High Stakes (Vegas Vampires #1)(8)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Confused, she saw darkness coming at her,then before she could blink, she was the one on her back on the floor, Ethan Car- rickon her chest, his knee wedged between her legs.

"Don’tdo that again," he said tightly.

Alexis sucked in a breath and turned her head to the side, disturbed by how close his face was to hers. How the hell had he pinned her? It had to be the business suit. She couldn’t move in it.

"Do what?" she asked in irritation, lifting her shoulders a little to test how tightly he held her. She moved a whole eighth of an inch. Damn, whatever else he was, Ethan was in shape.

"Hit me. I’ve lost patience with you." Gripping the lapels of her jacket, he stroked the fabric with his thumbs, his breath on her cheek. "Go home, Alexis. Leave your sister to her choices. Perhaps if you got a life of your own, you wouldn’t need to interfere in hers."

That was a direct hit. It touched on all Alexis’s vulnerabilities, her fear that without Brittany she’d wind up alone, cynical and bitter. And she’d be damned if she’d let Ethan know that.

"Bite me," she said, shifting her leg just a little so she could position herself better.

Ethan’s eyes darkened. "Now there’s a thought."

Oh shit, she knew that look, recognized that sound. Felt the heat of his leg pressing into her skirt, watched his eyes drop down to her lips. Pervert. Men were all the same.

So were women apparently, because her body was doing the whole arousal thing.Faster breathing, tightening ni**les, arching neck.Slow burn beginning deep between her thighs.

That seriously pissed her off. Betrayed byher own hormones.

"Would you like me to bite you? I bet you taste good, Alexis.Hot and passionate."

"Is that smoldering look supposed to be turning me on? Because it isn’t working," she lied.

"Be honest here." Nostrils flaring, he leaned closer, running his finger over her lip. Alexis tried to ignore the very real jolt she felt, blaming it on long-term celibacy.

"You can sense there’s something between us." His hands were roaming over her sides, brushing past her br**sts.

What she sensed between them was a massive erection pressing into her groin.

Instead of ignoring it, like an obedient body would, her inner thighs responded with an enthusiastic greeting of warm wetness in her panties. That quick exhalation of air came fromher own lungs, too. Alexis was appalled that her bodywas actually liking what he Was doing, even as her mind rebelled.

He was going to kiss her. It was so obvious. His eyes were half-closed, his mouth a hairbreadth from hers, his thumb stroking over her nipple like he was sure of her positive reception.

Holy crap, she was letting him touch her chest. She was going to let him kiss her. She was going to like it.

That horrible thought sent her into action.

"I do feel something between us," she whimpered, impressed that she sounded so legit. Reese Witherspoon had nothing on her.

"What’s that, love?"

"My knee."With a swift movement up, she nailed him in the nuts,then rolled out from under him as he jerked back in shock.

"Don’t ever dothat again," she said, scrambling to her feet and yanking her skirt back into place. "If you do, I won’t hold back like this time."

Because she was very much afraid if he tried to put that move on her a second time, she just might let him finish it.

Which meant insanity was catching, and she didn’t have a prayer of saving Brittany from him.

"Hold back? That was holding back?" Ethan hunched over and fought a wave of nausea. While it was nearly impossible to injure his body, he still felt pain, and Alexis had delivered him a hell of a kick.Right where it counted. Good thing vampires didn’t procreate—at least they weren’t supposed to—because she had probably maimed him.

Good God, a woman hadn’t gotten the best of him in over seven hundred years. He must be losing his touch. He had actual fallen for her capitulation. He’d thought she’d felt the same urgent and suffocating lust he had experienced when he’d foundhimself over her, in the perfect position to invade her body with his own.

It was humbling to realize how much he had come to rely on reading people’s thoughts. That, with quick reflexes, always kept him in control. But Alexis had a mind like a bank vault, and the door was shut tight to him. Without sensing her thoughts and actions, he was as vulnerable as a mere mortal.

He hadn’t known that kick was coming until it landed right on his testicles, and if he didn’t want that to happen again, he was going to have to be much more alert.

The challenge of that had him strangely aroused.Excited.

Which was pathetic.Had his life become so staid and boring that a woman abusing his bollocks had him horny? Given the erection in his pants, it seemed so.

"That was just a little demonstration, Carrick. I could break your nose, knock out some teeth, pop you in the eye if you’d like."

Let her try. Feeling a grin split his face, he decided he’d been working too hard on his reelection, and had expended a lot of energy worrying about Brittany ‘s reaction to him.Or nonreaction . She treated him more like a friend than a potential lover, and she was just as perky and cheerful with Peter and Seamus as she was with him.That lie about Brittany enjoying his bed—while childish and boastful—had been to provoke Alexis.

Clearly it had worked.

And he was enjoying the challenge Alexis presented far too much for a man who was supposed to be responsible and focused on business.

"I’ll pass on having my eye poked out, thanks, but how lovely of you to offer." Besides, his body would just heal the damage and he didn’t think Alexis was ready to see vampire restoration.

"Lovely. That’s me." Alexis gave a snort, undid her hair from it;s twist, and scraped it back into a new makeshift ponytail.

Ethan stood up. "You are rather lovely, Alexis, if one ignores the bad temper, foul mouth, and monstrous stubbornness."

She glared at him as he brushed off his pants.

There was a look in her eyes he didn’t trust. "What? Are you going to hit me again?"

"I’m thinking about it."

He could hardly wait. "Let’s just skip that, shall we? Look, I’m sorry that you are displeased with your sister, but I think that is for the two of you to discuss."

It was a good thing he was an experienced politician, well versed in persuasion. He’d been delivering the same rhetoric to Alexis for thirty minutes. Now if only she’d actually listen to him.

"So why vampires?" she asked."Why not werewolves or demons or druids? Shapeshiftersor wizards? Is it because vampires are supposed to be sexy?"

Yes, he based everything he did on the desire to be sexy. Good God.