chapter Twelve
"So how rich are you?" Alexis asked him as they entered the main gaming room on the first floor.
Ethan glanced down at her, amused. "I don't believe that is any of your damn business."
"Oh, come on. If I'm going to be your campaign girlfriend, I need all the facts." She looked up at him with bald curiosity.
"Here are the facts. This hotel and casino opened in the year two thousand to replace a venture I'd had in the early nineties when Vegas decided it wanted to go clean and cater to families. That replaced a smaller-scale hotel I'd had in the seventies. The Ava matches the pomp and grandeur of any other luxury hotel on the Strip. We have over two thousand guest suites, eight bars, six restaurants, a full service spa, three pools, two fitness rooms, and an indoor shopping complex that is designed to look like a Holly wood movie lot in the thirties and forties. "We have a three-screen movie theater that plays two current releases and one black-and-white classic. It's a very successful establishment."
Arms crossed as she surveyed the room, Alexis glanced up at him. "You're proud of this hotel."
"I am." He liked the challenges it presented and the over-the-top grandeur. And the longer his immortal life lasted, the more he wanted to connect himself to the earth, to the feeling that people knew him, that he wasn't just a shadow shifting through life unknown.
"How the hell do you find time to run such a huge business and be president?"
"Being president really isn't a full-time job. Maybe twenty hours a week when I'm actually in office. Campaigning can be time-consuming, but Seamus organizes my schedule. He tells me where to go and I do it."
"And what to say?"
He heard the insult. "Not always. I do think for myself." She snorted.
Which couldn't go unchallenged."For example, Seamus doesn't approve of you as my choice for a mortal girlfriend. But I told him I didn't give a damn. I want you."
Alexis caught his innuendo, which was just as he'd intended. Her eyes narrowed as she stared up at him. Even with rather im-pressive pointy-toed heels on, she was still much shorter than he was. She licked her plump bottom lip, which made him want to direct this tour right back up to his suite, when she broke eye con-tact and started walking.
The way she went boldly into the room, charging ahead of him, attracted attention. The floor manager looked flustered to see him, and Ethan realized he wasn't usually around at four in the afternoon. He was never with a woman. Not on his casino floor anyway. Normally, he kept his affairs private, and in recent months there had been no affairs at all because of the election. He'd been a good little vampire.
It was absolutely killing him. Celibacy was for monks and ugly people.
"Mr. Carrick, what a surprise. Is there anything I can do for you, sir?"
"No, thank you, Jason.I'm just giving a tour to a friend."
"I'm his girlfriend," Alexis said and stuck her hand out. "Alexis Baldizzi ,ClarkCounty prosecutor." She pumped Jason's hand while he murmured a startled greeting.
Alexis smacked Ethan on the wrist. "I'll just introduce myself since you're too rude to do it."
Now Jason was wide-eyed.
Ethan was annoyed, but refused to show it."Sorry, my dear.How inexcusable of me."
"See what I have to put up with?" Alexis asked Jason, hands going into the pockets of her jeans. "Now he's mocking me."
"I am not." He couldn't quite keep the edge of irritation out of his voice.
"Don't start with me, Ethan. I am so not in the mood." She gave him a glare. "Now get me a drink."
He hadn't expected Alexis capable of flouncing, but she did an admirable job. Clearing his throat, he said, "Excuse me, Jason, I need to, uh, get her a drink."
"No problem, sir."
Fuming, Ethan caught up with her. "You're not supposed to make me look like an idiot. You're supposed to make me look considerate. And just with vampires, I might add," he said in a low undertone.
"Jason isn't one?"
"No."
"Well, how the hellam I supposed to know? How do you know if you meet someone for the first time?"
Ethan steered her past the bar. "I can sense it. Smell it."
Her lip curled." Eew. What do mortals smell like?"
"Blood, among other things.Vampires smell like cool water, and their strength is like an aura surrounding them."
"Seriously?"She ground to a halt. "I smell like blood to you? That is so incredibly disturbing."
Oh, wonderful, he'd curled her stomach. "I can smell it, yes, but it's only part of the overall sense of you. I smell vanilla, clean flesh, mango shampoo." He leaned closer, whispered, "I smell your desire for me."
Her breath hitched, "Oh. So how am I supposed to tell who's mortal and who's not?"
"I'll tell you who is."
She moved away from him. "Brilliant.Not . How do I know now to act then? I should just be bossy all the time with you to be safe."
