High Stakes (Vegas Vampires #1)(55)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Ringosucked eagerly on the source of liquid dribbling into his mouth. It tasted exotic, necessary, easing the pain and cramping in his body with each swallow. He managed to open his eyes, but was too close to the man that knelt over him—he could only see shirt fabric, flesh hovering in front of his face.

He drank with a thirst he’d never experienced before, greedy and gulping, taking it in, refilling his dehydrated body, arms and feet going warm again.

"That’s it.Just a little more." Donatelli stroked his forehead.

The sensation repulsed Ringo , made him suddenly realize that he was sucking on the Italian’s arm and his blood. His mind screamed for him to pull away, to get up, to run, but his mouth, his body begged for more, and he whimpered when Donatelli pulled away.

"You shouldn’t overdo it."

Ringostared up at him, confused, full, hot, yet frozen, and fol lowed the pattern of the crow’s-feet trailing out from Donatelli’s eyes.Hard eyes.Obsidian black, and full of deep, ugly secrets.

"You see it, don’t you? Yes, I am a vampire. Now you are one, too, and in my service."

Ringohad thought he’d seen hell inGrenada in the Marines. But when he stared into Donatelli’s empty soul, he saw it all over again tenfold.

Alexis ran a brush through her hair and frowned at her reflection. She didn’t look stately. She looked like a twelve-year-old playing dress-up in her mother’s evening dress. And why was it that she couldn’t fill the cups up in the bodice, but the butt was straining?

"You look awesome," Brittany said.

"I look like an episode ofWhat Not to Wear .Pear-shaped woman in clingy A-line dress. Gasp."

Her sister was lolling on the bed, her shoes and jacket off. The scarf was back firmly in place, but every time Alexis looked at it, she got the heebie-jeebies. It was one thing for her to be having sex with a vampire, and getting bitten in kinky places, but her little sister? Eew with a capitalE . File that under // smctoo much information.

But she was glad to have everything out in the open between the two of them. She didn’t like anything that smacked of a secret being kept from her sister. Brittany seemed to be handling the whole vamp daddy thing pretty well.

"Alex, you look fantastic. If you would just stop wishing that you were five foot ten, you would recognize that you’ve always had a cute figure. Not every man wants a tall, skinny waif."

"What the hellplanet are you living on?" Alexis tucked her hair behind her ears.Then untucked it. "Every man wants that."

"That’s not true. A lot of men like big br**sts."

"Strike two." Alexis pointed to her unimpressive chest. "And I havenever heard a single man say he doesn’t care about her br**sts as long as she has a big ass."

She threw down the brush. "And why do I have to wear a cocktail dress anyway? It’s a debate, not a party. I should be wearing a suit." ‘

"Ethan said to wear a cocktail dress. And come on, this is Vegas. Any excuseto pull out the sequins works here."

"Two nights ago I was Barbara Bush, now I’m Hillary Clinton. This is starting to get scary who’s next, Betty Ford?"

Brittany laughed, which was easy for her to do since she was a tall, skinny waif.

"So now that Ethan’s off doing his preparations—and I really hope they’re not putting makeup on him or something—you can tell me the real story between you and Corbin." Alexis put chandelier earrings in. Maybe dangling earrings would elongate her stature when people looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you got all weird and skittish when we brought him up, yet you defended him like a mother tiger with her cub."

Brittany propped her head up with her hand. "Well, you know me. I get behind a cause and I can’t let it go. But I have to admit, I’m not sure how I feel about Corbin. Having sex wasvery unplanned, and afterwards it was just totally awkward. I haven’t seen him since, and I’m not sure that I will. He’s really reclusive."

Alexis stepped into her shoes. "I’m not even going to pretend to give you advice. I know nothing about men. Never could I have predicted that Ethan Carrick would decide he has to have me, of all women."

"At first I think he was attracted to the fact that you didn’t throw yourself at him."

"No. I kneed him in the nuts the first night we met." Alexis recalled the moment fondly. "But Brittany , you know you have the biggest heart in Vegas. I don’t want to see you hurt, but if you want to be with Corbin, you know I’m here for you."

The thought of her sister hanging with a scientist who might be responsible for either eradicating vampires or multiplying their numbers tenfold didn’t thrill Alexis, but she had learned you couldn’t control everything.

Brittany ‘s eyebrows rose. "Wow. You must be falling in love with Ethan if you’re feeling this mellow. Normally you despise nine out of every ten men I date, and give me a laundry list of their flaws, followed by a background check."

"And a couple of times I turned up a prior conviction, didn’t I?" Alexis wasn’t about to let Brittany forget that.

Suddenly her sister’s arms were around her from behind, cutting off her air." Ack! What are you doing? You’ll mess up my hair," Alexis grumbled but she gripped Brittany ‘s wrists to hold her there.

Tears swam in Brittany ‘s eyes in the mirror. "I love you, Alex. You’re everything to me I know it wasn’t easy for you to take care of me when I was kid, but thank you for doing it."

She would not cry, she would not cry. Blubbering once a day was her limit, and she’d already dehydrated herself that morning with Ethan. A tear snuck out of each eye anyway. " Brittany

baby. You know I would never trade a thing about our time together. It was a privilege to help raise you, and damn, I can’t even tell you how proud you’ve made me. I’d do anything to make you happy." .

Ever since Brittany had surpassed her in height at age fourteen, she’d been slumping down and trying to insert herself into Alexis’s hugs, and she was doing it now. It was Alexis’s biggest regret about her height—she wished she could still be the bigger one when her sister needed comforting.

"Alex, do you know what would make me happy?Really happy? If you let yourself just enjoy a relationship. Let yourself take a chance on a man, marriage. I want you to let yourself fall in love with Ethan."

Alexis stepped forward, out of Brittany ‘s arms. Fear clawed at her, irrational and unreasonable, just from Brittany ‘s words. "I’m already in love with Ethan. But I don’t know if I can trust him, or me, enough to make it work. I think about marriage and I just panic. I don’t know if I can let myself be that vulnerable."