High Stakes (11 page)

"Because you need to understand you cannot talk about my kind when there are mortals around. You must be discreet.Thatez all."

"Okay." But there was something else, something bothering him.

"Thereez nothing."

"I didn't say anything."

"I heard your thoughts." He tapped her temple with his finger. "You have very loud thoughts and feelings.

They spill out of you like sunshine. I hear everything."

And here she'd thought she'd gotten a handle on blocking out vampires. She hoped he couldn't tell she thought he was cute-Or that she was thinking of that woman from the night before and the look on her face…

"What about her?" He looked sharply at her. "I did not hurt her."

So much for privacy."I know you didn't hurt her. In fact, she told me that while you were, you know, doing your neck thing…"Brittany stared straight at him. "She had an orgasm."

Corbin looked aghast. "You should not talk about these things."

"How else am I going to help you if I don't talk to you?"

Now she'd hurt his masculine pride. He bristled. "I do not need your help. I need you to stay away from my business."

Brittanylooked over the edge of the building, down at the street far below. "If I fell, would you catch me?"

His arm came up in front of her like he expected her to pitch herself over the side. "Of course I would!"

With a pleasant sigh,Brittany tossed her hair back. "I thought so."

She is a very strange person.

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Corbin's thoughts floated over to her, and she knew, felt, that he wasn't soulless. Humanity beat just as bright and strong in him as it did in her.

She grinned at him."Takes one to know one. If I'm weird, you're even weirder."

"You can hear my thoughts?"

"That was the first time," she assured him, since he looked so horrified.

"I could kill you," he said.

"But you won't."

"I could drain you of your lifeblood and fill you with mine, making you avampiress ."

"But you won't."

He paused. "I'll take you back. You shouldn't be seen with me."

Brittanylooked around the rooftop. It wasn't like the joint was hopping up there. "Who shouldn't see us?"

"Any of them.I am banished."

Ooohh
.Brittanysat back down, pulling the snap of her jeans out of her gut. "Now this sounds good. Tell me all about it, Corbin Jean Michel Atelier. What did you do to put yourself in the vampire doghouse?"

She wanted to know so she could help him, of course. And she would not kiss away that tiny frown line between his eyes.

"You most certainly will not!" he roared. "Then for sure we will both be killed."

"You're already dead," she pointed out.

"Real dead.No more on this earth dead. And while I'm many things, suicidal is not one of them."

"That's a relief." She patted her lap. "Come sit down and tell AuntieBrittany all about it."

His eyebrows shot up. He didn't look like he thought she was cute, which was kind of a disappointment.

Men usually found her fairly attractive.Brittany felt her lower lip jutting out. She didn't mean to do it. It was just a reflex. Because nine times out of ten it got her what she wanted with Alex.

But not with Corbin.

He shook his head.And stepped off the edge of the roof.

Brittanyscreamed in reflex. Then remembered he wouldn't get hurt. He would just wing away or whatever he did to fly.

But then she remembered something else. "Corbin! You can't just leave me here! I'm stuck on the roof!"

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Alexis sat on Ethan's burgundy leather sofa, listening to the running water of his shower, and tried to get a grip.

Okay, so he was a vampire. So what?

Everyone had their little quirks. God knew she wasn't perfect, and really, was vampirism an imperfection, or more just like having brown hair versus black? There was no reason to flip her wig like some squealer bimbo and run out of there screaming.

Needing blood was like needing an asthma inhaler.Sort of.In a more gruesome, demonic, unnatural way.

But hey, she was no wimp. She'd had defendants threaten her with physical harm. She'd had defendants'

mothers fling their three-hundred-pound bodies at her after a conviction verdict was read.Vampires? She was cool with it.

AlexisBaldizzi was stuck in a pixie's body, but she didn't have to act like awuss .

So she propped her bare feet on the couch and jammed a plaid throw pillow behind her back. She liked plaid. It was the antithesis of the scarlet bordello-like atmosphere she'd grown up in. While every other kid on the block had a mother in seventies' plaid pantsuits, her mother had been wearing short shorts, bikini tops, and high heels.

