Bit the Jackpot (Vegas Vampires #2)(20)
Author: Erin McCarthy

She was very much mortal, very clearly addicted to the pleasure of giving her blood withouta glamour , to the draw of power that came from Donatelli , and the vampire sensations he could give her as he fed from her.The smell of her filled Ringo’s nostrils, her warm mortal flesh dewy and loamy to his heightened vampire olfactory senses. She was plumper than he had liked women when he was alive. He’d always felt suffocated by all those curves and rolls. But as a vampire, her soft, juicy flesh appealed to him, made his mouth water and his nostrils flare.

The girl was aroused, and now so was Ringo , to his embarrassment.

"Why don’t you drink this glass herefirst. " Donatelli gestured to the goblet."A special blend for you."

Ringodidn’t need to be asked twice. He brushed past the girl, who gasped at his speed, and dropped into the chair opposite Donatelli .

"Then when you’re finished with that "

It was half gone already. He’d learned to toss it back like a shot. One, because his body craved the blood desperately, and all its soothing, lethargic properties, and two, because he was never certain it wouldn’t be taken right back away from him before he could drink it.

" why don’t you and Katie spend some time together?" He nodded in the blonde’s direction.

Ringoslapped the empty glass down and stared across the table at Donatelli . The blood was slipping and winding through him, easing his aches and stroking his extremities into a hot, pleasant boil. He hadn’t seen this coming. It was either a trick, or he had been elevated to Donatelli’s inner circle. Or perhaps it was one more way to enslave him. He’d never been allowed to feed directly from a living source before, and just the thought sent his heart racing, his fingers twitching, his dick swelling hard and eager.

He chanced a glance at Katie, curious what her reaction would be. She was pouting.

"I thought I was going to be with you tonight, Donnie."

Ringojust about swallowed his tongue. Donnie? That almost drew a laugh from him for the first time in months.

Donatellireached for her and she sidled around the table to him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against his side. "Don’t stick your lip out like that at me or I’ll bite it."

Her breath caught in obvious excitement, anticipation. "Okay."

Laughing, he patted her backside. "Later, pet. First I want you to go with Mr. Ringo and let him taste how sweet you are. Then when you’re finished I have a present for you."

"A present?"Apparently that was enough inducement. She moved back around the table and smiled at him. "Hi."

Ringowanted to say no to what Donatelli was offering, but knew he wouldn’t. Knew he couldn’t.

"Take him to the bed, precious, and take off your clothes so he can see your pretty body."

"Okay." She pivoted again and started across the room toward the big king-size bed, already peeling off her ivory lace top.

"Better hurry," Donatelli told him with a conspiratorial smile. "She’ll start without you."

Ringoknocked his chair over when he stood up, forgetting his vampire strength in his eagerness.

"Don’t limit yourself to the neck, which is very cliche . Bite her wherever you like, though you might wish to know she’s fond of the deviant." Donatelli took another sip from his glass.

Katie had dropped her miniskirt to the floor after the shirt, and was walking nude up the two steps to the bedroom. She glanced over her shoulder with a small, flirty smile.

"Don’t take too much blood. I’m rather attached to her. I’d be mildly distraught if you killed her."

At those words, Ringo paused. He didn’t want to do this. This was a mistake. This was another way for Donatelli to enslave him, hold him under his command,force him to do his dirty work.

His body screamed at him to do it, to take it, to f**k her, and suck her blood. But somewhere in his mind he protested just as loudly. He shouldn’t. He already despised himself, what he had become, what he was.

Katie gave a huff of exasperation when she realized he wasn’t following her. She came back down the steps, more flouncing than seductive. "Come on."

Her br**sts collided with his chest, her pelvis pressed against his erection.

Then she nipped his bottom lip, and Ringo gave in to what he was, what he had become, what he’d always been.

Cara knew offering a lap dance was a calculated risk.Because she didn’t really want Seamus to take her up on it. She’d never danced down on a guy in her life. Swiveling on a pole behind a screen was a whole different mind-set than swiveling on a man, and prior to Seamus, she’d never really wanted to perform the latter move. At the moment, though, she had to admit, a small part of her was tempted to do it and shock that bland look off his face. The other, more restrained part of her personality was cringing inside at the thought of having to actually go through with it.

But she had suggested it because she was angry that he had seen her as nothing more than a sex object, as a stripper. She had convinced herself that she was an artist, a dancer, a solo act hidden behind the screen, and when he’d confessed he’d wanted to have sex with her, it had made her feel cheap, degraded.

Which was stupid.She danced naked. Did she expect he would look at her and leap to the conclusion she was a genius?

She needed a vampire reality check.

Seamus needed three. Right, left, and center.

If they were stuck together, even temporarily, she didn’t want to be the only one off-kilter. She had to shove him sideways as well.

"Cara?" Seamus asked her br**sts.

"Yes?" She put her hands in his black hair. Even though it was short, it was thick and soft, and she couldn’t help but enjoy the feel of it as she gripped.

"What are you doing?"

At the moment, she was only standing in front of him, but given the husky sound of his voice, that was enough.

"I’m waiting for your answer." Picking through his hair, she found a smooth, satin scar.

He cleared his throat. "Well, um, is there a reason you’re offering what you offered?"

"Maybe I’m fishing for a compliment. Maybe I thought you’d enjoy it." She ran her finger back and forth over the three-inch-long line again. "How did you get this scar?"

"My father dropped a scythe on my head in the barn.Nearly bled to death."

That it had happened over three hundred years earlier made her shiver. Seamus wasn’t going to age.Ever. And neither was she. It was a sobering, scary thought.

"I’d enjoy it."

She shifted her gaze down to his face when his hands landed on her waist. "What?"

"I’m saying yes to your offer of a dance."