High Stakes (Vegas Vampires #1)(2)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Double doors.Bingo. Alexis reached for the handle and turned it right as the guard reached her. He touched her shoulder, and before Alexis could even figure out what was happening, she was sailing through the air like water tossed from a bucket. She landed with a bone-crunching smack—nerves firing, muscles jarring, face grinding into the gray carpet.

" Ow," she said. Damn, double damn, she had broken every bone in her frickin ‘ body.Including her nose, which she grabbed, eyes watering. Like she didn’t have enough problems at the moment— now she was going to have to suffer through rhinoplasty to fix a broken nose.

"I’m sorry, Mr. Carrick. I tried to stop her," Big Stupid Jerk said.

"Apologize to the lady, James, and help her up. I’m sure you didn’t mean to trip her."

First of all, she hadn’t been tripped. He had pushed her, though she didn’t see how one little shoulder shove could toss her five feet across the room. Second of all, that voice just sent shivers down her probably broken spine. Dang, no wonder the guy was successful. He sounded commanding and cultured, confident and calm.

Which pissed her off.

"James can keep his goddamn hands off of me," she said, peeling her face from the floor like old wallpaper.

Doing so brought legs into her line of vision. Not just one pair.Or two. But a dozen pairs of legs, some in dress pants, some wearing pantyhose, one lone rebel in jeans.

Whoops.Looked like Carrick was having a dinner party. She felt so bad for interrupting.Not .

Thick hands touched the back of her own pantyhose-covered calves and Alexis kicked out in reflex, making contact with a hard surface. Perfect. It was Stupid Jerk James’s chest, she saw with satisfaction as he grunted in what she hoped like hell was pain.

"Hello? Keep your hands off me!"

"I was just going to uh flip " He was making motions with his hands like he was folding a tortilla in half.

Alexis glanced down.Lovely. Her suit skirt had ridden up during impact and thebottom of her buns were peeking out. This was why she hated girl clothes. Couldn’t do a damn thing in them, couldn’t look like a heterosexual without them.

James, who apparently had a death wish, yanked her skirt back into place quickly. But not so quickly that he missed getting cracked on the hand when Alexis reached back and popped him one.

"Isaid, keep your hands off me." Alexis pushed herself up onto her knees.

"Mr. Carrick," James whined, "I was just—"

"Let her alone, James. She obviously doesn’t appreciate your gentlemanly assistance."

There was humor in Carrick’s voice, and Alexis felt her already tested temper flare. She stood up, adjusted her jacket and skirt, and turned to her audience. "He’s the one who pushed me in the first place!"

Her gaze floated from the receptionist to James and on past, trying to find the source of the voice that was pissing her off. Well, they were all pissing her off, but Carrick more so because he was laughing at her. No one laughed at Alexis Baldizzi or her baby sister, Brittany. Okay, so people probably laughed at Alexis Baldizzi . But never so she could see or hear it.

Prepared to rip the bastard’s face off, Alexis dismissed an aging hippie in jeans, passed over a brunette in a cocktail dress, and landed on a man in the center of the room, one hand casually in the pocket of his gray pants. Damn it, he was gorgeous.

Not that she had expected her sister would run off with a mutant, but this guy was hot. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, well dressed, muscular but not too pumped up crap. It might be harder than she’d thought to drag Brittany away from this guy.

But no matter how difficult, or how well Carrick’s pants fit, Alexis was going to succeed."Carrick?"

"I am Ethan Carrick, yes. And to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" He took several steps closer to her and smiled.

The calm, casual tone he was using was unnerving. But Alexis readjusted her mental strategy. She was a prosecutor and she knew how to switch gears based on people’s reactions to her. So she stood a little straighter and stuck her hand out. "Alexis Baldizzi , county prosecutor. I need to speak with you for a minute."And rip your nuts off .

Face, nuts, something needed to be ripped off.

He stopped in front of her. Took her hand, and slowly, slowly shook it, clasping her tightly in his grip."Right this moment?"

"Yes." Shake, shake, her hand still went up and down in his. She gave a little tug, but couldn’t escape the contact. He wasn’t letting go of her, which was just weird. Tugging again as he smiled—an innocent Botticelli blond angel smile—she asked, "Do you have an office we could step into?’

There was just a slight pause,then he dropped her hand so quickly, her whole arm careened into her leg."Certainly, Ms. Baldizzi ." He turned to his ten or soguests . "Excuse us momentarily. I’m so sorry for the interruption."

Then he gestured for her to walk in front of him. "I have a private office right down the hall. Would you like some coffee, water, wine?"

"No, thank you." Alexis adjusted the strap of her handbag on her shoulder. His aplomb was really starting to bug her. He didn’t look the least bit curious as to why she had barged into his reception room at six o’clock on a Friday night. In her job, she was used to people reacting to her with suspicion, yet this guy was completely unconcerned.

"Are you perhaps any relation to Brittany Baldizzi ?" he asked conversationally. "She’s a dentist."

Weeelll.Slick Rick.Bringing Brittany up first.Alexis had to give him credit. He was smooth, and oh-so-polite. Charm personified. He had gone on the attack, mating the first move, which put her on the defensive. And she hated him all the more for it.

"She’s my sister." Alexis stopped walking toward the door and whirled to face him, temper getting the best of her rationality.

His eyebrow rose."Sister?Really? You don’t look a thing alike, though you’re both lovely. And at this exact moment, I couldn’t say where Brittany is, but I would guess she’s in her room. She’s planning on joining me at the informal dinner I’m having."

Not if Alexis had to kill him first. "Where’s her room?" she asked through clenched teeth. Good thing her sister did her dental work because she was probably cracking a filling.

"Suite twenty-three twenty.There’s a private elevator from this floor. Is there a problem?A family emergency? Perhaps I can be of assistance."

"You can assist me by getting the hell out of my way." Alexis was upset. Really upset. Like her eyelids were twitching and her hands were fisting and her legs were jiggling. Brittany had abandoned her dental practice, moved into aLas Vegas casino that looked remarkably like a giant dildo, had not spoken to her sister in three weeks, and this guy was acting like they were at a goddamn Meet and Greet.