High Stakes (3 page)

her.

Ready to charge onto the elevator, Alexis sawBrittany standing in it, smoothing the stomach of her black cocktail dress.

Alexis sighed in relief.

Brittanywas alive, even if she had been brainwashed. And leave it to her baby sister to thrive under the circumstances. She looked gorgeous—all high cheekbones, glowing eyes, and glossy hair. Money and sex were good for the complexion, apparently.

Not that Alexis would know, since she had neither, butBrittany looked great.

"Alex!"Brittany smiled and threw her arms around her for a hug. "What are you doing here?"

Saving her from a heated sexual affair with a rich man, of course.

Alexis was going to have to come up with a better argument than that to getBrittany to leave.

Hands on her hips, she frowned asBrittany moved out of the way of the elevator door. "Hello? I was worried about you! This is totally not like you, Brittany."

Her sister just laughed. "Actually, yes, it is. I'm the impulsive one who thinks with her emotions. You're the one who plans everything to the last detail. I think it's because my biological father was a drifter, you know. I just go with the moment."

Alexis winced asBrittany grabbed her hand and tried to pull her down the hall, toward Ethan and his stone-faced friend. Alexis was uncomfortable wheneverBrittany discussed her father, and frankly, she didn't know how a man who had seduced a married woman, then abandoned her pregnant, could have produced her sister, who was one of the sweetest women in Vegas.

Which probably wasn't saying much, given the grading curve of divas and strippers, butBrittany still deserved a special shout out for being damn nice.

"Ethan! Look who's here!"Brittany called in her cheerleader voice."My sister, Alex!"

"I've had the pleasure of meeting her," Ethan said, his deep voice carrying the length of the hall. "Why don't you bring her in to join the rest of the guests?" With a smile, he disappeared from the doorway, retreating into the reception room.

"Awesome idea," wasBrittany 's opinion.

Sucky
idea,was Alexis's opinion.

Before Alexis could formulate a reply that would involve fewer than nine swear words, her sister stopped walking and turned to her.Gave her a quick hug and a perky hand squeeze.

"I'm fine, Alex. I told you that when I called you. I left you two voicemails and three e-mails telling you what I was doing, and you can always call my cell phone if you need to talk to me. If you would answer your phone once in a while, we could have actually discussed it."

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Guilt rose up in Alexis. "It's this case I've been working on… I tried to call you at home, but you weren't there, and yourcell was turned off, and… hey, wait a minute." She crossed her arms, annoyed that she was so quick to defend herself. "Don't turn this around and make me look like the bad guy. You're the one who disappeared."

"But you're better at being the bad guy than me."Brittany gave her a pretty, dimpled smile.

It was hell to be responsible for another human being. Alexis had been doing it sinceBrittany was thirteen. Alexis had been eighteen, and their mother had taken one last big drug trip, straight into an overdose and her death. Unlike their selfish mother, Alexis lovedBrittany with a fierceness and complexity that sometimes startled her, and she would do anything for her. Had sacrificed and worked very hard to keep her attractive and wonderfully naive little sister safe, happy, and successful in the career of her choice.

Alexis wouldn't have it any other way. But at the moment, she wanted to shakeBrittany . How could she just throw over her dental practice for the first sexy, rich guy to glance her way? And why couldn't a sexy, rich guy glance at Alexis?

Not that she'd do anything more than laugh in his face, but it would be nice to be
asked
once in a while.

The last guy to ask her out wasHansen.at the bagel shop, who had expressed interest in her unique mind and her love of strawberry cream cheese.

But this wasn't about her—it was aboutBrittany ruining her own life.And how that would affect Alexis.

"So what is going on? Are you in love with Ethan Carrick?" Alexis could barely keep the fear out of her voice. A guy like that didn't love—he consumed. He purchased a product, kept it for his entertainment and pleasure,then moved on when he was tired of it.

There were many men like that, and Alexis had bumped against more than her fair share of them as a prosecutor. Cold, calculating men, whose every motive revolved around selfishwant, and Alexis didn't want them anywhere near her sister.

Brittany's red lips opened in astonishment."In love with him? Of course not! I'm here for business."

Alexis would bet what they were doing sure in the hell wasn't tax deductible.

Her eye started twitching again.

