One Last Bite

One Last Bite

(An Epilogue to
Must Love Vampires
)

Copyright © 2011 by Heidi Betts

Cover design copyright © 2011 by Heidi Betts

Cover design by
Hot Damn Designs

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, places, events,
business establishments or locales is entirely coincidental.

PO Box 99, Kylertown, PA 16847

HeidiBetts.com

One Last Bite

by Heidi Betts

JACKPOT!

WEDDING OF THE CENTURY

Billionaire businessman Sebastian Raines wed Las Vegas
Desert Sands
reporter Charlotte Monroe Saturday night in a ceremony that took place in Raines’s own well-known Inferno Hotel and Casino. At the stroke of midnight, the bride walked down the candlelit aisle in a pristine white, strapless, full-length, one-of-a-kind gown reported to have cost nearly $25,000.

The wedding party consisted only of Raines’ younger brother, Aidan, as best man; Monroe’s identical twin sister, Chloe, as matron of honor; and their young son, Jake, as ring bearer. (It may be noted that Aidan and Chloe Raines were married the previous year in a quickie wedding ceremony at one of Las Vegas’ all-night chapels. Jake is Mrs. Raines’s son from a previous relationship.) Guests included the bride’s mother and a few close friends of the couple, with an attendance of no more than fifty.

After the short ceremony, a reception was held at the hotel, catered by the Inferno’s five-star restaurant, Avarice.
Following the reception, the bride and groom were whisked away in a limousine to a nearby airstrip, where they boarded Raines’s private jet, flying off for their honeymoon in parts unknown.

As the newly wedded couple left the reception, followed by a flock of well-wishers, all of the slot machines in the casino hit the jackpot, leaving gamblers who happened to be on the floor at that moment much richer than when they’d arrived. To this reporter’s knowledge, the occurrence was a first for Las Vegas, and an event not likely to be repeated anytime soon.

Sebastian shook out the paper in his hand before holding it over the edge of the bed and letting it flutter to the floor.

“
We sound so glamorous,” Chuck said from where she had her head tucked against his shoulder. The rest of her long, lean body draped down his side, beautifully naked and still thrumming with warmth from their latest bout of lovemaking.

“
A midnight wedding ceremony? Jetting off to a secret, exotic locale? We are glamorous, darling.”

“
You are,” she said with a chuckle. “I’m just the lucky lady who gets to go along for the ride.”

He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. “I’m the lucky one.”

Even though he couldn’t see her face, he felt her smile, and it washed over him, filling his heart in a way he couldn’t ever remember it being filled before.

“
I’m just glad they didn’t make too much of the ceremony being held at night.”

“
I don’t think they wanted to offend their newest star reporter,” he told her.

Since moving in with him, she’d gone from being a low-paid tabloid hack (her term, not his) writing about potato chips with celebrity attributes and aliens-among-us to being a rather highly-paid investigative reporter for one of Las Vegas’ premiere and very well-respected newspapers. True, he’d set her on the path, but only by offering to introduce her to some of his business acquaintances (which included both the owner and editor of the
Desert Sands
) and reminding her that if she could figure out he was a vampire when no one else in the past couple of centuries had figured it out, she could probably blow the lid off other stories and scandals with little to no effort.

To say she’d picked up the ball and run with it was a major understatement. She’d accepted his offer of introductions to the newspaper’s Powers That Be, but landed the job one-hundred-percent on her own. And in the six short months she’d been writing for them, she’d exposed corruption within Las Vegas’ local government and the extra-marital affair of a rival casino owner. The man’s wife had been clueless at the time, but was now filing for divorce and, thanks to the lack of a pre-nup, was expected to end up taking him for everything – including his beloved casino.

“
I don’t think they wanted to risk pissing off the richest man in Vegas. You could own every newspaper in town if you wanted to, and you know it.”

He shrugged. He could, but except for Chuck’s part in it, he wasn’t really interested in the publishing business.

“
I’m
glad they didn’t mention the fact that my neck was covered,” she said. “Again.”

One corner of his mouth turned up at that. It was true. Because they both found biting during sex such a turn-on
and
she didn’t like the idea of him feeding from other people – especially other women – any longer, her throat had become a bit of a roadmap of what she liked to call “extreme hickies.”

He did what he could to speed their healing, but she still tended to walk around for a few days with at least the telltale signs of his naughty nibbling. Which was why she’d taken to wearing high-collared shirts, scarves, and collared pendants like the one he’d bought her for their wedding day to match her beautiful, diamond-studded gown.

He’d also bought stock in about six different orange juice companies, and kept the refrigerator in their penthouse well-supplied to keep her from becoming anemic. Thankfully, she had really good blood, thick and rich, and hadn’t complained of feeling lightheaded even once. But he was still careful not to take from her too much or too often.

“
It’s becoming something of a signature look for you and your sister.”

With a groan, Chuck leaned up on an elbow and stretched across his chest – her own sweat-slick and deliciously naked – to look at the bedside clock. “Speaking of whom, it’s a couple hours past sunset. We were supposed to meet them at that little café down the street half an hour ago.”

