Sucker Bet (16 page)

"Don't be so critical, Alexis, that really makes me sad."

"I'm sorry, but please, can you just lay off the martinis and stop talking to strange men?"

That sounded boring, but she nodded, not wanting to argue.

"Hey, let's try to run up onstage," Kelsey said, her hips jiggling to the music.

"Okay." Gwenna handed her martini to Alexis. If she was up onstage, she could scan the crowd for Slash. Even though she had no clue what he looked like, somehow the logic made sense to her martini-soaked brain.

Her sister-in-law sputtered. "No! Bad decision. Bad, bad, bad. You're going to get thrown out!"

"Nah. I know half the guys in the band," Kelsey said. "And I had sex with the bass player back in the sixties. It's cool."

"See?" That sounded highly encouraging to Gwenna. "Kelsey knows the band."

And she proceeded to follow Kelsey through the crowd, weaving and smiling and dancing with concertgoers as they made their way to the front. Getting past the bouncers was a snap, since they were mortal. She and Kelsey just fast-walked, vampire speed, between two of them on the side, and then leaped onstage.

Wow. It was hot and bright up there. And loud.

Pulling Gwenna behind the guitar player and turning sideways, Kelsey swayed to the music and made a few "oh, yeah, oh, whoo, ooh" sounds at appropriate times in the music.

Backup singers in a rock band. Brilliant.

Gwenna turned and did the same. This was kind of fun. The guitar player glanced back and looked them up and down, amusement on his face.

The bouncers didn't have the same loving feeling toward them. Gwenna felt a meaty arm encircle her stomach and she was contemplating using her strength to break free when she glanced to the side and saw a very familiar face.

"Nate!" She waved as the bouncer lifted her completely off her feet. "What brings you by?" Not that he could hear her, but she was delighted to see him, and his very handsome face.

He looked a bit off put, though.

She wondered why that was.

Nate had been pretty damn sure he wasn't going to enjoy his little stroll into The Impalers concert, and that he was going to hate Slash on sight just for the simple fact that he was spending time with Gwenna. Nate wanted to spend time with Gwenna. Nate wanted Gwenna. He didn't want her trolling around town with other guys. It was that simple.

He was also worried about her and her lack of concern for her personal safety. She was knee deep in a murder investigation and didn't even seem to realize that. It was obvious she had been telling the truth when she'd said she lived a sheltered life.

That particular fact was a little difficult to remember, though, when he stared up at the stage watching Gwenna gyrate and sing along to the music wearing a scrap-of-nothing blue dress.

For a brief second, he thought she was a legitimate backup singer because that was the only explanation his brain could conjure up. Until the bouncer grabbed on to her and hauled her lily-white ass off the stage. Gwenna Carrick had apparently charged the stage. Jesus, what the hell was she thinking?

She spotted him, giving him a big smile and a perky wave. "Nate!"

He thought she might have also said something else, but it got lost in the black T-shirt the beefy bouncer was wearing as he made fast work of flipping her over his shoulder and hopping off the stage. It was clear he was going to keep walking and toss her rear out of the club, so Nate stepped up.

"Hey, sorry about that, she's with me."

The guy stared him down, obviously trying to decide if he gave a shit or not. "Keep her drunk ass off the fucking stage," he said, dropping Gwenna to the floor without warning and giving a little nudge on her shoulder to send her in Nate's direction.

She stumbled backward and would have totally gone down except that Nate grabbed her arm and steadied her. She still tripped out of her shoe, though, giving a cry of pain, and that pissed him off.

"You got a problem?" he asked the bouncer, any patience he might have hauled out of reserve just used up. "You may be a badass bouncer, but I'm a fucking cop, and you're shoving around my girlfriend."

"Hey, I'm just doing my job, man. She went up onstage and I took her off. No big deal." The bouncer held out his hands. "Tell her to stay the fuck out of restricted areas and I won't have to touch her."

It wasn't exactly an apology but the guy didn't give him the fight he seemed to be looking for, so Nate took a deep breath and nodded. "Fine." Then he took Gwenna's hand, since she seemed to be struggling fruitlessly to bend over and put her shoe back on without toppling onto the floor. "Come on, babe, forget the goddamn shoe. You can put it on in the car."

"What about Kelsey?" Gwenna asked, turning around and pointing to her friend he'd met earlier in the evening, as she was likewise carted offstage by bad-ass bouncer number two.

"Oh, Jesus. What the hell were you two doing up there?" And he wasn't sure why it shocked him, but Gwenna clearly was drunk. Her eyes looked glassy and she was wobbling precariously.

"Kelsey knows the band," she said, like that explained a damn thing.

"Don't move." He shifted closer to the stage and went through the same routine with the second guy, flashing his badge so he wouldn't throw Kelsey out of the building either.

In two minutes he was standing in front of Gwenna and Kelsey, frowning at the party pair. "Don't do that again," he told them, then immediately felt like a jackass. He sounded like their father, and truthfully neither one of them looked the least bit repentant or grateful for his assistance.

"It wasn't a big deal," Gwenna said, her mouth opening very widely when she spoke, her words all rushing together like her tongue was out of commission.

"Are you drunk?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Shit-faced," she confirmed.

Alexis appeared next to him. "Hey, look, it's two thirds of the Supremes. You guys were pretty good up there."

"You encouraged them to do this?" he asked, feeling a little outraged.

She just shrugged. "I didn't encourage, but I couldn't stop them either. They're grown women."

"Where's Slash?" Nate asked Gwenna, yelling to be heard over the pounding music.

"He stood me up again," Gwenna said. "The bloody rat bastard."

She looked pissed off, but Nate was actually relieved. There was no reason to assume Slash was guilty of murder, but there was no reason to believe he was innocent either. And Nate didn't like the guy's little habit of making plans to meet Gwenna.

