High Stakes (16 page)

Once, twice, while she sucked in massive amounts of air and gave an agonizing groan of abandon. She wasn't sure when she had suddenly morphed into go-with-the-flow girl, but he was going and she was flowing.

Until he yanked back so fast she almost landed in a heap on the floor. "Sorry," he said, running his hands through his hair.

Alexis just stared at him, her body cursing and whining and screaming for more. "Excuse me?"

"I didn't mean to do that. I apologize for moving too quickly."

Said the man who was naked.There was a red flush to his skin.Everywhere. And he looked a bit sheepish.

Men obviously never changed. "I would think that after all these years of living, you would have figured out that no woman on earth, or any other planet for that matter, wants a man who has just kissed her to apologize. If she didn't slap you, say no, or knee you in the nuts, and she kissed you right back, chances are she wanted it. And she doesn't appreciate the 'gee, sorry my hormones overtook me and made me suck face with the first available female, but now I wish it hadn't happened' response."

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"I beg your pardon?"

"Go get dressed and take me on your damn tour," she snapped at him, annoyed that he looked genuinely puzzled.

"Brilliant idea."He did that vampire trick. There one minute, gone the next.

Lips still wet and swollen, she stuck her hands in her pockets. 'Brilliant idea," she mocked in a low voice, glaring at the empty room. "It'd be a brilliant idea to stick my foot in your ass."

"I heard that," he called from the bedroom down the hall.

"What?" she asked, playing theinnocent.Then whispered, "Sorry? Shit. I'll give you sorry."

Will you now?" Ethan murmured from behind her, his mouth right next to her ear. She could hear the rustle of his clothes as he leaned forward, gripping her upper arms from behind. "That sounds promising."

"Quit doing that whole faster than the speed of light thing. It irritates me." Then she gave real punch to her words by leaning right back against him, her backside bumping his front side in a fun, cheap thrill collision.

Ethan ran his lips over her temple. "Sorry for saying sorry."

"Fine.It's all good. And maybe I'm sorry for waking you up."

"No, you're not."

Alexis had a George Washington moment. She could not tell a lie. "You're right. I'm not sorry in the least."

Because if she hadn't woken him up, she wouldn't have discovered that vampires don't need Viagra. She had to admit that had been worrying her a bit after all those messages she had read in the vampire slayers e-mail loop.

Not that she was going to sleep with him.

But it was good to know he was fully functional, in case she did decide to sleep with him, undersexed single woman that she was.

Time to call a spade a spade.There was a reason she hadn't alerted the vampire slayer group to her presence, or to the fact that there were hundreds of vamps in Vegas at the moment. There was also a reason she'd changed her mind and decided not to tell Ethan about the group, though her rationale behind that was much murkier. It kind of felt like she was protectinghim, or somebody anyway, and she and Ethan were clipping along nicely. She selfishly did not want to interrupt that.

The reason she didn't date was because the men she met were shallow, patronizing, and intellectually narrow.

Ethan Carrick was the first man in almost a decade to arouse interest in her.To arouse anything in her.

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His hands dropped to her waist as he nipped her earlobe. Yep, he was really good at the arousing thing.

And she did want to sleep with him.

Ringostrode through the lobby of the Venetian. He didn't like being summoned by anyone.Donatelli was no different.

He had been hired. He'd completed the job. There was no reason for further contact aside from a cash payment, but he knew that wasn't the purpose of this meeting. He had been commanded to get himself down toDonatelli's hotel room for a reassessment of the contract's terms, according to the businessman's whipping boy.Ringo was prepared to tellDonatelli to go fuck himself. He worked alone for the very reason that he didn't want to answer to anyone. He had left that behind when he was discharged from the service and he had no intention of being forced into bootlicking. Fortunately, the hotel had zero security, because he was packing his piece.

The hit hadn't gone the way he had planned it, but he was smart enough to take advantage of an opportunity. What he didn't understand was what had happened in the few minutes prior to that. One minute he'd been getting it oh with Kelsey the giggler, the next he'd been standing there with his dick hanging out and a big-ass crick in his neck.Alone.

