High Stakes (13 page)

But obviously, she got it and didn't want him to say it.

"No, I was just going to say that you sound like a tortured crow when you laugh."

A laugh burst out of her, half-amusement, half-relief, it looked to him. She hit him in the arm with tithe throw pillow. "You're a schmuck."

He was a smart schmuck. He knew when to retreat from a woman. Ethan fast-forwarded until the shooter collapsed against the desk.

The man said something, though it was too garbled to distinguish the words. He looked around, pleasure replaced by confusion, which disintegrated into anger. Wiping his hands on his pants, he then put everything back inside and zipped. He straightened his jacket, reached inside for thin leather gloves, and pulled them on. He was walking around the backside of the desk when the elevator door opened.

Ethan knew it was himself,cominng to investigate, even though he wasn't visible on film.

Fast, smooth, poised, the manreaached into his suit, pulled out a piece, drew his arm up, and squeezed the trigger two times.

Alexis jumped. "Did it hurt?" There was concern in her voice.

"Yes, there was pain when I was hit. Then I blacked out."

The shooter stepped forward, avoiding a puddle of blood forming on the tiled floor. Ethan had forgotten to ask William to send housekeeping to clean the mess up, but his head of security was smart enough to handle all those details on his own.

"He's making the sign of the cross over your body…with his gun. I told you thereweresickosin't this world ."

It was an odd last thing to dobbefore the man calmly put his gun in his pocket, removed oneglovve , punched the elevator button.

withthe other, and disappeared. But to Ethan it still read like a professional hit. When the man had been caught off guard by Ethan's sudden appearance, there had been no hesitation. No panicking.

The questionwas, who wanted him dead?

"Now that I've seen you lying on the floor in a pool of blood, and then seen your invisible self get shot on camera, I feel like I have the right to ask this." Alexis tucked her feet under her legs.

"What?" He couldn't even imagine what she was going to ask.

"What the hell were you thinking going up there by yourself?"

That he'd been feeling stodgy and white-collar and had wanted to handle the situation himself to prove that he could. That he was so attracted to Alexis that he was distracted and acting on impulse. That he hadn't been thinking at all.

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"Hello! I remember what Kelsey said. She said he was going to kill you, that he was empty inside, and that lipstick I thought was bleeding outside of her lip liner really was bleeding, you know what I'm saying.

You knew she had fed off of someone, knew she thought he was after you, and like a hugely arrogant 'I can handle anything' man, you just ran off and got yourself shot." Alexis's cheeks were pink, her hands flying all over as she gesticulated wildly. "Do you want to die? What if he'd had a stake or a sword or a sunlamp or whatever it is that can kill vampires?"

Ethan hit the Eject button on the DVD. "A sunlamp is not go-ingto kill me, and it would hurt less than a bullet, that's for sure."

The very thought made him scoff, though he found her concern appealing.

"You know what I mean! It's a good thing I went up after you." And why exactly did you do that? It was no smarter than me going up in the first place. What if the shooter was still there? You'd be lying dead on my office floor right now."

Her face paled. But she stubbornly stuck her chin out. "So you're just going to erase his memory and that's it? That doesn't seem like much punishment for shooting someone."

"Now who's the bloodthirsty one here? Look, we have rules, Alexis. We don't kill people. We'll contain him. If he doesn't know how to kill me, it will be nothing more than a nuisance until we find him. Then like I said, we'll contain him, and remove the parts of his memory relating to me."

Alexis didn't look satisfied with his answer. She worked her lip with her teeth and picked at the pillow in her lap. "How many of you are there?Obviously enough that you have some sort of governmental system."

Ethanhesitated only a fraction of a second. He wasn't supposed to tell a mortal about his kind, but he didn't feel much like following the rules when he was with Alexis."Ten thousand."

"Whoa. That's a hell of a lot more than I thought. You must be sucking blood everywhere."

Ethan sat down next to her and plucked the pillow out of her lap, amused by her lack of fear. "Ten thousand is not a lot. There are two billion Chinese alone in the world."