He bet she would love that. "I don't want you to be nasty to me. I'm trying to project the image of a kinder, gentler Vampire Nation, yes, but not a 'walk all over me' Vampire Nation."
You really don't know what you want, do you?" Oh, yes, he did. With a charming smile, he said, "I want you."
"Bite me, Carrick."
"That can be arranged." He loved the way her eyes told him everything, the way they lightened and darkened with her emotions. Maybe he couldn't read her thoughts, but he could see her feelings on her face, and while her words were tough, her eyes were starting to melt.
"Don't be a pervert."
He laughed. "Have you eaten dinner? Let me get you something."
"It's four in the afternoon, Ethan."
"Is that a no? Then walk the Strip with me and we'll have dinner." It had been months since he had been outside before sunset. He wouldn't mind revisiting the day with Alexis.
"Won't the sun fry you to a crisp and leave you in ashes on the sidewalk? Because I don't think I want to see that."
"No. And I wouldn't suggest a stroll if it would." They were standing right smack in the middle of the main floor, three feet from the bar. People were walking in every direction, and the constant ring of the machines vibrated the room around him. There was a low hum of voices, dealers and gamblers, and soft, piped-in music, but none of that was really registering with Ethan.
He saw only Alexis and the desire on her face that mirrored his.
"If I go for a walk and to dinner with you, will you let me practice my Soo Bahk Do on you later?"
That had the potential to be entertaining and sexual. "Sure.
"No campaign stuff tonight?"
"No. Tomorrow is the debate betweenmyself and Donatelli . But tonight the main attraction in my casino is an appearance in the lounge by Tom Jones."
Seamus was going to burst a blood vessel when he found out he was planning a night out with Alexis, but Ethan couldn't work up the regret. He did not need to go over another endless round of questions and note cards to prepare. He was as ready as he'd ever be to face his opponent.
Alexis grabbed his arm. "Tom Jones? Wow, I totally love Tom Jones. He's like quintessential Vegas?over the top and indecent fun. Let me just go grab a pair of underwear to throw at him and we'll be all set."
Over his undead body.If anyone was getting her underwear tossed in his face, it was going to be him.
"I don't think so, Ball Buster. You're not giving your panties to an old man."
"Oh, and you're so young, Garlic?"
"Garlic?"What the hell was that?
"Yep.Now we have pet names for each other, isn't that adorable? You're Garlic and I'm Ball Buster. Now everyone will believe we're a real couple."
Oh, God. Ethan would not laugh. He would not laugh.
He laughed. And Alexis laughed with him.
Normally on a Sunday, her only full day completely free of work, Brittany liked to go swimming in her apartment complex pool, do a little laundry, and cook dinner for her sister. This Sunday she was trolling around the shopping complex at The Ava, trying to run vampires to ground.
Of a vampire.
She wanted to see Corbin again. When she had screamed on the phone the night before, he had suddenly appeared beside her, full of concern. When she had reassured him she was okay, he had left her, but not before he gave her a ride down from the roof. And not before she'd seen the compassion in his eyes.
It had convincedher what she had thought all along about Sea- musand Ethan. Vampires weren't soulless. They were lost souls. They just needed to give up the whole bloodsucking thing and they could be perfectly happy and productive people, with just an incredibly long life span.
She wasn't sure how long that life span would last if they did give up putting the bite on people, but it seemed worth investigating. It was sort of like with children. Parents didn't like their kids' actions at times but they still loved their offspring. Biting was bad, but vampires weren't.
It all made sense to her, except she didn't know where to find Corbin. He wasn't registered at the front desk, at least not under the name he'd given her, and Ethan didn't seem to be in his room. Hopefully, he was with Alexis being saved from eternal damnation. Brittany thought that would be ideal. Ethan saved, Alexislaid . Everyone benefited.
Wandering through the lobby for the fourth time, wondering if she should just go home, she ran into Seamus.
"Hey, Brittany .Have you seen Ethan?"
"No, I haven't. Have you seen Corbin?"
"Who?"Seamus looked at her in confusion. He was wearing a suit, as usual, and he had dark circles under his eyes like there hadn't been a whole lot of sleep for him lately.
"Corbin.The French guy."
He stiffened just a little. "I'm sorry. I don't know who that is."
How obvious was it that he waslying ?
"No? I thought he was a friend of yours."How does she know the banished one ?
Seamus'sthoughts floated over to her, and Brittany was just itching to know why Corbin had been ejected from the vampire coven, or whatever it was called.