He didn't black out forno reason.Which meant she'd slipped something into his drink. Yet she hadn't stolen his wallet, so he had no idea what she'd been after. And he wanted to know.

But first he had to resolve this little paperwork problem.

The door toDonatelli's room swung open before he could knock. "Mr.Donatelli is waiting on the veranda."

Ringoignored the doorman and walked right past him to the sliding glass doors. The rush of heat hit him as he opened the door and stepped onto the patio.Donatelli was lounging in a wrought iron chaise in the shade, a glass of red wine in his hand, black Italian sunglasses covering his eyes.

"Columbia."

"Donatelli."

The man didn't look at him, but stared out across the Strip, and lifted his cigarette to his mouth. "There will be no payment. You didn't do what I asked you to."

ThoughRingo was not an emotional man, the patronizing nonchalance of the Italian irritated him. But he just shrugged and leaned over the balcony, the sun hitting him in the face once he cleared the overhang of the balcony above. "I did what you asked. I killed him."

"I asked for specific requirements and they were not met. You neither killed him nor removed his head."

"I hit him. He was dead." But suddenlyRingo wasn't sure that he had. If Kelsey had drugged him, maybe the shooting of Carrick hadn't been successful. He'd thought it had gone off. That he'd plugged his mark straight in the heart twice, but maybe his per-ceptionswere off.

If he had demanded payment fromDonatelli withoutcompleting the hit, then his reputation was going to
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be damaged.Which wouldn't be good for business.

"Let us not argue over this. Go to The Ava and see if you killed him or didn't kill him. I'll give you until tomorrow morning to do the job,then I'm hiring someone else."

Ringoground his teeth together, but managed to say, "Fine." And this time, he'd stay the hell away from leggy brunettes and keep his mind on work.

Women were career suicide, andRingo didn't want to wind up dead.

"So how rich are you?" Alexis asked him as they entered the main gaming room on the first floor.

Ethan glanced down at her, amused. "I don't believe that is any of your damn business."

"Oh, come on. If I'm going to be your campaign girlfriend, I need all the facts." She looked up at him with bald curiosity.

"Here are the facts. This hotel and casino opened in the year two thousand to replace a venture I'd had in the early nineties when Vegas decided it wanted to go clean and cater to families. That replaced a smaller-scale hotel I'd had in the seventies. The Ava matches the pomp and grandeur of any other luxury hotel on the Strip. We have over two thousand guest suites, eight bars, six restaurants, a full service spa, three pools, two fitness rooms, and an indoor shopping complex that is designed to look like a Holly wood movie lot in the thirties and forties. "We have a three-screen movie theater that plays two current releases and one black-and-white classic. It's a very successful establishment."

Arms crossed as she surveyed the room, Alexis glanced up at him. "You're proud of this hotel."

"I am." He liked the challenges it presented and the over-the-top grandeur. And the longer his immortal life lasted, the more he wanted to connect himself to the earth, to the feeling that people knew him, that he wasn't just a shadow shifting through life unknown.

"How the hell do you find time to run such a huge business and be president?"

"Being president really isn't a full-time job. Maybe twenty hours a week when I'm actually in office.

Campaigning can be time-consuming, but Seamus organizes my schedule. He tells me where to go and I do it."

"And what to say?"

He heard the insult. "Not always. I do think for myself." She snorted.

Which couldn't go unchallenged."For example, Seamus doesn't approve of you as my choice for a mortal girlfriend. But I told him I didn't give a damn. I want you."

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Alexis caught his innuendo, which was just as he'd intended. Her eyes narrowed as she stared up at him.

Even with ratherim-pressive pointy-toed heels on, she was still much shorter than he was. She licked her plump bottom lip, which made him want to direct this tour right back up to his suite, when she broke eye con-tact and started walking.