Thoughts of her mother disintegrated when Ethan walked back into the room, his blond hair dripping wet, wearing jeans and a button-up shirt that wasn't buttoned. Damn it. The last time she'd seen his chest, it had been covered with blood from a gaping chest wound, which had been a little distracting. Now he had nothing but clean, smooth skin, no evidence that a bullet had ever entered his chest.

And without the wholeno pulse, rivers of blood thing to distract her, she couldn't help but notice he was pretty damn hot.A little pale, but hot.

"Feeling better?" she asked, crossing her legs out of a survival instinct. If she could erect a sign below the waist of her evening gown, she would, //smckeep out.do not enter, no trespassing.

VAMPIRES NOT ADMITTED.

Because he had that look again—that super sultry, let's make like bunnies and do it look.

"Cleaner.A little tired, but fine, thanks. I'm sorry you had to find me like that. And I appreciate your quick emergency response even if it wasn't necessary." He sat down on the couch next to her and gave her a smile.

"Yeah, well, all in a day's work."

"I ordered a new dinner for you. It should be here in a minute or two."

"Thanks." Alexis stared at his chest. She couldn't help it. She knew what she had seen, believed Ethan was telling her the truth about his unusual genetic makeup, but it was still hard to swallow.

"You can touch it if you want. Feel for yourself. There's no permanent damage."

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That was enough to rip her eyes off his chest. "I'm not going to touch it!"

"Scared you'll like it?"

Yes. "No. Please. Get over yourself, Carrick."

He laughed. "You're handling the events of the evening very well. I usually get hysterics when a mortal discovers the truth about me."

Alexis wasn't entirely sure why she wasn't in hysterics, but she was grateful for that fact. "Have a lot of mortals discovered the truth about you?"

Leaning his back against the arm, and lifting a leg onto the couch, he shrugged."No, not really.Maybe two or three. I've told some. But mostly we blend."

She wished he'd blend his crotch into the couch so she wouldn't have to look atit, all spread out at her like a forbidden fruit. It was a little hard to keep her eyes off inappropriate parts. If she looked at his chest, she pictured touching it. If she looked at his crotch, well, hell, she didn't want to go there. If she looked at his legs, she imagined wrapping her own around them. And when she looked into his pale, cerulean blue eyes, she had an entire mental striptease choreographed in her head.

Either he was doing that vampire mind control thing that he swore he couldn't do on her, or she was a sick bitch who thought vampires were sexy.

Why the hell couldn't he be a werewolf? That wouldn't have done a thing for her, she was positive. Fur had never gotten her going.

"So… how old are you? And how do you blend if you have to sleep all day and suck blood all night?"

Did he need three pints square a night, or did he have to graze on blood constantly, like a whale shark with plankton, or could he make it a whole week without touching the stuff?

Ethan gave her a look. "I don't suck blood all night. And I was born in 1067, the son of a Norman lord and his new Anglo-Saxon wife."

Alexis swallowed, more freaked out than she cared to admit. "Wow.Dude. That's seriously old. And you don't look a day over thirty."

"Neither do you." He smiled, and nudged her leg with his foot.

"I am thirty."Which had seemed old until an hour ago. "So is nine hundred really like the new thirty then?

Do you feel just as perky as ever?"

"Actually, I get stronger with age. We're weak in our youth."

"You should have a millennium birthday party. That would be cool."

"Maybe I will. I hadn't thought much about it. I've been busy with the campaign."

"Can I have a stiff drink now?" Alexis thought it was time for a bottle of gin, just to settle her stomach.

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The doorbell rang. "I have a better idea.Dinner."

A minute later, he had her steak dinner in front of her, served with pea pods and roasted potatoes. It did smell good, but she felt rude eating in front of him. "Did you ever, um, eat?"

"No, I was waiting for your food to arrive."

"Go ahead. You must be dying since you lost all that blood." Without even trying, she managed to make him laugh. "No pun intended."

