High Stakes (Vegas Vampires #1)(42)
Author: Erin McCarthy

It was a struggle to keep a straight face. "Trustme, I’m not one of those guys. It’s just I can’t sleep at night, and I didn’t want to disturb you, so I came home to eat and do some work. I had every intention of waking you up at the crack of dawn so I could make love to you again before I sleep for the day."

Her nose wrinkled. "Well, this sucks. It’s like we’re on swing shifts. I either have to stay up half the night or you have to force yourself awake during the day."

Ethan didn’t like that any more than she did. "If I start getting up a little earlier, say five or six o’clock, and you stay up a little later, like one or two in the morning, we’d have plenty of time for dating and otheractivities . No less than other couples who both work."

She leaned on the living room wall. "Are we a couple?"

"You agreed that we’re dating, and we are now sexually mti mate, so I believe that makes us a couple, yes."

"Wow. And look at how well we compromise already. We’ve got this couple thing in the bag." That was capped off with a yawn

"You can go back to bed if you’d like, gorgeous. Or we can go lying, get some fresh air."

"Flying? Whattaya mean?" Her words started to slur together as her shoulders and eyelids drooped. "You’re not going to turn into a bat, are you? I really think that would freak me out."

"Not a bat. It’s more like a Superman maneuver. I can go for a mile or two at a time. It’s sort of like running in the air for me."

She stood straight up, tugging at her shirt. "No kidding? Can all vampires do that?"

"Just ancient ones likemyself ." A hint of braggart entered his voice, which surprised him. He’d thought he was past the pride of youth.

"Well, aren’t you the shit?"

That stripped away any feelings of grandeur. Alexis had an honest way of putting everything into perspective. "Younger vampires can go up and down and hover, but not laterally."

"Cool. Do I need my purse?"

"Just some shoes."He had his wallet in his pants pocket. Not that anyone would see them. They’d be going too fast.

A minute later, she was back with gym shoes on, and they stepped out onto his balcony. Being in the penthouse, he had one of only four balconies in his hotel.

Alexis leaned over the edge and took a deep breath of the cool night air. "So what do we do? Do I need to have a Wendy moment? Think happy thoughts? Or do you have fairy dust or something."

"Think happy thoughts if you want. But I resent being com-pared to Peter Pan."

She laughed. "You’re definitely more man than boy."

At least she’d noticed. "Stand in front of me, facing me, and wrap your arms around my chest with your legs around mine."

Alexis sort of jumped up onto him, legs way up around his waist."No, not like that, gorgeous. Keep your feet on the ground for now. If you’re up too high, you push out from me and wind will get between us, which will tug you away from me, making it harder to hold on. I don’t want you to slip off."

"That’s reassuring." She slid her waist and legs down his.

"That’s it. Nice and snug against me."

The little minx took his words to heart and did a sultry rub all up and down on him, which was incredibly distracting. "You’d better stop that. My erection will create wind resistance."

She laughed. "Nobody’s that big, Garlic."

Ethan didn’t answer, but just bent his knees and jumped off the balcony, arms locked around her.

With a squawk, she clung tighter to him." Geez! We’re in the air!"

"That’s kind of the point." Then he got going faster, and concentrated fully on the feeling of heading through the night air. The times when he allowed himself full use of the powers of his body he felt amazing, like he was free and at peace withwho and what he was.

And with the weight of Alexis in his arms, for once he was not alone on his strange journey.

That was the unexpected gift of finding his chosen one. And he just might stick that in a poem.

Alexis had feared for her bladder for a split second, but now that they were winging across the sky, like they were on a motor-

cycleat seventy-five miles per hour, her fear had given over to exhilaration. Ethan had her securely in his arms, and she was half on her back, her hair straight across her face from the force of their forward motion.

Jack and Rose fromTitanic had nothing on them, baby. They were flying.

She held on to the cotton of his shirt with a fierce grip and locked her feet behind his ankles. Eyes closed, she felt the wind, smelled the desert, heard the low hum of the Strip below them, still alive at three in the morning. Moving like this—it was a roller coaster, a convertible with the top down, a bungee jump.

They went higher, then lower, and Alexis laughed in delight. She’d wanted new experiences, wanted to loosen up. This was certainly that.

And she was falling for Ethan. Absolutely falling for him head over ass, bullet-train speed.

He was everything she could ask for in a man, except human.Which could be a problem.

They slowed to a hovering stop, in a vertical position. Her back bumped into something. Alexis looked around, trying to get her bearings, shoving the wild windblown hair off her face.

She was pressed against a wall, slightly angled, held up by Ethan.

"Where are we?"

His arm went under her butt and made a seat for her. "This is the Sphinx on the front of theLuxor . We’re on its neck."

Alarmed, Alexis tried to turn. She flung her arms out and tried to find purchase with her gym shoes.

Careful." Ethan gripped her harder, pinning her to the wall. He kissed her, but she couldn’t get into it. They were hanging out in the air, with nothing but Ethan’s arms keeping her from swift and painful death.

She wasn’t, sure why that was different from flying, but it was, and she was sure she was going to die.

"Relax. I didn’t expect you to be such a wimp," he whispered in her ear, before invading her eardrum with his tongue.

Her body reacted predictably. Nipples up, panties damp, legs spread. Head lolled back and breath went shallow.

"I’m riot a wimp."A hussy maybe, but not a wimp. But his words relaxed her, staved off the panic. He seemed to be holding her without any strain, and the building was helping take some of her weight off him.

"No, you’re not." In the dark, with his lips nearly flush with hers, his face was shadowy, eyes black as the night behind them. "You’re amazing."

This kiss she enjoyed, the force of his tongue felt all through her body and clear down to her toes. Ethan had a wonderful mouth, which he moved on hers with just enough pressure to excite and entice and give thought to getting back to either of their rooms.