High Stakes (Vegas Vampires #1)(6)
Author: Erin McCarthy

"Screw ethical, Carrick. Why do we have these talents if we cannot use them? If we want something, we should take it."

Take it. Ethan could take it. He could draw Alexis to him and take her thick, rich blood, and she would never know. It had been a long time since he’d fed straight from a mortal, and he was suddenly very thirsty for the experience.

Peter ran his hand over his bulging middle. When turned, Peter had been a Russian diplomat under the czar, and he still had the physique of a man who loved his borscht.Very unappealing at the moment, when Ethan was suddenly aroused by Alexis Baldizzi .

"Excuse me, Peter. I do believe Brittany is coming into the room." He clapped his hand on Peter’s shoulder and started toward the door, curiosity and hunger for Alexis compelling him to move more than any consideration for Brittany .

"That mortal girl is too nice for you," Peter called after him in his thickly accented English. "She will bore you in a decade."

Ethan paused. Why did he think Peter had the absolute right of it? He felt the need to grimace at the thought of marriage to Brittany , but he controlled himself. "It’s not about entertainment. It’s about politics."

This was something he and Seamus had strategized . He needed a wife. Choosing an Impure was a brilliant move, one that would keep his opponent, Donatelli , from gaining too much ground on him. It didn’t matter if there were no sparks.Sparks had burned downLondon .Sparks didn’t build nations.

"Hah," was Peter’s opinion.

There was no time to reply before Alexis burst in through the door. Wildly, she scanned the room, blond hair escaping from the twist at the back of her neck, chest heaving from exertion.And possibly indignation.

Brittany stood behind her, half a foot taller, her body and style elegant and smooth, yet it was clear whowas the power partner in their relationship . She hovered behind Alexis looking worried, waiting for her sister to take action.

Which didn’t take long.Ethan barely had time to give a smile in greeting before Alexis locked eyes with him and attacked.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" she demanded, her short legs eating up the distance between them.

"I beg your pardon?" He could handle this without getting angry. It didn’t matter if she made a scene in front of his reelection team. He had self-control, gained over many years of grappling with his temper.

Nor would he let her arousing scent distract him, even as his nostrils flared slightly and he calculated that it had been a very long six months on the campaign trail since he’d last had sex.

"How can you live with yourself? It’s bad enough that you own a glitzy over-the-top casino that breeds vice and preys on human weakness, but to lure young women here on the pretext of business just makes you a bastard."

Since he supposed he had lured Brittany , he couldn’t really dispute that, though he was not going to apologize for owning a casino. It wasLas Vegas , for God’s sake. The whole point of the place was to make money off of sin. Or fun, however you cared to look at it."A bastard, too? I thought I was an ass**le."

Her cheeks flushed red. "You’re both."

"I think perhaps this is something you need to discuss with your sister, not me." Never once in three weeks had Brittany indicated she wasn’t happy with their businessarrangement, and while Ethan had not made much of an effort to seduce her, she seemed to enjoy his company.

Well, if you wanted to be annoyingly technical, the first few days he had exerted a slight mental influence on her, but he hadn’t done that in weeks. So he felt no guilt.

"I did discuss it with Brittany . And it confirmed that you’re a freak loser."

Brittany was biting her fingernail. "Alexis, I don’t think you should "

Freak loser. She thought he was a freak loser.Funny, that. He could take a lot of insults, but he could not believe for one second that this woman, this little tinyimp , could find him so completely lacking. Or that he could even care what she thought.

Ethan clenched his fist. "Would you care to elaborate on that statement?"

Her chin came up, dimple first. Her blue eyes flashed with anger, her breathing anxious and fast. " Brittany told me that you all think you’re vampires."

There was a gasp from the room. Ethan thought it was Isabella, the head of the council for the preservation of the undead. Otherwise the room was still, silent, everyone waiting for him to speak.

Alexis stared at him defiantly.

Ethan was a little surprised by this turn of events. He hadn’t suspected Brittany of guessing their identity. What he’d sensed from her in recent weeks had been more of a sympathetic kindness, not that she’d concluded they were vampires. Long term, this was good news. If Brittany thought they were vampires, and was still hanging about of her own free will, it should be but a few weeks’ work to convince her to fall in love with him and marry him.

Hooray. Somehow he wasn’t as excited by that as he should be.

"I don’tthink we’re vampires." He knew they were.Big difference.

"Look, we all have our hobbies. If you want to drink tomato, juice and call it blood"—she gestured to his champagne glass— "and surround yourself with bad Elvira impersonators, that’s your business. But leave my sister out of it. She’s a sweet girl and she actually believes you’re the walking dead and wants to save your souls from hell."

Save their souls from hell? Where had that come from? Astonished, and holding a glass of human blood in his hand, he looked over at Brittany , dug around in her head a little. She was easy to read, wide open to him most of the time if he wanted to go looking.

Alex is too cynical, wish Alex could be happy, know they can behelped, Ethan is sad and lonely

Her thoughts rolled like a teleprompter and Ethan was appalled. She thought he waslonely ? Here he’d been trying to woo Brittany slowly and surely and she felt sorry for him. That was a kick to the ego.

Neither sister found him attractive.

Losing his touch with women was unacceptable. He was not going to slide into old age a vampiric Mister Rogers.Zip-up sweaters and soft smiles. Good God.

He had sworn he would marry and settle down, but he didn’t want to be undesirable to women.

While he was having a mental crisis, Brittany was shrugging her shoulders in apology, hands up in a conciliatory gesture. "You probably didn’t want me to know that you’re a bloodsucking demon, but I couldn’t help but notice. And I like you and don’t want to see you spend eternity in hell."

Alexis rolled her eyes. "Personally, I’m okay with him going to hell. But he’s not a vampire, Brittany. Vampires don’t exist! He’s disturbed, he’s a cult leader, he’s a self-important rich bastard, but he is not a vampire."