"If you'll just excuse me, I'll grab myself a drink then."

"Sure." Alexis chewed and sipped an ice water, her stomach making embarrassing noises as it embraced the beef enthusiastically.

She was surprised to see Ethan come back into the room empty-handed. "Where's your drink?"

"I had a nip in the kitchen. I didn't want to bother you. The sight and the smell, well, it can take some getting used to."

"I don't think I'd mind. I mean, it's not like you're dragging a bellman in here and going at him like a mosquito. You're just going to like suck it out of a bag, right? How often do you do that?" she asked around a mouthful of potatoes.

"I don't suck it out of a bag. I drink it out of a glass when I am thirsty. Sometimes once a night, sometimes every other day, sometimes once aweek depending on my mood and what I'm doing."

"Does it taste different? I mean, do you prefer B positive over O?" Alexis wondered what her blood would taste like. Pepper steak?

Ethan snorted. "In nine hundred years, no one, not a single person, has asked me that."

"I have a curious mind. It makes me a good lawyer."

"Or just nosy."

"Bite me. I'm not nosy." Then she realized what she had said. "Not literally! No biting. It's just an expression."

Ethan laughed. His finger swiped the corner of her lip, scaring the crap out of her.And sort of turning her on. But he only licked his finger. "You had some water dribbling down there."

Alexis felt her face heat. "Don't lick me. That's inappropriate."

"I didn't lick you. I licked my finger, which touched you. I'm getting the feeling that I make you nervous.

Is it because I'm a vampire?"

"I'm not nervous. But if I was, yes, it would be because you're a vampire. You have to admit, that's a little odd. I mean, I saw you bleeding like a stuck pig and here you are all cute and casual thirty minutes later." And now that her stomach was feeling much better, she was starting to think it would be a good idea to have some alone time.Far away from Ethan Carrick.

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"I'm cute?" He looked pleased by that. "My mother always said I was angelic looking."

Alexis rolled her eyes. Apparently even after nine hundred years of life, men still needed their egos stroked. "Mothers are blinded by love. But you're not ugly, I'll give you that."

"Be still my heart."

"Hey, how come you're blond and all your vamp friends have black hair? You don't fit the raven-haired brooding image."

"Maybe not, but as I said, I'm angelic looking.Trustworthy. Having dark-haired cabinet members is a coincidence, but it does provide a nice contrast.Makes me stand out in the political crowd."

Alexis chewed on that as she chewed on a pea pod. She really should go back to her room. But Ethan was right. She was nosy. She had about three million questions for him.

But first things first."I'm going to scream if I have to wear this dress for another second. I've got to take it off."

"I have no problem with you taking it off. In fact, the thought rather pleases me." Ethan gave her a lecherous grin.

"Watch it, Carrick. I'm not some White House intern that's easily excitable when a president strolls into the room."

"No? Good. I wouldn't want you to be easy." He stood up-"But if you'd like, I could get you something to change into."

Wear Ethan's clothes? That was a dangerous proposition. It wasn't like her room was a million miles away. It was right next door. She could run over, change, run back.Which might not look so good. She might look a little too eager to be back in his company. Not to mention that the idea of putting a powerful vampire's clothes next to her undersexed flesh had an enormous appeal.

"Thanks. That would be great."

Brittanywould be so proud of her. She had utterly lost her mind and was acting on pure impulse.

"Finish your dinner and I'll gograb something. The pants will be long, though, you'll have to roll them up."

"Thanks. Rub it in. I'm well aware that I'm vertically challenged." Alexis stabbed a piece of beef and watched Ethan walk into his bedroom.

For a vampire, he had a nice ass. How sick was it that she was attracted to a man who was older than the discovery of theNew World ? Granted, there were lots of things older than Ethan—like dirt and cockroaches—but he was still really damn old. And she was thinking naughty girl thoughts about him.

She should have dated more.Plain and simple.

Ethan came out and said, "I put some things in the bathroom for you when you're ready to change."