"No, sorry, Brittany .If you'll excuse me?"
"Sure, Seamus."If he wasn't going to tell her, there wasn't much she could do about it. But Brittany had an idea. If she could hear vamp thoughts, maybe she could make them. Maybe she could locate Corbin by calling him.
Moving down the hall, her heels sinking into the soft gray carpet, she absently adjusted the strap of her orange sundress and clutched her purse. Maybe there was somewhere a bit more private, so she didn't look like an idiot mentally screaming for Corbin. A hand touched her arm. "Kelsey."
She turned, startled, and looked at a man wearing a black silk shirt and dark glasses. Like the prescription sunglasses that take a few minutes to ease up after you've gone inside.
He realized immediately she wasn't the woman he was looking for. "Oh, I'msorry, I thought you were someone else."
"That's okay." She smiled.
There was no responding smile. He just nodded, and Brittany felt the anguish from him roll over her like a rising tide. The emo-tion swelled and crashed over her, and she gave a little gasp as he talked away.
Swallowing hard, she shuddered as he turned the corner at the end of the hall.
Moving behind a large potted plant and screwing her eyesshut, the mentally screamed for Corbin.Corbin! Corbin Jean Michel
Atelier, where are you? I need you! That was a bit of an exaggeration but it never hurt to gain the jury's sympathy. Alex had taught her that.
Brittany ? What ez wrong? Where are you?
The lobby at The Ava.
I am coming.
"Cool." She fluffed her hair and touched up her lipstick. Nc reason to look like a wreck. Less than sixty seconds later, he suddenly was right next to her.
Not there one minute, very much there the next.
Corbin grabbed her hand and raked his eyes over her, clearly looking for injury. "What ez the matter? Are you ill?"
She smiled. "No, I just wanted to see you."
"What?" He dropped his hand from hers. "Are you serious? You cannot do zat . You cannot call me, letting me think you are bleeding and dying and it ez nothing."
"Oh, lighten up. I didn't know how else to find you." Corbin was wearing another one of those perfectly put together man outfits, heavy on the black. "Now that you're here, let's go play."
"Play?Play what?" He gave her a look of distress.
"Just play. I want to get to know you. I want you to tell me all about yourself. You can unburden to me I'll be your confidant."
"I do not ask for a confidant. I do not want to share ze things with you." He waved his hand in the air. " Zatis for your Dr. Phil, not for Corbin Atelier."
Alexis pouted. She really thought he was just adorable, but very melodramatic. Memories of him caressing the woman on the chaise lounge rose in her mind. She wondered what it had felt like to be that woman what his mouth would feel like on her neck, his hand on her thigh.
"Stop zat , with the lip, and ze thoughts," he said, looking appalled. "You do not understand who and what I am. You do not even understand who you are."
Hello, this was not news. "Well, I'm trying to understand you. I keep asking you what's up, but you won't tell me."
He crossed his arms, and glanced down the hall. He had thin lips, and an inch-long white scar at the base of his chin, which kept his elegant bone structure and proportioned face from looking too pretty boy.
"Just tell me why are you banished? It can't be that bad. I mean, you're not like in jail or anything. Did you sleep with someone's wife? Or insult a bigwig?"
"Nothing so ridiculous."Corbin swung his gaze back to hers. His jaw locked. "I killed a woman. Zat is why I am no longer part of the group. Carrick allows me to live here if I do not cause trouble, but I am not welcome at anything vampire."
Brittany heard the words, but couldn't quite register their meaning. "You killed a woman? What do you mean?"
"I mean, our kind is not allowed to kill mortals. Zat is the law. I broke it."
She shook her head. "But " She didn't sense those feelings from him at all. He felt sad, lonely, lost, but not angry. Not murderous, or malevolent, or violent. There must be more to the situation, because she just didn't believe him.
"You will get us both in trouble if you persist in contacting me. I must bid you adieu, before we are seen. And before I find myself tempted to do something with vou zat I should not."
"Corbin." Brittany knew, as sure as she knew her upper left molar had a cavity, that he wasn't telling her the whole story. She could not believe he was a ruthless, coldhearted killer.
He leaned closer, like he would touch her, but he only whispered, "Guard yourself,ma cherie . Eventually they will come for you."
Then he was gone.
But Brittany felt his hand on her cheek as if hewere still in the room, and she closed her eyes against the confusion, embracing the melancholy feeling of longing instead.
The longing that echoed within her, surprising the heck out of her.
