for the bedroom, I noticed you have very boring checks to pay your bills. So I ordered you fun new ones. Betty Boop . They’re adorable."

Seamus dropped the pen shards.Took a deep breath. It didn’t matter if his name was printed on the same piece of paper as a cartoon bimbo.Really. It didn’t. It’s not like the opposition was going to get ahold of them. Oh, bloody hell. What if their political opponents got ahold of them? And why was she picking through his financial papers? Seamus rubbed his forehead.

"You know what? I’m going to bed."Come with me, come with me , he projected. If he could just get Cara out of her clothes, it would make the curtains seem so much less horrible, he was sure.

"I’ll come with you," she said. "Hanging these was harder than I thought."

And he’d just stood there and watched her finish the job. Nice. He went to her, took her hand.Lied through his teeth. "It looks good. Cheerful."

"You think so?"

No. "Yes.Definitely."

She leaned against his arm. "Thanks. It makes it so much easier to be a prisoner knowing I can decorate."

Was that guilt stabbing right through his heart?

"Just a little while longer, Cara, I promise.Until we figure out a few things."

"What things?"

"Don’t worry about it." He didn’t know where to start, and didn’t want to scare her. "And you know a lot more now about vampires than you did a week ago."

"I know all about the laws, all about Ethan’s political platform, all about half-blood vampires, but I don’t know anything about you."

Cara had told him about her family, about her father leaving, her mother dying, and he felt compassion that her life hadn’t been an easy one. But what was there to say abouthimself ? His mortal family had only been his father, and he could barely even remember what his father looked like. "Yes, you do know about me.Irish farmer.Told you that." Seamus tugged her hand so they headed toward the bedroom. He didn’t want to talk about himself. He wanted to take Cara to bed.

"What I don’t know is who she was."

Seamus stopped walking. "What do you mean?"

"The woman who hurt you."

His fists clenched involuntarily and he squeezed Cara’s hand. Was she reading his mind? He could have sworn all his thoughts had been closed to her. "I don’t know what you’re talking about. There was no woman."

"There had to be someone because you hold back."

This is where he really had no clue what women wanted. "Hold back?" She was the one who had nixed sex. "Come on, Cara, let’s not do this. We’re getting along here, things are fine. We were total strangers ten days ago and now we’re living together and it’s working out just fine. Don’t make things complicated."

She studied him for a second,then shrugged. "Okay. Sorry."

Well, that was very unsatisfying. Seamus tugged off his shirt and pitched it toward the laundry hamper in his closet. It fell on the floor and he ignored it. He shucked his pants and went in to the bathroom in his boxers and brushed his teeth. When he came back into the room, Cara had picked up his clothes and deposited them in the hamper. She brushed past him into the bathroom, still wearing those damn sweatpants.

He got into bed, punched his pillow six or eight times, and flopped back. Something was wrong here, only he didn’t know what it was. Fritz jumped up on the bed, turned three times, and lay down right next to Seamus.Right where he’d prefer Cara to lie.

"Get down, dog," he said in annoyance.

Fritz ignored him and stretched out his snout so that wet nose was touching the back of Seamus’s shoulders. Seamus scooted over to the edge of the mattress to get away from the slimy touch. From the floor, Satan gave a frantic orchestra of yips and whines.

"What?" Seamus stared at him, willing him to lie down and die. It didn’t work. Satan just turned up the volume.

"What’s the matter with Mr. Spock?" Cara called from the bathroom.

"He wants on the bed."

"Can you pick him up, Seamus? He hates being left out."

Seamus counted to three.Thought about taking yoga. Decided it would be better to take up boxing. "Sure." Leaning over, he grabbed the fat Chihuahua with one hand and hauled him straight up. "It’s not because I like you," he told Satan. "It’s because I like Cara."