Bled Dry (Vegas Vampires #3)(38)
Author: Erin McCarthy

It was endless. Interminable. The questions were all incendiary:

“Why do my boobs look so huge?”

“Do you think these pants are mislabeled? They’re really tight.”

“What’s my best color?”

“Why is my nose so shiny?”

And worst of all, an hour and thirty minutes into the torture, a plaintive plea, made with big eyes and a trembling lip, “You don’t like my hair short, do you? I made a huge mistake cutting it, didn’t I?”

Corbin stood up and set the piles of clothes onto the bench and moved toward her. He cupped her cheeks with his hands and brushed a kiss on her soft lips. “I love your hair,” he told her truthfully. If he had loved it more longer, no matter. “I love your body, I love your heart, the way you embrace life, your optimism, your passion, your tenderness, and selflessness.” He rested his hand on her belly, swelling slightly beneath the cotton shirt she had put on. “I love that you are the mother of my child.”

I love you , he almost added, but the words stuck in his throat. It would sound like a balm, like a token gesture if he said it now, and he wasn’t sure if he even meant it exactly. He thought he did, but how was one really sure about these things?

Everything he spoke, he meant, and best to leave it at that.

She sniffled. “What the hell has happened to me? I’m never like this. But now I walk around feeling like I just got my eyebrows waxed. Stunned and watery-eyed. It’s so annoying.”

“I think it is called hormones.” He tucked her short hair behind her ear.

She promptly popped it back out. “Don’t do that. I hate the way it feels.” Then she immediately made a face. “Ugh. Listen to me. I sound so bitchy and whiny.”

Her words, not his. Corbin decided he needed to take control of the situation. “This is exhausting, that’s all. We’ve done enough for today.” He plucked at the pants she was wearing. “I don’t like these as much as the others. Leave this pair and get the jeans.” Turning, he gathered up what she’d piled on his lap. “You have four outfits here, plus you can wear some of the items together. It is enough for tonight.”

She looked relieved to have him making decisions. Nodding, she headed back for the fitting room. “I’ll just try on the bras then, because I have to get a couple of new ones. I’m going to suffocate in my old ones.”

Corbin flagged down the saleswoman and handed her the pile. “Can you start ringing these up, please?” So they could get the hell out of there.

“Corbin?” Brittany called from behind the closed door. “I need some help.”

“Do you need a different size? Pass it over and I’ll get the clerk.”

“No, I need you to adjust these straps.” The door opened a crack and her face peeked out. “Can you just slip in here with me?”

That did not seem appropriate in the least for him to join her inside the fitting room in full view of anyone in the store, but this was not Regency England, but Vegas in the twenty-first century. At times he had to remind himself the same rules of etiquette did not apply.

He went into the fitting room, squeezing himself in sideways so he wouldn’t expose her to the room at large. Brittany was standing there in her panties and a bra with the tags dangling from it, her hands holding straps that were clearly too loose. It was nice to see she hadn’t gone to what Justin had called granny panties yet. She was wearing a black thong. That was good. But it was bad that he suddenly had an erection wholly inappropriate for the setting.

“What do you need me to do?” he asked, trying not to stare at her burgeoning br**sts. Her smooth thighs. Her bare, tight backside, reflected clearly in the mirror. The triangle of her black panties hugging her femininity in front. Corbin’s mouth went dry and his fangs let down.

“Just adjust the little white clip thing and make the straps shorter. It’s all the way in the back and I can’t reach it.”

She turned around, holding the straps where she wanted them, so he could see the excess length gaping. Swallowing hard, he studied the little prongs and tried to determine how they worked. The sound of her breathing, the beating of her heart, were distracting him. And he would swear on his mother’s grave that he was catching the scent of arousal from her. She was enjoying standing nearly naked in front of him.

The thought increased his own ardor. Nine weeks was not a long time for a vampire, but it felt like forever, plus one day, for Corbin. He could not wait another minute to touch Brittany, to feel her skin, to taste her rushing, vibrant blood.

Moving the prong upward, he shortened the length of the strap, brushing his fingers over her flesh as he went to the other. He adjusted it as well, then looked at her in the mirror. “How does that feel?”

“It’s better,” she said, voice a little husky.

With his index finger he reached around and traced the outline of the bra, above the cotton, where her flesh was spilling forward. “You are sure it es not too small?”

“I don’t think so. It feels comfortable.”

Corbin flipped the straps down her shoulders. “Maybe you should try another to be certain.” Undoing the back hook, he stripped it off her efficiently.

Her breath caught and she met his gaze in the mirror. “I did pick out a black one, too.”

Tossing the bra over the door to dangle there, Corbin stared at Brittany reflected in front of him. “You’re gorgeous,” he told her, moving his hands to cup her firm br**sts. He kissed her shoulder, and ran his touch down to her belly, swollen in an intriguing bubble. “I thought you were sexy before, but now, with my child inside you, I am speechless at how beautiful you are.”

Her eyes drifted close as he caressed over her flesh. “Thank you. I feel really good right now… I’ve heard the middle trimester is the easiest. We should probably take advantage of that.”

That sounded like an invitation to him. Corbin teased her panties forward and slipped a finger down, down, right into her welcoming moist body. He had been right about her arousal. She was ready for him. Brittany gave a soft gasp.

“Let’s take advantage of that right now,” he said.

“Here?” She sounded shocked, but her hips began to move, ever so slowly, rocking herself onto his finger. “I don’t know… ”

It wasn’t a convincing protest, so Corbin peeled her panties down, kissing the back of her neck. “You feel so good. I have missed you.”