Clearly she was meant to help Corbin, whether he liked it or not.
Ethan wasn't so bad now that he was trying to seduce her instead of her sister.
She just might actually let him. He was working pretty hard.Dinner at a luxurious buffet, where he'd sipped wine while watching her tuck back about nine plates of food.Touring his casino and hotel, strolling down the Strip, and now sitting in a private garden on the roof of the first-floor restaurant on the backside of his building. The little alfresco patio's purpose seemedto be to camouflage several large air-conditioning units with indigenous desert plants, but it also made a nice secluded seating area.
The units created a soft hum, drowning out the traffic noise from the street, and there were several seating groups of teak chairs and love seats, with thick aqua cushions. It was a little hot, but not too bad since the heat of the day was over, and Alexis had ditched her shoes.
Normally it was a matter of pride to keep them on, so she could feign height, but Ethan already knew she was the size of a nine-year-old, so she figured it wasn't necessary to keep up appearances. She was stretched out lengthwise on one of the love seats, her legs draped over the opposite arm, and she was feeling content with the company she was keeping.
Ethan was talking about his childhood inEngland as he sat on the love seat opposite her, his feet crossed at the ankles. He was telling her about his mother. "She was blond, like you, with very fair skin.Petite, with a delicate appearance, and a soft voice. At sixteen she was given to my father to help establish Norman control amongst the Anglo-Saxons. My father was older, in his thirties, and a brisk, dominating sort of man. Yet it's my understanding that she was the only person on earth who could make my father feel fear."
"My kind of woman."
"No doubt."Ethan placed his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "It has been over nine hundred years since my mother died, yet I can still see her face. Hear her sweet voice as she sang to me. She was a good woman and I loved her dearly. Love her."
Alexis felt something stirring inside her.A sympathy for him, a compassion for the difficulty of losing everyone in his mortal life nearly a millennium ago. And she felt her own loneliness reflected in him.
"She sounds wonderful." Alexis swung her feet and sighed. She didn't talk about her mother.Ever. Not even with Brittany , unless it was to make a snide comment. She knew that she should be over it, but she wasn't, and so she didn't talk about it. But with
Ethan, somehow she felt he would understand. He had seen a lot of life, known a lot of people, and it wouldn't shock him to hear the story of a woman who'd had four husbands and never been happy.
The woman who had convinced Alexis that marriage wasn't in her future, sparing herself from the torment and drama her mother had gone through.
"My mom well, she was just someone who shouldn't have had children. She wasn't a badmom, she just wasn't all that great either. She was selfish, you know? Always running around with this or that guy who was the love of her life, or the one who was going to give hera big break in show business. She forgot birthdays, she forgot parent-teacher conferences and she would give my friends coupons for her strip club to pass on to their fathers."
"That sounds very difficult."
She shrugged. "Yeah, but I know a lot of kids have it worse. I've seen those kids. I've seen horrific abuse cases I've talked to those children and had to put them on the witness stand. I don't have anything to complain about so why am I such a baby?"
"Maybe because you love your sister and would do anything to protect her, even become a vampire slayer, and you don't understand why other people?including your mother?don't feel the same way about their families."
Alexis closed her eyes against the last fading sunlight and sighed again. Ethan made a lot of sense, and his words made her feel a thousand times better. That scaredher a little, at the same time it thrilled and pleased.
She could like him. She could even sleep with him.
But she could not fall for Ethan Carrick, for about four hundred reasons.
Like there was no family health insurance for mortal-vampire unions.
And she would eventually be a saggy, wrinkly, incontinent old woman and he would still be sexy.
Plus she was sure her boss would not like her hooking up with a guy who drank blood. It would be really lousy publicity for the office.
But just talking? Just hanging with him for a week was a temptation she couldn't pass up.
"You might be on to something, Ethan." She studied him sitting in the shade of the building. "So how come sun doesn't kill you?"
"I don't know. It's very draining but it certainly doesn't kill me. We are night dwellers, but not unholy demonswho will explode in an agonizing death when a cross is shoved at us. I suspect we have mutated genes, but I leave that to the scientists, not politicians."
"Mutantdoesn't sound any better thanvampire ."
"I'm over it," he said.
Alexis laughed. "So have you been married like thirty times?" She was sure this was going to lead in unpleasant directions, but she couldn't let him kiss her again, with tongue, until she heard that he wasn't a total dog.
Life longevity didn't mean he was exempt from morality, in her opinion.
