High Stakes (20 page)

"Nice try.-"

"Bite me." Then she stopped struggling. "Shit, I've got to stop using that expression." Letting go of him, she wiggled out of the remains of her shirt and slid her bra off her shoulders.

Ethan ripped off his shirt. "I'll take that as an invitation."

Alexis clapped her hand over his mouth."To bite? I don't think so."

He nipped her finger,then sucked it in between his lips. She jerked beneath him, her eyes rolling back as he drew her into the hot moisture of his mouth.

"That's not so bad," she admitted.

"That wasn't a bite. That was a nip and a suck." He took the tip of her wet finger and swirled it over her nipple. "When I bite, you'll know it. You'll feel it everywhere, like a thousand tongues caressing all over your body, and you'll beg me not to stop."

A moan ripped from her. Then she was unzipping her jeans and trying to shove them down one-handed.

"If you bite me, 1 won't become a vampire, will I?"

"No." Ethan gave her some assistance, pulling her pants down inside out. He didn't even stop to regret the passing of dresses and pantaloons when her bare body was revealed to him. He swallowed the excess saliva in his mouth.

Alexis was incredible. Curvy and feminine, that wonderful modern combination of physically fit, with defined muscle tone, but allwoman , rounded and contrasting. A woman who made himfeel like a man.

She was kicking violently at her jeans, still trapped on her an-kles, and the jerks did interesting things to her breasts. He took one into his mouth, stilling her. Oh, yes. She was sweet and salty, her tight nipple tantalizing and teasing his teeth.

Too soon.It was too soon. Yanking back, Ethan bent down, disposed of her pants, and ran his hands up the length of her soft, supple body. "You are beautiful, you know." Brushing over the curls at the apex of her thighs, he added, "Golden. I want to eat you." He pressed a kiss right on the dewy mound.

Alexis was surprised she didn't climax right then and there, and all thoughts of waiting to have sex were banished. They were doing this now, hard and fast. She groaned and pulled him by the hair back up to her mouth. Ethan brought out the violent in her. But between the talking, and the show, and the electric sparring, she was feeling inhaled by an intensity of feelings for him.Swallowed, urgent, desperate, like she would do anything to get him inside her. Like nothing would be enough until he was.

Between hot kisses, she murmured, "Get your pants off." Groping at his waist, she tried to find the snap
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on his pants, but it eluded her. So she settled for a killer squeeze on his tight butt.

His taste was tangy, like salsa, and his tongue did delicious circles around hers. But then he pulled back, forcing her hand to fall off his backside. Alexis gave a groan of disappointment, and he settled back down against her.

With no jeans on.

Holy vampire erection.It was nudging right against her, bigabd thick, and oh, my. "Where did your pants go? Did you vapor-izethem or something?"

Ethan rocked his hips, grinding their bodies together. "No. You blinked. And while you were blinking, I took them off."

That was kind of scary."Show-off." But she wasn't all that upset when she resumed her previous position and got to stroke all over his bare butt.

"No, just desperate for you."

That was a good thought."Condom on, too?"

He paused. "No."

"Well, get to it, speedy." She didn't want to think about the reality of it, but she had to face it. Lord only knew some of the places his stake had been buried in the past nine hundred years, and she didn't want to find out anytime soon.

Ethan stood up, completely and gloriously naked.

"Where are you going?" she asked, panicking that he didn't have condoms. She certainly didn't.

"I have one in the pocket of my jeans, but I threw my jeans a little farther than I meant to."

One?Like that was going to be enough. And where the hell were his jeans, the hallway?

Almost.They were dangling off theminibar , clear on the opposite side of the room. Considering Alexis had never even seen him take the pants off, there was an element of freak-out to that, but she decided to ignore it.

Especially when he retrieved a condom from his wallet—which made Alexis briefly wonder what else was in a vampire's wallet— and sheathed himself. When he turned, she decided any and all questions could wait until the end of the session, because that thing was coming at her.

"Hail to the chief," she said with enthusiasm, moving her legs restlessly on the thick carpet.

