High Stakes (Vegas Vampires #1)(30)
Author: Erin McCarthy

"I imagine so."

"Hmm."She made a little sound in the back of her throat. "Well, I can admit it. I’m impressed."

Cabinet members had complimented his political speeches, men had praised his bravery on the battlefield, and ancient vampires had told him he was their leader, and yet nothing had sounded quite as ego-satisfying as Alexis acknowledging he had a nice package.

"Get in the room, Alexis." He took her arm to tug her forward.

She gave him one of those karate maneuvers and sent his hand sailing up in the air. "No pulling."

"I wasn’t pulling," he said in exasperation. "I was encouraging you to move forward."

An extensive eye roll was her response.

"What time is it?" he complained, giving his door a satisfying slam shut when she finally moved forward enough for clearance.

"It’s like three in the afternoon." She went over to his minifridge and opened the door. With a muffled scream, she slammed it back shut. " Geez, there are bags of blood in there. I was hoping for a diet soft drink."

Ethan scratched his chest and sat down on the sofa, spreading his legs apart for full effect. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company? I didn’t expect you back until this evening."

But he really liked that she’d shown up early. So much so, he had to wonder why.

"You’re not going to get dressed, are you?" Alexis stood with her hand on her hip.

"No, I am not. Once you leave, I am going back to bed."

"So you don’t have a coffin?"

"Not since the seventeenthcentury, and I don’t miss it in the slightest. Wood does not make a comfortable bed."

"I read online that vampires can’t stay awake during the day. They fall into a coma-like sleep. Does that happen to you?"

Now he was tempted to roll his eyes. "Do I look like I’m in a coma to you?"

"No, you look raring to go."

"Then there is your answer. Perhaps we should go over some vampire basics."

"Okay. But first I have to know if you heard anything about the guy who shot you."

"No. Not yet. But I expect we’ll have some answers tonight."

"Does that happen a lot? People trying to kill you?"

"Hardly ever," he assured her."Maybe once a century or so."

She frowned, a delicious little pout that had him considering sucking her lip into his mouth.

"Ethan, who knows about you?Vampires, I mean. That there are vampires in Vegas."

"No one."SinCitymade a perfect cover for their kind. In a city of fluorescent lights and twenty-four-hour-a-day gambling, shopping, eating, and banking, no one thought a thing about him entering his casino every night instead of during the day.

Alexis didn’t seem to like his answer. She tugged on the hem of her tank top, flipping it up, then down, up, then down. "Do all of you live here?"

"No. We’re all over the world, scattered to make us less noticeable, but also because we are of different backgrounds, speak different languages. Most want to stay near where they were born and lived their mortal lives."

She was pacing back and forth, clearly agitated. Ethan knew she needed answers, but he also knew too much information too soon might overwhelm her, turn her from him. That he most definitely did not want.

"Alexis, would you like to see the casino? I could give you a tour and we can talk."

"I don’t gamble. I don’t drink. I hate burlesque shows. And I’m not real crazy about smoking or the sound of slot machines."

"Then why do you live in Vegas?"

That stopped her pacing. She looked startled. "I don’t know." drTugging on her shirt again, she said, "Because I was raised here, I

guess. I’ve never lived anywhere else.And because of Brittany ." He wondered if it was time to bring up the sticky issue of

Brittany being a half-vampire.Alexis seemed to have forgotten that he’d mentioned that little tidbit when she had thought they were still playing a game. Deciding to let it go for the time being, he asked, "Are your mother and father still here?"

She snorted. "No. My father left when my mother told him his newborn baby girl, Brittany, was not his child. Never to be seen or heard of again,I might add. And Iwas legitimately his kid."

Ethan stood up, suddenly sorry he was naked. He had the urge to pull her into his arms. She was so tough, so determined, so hurt deep down inside. He wasn’t a man who carried past hurts around with him, but he understood loneliness.

"My mother died of a drug overdose. She was a stripper." The look she shot at him was defiant, proud.

He stopped where he was. Alexis wasn’t a woman who would appreciate his pity. That would send her running from him. "I hear there’s good money dancing," he said, forcing nonchalance into his voice. "Good way to raise a couple kids when you’re a single parent."

It was the right thing to say, even if it rubbed against his every instinct of protectiveness.

Alexis let out a sharp burst of laughter. "Shut up and put some pants on, Carrick."

But he caught the smile that crossed her face before she turned, and Ethan had the sudden frightening feeling that something had just happened to him that would have far-reaching consequences.

Time to pull out the poetry.

He had met his match.

As Alexis watched Ethan’s fine-looking butt head into the room, she gave a construction worker whistle, fingers between her lips, just to rattle him. And it was a damn sexy behind.Tight and muscular.

Ethan paused. "You know," he said over his shoulder, "for a woman who claimed she didn’t find me attractive, you’re a voracious ogler ."

Sometimes he sounded a bit too British."A voracious ogler ? Is that like a vicious ka- nid? Can that be my title?" She gave a stately stroll across the room. "Hello, I’m a voracious ogler ." With a queen’s wave, she nodded her head. "Yes, yes, thank you so much. I know. Yes, good to see you, yes, quite so. Weare pleased with the results of the election. Here’s to four more years of prosperity and progress."

"Forty."

"Forty what?"She dropped the accent."Years. The term of the presidency is forty years." That was a little reminder of what she was dealing with here. It still seemed so incredibly make-believe. Except she’d seen Ethan bleed out, and twenty hours later he was healthy and standing, without a single scratch on his naked, hard body. It was real.

"Well, aren’t you guys thinking ahead? That makes total sense." She resumed her regal persona. "Here’s to forty more years of prosperity and progress in the Vampire Nation."