Bit the Jackpot (Vegas Vampires #2)(9)
Author: Erin McCarthy

"Her name is Cara. She’s a stripper I met tonight and she’s fine.Now." He wasn’t sure he wanted to go into the rest. "And I’d appreciate it if you just kept this quiet for now."

"A stripper?I had no idea you had this kinky side, Seamus." She smirked a little. "But if she would actually like to put on something other than a silk robe when she comes to, I’d be happy to give her a T-shirt."

He hadn’t gotten that far in his thought process. He was still somewhere in thejustget her tucked away in his apartment step. "Thanks. But I’m sure I have a T-shirt if she wants one."

"You really are stubborn, aren’t you?" Alexis followed him to the front door.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about." Seamus cradled Cara against his chest and bent awkwardly to turn the doorknob.

"It kills you to have anyone help you. And I think you would shrivel up and die before you actuallyasked for help."

There wasn’t any truth to that. He was not stubborn. He was self-sufficient. He could ask for help if he needed it. "You don’t know anything about me. I can ask for help." He stepped out into the hallway. "Look, if it makes you feel better, you can get my key card out of my back pocket. It’s in my wallet and I don’t think I can reach it."

"Fine, I can do that."

"See? I can ask for help." His body rocked a little as Alexis reached into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Yeah, you just sound like an ungrateful prick doing it, but whatever."

"Is there a reason my wife’s hand is on your ass?" Ethan said from several feet behind them.

Shit. Seamus just couldn’t catch a break. "She’s getting my wallet out."

"I could say a million witty things right now," Alexis said. "But Seamus needs to go, honey. He has a bloody chick in his arms."

"Seamus?" Ethan asked in a quiet, questioning voice.

Alexis was too young of a vampire to figure it out, but Seamus knew Ethan was on to him. Closing his eyes briefly, he turned around and faced his friend, mentor,the vampire who had turned him. "Can we go into my room if we’re going to discuss this?"

Ethan studied Cara. "We can discuss it later. Take care of her. And if she needs someone to talk to, I’m sure Alexis would be happy to walk her through the change."

"The change?"Alexis’s voice rose as she handed him his key card. "Did you turn her? Seamus!"

"Keep your voice down," Ethan reprimanded. He nudged her toward the open door. Alexis smacked him back but let Ethan push her into their apartment.

"Thanks, Ethan." Seamus adjusted Cara’s weight in his arms. "And Kelsey is missing again. We were at the SomeLike It Hot nightclub onSpringMountain and we were attacked. Maybe you can call her."

To his credit, Ethan probably had ten questions, but he didn’t ask them. He just nodded."Absolutely."

"Thanks." Seamus walked down the hall, swiped the key card, stepped into his suite of rooms, and gently laid Cara down on his bed.

Now he had noclue what the hell to do with her.

She was covered in blood. It was on her cheek, chin,chest , caked in her hair, streaked down her arms, and crusted all over the back of her robe.

The least he could do was wash her face and arms. And maybe inspiration on what to tell her would hit while he was soaping her up.

Cara was having a really excellent dream where she was an Egyptian queen and a buff slave was washing her, rubbing his big, strong hands up and down her arms, across her neck, and down her chest, causing her ni**les to tighten and warmth to pool between her legs.

Lazily, she lounged on her back, and through half-open eyes checked out the slave guy servicing her.

Remarkably, he looked like Seamus Fox, the weirdo from the club. Strange that he would be in her dream, and strange that she didn’t remember leaving work after meeting him.

He had that intense look on his face again, just the way he had looked at her in the club.Like he was concentrating, like he could see into her mind, her body, her soul. Cara tensed up as his head bent over her. He was going to lick her ni**les, suck them hard, and she was really looking forward to it.

Except instead he froze and said, " Uhh "

Cara frowned. That didn’t sound very Egyptian slave-like. And why did her chin feel wet?

"Egyptian slave?" he said, leaning over her, the washcloth clenched in his hand. "Cara "

Oh, my God, she wasn’t sleeping. She realized it all at once, that she was still in her robe and jeans, that she was in a room she’d never seen before, and that her skin felt damp like Seamus had in reality been washing her. She glanced at the washcloth.Washing off the blood.

She tried to sit up, panic gushing over her. Holy crap, she’d seen some weird alley fight, she’d been hit by a car,she’d thrown up blood.

"Easy now.You’re still adjusting to the change." Seamus pushed her onto her back.

"The change?"That’s right. He had told her he was a vampire. That she was one now, too. It wasn’t a dream. It was a nightmare, and it was her life. "Seamus is that really your name?"

"Yes, it’s really my name."

"Am I really a vampire?"

"Yes."

Not what she wanted to hear. Not good, not good at all.

Overcome with nine thousand conflicting feelings, all of them ugly and frightened and hysterical, she stared up into his gorgeous face and searched for something—compassion, friendliness, anything. All she saw was discomfort.

"It will be fine," he said.

"I hate you," she replied, and embarrassed herself by bursting into tears.

Seamus dropped the washcloth, put out his hand, and patted her head. "Shit, don’t do that. Don’t cry,it’s okay."

She swatted at his hand. He was petting her like a dog. "Go away and die." Then she started laughing, hysterical snuffling snorts. "But you can’t, can you? You can’t die."

"No." He shook his head, looking baffled. "And neither can you now."

Pushing hard on his chest, she sat up. She couldn’t lie there like that, feeling helpless, him hovering over her. She choked back more sobs and demanded, "Why didn’t you leave me dead in the street? I don’t want to be a vampire! I don’t like the sight of blood. I don’t like black. I’m in vet school and I have three dogs and two cats at home."

Just the thought of her animals sent her into a panic."My babies! What’s going to happen to them? I have to call my neighbor so she can let them out in the morning. They’re used to me getting home around three."

"Your babies?"

"My dogs.I have two Labs and a Chihuahua , plus a tabby and a tiger." Cara stood up, tugging her robe together at her br**sts, and glanced around. Where was the freaking door? She may be dead, but she wasn’t Seamus’s prisoner. Cara spotted the front door and charged for it.