"I need to talk to you. Let's go somewhere quieter."

"Can we shag once we're there?"

Nate froze in the act of reaching for her hand. She
was
drunk. Jesus. Alexis snorted behind him. Nate studied Gwenna. Her hair was looking a little wild, blond fluffy curls falling in all directions, and her lipstick was wandering off her bottom lip. That blue dress that showed her entire freakin' navel was hiked up on her thigh, and falling off her right shoulder. Pink cheeked, glassy eyed, dead drunk, looking like a poster child for the morning after already, she wasn't exactly at her best. But Nate thought she was fucking gorgeous, and she was blinking up at him, her blue eyes wide, her lips parted and wet, her breathing a little faster than normal, and the flush of desire over her cheeks and neck.

She wanted him. He could see that.

And oh yeah, he wanted her, too.

No matter that his whole body felt like it could just drop to the ground in exhaustion, there was one part of him that had no problem staying up for her.

"After we have a little chat, I'm absolutely positive you can talk me into a shag," he told her. "Then when we're done being British and shagging, we can fuck like Americans."

Her little pink lips formed a perfect "O" as her eyes went wide in shock.

Nate didn't wait for an answer, nor did he wait to get reamed by Alexis, who looked disgusted and ready to go feminist on him.

He just hauled Gwenna by the hand until they were across the room, out the door of the club, and halfway down the block. He paused in front of a clothing store that was closed for the night, intent on lecturing her on the dangers of meeting anyone from the vampire slayers' loop until they had more concrete answers, when she shoved him backward against the glass window.

"What the…"

Gwenna snuggled up against him, her hand finding his dick on the first grab. "I can't wait another split second to do this," she said, and pulled his head down for a hot, wet kiss.

He had things to say. Important things. Shit that mattered. But hell if he could remember what a single one of those was. She had scattered his thoughts with the first warm taste of her mouth. The way she felt pressed against him, her fingers cupping his erection firmly and possessively while their tongues tangled, had him breathing hard and aching with the need to fill her body.

When she broke the kiss and started nibbling on his bottom lip, he moaned, "Gwenna. We need to go somewhere more private. Your place. My apartment is too…" He broke off when she bit his lip hard, then sucked on it. He felt that pull, felt that tug, all the way to his groin, and he slapped his hand onto her shoulder for support.

"Fuck, what are you doing?"

"I bit you," she said in a sweet, pretty little voice. "You taste good, Nate."

"Come on, babe, the hotel…" It was down the street. They just needed to walk. To get there. But instead of moving, Gwenna was yanking down his zipper and pulling his cock out. Right there on the street.

Nate glanced around. They were in a shadowy alcove, and while there were people milling around like always in Vegas, no one was paying attention to them. Yet. He tried to hang on to his resolve. But damn, it was hard when she was working over his cock like a pro. She had him by the balls, literally, and was stroking up and down his shaft, then around the tip with tight, confident motions, and it felt amazing.

But he still forced her to stop. And moved her a few feet over, and behind a scaffolding and tarp rigged up to paint the building's second floor. It wasn't a hotel room, but it was some form of cover, and should keep them out of jail for public exposure. The April night was cool, but Nate didn't even notice. He was on fire, and Gwenna didn't have a single goose bump, despite her skimpy outfit.

"Oh, goody, privacy," she said with a naughty smile.

It was in the back of his mind that this was taking advantage of her drunken state, and he almost pulled the plug, except that she prevented him from stopping, from any movement, speech, or rational thought of any kind, by gathering up the front of her dress and exposing her inner thighs to him. Where she was wearing no panties. Then taking his cock and sliding it over her clitoris, dipping it into her wetness, then back up again to rub her swollen clit.

Holy crap, that was hot. He leaned against the wall for support and concentrated on breathing and not ejaculating prematurely. Both of which seemed like monumental tasks at the moment.

Gwenna's knees bent as she began to move her own body in tandem with the up-and-down motion she created with her wrist on his cock. With her dress around her waist, he had one hell of a view, and when she used her free hand, and spread her blond curls apart, he about swallowed his tongue.

She sank down on the length of him and gave a hearty sigh of appreciation. "Bugger, that feels good."

That was the understatement of his lifetime. Nate gripped Gwenna's waist and savored the moment. "Yes, it does, babe. It feels better than good. It feels amazing. You're amazing."

Then he thrust upward, filling her, and sending her into a nice, low moan. Her head snapped back, and Nate flicked his tongue out and trailed it up and down the exposed part of her chest. It was definitely an intriguing dress, showing off her flesh in a narrow ribbon from neck to navel.

Gwenna met him thrust for thrust, her hands on his shoulders, her cries growing louder with each slap of their bodies together. It was fast and frenzied, and their bodies slipped and slid together, a hot, wet joining that shoved Gwenna into a quick orgasm, her nails digging into him, her tight opening squeezing onto him as she shuddered. He gave one last power thrust, then followed her, gritting his teeth as he came inside her with a tight pulsing orgasm.

Her moans slowed and she sank against his body as the last waves of ecstasy rolled over him. Then they were clinging to each other, sweaty and breathing hard, her face plastered against his chest, his heart pounding from the adrenaline rush. Nate kissed the side of her head, and loosened his grip on her waist. She sighed and snuggled a little closer, but made no attempt to disconnect their bodies. Neither did he.

They were still standing like that a solid minute later when his phone rang in his pants pocket.

"Shit." He didn't want to answer it, but he also couldn't turn off the detective in him. Part of him was wondering if it was the call telling him the autopsy report on Andrew Fletcher was in.

Gwenna dug into his pocket and retrieved his phone. He held his hand out but she just grinned and pushed the talk button. "Nate Thomas's office," she said in a clipped, secretarial voice. "May I help you?"