Ethan laughed. He had a nice laugh, rich and full, like a good beer sliding down your throat on a hot day.

"You aren't going to start humming, are you?"

"No, but I do feel like I should honor you in some way. Wow." She didn't even mind that her words might go straight to Ethan's head. Bothheads, and she'd be in business.

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"You do realize that by saying things like that, you've eliminated my ability to make love to you slowly and tenderly." He dropped to the floor in front of her and spread her legs with a quick jerk on her calves.

"I didn't think we were going for slow and tender.Maybe next time." Alexis closed her eyes when he kissed her, licking along her bottom lip. He moved, nuzzling into her neck, while his finger worked its way inside her, sinking deep, then stroking her clitoris."Yeah, definitely next time. Fast and hard is good," she panted as he petted and kissed, his tongue doing a delicious little swirl over her flesh. Then she felt his teeth sink into her neck, a quick sharp invasion that startled her.

"Oh!" Alexis tried to shift away from him, but Ethan held her firmly, and as he drew on her with erotic tension, she felt an answering ache between her legs. When he pulled harder, she went wet, her body aching with want, as the room tilted dizzily behind Ethan's head. Closing her eyes, her startled gasp drew out into a moan of ecstasy.

"
Oooo
, yes," she breathed, raising her hips into his fin-ger, her breasts crushing into his hard, warm chest.

It was like the ultimate tease, like he was stimulating her every-where, over every inch of her body, dipping into and tasting every crevice, drawing her passion right out of her, except the one place that so desperately wanted him.

"More," she said, wiggling and squirming beneath him, pinned on the hard carpet.

Ethan broke the embrace, removed his finger,placed his mouth over hers. His tongue thrust between her lips right as he entered her body with a hard slap.

Alexis came, rocking and shuddering with her violent climax, unable even to reach up to grab hold of Ethan. She heard the yelps that ripped from her mouth, couldn't believe them, even as she rode the wave of pleasure on and on, squeezing herself around him as he thrust.

He moved through her aftershocks as she murmured, "Damn, I'm easy." She sucked in a gulp and tried to shake her hair out of her eyes, woozy and drowning in endorphins.

But he didn't stop thrusting in her, not even when he rolledontc his back, landing her on his chest and lap.

"Move on me," he demanded. "Make me come."

There was a challenge. Alexis propped herself up with her hands, still wet, still aroused, but feeling limp and done in. She looked down at him, his fierce expression, which had more of the warrior he'd been than the angel his mother had called him. Ethan was a complex man, of many shades and sides, and he obviously knew just how to push her buttons.

Without hesitation, she dug her nails into the carpet, sat half up, and rode him. Slowly at first, then faster, then with total abandon, until they were both moaning in tandem, the slick sound of their bodies joining driving her like a whip. When Ethan gritted his teeth, she knew he was there, and she rocked down hard, letting go with her own orgasm right as he catapulted into his.

Hands on her arms, he squeezed harder than was comfortable as he convulsed inside her, but Alexis didn't care. Vampire sex rocked.

After an eternity in which nations could have fallen, and whole new species discovered, Alexis collapsed on his chest. She needed water, but first she needed to rest for about a decade.

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His fingers raked through her hair as he continued to pant. "Now I'm the one wowed. That was absolutely incredible."

She smiled against his chest. Considering how much experience he probably had, she was thinking that was quite a compliment. "You know it."

When he kissed the top of her head, she felt a weird lump rise out of nowhere and lodge itself in her throat. Embarrassed, she stayed draped over him, but pinched him lightly on the arm. "So what was that bite all about? You got hungry and had to take the edge off?"

Not that she had minded. She should, but Ethan hadn't lied when he'd said she would like it, and there was no pain now, just a sore satisfaction over her whole body.

"That wasn't a bite to feed. I only tasted your blood, I didn't drink it."

"So what was it for then?" It was nice to know that he saw her as more than a snack.