"Well, that's true."

"We're vastly outnumbered and are able to successfully blend in with society, while still being organized.

The Nation exists to ensure we aren't discovered, and can live quality lives." It was a system that worked, kept order and prevented chaos among the ranks of the undead, and provided mentoring for young vampires. Ethan had seen the world before the Vampire Nation, and he didn't want to return to those dark days of rogue vampires and needless human slaughter.

But sometimes being a responsible vampire leader was a heavy burden.

And lately it had really cut into his sex life.

It was definitely time to change that.

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Alexis had never given vampires much thought, but when she had, she had always envisioned brooding men living in isolation, snagging a random human victim here or there, and more often than not, lunching on animals while their houses crumbled around them.

Ethan wasn't exactly falling in line with that image.

And never once had it even occurred to her that vampires were democratic.

"So what is your platform? What differentiates you from your opponent?" She couldn't even begin to guess what the issues facing the modern vampire were. Security, financial planning, airport retina scans?

Okay, maybe she could guess, but that didn't mean she was going to be right.

He cleared his throat as he set his foot on the coffee table. That shirt of his still wasn't buttoned, and Alexis was in touching distance of his chest. It was very distracting to her, considering that she hadn't been sexually active in six years.If you didn't count battery-operated self-service, which she didn't. That was stress management, not sex.

"Well, we encourage population management, whereas our opponent advocates population growth. He also is pushing a return to direct contact feeding, where we consider blood banks safer.More laws and policies, not less. Essentially, I stand for keeping things status quo, but with improvements in certain policies regarding identity creation and social security."

"Hmm."That was the sound of her brain atrophying. Maybe she was too tired to grasp vamp politics at the moment. "Do you think you're going to win?"

Ethan shrugged. "Seamus and his endless statistics say yes, but by a small margin. These things are unpredictable andDonatelli is a minority."

"He's Italian? That makes him a minority?" What the heck were the rest of them?Eskimo?

Mr. President laughed at her question and ran his thumb over his very sexy bottom lip. Not that she had noticed.

"Being Italian doesn't make him a minority. He's an Impure. Which means he was born half-vampire, half-mortal and was turned later in life. He is the voice of this rapidly growing group."

"Impure? Wow, that's really PC.
Not
. In a thousand years you couldn't come up with a better name than that? No wonder they're crabby and demanding rights. I would be, too. So is there like a vampire civil liberties union?VACLU? No, that's no good. VACLU sounds like a construction adhesive. Hey, how old do you have to be to vote?Two hundred?"

"At moments like this, I find it very distressing that I cannot access your thoughts. I am powerless to understand or predict what is going to come out of your mouth next."

She kind of liked the way that sounded. "That's sexy, isn't it-It drives you nuts that you can't dig in my head, I bet, but it turns you on, too, doesn't it?"

And fatigue must be making her punch-drunk. Baiting the vampire was not a good plan.

He took the bait. "Yes, it turns me on. You most definitely arouse me."

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Whoa. When did his hand get on her thigh? She hadn't even seen him move. But now she certainly could feel him, sliding inward, upward, stroking over the soft cotton of the sweatpants she was wearing.His pants.Where she had a little bitty thong underneath just a few inches higher.

Alexis stood up, just this side of panicked. "You know, I think I should get some sleep. I'm feeling a little… overwhelmed."

Ethan smiled a knowing little smirk. "Sure. Let me walk you to your room."

What, was she stupid? "Oh, that's okay, I'll be fine."Really.Just fine, away from him and his hotbod and blue eyes. She'd always had a thing for blue eyes.

Alexis booked it toward the door, scooping her purse off the end table. Before she could blink, Ethan was in front of her, opening the door with a charming half-bow.

"Geez!"Alexis pulled up short. "Don't do that. You'll give me a heart attack."

"My apologies."He moved his arm out to indicate she should pass.

Skirting him so there was no skin-on-skincontact, Alexis made it into the hall and rushed her own door.

