High Stakes (Vegas Vampires #1)(63)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Her sister smiled, pressing the backs of her pearl earrings more firmly into her lobes. "I always thought you were the kind who would get married forever. You’re loyal. Once you commit, you stick. I’ll probably be the one who ends up divorced three times."

"Don’t say that, Brit." Alexis watched her sister, still amazed that with her enhanced vampire senses, she could smell Brittany ‘s skin and blood, shampoo and eye makeup, lip gloss and deodorant. It was a miasma of odors and her nose hadn’t yet learned how to deal with them all. She also could hear, not necessarily thoughts, but feelings from people.

Brittany was happy for Alexis, but she was sad for herself. Alexis could feel her confusion, her loneliness, her worry that she was being left behind.Her fear that Corbin was responsible for what had happened to Kelsey.

"Have you seen Corbin?" Alexis asked casually, putting lipstick on with a hope and a prayer. She was probably creating the rings of Saturn around her mouth.

Brittany reached out and took the tube from her and applied it on her with swift, sure motions. "No, I haven’t seen Corbin, and I don’t think I ever will. He wanted blood from me and he got it. I think the sex was an accident, and I don’t blame him or anything. I mean, I was the one who turned things in that direction. And I certainly do not for one minute think Corbin had anything to do with Kelsey. He’s just not that kind of guy. Rub your lips together and pop."

Alexis obeyed, hating the feeling of wetness on her mouth. "Seamus thinks he did it."

"But why would he put her body in Ethan’s room? That doesn’t make sense."

"So he wouldn’t get caught."

Brittany shrugged in her lime green sundress. Alexis couldn’t believe any woman could pull that look off, but Brittany looked fantastic.

"Trust me, Alex. Corbin wouldn’t do that."

"Ethan doesn’t believe me that the vampire slayers are more than just a hoax." Alexis stepped into her shoes. "But last night I got a message saying I was being expelled from the group because I no longer fit the definition of a slayer. That’s just too weird to be a coincidence. First they found me, now what if they know I was turned?"

The whole situation was alarming enough that it was preventing Alexis from truly enjoying her time with Ethan. It had only been a week since she’d almost died and had become a vampire, but it had been crammed full of activities and details like taking a brief leave of absence from work to recover from her injuries and to get married. She fully intended to stay at the prosecutor’s office as an off-site legal consultant, at least for a decade or so, but she did need an adjustment period to the changes.

She had put her house up for sale and would be moving her furniture into storage for the time being. Living in the suite with Ethan was a temporary solution—she’d already informed him living in a casino was not going to cut it for her, and they needed to buy a house together.

In the midst of all those newlywed decisions, she was adjusting to a new fondness for nighttime, blood, and learning to control her strength so she’d stop ripping doors off the hinges. She had to admit, that was the coolest part. She was like the Bionic Woman, which more than made up for the fact that she was so damn short.

"I don’t know how they could have found you, and if they really are vampire slayers, did they have anything to do with Kelsey and the attack on you?" Brittany readjusted her dress bodice. "You know, Ethan and Seamus aren’t really listening to us on this one I think we need to investigate on our own. I need to prove that Corbin didn’t do this. Maybe I’m just an idiot, but I can’t stand the thought of him being all byhimself or worse, accused of a crime he didn’t commit and punished. His work is really important and he needs to continue it."

"And I don’t want you in any danger, Brit, which is what I’m worried about with these slayer people. I think you’re right. We need to do some checking around on our own." Hell, she was an attorney. She knew how to gather facts.

"I tried to call Corbin but he’s shut me out."

"You mean you can call him mentally? Telepathically, I mean, mental sounds kind of weird."

"Yes. Corbin can hear all my thoughts unless I concentrate really hard on shutting him out. And when I called him before, he came to me, but now he’s not answering."

Alexis didn’t like the way that sounded. "Maybe there’s a reason he’s not answering."Like he was injured or in danger or something. "Ethan can’t read my mind at all he’s says I’m too stubborn."

Brittany didn’t laugh like Alex was hoping she would. Alexis squeezed her sister’s hand. "Don’t worry. We’ll find Corbin. But first, I guess I need to go get married before Ethan sends his goons after me."

Brittany managed a smile. "Those bodyguards of yours are really scary. But I guess when you’re the president’s fiancee , they’re necessary."

"Yeah.Ethan still can’t get over the fact that I sent them away the night I was stabbed." She shivered just remembering the fear, the pain. "But I keep telling him if I hadn’t been so intent on seducing him, I wouldn’t have been stabbed and wouldn’t be a vampire now. So this really all worked to his advantage." She bit her lip and got the nasty taste of lipstick on her tongue. "Are you okay with me being a vampire, Brit? I know you wanted to save Ethan from eternal damnation and all that "

Brittany gave her a hug. "That was before I knew that no one here is damned, or soulless. And I’d much rather have you as a vampire instead of not at all. I can’t imagine life without my big sister taking care of me."

"Just let anyone try and hurt you now." Alexis embraced her in return. "I’d have kicked their asses before, but now I’ll kick their asses and make them wet their pants in fear. It’ll be great, though you might just want to tell your future boyfriends not to mistreat you."

Brittany rolled her eyes and pulled back with a smile. "You’re all talk." She went to the door. "Now here comes the bride and all of that."

Alexis was going to try and really play this whole wedding/bride thing down, but she had to admit she was actually pretty excited. For a woman who’d spent half her life thinking she wasn’t ever going to get married, she was really damn happy now that she was.

Ethan was well, everything. He was amazing. Caring, considerate, intelligent, fair,sexy .Sexy.And sexy.

The vampire sex was killer. No pun intended. Every orgasm was like a regular one times twenty. And when he licked and bit her well, she couldn’t even think about it without getting turned on, which probably wasn’t a good thing before facing the minister.

Since she wasn’t all that great at differentiating between hunger and desire yet, she might wind up biting the minister and that wouldn’t be cool.