"I've never been married."
She wasn't sure if that was good or bad. At first, it sounded good, like he was holding out for Miss Vampire Right, but then maybe he was just a selfish, confirmed bachelor.
"Have you been married?"
The question startled her. She hadn't thought that maybe he i would wonder about her past, too, short as it was compared to his. "No. I've been'building my career. And the men I meet on the job are either attorneys or criminals and neither really appeals to me. Besides, not every man sees the charm in a short, extremely independent woman who has a peach butt."
Ethan played with the leaf of the oleander bush growing in a pot next to him. "I confess I've never really spent a lot of time with independent women. I was always drawn to the sweet, feminine, simple types, but since meeting you I've come to realize I've denied myself a great deal of pleasure. While sweet women can be soothing, it seems in my old age I crave intelligent conversation as much as pretty smiles. You give me both, Alexis."
It was so sexy and romantic, she didn't believe it for a second, and treated him to a heavy eye roll.
"And your backside looks nothing like a peach, though I haven't seen you without clothes. Perhaps it's fuzzy?" He shot her a grin.
Whenever he turned her words around on her, she had to struggle not to give in to the juvenile urge to stick her tongue out at him. "No, it's not, and if that's some kind of psychological maneuver to get me to take my clothes off and prove it, you're going to be disappointed. I'm stubborn and competitive, but my butt is none of your business."
"You're the one who brought up that particular body part in the first place."
"I hate it when you're right." She forced herself to sit up."So, no wife, huh? You like playing the field?"
"Yes.And no. Had I found the right woman, my chosen one, I would have married. But I didn't."
Chosen one.Like a soul mate. Alexis figured if she'd ever stumbled across one of those for herself, she would take the plunge, too, despite her lack of successful role models. Yet she was pretty sure such an idealistic thing didn't exist. "Can you have children?"
"Only with a mortal woman, and that is frowned upon. Vampire women can't have children at all."
Oh, that figured. The guys were a thousand years old and still making sperm, and the women got nothing.
"So if you have a kid with a mortal, what is the kid? Vor-tal? Mampire? Do you give them blood in a bottle or what?" It sounded a little creepy, actually. It was one thing to know intellectually that Ethan had to drink blood, from a blood bank, to survive. It was another thing to picture a little five-year-old whipping his fangs out on the playground and biting into a blood bag for an afternoon snack before his nap.
"No. No blood bottles." Ethan shook his head, like she was being outrageous.
"What? It's a legitimate question."
" Impuresare raised mortal, some never even knowing they are half-vampire. But they are strong, free from many common ailments, and have a very long natural lifespan. All those hundred-and-ten-year-olds you see on the news? Impures."
"Really."Alexis thought that wasn't such a bad bargain. You didn't have to suck blood but you got to live a long time in good health. Sign her up.
"They also tend to sunburn easily and excel at sports.
Occasionally, they have the unique vampire trait of crying blood tears, which is usually chalked up to sinus infections."
"Hey, Brittany used to have that. It was totally gross. She hardly ever got colds, but when she did, her eyes would swell up and this nasty, bloody, pus-like stuff would come out.Freaked my mom out every time." Alexis gave a laugh remembering the way her mother used to make gagging noises when she'd hand Brittany a tissue.
Ethan didn't say anything.
Alexis glanced over at him. "What? It was funny. Brittany was such a girly-girl, even though she was always really good at sports, and to see her all puffed up like that, it had its element of humor."
He just stared at her expectantly. "What? Why are you looking at me like that, Ethan?"
Suddenly she remembered what he had told her the first night she'd met him. That Brittany was anImpure , half-vampire. She wasn't, of course, Alexis was sure of that, but here she was spouting all these similarities.
"Oh no, I know what you're thinking," Alexis said, her face going hot. Her baby sister was not a vampire, and she wouldn't accept anyone saying otherwise. Brittany loved garlic?it just wasn't possible. "Don't even go there. It's just a coincidence. Brittany 's my sister, and while my mother was impulsive, I don't think she would have fallen for a vampire."
"Why not?"Ethan asked sensibly. "We seem like regular mortal men, don't we? We blend into society for the most part, and we are strong, some of us are attractive and charming and some have stronger moral fiber than others, just like mortals. There is no reason to believe your mother would have known the truth if she were seduced by a vampire."