Digging in her purse, she tried to find the key card before he followed her.

Too late."Let me help you," he said, and before she could even draw a breath to protest, he had his hand in and out of her purse, and the key swiped through the lock.

His speed was really starting to freak her out. He could have sex with her before she could even realize he was in the room. And what would be the fun in that?

"Can you slow it down a little for Miss Mortal over here? You're making me dizzy."

Ethan pushed her door open and brushed her hair back from her forehead. "Sorry. And thank you for calling 911 when you thought 1 was dying. I appreciate your concern."

She should swat his hand away, but couldn't work up the disdain she should be feeling. In fact, she felt a lot like sighing. "No problem. I couldn't let you bleed to death."

He was touching her shoulders now, leaning over from his foot height advantage. His eyes were serious, searching. "If you want to leave, Alexis… I understand. This isn't what you expected. It's not a game."

That made her smile as she stood in the doorway. "I guess I'm not much of a vampire slayer, am I? I tried to save you instead of killing you."

"I find you much more appealing than that skinny Buffy, for one thing. And life isn't always black and white, Alexis, with the good guys and bad guys clearly marked."

That had been obvious many times to her in her career. "Which was why she wasn't in a hurry to leave The Ava and Ethan Car-rick.She was fascinated by him, and the concept of a whole secret vampire government existing right there in Vegas, of all places, had her curiosity on high.

She didn't want to leave. She wasn't finished getting her answers yet, and while part of her questioned
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that she would act so impulsively, the other part acknowledged it was actually very logical to want to understand Ethan's world.

Which was why she said, "I gave my word I'd stay and be your bitchy girlfriend.I'd be a wimp and a liar if I backed out now. Besides, I'm not done grilling you yet."

His eyebrow rose. "That sounds appealing.In a kinky, rather sexual kind of way."

She smacked his arm. "Watch it. I know karate, remember? And I'm not afraid to use it."

"I remember." But he didn't look worried. He looked like he was leaning closer to her, like was going to…

Damn. He was kissing her. And it felt good, just a perfect slow, sensual meeting of his mouth to hers, his lips warm and soft, commanding, confident. His hand was in her hair, but otherwise they weren't touching, and it was pleasant, powerful, with no fumbling, no doubt, no hesitation.

While he only touched her mouth, she felt the kiss everywhere, undulating through her body in slow, lazy waves. Desire sparked, stoked, grew into a blaze within seconds, and she was opening her mouth, ready for more, when he ended the kiss.

"Good night, Alexis," he said, voice raspy, thick with want.

Afraid she might whimper, she just nodded. Embarrassed to hear her breath ripping in and out in the quiet hallway, she clamped her mouth shut and backed up. His hands were in fists and he looked fierce, like he might grab her and take her against the wall if she didn't move immediately.

She only hesitated for a second, ready to haul him back over to her. A quick progression to naked had its merits.

But then he drew in a ragged breath of his own, even as his hands reached for her, and she caught a glimpse of some really long-ass canines.Fangs.

Fudge, he had fangs. Those hadn't been there before. Alexis blurted, "Night!" then moved back, and slammed the door shut in his face.

She just wasn't ready to take their relationship to the biting level yet.

"I just got confirmation from our contact, Mr.Donatelli . It's done."

Roberto didn't bother to open his eyes as he soaked in a Jacuzzi tub in his suite at the Venetian. It amused him to stay in a hotel that emulated his homeland in plush, inaccurate opulence. And when he spoke Italian to the women here, they always giggled.

"Thank you, Smith," he told his right-hand man. "That's good to hear. How long do you think until we'll get the official news?"

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"Twenty minutes, tops."

"Perfect." Roberto allowed himself a smile, the hot waterJuicing over his chest as he shifted a little. Step one, completed.Excellent.Time for step two.

Corbin felt guilty for leaving the girl on the roof, but surely she would be smart enough simply to take the stairs down one floor to the elevator bank.