“
Don’t worry, I’m sure they’re keeping Jake occupied with a plate full of
beignets
.”

“
He does seem to like them, doesn’t he?” she said with a grin.

“
Who wouldn’t? They’re basically fried dough covered in confectioner’s sugar. I don’t need food to survive, and even I think they’re rather tasty.”

Climbing out of bed, Sebastian followed her to the bathroom and kept her company in the shower. Sadly, not in the fun way. Then they both dressed and made their way downstairs and outside onto Saint Germain, walking arm-in-arm the short distance between the hotel and the café where they were supposed to meet her sister, his brother, and his nephew, who was every bit as adorable as Aidan had warned him he would be.

Spending time with Jake made him wonder for the first time what it would be like to have a child, or children, of his own. He wasn’t even sure it was possible from a vampire/human mating, but he thought it might be worth some consideration… if Chuck was willing even to try.

With the sun down, street lamps lighted the sidewalk, and strings of tiny white lights dotted the café’s awning and wide plate glass windows. They spotted the others from several yards away, sitting at one of the small round tables outside Les Deux Magots, drinking
café au lait –
and
chocolat chaud
for the little one, he presumed – and eating piping hot
beignets
.

Aidan spotted them first and waved them over, a wide smile gracing his face. Sebastian had to admit, he’d never seen his brother happier than he’d been this past year since his clandestine marriage to Chloe.

And Chloe had taken to her new life as a trophy wife like a fish to water. Only a few months after becoming Aidan’s wife, she’d given Sebastian her two-day notice; two days because – according to her – they were family now, and that should buy her some perks. He’d known for a while that she’d wanted to quit dancing, though, so her early retirement hadn’t come as that much of a surprise.

She claimed she wanted to go back to work, do something other than be a “kept woman”. She also threatened occasionally to call Bravo about doing a special about the real
Real Housewives of Las Vegas
– and by “real” she meant “The Brides of Count Dracula.” But for the time being, simply enjoying her newfound happiness and financial security with her husband and son seemed to be more than enough for her.

Sebastian couldn’t recall being wrong many times in his life, but he definitely had been about wanting to stop his brother from eloping with Chloe. Just like he and his own beautiful bride, they made a perfect couple.

As Sebastian had predicted earlier, Jake was sitting between his mother and new father, happily munching away on his favorite discovery of his French odyssey so far – the soft, fried-dough pastries Paris was so well-known for. His lips and cheeks and fingertips were dusted with confectioners’ sugar, and he was making low
mmm-mmm-mmm
sounds in his throat, his feet kicking merrily beneath the table in time with his voracious chewing. On his head was a small black beret tipped at a charming angle, adding to the boy’s cuteness factor by about a thousand percent.

“
We ordered for you,” Chloe said, moving her chair to make room for them and signaling to a nearby server that the rest of their party had arrived.

“
Sorry we’re late,” Chuck apologized, taking the seat Sebastian held for her, right beside her sister.

“
Don’t worry about it,” Chloe said. “It’s not exactly a hardship to sit here sipping coffee and eating pastries in Paris-freaking-France. Can you believe it?” she asked, squeezing her sister’s arm tight enough to leech the color from the skin. “We’re actually in Paris!”

A muscle twitched in Sebastian’s cheek as he tried to keep his amusement from showing. He and Aidan had been just about everywhere in their time on this earth. And though their “condition” meant they had to be careful in their travels, flying in a private jet and being rich enough to buy certain amenities made it much easier.

But Chloe and Chunk had never been out of Nevada. They’d barely been farther than the Las Vegas or Henderson city limits. Something Sebastian was quite looking forward to rectifying, for his own wife, at least. England, Italy, China, Ireland . . . he intended to see that she experienced them all.

Stuffing the last bite of
beignet
into his mouth, Jake hopped down from his chair and rounded the table. Still chewing to beat the band, cheeks puffy with half-masticated dough, he put his sticky, powdered sugar-covered hands on the knee of Sebastian’s thousand-dollar slacks.

There was a time Sebastian would have backed away from a sticky child – or any child, for that matter – like he was sunshine in a bottle. But now, he simply reached down, caught the boy under the arms, and hoisted his nephew onto his lap.

“
Uncle Bastian,” he mumbled around the mouthful of food, “Mama says you’re taking us to the loo.”

Sebastian grinned. “If we were in England and you had to go to the bathroom, I’d take you to the loo. But since we’re in France, I’m going to take you to the Louvre.”

“
The
Looooooov
,” Jake repeated, dragging the name into three different syllables in an effort to pronounce it exactly as Sebastian had.

“
It’s a world-famous museum, and you’re going to get to see it at night, when no one else is around.”

Just another perk of being filthy rich, as Chuck would be quick to point out. Sightseeing as a vampire did pose its own special set of difficulties, but it had taken no more than a couple of phone calls to arrange a private midnight tour.