The way she went boldly into the room, charging ahead of him, attracted attention. The floor manager looked flustered to see him, and Ethan realized he wasn't usually around at four in the afternoon. He was never with a woman. Not on his casino floor anyway. Normally, he kept his affairs private, and in recent months there had been no affairs at all because of the election. He'd been a good little vampire.

It was absolutely killing him. Celibacy was for monks and ugly people.

"Mr. Carrick, what a surprise. Is there anything I can do for you, sir?"

"No, thank you, Jason.I'm just giving a tour to a friend."

"I'm his girlfriend," Alexis said and stuck her hand out. "AlexisBaldizzi ,ClarkCounty prosecutor." She pumped Jason's hand while he murmured a startled greeting.

Alexis smacked Ethan on the wrist. "I'll just introduce myself since you're too rude to do it."

Now Jason was wide-eyed.

Ethan was annoyed, but refused to show it."Sorry, my dear.How inexcusable of me."

"See what I have to put up with?" Alexis asked Jason, hands going into the pockets of her jeans. "Now he's mocking me."

"I am not." He couldn't quite keep the edge of irritation out of his voice.

"Don't start with me, Ethan. I am so not in the mood." She gave him a glare. "Now get me a drink."

He hadn't expected Alexis capable of flouncing, but she did an admirable job. Clearing his throat, he said, "Excuse me, Jason, I need to, uh, get her a drink."

"No problem, sir."

Fuming, Ethan caught up with her. "You're not supposed to make me look like an idiot. You're supposed to make me look considerate. And just with vampires, I might add," he said in a low undertone.

"Jason isn't one?"

"No."

"Well, how the hellam I supposed to know? How do you know if you meet someone for the first time?"

Ethan steered her past the bar. "I can sense it. Smell it."

Her lip curled."Eew. What do mortals smell like?"

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"Blood, among other things.Vampires smell like cool water, and their strength is like an aura surrounding them."

"Seriously?"She ground to a halt. "I smell like blood to you? That is so incredibly disturbing."

Oh, wonderful, he'd curled her stomach. "I can smell it, yes, but it's only part of the overall sense of you.

I smell vanilla, clean flesh, mango shampoo." He leaned closer, whispered, "I smell your desire for me."

Her breath hitched, "Oh. So how am I supposed to tell who's mortal and who's not?"

"I'll tell you who is."

She moved away from him. "Brilliant.
Not
. How do I know now to act then? I should just be bossy all the time with you to be safe."

He bet she would love that. "I don't want you to be nasty to me. I'm trying to project the image of a kinder, gentler Vampire Nation, yes, but not a 'walk all over me' Vampire Nation."

You really don't know what you want, do you?" Oh, yes, he did. With a charming smile, he said, "I want you."

"Bite me, Carrick."

"That can be arranged." He loved the way her eyes told him everything, the way they lightened and darkened with her emotions. Maybe he couldn't read her thoughts, but he could see her feelings on her face, and while her words were tough, her eyes were starting to melt.

"Don't be a pervert."

He laughed. "Have you eaten dinner? Let me get you something."

"It's four in the afternoon, Ethan."

"Is that a no? Then walk the Strip with me and we'll have dinner." It had been months since he had been outside before sunset. He wouldn't mind revisiting the day with Alexis.

"Won't the sun fry you to a crisp and leave you in ashes on the sidewalk? Because I don't think I want to see that."

"No. And I wouldn't suggest a stroll if it would." They were standing right smack in the middle of the main floor, three feet from the bar. People were walking in every direction, and the constant ring of the machines vibrated the room around him. There was a low hum of voices, dealers and gamblers, and soft, piped-in music, but none of that was really registering with Ethan.

He saw only Alexis and the desire on her face that mirrored his.

"If I go for a walk and to dinner with you, will you let me practice mySooBahk Do on you later?"

That had the potential to be entertaining and sexual. "Sure.

"No campaign stuff tonight?"

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"No. Tomorrow is the debate betweenmyself andDonatelli . But tonight the main attraction in my casino is an appearance in the lounge by Tom Jones."