"That was a bite to mark you.To claim you as mine." His hand landed on her butt and he held her tightly against him. It wasn't PC, but Alexis liked the way his words sounded.Ele-mental.Raw.When man wants woman. "Like a 'keep away' sign for other vampires?"

" 'Keepaway.' 'No trespassing.' 'Touch her and you die.' And it's just for me, too, the desire to touch you, to invade you everywhere I can."

Hello. That was sexy. But he didn't need to know that. "Well, I let you this time, but don't expect to do that whenever you feel like it."

Alexis shifted, adjusting her sticky body on his. He really made a nice contoured mattress.

"Yes, dear."He bit her ear.

She lifted her head to give him a glare.

"Whatever you say, dear."He reached out and nipped her bottom lip.

"Stop that." Because she was getting aroused and it really seemed like she should play hard to get at some point.

"Make me."

Oh, yeah, Ethan liked to play it rough and tumble. And she was just the girl to give it to him.

Kelsey pursed her lips at him and avoided his eyes asRingo pressed her back against the wall with his
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body, one leg wedged between her skinny thighs.

To anyone walking down the hall, they looked like a couple getting it on. But all he felt was a cold, unpleasant fear that his carefully constructed, unemotional life might be collapsing in on him. "What did you mean by that? And don't think you can play me, because I can snap your neck right now and get away with it."

He was lying. He wouldn't kill her. He didn't even like the way he had to threaten her, but he had no choice, and no time to feel sorry for the dark-haired ditz.

Kelsey licked her already glossy lips. Her breath panted in his face, quick and distressed. It had a sickly sweet scent to it, like she'd been drinking one of those girl drinks with fruit in them. "You have to stop what you're trying to do… you won't be successful. I can't see who wants you to do it, but you'll only get caught, and he still won't die."

Ringostared at her, his heart pounding, his grip on the waist of her red dress tightening. She had to know theItalian, there was no other way any of this made sense. But how and why, that was the question. And was he being set up? Had Kelsey purposely been a distraction?

DamnDonatelli for pulling him into his games.

"Are you his girlfriend?"

"Mr. Carrick?" Her dark brown eyes widened. "No. He hasn't been dating anyone at all. Not until now, withBrittany 's sister."

"Not Carrick.The other one.The one who sent you to me." Frustration made his voice hoarse as he tried to keep it low.

"I don't know what you mean." Her shoulders scrunched up, like she was trying to protect herself from him. "I know you wanted to kill him because I heard your thoughts in your head."

Oh, my God. He fucking could not believe he'd had the idiocy to even speak to this girl the night before.

He should have pretended he didn't speak English. Been Italian himself for the night.

"I speak Italian," she said. "My mother was Italian."

"What?"Ringo dropped his hands from her waist. He hadn't said any of that out loud.

"You couldn't have pretended to be Italian and not able to speak English because I speak Italian. That's what I mean."

"How are you doing that?" And how had she left him in a confused stupor with his pants unzipped the night before? Hedidn even remember having a drink when she sat down next to him.

"You didn't have a drink."

"I didn't say that out loud."Ringo narrowed his eyes at her-Some of her nervousness was disappearing and she stared at him expectantly. He didn't believe in this kind of psychic crap, hadn't believed in much of anything since the service.

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"What's the service?" Kelsey blinked."Oh, the Army or something?"

His hands went cold and his throat closed. A sweat ran down between his shoulder blades. "You can read my thoughts?"

She nodded. "I've never been that great at it, but with you, it's like one of those things… what are they called? The thingy they use to have the news guy read the, you know, things he's supposed to read?"

Ringopressed his temple, brushed his hair off his forehead, his brain understanding what she was saying yet at the same time unable to accept it."A TelePrompTer?"

"Yes! That's it." She reached out and touched his chest.

Ringostiffened, but she only stroked him with an odd sort of tenderness. "Don't worry. I won't tell, but you have to promise not to try anymore. It won't work."

"Why not?"Thoughts raced and tumbled in his head and he was unable to get a solid grip on anything.