Bit the Jackpot (Vegas Vampires #2)(26)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Satan wiggled free, scrambled over Fritz’s back, and settled on Cara’s pillow.Served her right. Seamus rolled onto his back.

One of the cats leaped onto the foot of the bed and sat on his right foot, crushing it. Seamus yanked his foot out from under cat ass. "Damn it."

The cat took advantage of the newfound space and curled up into a ball where Seamus’s foot had been. Seamus turned on his side. The black cat jumped on the bed right where Seamus’s face was." Argh." He turned, but so did thecat, and he wound up with a furry tail in his mouth.

He pushed the cat’s rump down until it lay on the sliver of bed between Seamus and the nightstand. "Stay."

Feeling squished and pissedoff, Seamus flipped onto his back and watched Cara come out of the bathroom.Still wearing sweats.Still wearing a T-shirt, though it was a different one.An even baggier one.

" Aahhh, look how cute you all look," she said. "Where’s Button? Button! Come here, baby."

The other Lab bounded into the room and leaped onto the bed. Cara slid in behind him. She lifted the Chihuahua off her pillow and cuddled him against her chest. The chest Seamus wanted to cuddle against.

The Labs grumbled at each other as they nudged and pushed for positioning.

"Cara, I’m not sure the bed is big enough for all these animals."

"Sure it is." She fixed the blankets over herself. "It’s cozy and comforting."

Not the words he would have chosen.

"I’m going down to the casino with Kelsey and Alexis again tonight," she said, capping her words off with a yawn.

"That’s fine." Even if it scared him, he couldn’t see a legitimate reason to say no when she would have a bodyguard with her, and she’d be staying in Ethan’s casino.

"I wasn’t asking permission."

Seamus rolled his eyes and shifted, causing the black cat to shoot him a look of displeasure. He gritted his fangs."Fine."

It was the only word he could manage, because this was a fine end to a long life. He was a vampire, for hell’s sake.Strong.Bloodthirsty.Intelligent.And what else?

Whipped by a woman.Awoman who lived with him, decorated his apartment, ordered him checks, and shared his bed, but who he had not had sex with.

She was silent for a minute. Then, "Do you think we need relationship counseling?"

"No!" He’d rather hack his own head off. And what kind of relationship did she think they had? Besides weird and asexual, that is.

"Well, you’revery closed."

So was she. She’d yet to let him anywhere near her inner thighs in days. "Vampires don’t go to counseling."

"Humph," was her opinion on that.

He wished he could read her mind and figure out what planet she was coming from, but her thoughts were shuttered.

"Good night," she said after a second.

That made him smile, just a little. "Actually, it’s good day."

Brittany Baldizzi was still adjusting to the fact that she was half-vampire and her sister Alexis was now a full vampire, married to the president of the Vampire Nation. It was a big change, some of it a little unnerving. But she did appreciate that she could now call Alexis at all hours of the night.

She leaned her head on the edge of the bathtub to cool her flushed skin, and hit the button for Alexis on her cell phone. Even though Alex couldn’t do anything to make the flu go away faster, it would make Brittany feel better to hear her sister’s voice. Alexis had raised her when their mother had overdosed, and was Brittany ‘s rock. Alexis would let her whine about how lousy she felt.

Actually, Alexis would probably come over and wipe her brow. Help her change her sweaty T-shirt. Tuck her into bed. Get her some ginger ale.All of which sounded very appealing from her hunched-over position on the cold bathroom floor.

She’d never been this sick in her life and it was awful.

Unfortunately, Alexis wasn’t answering her cell phone.

When the voice mail came on, Brittany said, "Alex?" in a shaky, hopeful voice. But Alexis didn’t pick up.

She dropped the cell phone and let a tear slip out of each eye and roll down her cheeks. She felt really damn awful. Like something had gone inside her intestines and started jackhammering through the interior walls. Not to mention she was light-headed and cold.

But other than her sister, she had no idea who she could call in the middle of the night on a Thursday for some sympathy and Pepto-Bismol.

Corbin popped into her head for some reason.

Brittany sighed and picked at her sweaty shirt, lifting it up and shivering when the cool air hit her wet skin underneath. Even if she knew how to call Corbin, she wouldn’t. They didn’t have a relationship or anything. He was just a vampire she had met in Ethan’s hotel, and he had told her he was a scientist, researching a cure to vampirism. He had asked for a sample of her blood, and somehow, she wasn’t really sure exactly how, but their clothes had fallen off and suddenly she’d been having amazing sex with him.But then, nothing. He had zipped on out of her apartment about a minute after he’d pulled it out, which had been fine with her because she’d been mortified at her behavior.

That should have been it.

It shouldn’t matter. She really didn’t even know him. But it still hurt, just a little, that he’d thought so poorly of either her or her sexual prowess that he hadn’t bothered to call or anything.

And he was so cute.With his little Frenchie accent and his gray eyes. Corbin Jean Michel Atelier.

Her stomach cramped convulsively again. She lurched for the toilet and gripped her way through another round of heaves. When she pulled back, shaking, eyes watering, hair in her face, stomach sour, she heard the front door to her apartment open.

Thank God. It was Alex. She must have heard her pitiful voice mail and dashed over. Or somehow with her vampire senses she had detected Brittany ‘s misery.

"Alex?" she whispered, eyes closed, hand fumbling for a towel to wipe her mouth.

" Brittany ? What is the matter with you?" a voice asked from the doorway.

A voice with a French accent.Oh, shit. Brittany ‘s eyes flew open. "Corbin?" she asked weakly.

He was standing in the doorway of her tiny bathroom, looking put together and suave in dress pants and a deep blue dress shirt that complemented his fair hair and gray eyes. She hadn’t seen him in four weeks, and he looked even cuter than she remembered.

There was no telling what she looked like, and the look of horror on his face wasn’t encouraging.

He strode into the bathroom and bent down in front of her, pushing her hair back off her face and running his eyes over her. "What is wrong, Brittany ?"

"The flu."

"Do you have a fever?" He pressed his cool palm onto her forehead. "It doesn’t feel like one to me, but you are clammy. And you vomited, yes?"