High Stakes (Vegas Vampires #1)(4)
Author: Erin McCarthy

During the time he had been with her, Ethan hadn’t been able to pick up on any of Alexis’s thoughts. Not that he had really been trying to probe her mind, but nothing had come across to him.

"I don’t know. I didn’t sense anything from her, but I wasn’t focusing on it. I was focusing more on staying out of her firing range.Not my kind of woman, Ethan, seriously." Seamus shuddered.

Ethan looked at his friend and campaign manager, suddenly curious, and unable to resist the chance to give Seamus a hard time. "Whatis your type of woman? I haven’t seen you with a female since that little French girl tried to get you to take a turn on the guillotine. Are you saving yourself for marriage or something?"

Seamus scowled. "With all due respect, Mr. President, mind your own damn business."

With a laugh, Ethan clapped Seamus on the back, as the elevator finally opened for Alexis. "Let’s go back to the guests. Brittany won’t leave, I can guarantee it."

Because Brittany could not leave.As an Impure, she was his ticket to reelection for the presidency of the Vampire Nation. She would appease his minority constituents, and lend credence to his claim that he was older, wiser, less inclined to violence than he had been in his youth.

Which was true.He did see the value of negotiation and democracy now, whereas at one time he’d thought the only solution to a problem was to raise his sword. Now he was ready for diplomacy, and Brittany would make a truly valuable first lady.

"Are you sure? You haven’t exactly been, uh, aggressive with Brittany . You’re usually much more, well, successful earlier on with women." Seamus cleared his throat.

"I’m wooing her, Seamus." Ethan glared at his friend. "This is a serious venture, not a hot tumble in the barn. I’m being delicate."

Which was a laugh in itself.Ethan hadn’t wooed any woman with the intention of doing more than getting her out of her clothes.

This was different, and he was having a little trouble adjusting himself to the prospect of a monogamous relationship.Marriage. Jesus. He got vampire sweat in his armpits just thinking about it. And with Brittany an Impure, their marriage could last some sixty years or more.

"Well, pick up the pace on the wooing. It looks like you’re not interested in her. If Iwere a girl, I wouldn’t think you were being delicate, I’d think you wanted to be ‘just friends.’" Seamus made quote marks with his fingers.

Everyone was a critic. "If you were a girl, I wouldn’t be pursuing your platter-face. But do you think you can do this better? You woo her. Let’s see how far you get, Mr. No Date This Century. At least I’m still having sex."

"You’re having sex? You’re not supposed to be having sex!" Seamus looked instantly alarmed. "You’re supposed to be convincing Brittany and every other undead that you’ve reformed. You can’t be whoring around at the same time you’re ‘wooing’ Brittany ."

"Will you quit with the damn quote marks in the air? And I didn’t mean I was having sex this minute. I just meant I have recently. You know, more recently than you, who last had sex when Napoleon was alive."

"Kiss my arse ." Seamus’s brogue, which he had lost over the centuries, reappeared in his anger.

Ethan laughed. "Relax. If you want to be a monk, that’s your business. And I’ll turn on the charm with Brittany if you feel things are moving too slowly. I agreed to get myself a wife, didn’t I? My word is sacred."

Yet for some reason, instead of picturing serene Brittany at his side, a vision of her obnoxious sister rose in his mind.

And his thoughts regarding her had nothing to do with marriage and everything to do with arousal.

Shit. Seamus was right. He wasn’t trying to charm Brittany . Not with much enthusiasm anyway.Because the thought of bedding Brittany left him cold.

And the thought of Alexis made him lava-hot.

Which was one more reason to avoid Alexis.

It didn’t matter if she had challenged him by her dismissal and insult. He was a Master Vampire, elected president of all undead registered voters. He knew plenty of women who would sleep with him willingly and with great pleasure.Scores of women.

Her attitude was not a reflection on his manhood in any way, and he did not need to prove himself to her.

Ethan grimaced.Liar. Itmattered a hell of a lot that Alexis Baldizzi had looked at him like he was a troll.

Which wasn’t a positive thing at all.

He had sworn to give up violence and casual sex, and in ten minutes Alexis Baldizzi had him contemplating doing both to her.

Chapter Two

Alexis impatiently watched the elevatoropen, annoyed that she’d had to stand there pacing for five minutes while Carrick had stood in the doorway and watched her. He had spoken too low for her to hear his words, but when he’d laughed, she’d had the annoying suspicion that he had been amused by her.

Ready to charge onto the elevator, Alexis saw Brittany standing in it, smoothing the stomach of her black cocktail dress.

Alexis sighed in relief.

Brittany was alive, even if she had been brainwashed. And leave it to her baby sister to thrive under the circumstances. She looked gorgeous—all high cheekbones, glowing eyes, and glossy hair. Money and sex were good for the complexion, apparently.

Not that Alexis would know, since she had neither, but Brittany looked great.

"Alex!" Brittany smiled and threw her arms around her for a hug. "What are you doing here?"

Saving her from a heated sexual affair with a rich man, of course.

Alexis was going to have to come up with a better argument than that to get Brittany to leave.

Hands on her hips, she frowned as Brittany moved out of the way of the elevator door. "Hello? I was worried about you! This is totally not like you, Brittany."

Her sister just laughed. "Actually, yes, it is. I’m the impulsive one who thinks with her emotions. You’re the one who plans everything to the last detail. I think it’s because my biological father was a drifter, you know. I just go with the moment."

Alexis winced as Brittany grabbed her hand and tried to pull her down the hall, toward Ethan and his stone-faced friend. Alexis was uncomfortable whenever Brittany discussed her father, and frankly, she didn’t know how a man who had seduced a married woman, then abandoned her pregnant, could have produced her sister, who was one of the sweetest women in Vegas.

Which probably wasn’t saying much, given the grading curve of divas and strippers, but Brittany still deserved a special shout out for being damn nice.

"Ethan! Look who’s here!" Brittany called in her cheerleader voice."My sister, Alex!"

"I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her," Ethan said, his deep voice carrying the length of the hall. "Why don’t you bring her in to join the rest of the guests?" With a smile, he disappeared from the doorway, retreating into the reception room.