High Stakes (Vegas Vampires #1)(5)
Author: Erin McCarthy

"Awesome idea," was Brittany ‘s opinion.

Suckyidea,was Alexis’s opinion.

Before Alexis could formulate a reply that would involve fewer than nine swear words, her sister stopped walking and turned to her.Gave her a quick hug and a perky hand squeeze.

"I’m fine, Alex. I told you that when I called you. I left you two voicemails and three e-mails telling you what I was doing, and you can always call my cell phone if you need to talk to me. If you would answer your phone once in a while, we could have actually discussed it."

Guilt rose up in Alexis. "It’s this case I’ve been working on I tried to call you at home, but you weren’t there, and yourcell was turned off, and hey, wait a minute." She crossed her arms, annoyed that she was so quick to defend herself. "Don’t turn this around and make me look like the bad guy. You’re the one who disappeared."

"But you’re better at being the bad guy than me." Brittany gave her a pretty, dimpled smile.

It was hell to be responsible for another human being. Alexis had been doing it since Brittany was thirteen. Alexis had been eighteen, and their mother had taken one last big drug trip, straight into an overdose and her death. Unlike their selfish mother, Alexis loved Brittany with a fierceness and complexity that sometimes startled her, and she would do anything for her. Had sacrificed and worked very hard to keep her attractive and wonderfully naive little sister safe, happy, and successful in the career of her choice.

Alexis wouldn’t have it any other way. But at the moment, she wanted to shake Brittany . How could she just throw over her dental practice for the first sexy, rich guy to glance her way? And why couldn’t a sexy, rich guy glance at Alexis?

Not that she’d do anything more than laugh in his face, but it would be nice to beasked once in a while. The last guy to ask her out was Hansen.at the bagel shop, who had expressed interest in her unique mind and her love of strawberry cream cheese.

But this wasn’t about her—it was about Brittany ruining her own life.And how that would affect Alexis.

"So what is going on? Are you in love with Ethan Carrick?" Alexis could barely keep the fear out of her voice. A guy like that didn’t love—he consumed. He purchased a product, kept it for his entertainment and pleasure,then moved on when he was tired of it.

There were many men like that, and Alexis had bumped against more than her fair share of them as a prosecutor. Cold, calculating men, whose every motive revolved around selfishwant, and Alexis didn’t want them anywhere near her sister.

Brittany ‘s red lips opened in astonishment."In love with him? Of course not! I’m here for business."

Alexis would bet what they were doing sure in the hell wasn’t tax deductible.

Her eye started twitching again.

In Brittany ‘s world, men invited attractive women in their twenties to their overthemed hotels for business purposes. In Alexis’s world, they did it because they wanted a little sumthin ‘ sumthin ‘.

"What kind of business, Brit?" She gave a nervous glance over at the door and made sure the man in question hadn’t returned.

Brittany ‘s little nose wrinkled."My business, of course. Izoomed Ethan and he asked me to do the rest of his staff."

"Youzoomed him?" she asked in shock. That sounded like space sex or something. Or like a motorized blow job. Holy crap: she needed to have a talk with Brittany .

Maybe her sister could teach her something.

"Yes.Teeth whitening."

Oh.Teeth whitening.Of course. That made perfect sense. Not.

"He offered me a lot of money to do it, and I might have said no except I realized that it was important for me to spend time with Ethan and his staff, because I need to save them from eternal damnation."

Huh? Alexis stared at her sister, waiting for anything about that sentence to make sense."Umm eternal damnation? Baby, what are you talking about?" Brittany had always led with her heart, but she’d never shown signs of insanity before.

Brittany tossed her long black hair over her bare shoulders and nodded. "Yes, eternal damnation. They’re all vampires, Alex."

"Vampires?Vampires. Vam-pires?"Alexis felt her blood pressure rising like an elevator. She’d started out on the fear floor and was heading straight toward furious. A headache was brewing behind her eyes, and she wished that Brittany wasn’t six inches taller than her, so she could just grab her sister and haul her ass home where she belonged. "You mean like Dracula?Bloodsucking demons with bad breath, nocturnal habits, and an aversion to crosses, stakes, and garlic? That’s crazy."

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"Alexis rammed her hands into her suit pockets. ‘Yes, it’s crazy, or yes, they’re bloodsucking demons?"

"Both. I know it’s hard to believe, but Ethan is a vampire, and he needs our help."

Ourhelp?The only thing Alexis was going to give him was a flying roundhouse kick in the crotch.

Not only was he a rich casino owner, but he got his jollies running some kind of goofy club/cult of creepy pale people who all had her little sister believing they were freaking vampires.Dead people.Undead.Double dead.Whatever you wanted to call it.

They weren’t any of it. And what they wanted to do on their own loser time was their business, but since they had dragged Brittany into their weird hobbies, Alexis was not happy.

In fact, she was so angry her mouth went hot and the hallway spun a quick tilt.

"I’ll help, him, Brit." She jammed her purse back onto her shoulder. She’d help escort him to the police station to answer a few questions.

And prosecute his ass away from her sister and straight into prison.

Ethan heard the moment Alexis and Brittany stopped speaking by the elevator bank and headed toward the reception room. Even while chatting with Peter Federov about his winnings at the Bella- gio’selite poker table, Ethan sensed the angry footsteps marching in his direction long before he saw Alexis.

She was muttering, though he couldn’t decipher the words, in an irritated way that amused him as he sipped vintage blood from a champagne flute.

"Thirty grand in one hand," Peter was saying. "Like taking candy from babies, since I can sense everything going on in their minds."

"That’s not exactly ethical, Peter," he said automatically, though he was distracted.

Now he could smell Alexis, a warm blend of vanilla lotion and the natural scent of her skin, a salty anxiety. The steady, rapid beat of her heart echoed in his sensitive eardrums, and the cadence of her walking drummed in harmony with the pulsing of her veins. With chilled, aged blood on his lips, the taste a sharp, dry, subtle satisfaction, he suddenly wanted more. Sweet, warm, immediate blood, like a bubbly Riesling wine, straight from the source into his mouth, where it would roll over his tongue and fill his cheeks and make his eyes slip shut with pleasure.