InBrittany 's world, men invited attractive women in their twenties to theiroverthemed hotels for business purposes. In Alexis's world, they did it because they wanted a littlesumthin 'sumthin '.

"What kind of business, Brit?" She gave a nervous glance over at the door and made sure the man in question hadn't returned.

Brittany's little nose wrinkled."My business, of course. Izoomed Ethan and he asked me to do the rest of his staff."

"Youzoomed him?" she asked in shock. That sounded like space sex or something. Or like a motorized blow job. Holy crap: she needed to have a talk withBrittany .

Maybe her sister could teach her something.

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"Yes.Teeth whitening."

Oh.Teeth whitening.Of course. That made perfect sense. Not.

"He offered me a lot of money to do it, and I might have said no except I realized that it was important for me to spend time with Ethan and his staff, because I need to save them from eternal damnation."

Huh? Alexis stared at her sister, waiting for anything about that sentence to make sense."Umm… eternal damnation? Baby, what are you talking about?"Brittany had always led with her heart, but she'd never shown signs of insanity before.

Brittanytossed her long black hair over her bare shoulders and nodded. "Yes, eternal damnation. They're all vampires, Alex."

"Vampires?Vampires.Vam
-pires
?"Alexis felt her blood pressure rising like an elevator. She'd started out on the fear floor and was heading straight toward furious. A headache was brewing behind her eyes, and she wished thatBrittany wasn't six inches taller than her, so she could just grab her sister and haul her ass home where she belonged. "You mean like Dracula?Bloodsucking demons with bad breath, nocturnal habits, and an aversion to crosses, stakes, and garlic? That's crazy."

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"Alexis rammed her hands into her suit pockets. 'Yes, it's crazy, or yes, they're bloodsucking demons?"

"Both. I know it's hard to believe, but Ethan is a vampire, and he needs our help."

Our
help?The only thing Alexis was going to give him was a flying roundhouse kick in the crotch.

Not only was he a rich casino owner, but he got his jollies running some kind of goofy club/cult of creepy pale people who all had her little sister believing they were freaking vampires.Dead people.

Undead.Double dead.Whatever you wanted to call it.

They weren't any of it. And what they wanted to do on their own loser time was their business, but since they had draggedBrittany into their weird hobbies, Alexis was not happy.

In fact, she was so angry her mouth went hot and the hallway spun a quick tilt.

"I'll help, him, Brit." She jammed her purse back onto her shoulder. She'd help escort him to the police station to answer a few questions.

And prosecute his ass away from her sister and straight into prison.

Ethan heard the moment Alexis and Brittany stopped speaking by the elevator bank and headed toward the reception room. Even while chatting with PeterFederov about his winnings at the Bella-gio'selite poker table, Ethan sensed the angry footsteps marching in his direction long before he saw Alexis.

She was muttering, though he couldn't decipher the words, in an irritated way that amused him as he
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sipped vintage blood from a champagne flute.

"Thirty grand in one hand," Peter was saying. "Like taking candy from babies, since I can sense everything going on in their minds."

"That's not exactly ethical, Peter," he said automatically, though he was distracted.

Now he could smell Alexis, a warm blend of vanilla lotion and the natural scent of her skin, a salty anxiety. The steady, rapid beat of her heart echoed in his sensitive eardrums, and the cadence of her walking drummed in harmony with the pulsing of her veins. With chilled, aged blood on his lips, the taste a sharp, dry, subtle satisfaction, he suddenly wanted more. Sweet, warm, immediate blood, like a bubbly Riesling wine, straight from the source into his mouth, where it would roll over his tongue and fill his cheeks and make his eyes slip shut with pleasure.

"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 AlexisBaldizzi .

"Excuse me, Peter. I do believeBrittany 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 forBrittany .

"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 toBrittany , but he controlled himself. "It's not about entertainment. It's about politics."

This was something he and Seamus hadstrategized . 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.

Brittanystood behind her, half a foot taller, her body and style elegant and smooth, yet it was clear who was 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
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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 luredBrittany , 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 asshole."

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 hadBrittany 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 withBrittany . And it confirmed that you're a freak loser."

Brittanywas 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 tiny
imp
, 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.

"Brittanytold 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 suspectedBrittany 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. IfBrittany 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
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