Alexis wasn't sure why she was so upset, but she was. Choosing to be with Ethan for a few days was one thing, but accepting that Brittany was vampire was more than she could handle. It was scary and unbelievable, disturbing and shocking. And if Brittany were an Impure, then she had a whole community that Alexis could never be a part of.
She was pretty sure that's what scared her the most.
"Given what you've said about your mother, it doesn't sound like she would have asked a lot of questions."
That made shame, pride, and anger all spark within Alexis. "Hey, that is still my mother you're talking about. She was a lot of things, but indiscriminate slut wasn't one of them."
Ethan sat back hard on the bench. "Alexis, I apologize. I didn't mean to sound insulting. I just meant she seemed impulsive and carefree."
Anger dissipated as quickly as it had formed. "Shit, I know. I'm sorry. And you're right. My mother was perfectly capable of meeting a man at her club and having an affair, thinking she was in love, without really asking a lot of questions. It's just "
"If Brittany is Impure, where does that leave you?"
Tears rose in her eyes. It amazed her that Ethan cut so quickly to the heart of what was bothering her. That he understood her. "Yes."
He stood up and came over to her. He went down on his haunches in front of her, taking her hands gently. "You're still her sister, the most important person in the world to her, and that will never change. You're still Ball Buster, the best prosecutor this county has seen."
Yeah, yeah.She tried to choke out a retort, but she couldn't manage it.
His thumbs stroked across her palms. "And you're a very attractive woman. I hope you'll consider dating the president of the Vampire Nation for real."
Feeling vulnerable and needy were not emotions Alexis aspired to. But Ethan didn't make her feel small or melodramatic. He looked sincere, and strong, and unbelievably good-looking with his sharp bone structure and changeling blue eyes. They were light now, a sky blue on a sunny day. It seemed he wanted her, for now anyway.
And she didn't have any desire to protest or play hard to get.
Maybe there was more of her mother in her than she cared to admit.
She sniffled. "I have control issues, you know. It kills me that I might not be part of something important to Brittany . Not that I'm convinced she is half-vamp. She's not exactly fond of blood. She gets her steak and burgers well-done and flips out over getting her blood drawn."
Ethan tucked her hair behind her ear. It always amused Alexis when he did that. Despite her stature, Alexis had never really inspired nurturing from anyone. Not her mother, not teachers, not boyfriends.
Yet Ethan, the bloodsucking vampire, seemed determined to cuddle and comfort her, and treat her like she was delicate.
She liked it. She liked him.
"As for me and the president well, as long as he knows what he's getting himself into."
Ethan smiled, his touch on her hands turning from soothing to seductive, sliding up her wrists. "He knows."
"Then tell the president that he should consider us dating for real."
"The president is pleased." Ethan moved into the space between them, head tilted, mouth open.
Alexis closed her eyes in anticipation. His lips covered hers softly, gently, with respect and kindness. She wasn't sure she'd ever been kissed quite like that, with a confidence, but also areverence, and it awakened all sorts of emotions in her.Made her want more with him.
Lots more.With tongue more.
With a quick shift, she brought her arms around his neck, and moved forward so that her thighs slid between his chest and his biceps. Ethan had a hard, muscular body. He didn't even strain with his legs bent the way they were, or lose his balance as she wedged herself into him.
The kiss shifted quickly, gained speed and heat, and careened into erotic as he urged her mouth open with his tongue and invaded her with wet, darting strokes. Alexis groaned, her nipples budding painfully, her inner thighs restless and aching. She was close to him, brushing here, touching there, but it wasn't a full body slam, and it was enough to tease, but not to satisfy. She couldn't see or feel his erection, but she knew he was as aroused as she was.
His breathing was hard, urgent, and his technique became less exact, more grasping. Their lips were slick, colliding, and when he plucked at her nipple with two fingers, she jerked on the seat at the sharp bite of ecstasy. If he didn't stop, they were going to wind up naked on this teak outdoor furniture, and while that had its pluses, Alexis figured they'd be visible to people in approximately twenty
"Ethan."
"Yes, BB?"
"BB?" she asked, distracted by his words and his wandering hand. Somehow he'd made his way up her T-shirt. "What the hel ] does that mean?"
Ethan's mouth moved over her neck. "Ball Buster is too long to keep saying. And BB can double as bold and beautiful."
"I see.Very charming." Alexis dodged the kiss he was about to press on her, and scooted her legs around his. It was time to get a grip on her control?she was not going to have sex outside. "But now you need to take me to Tom. It's time for the concert to start, Garlic."
He groaned, toying with the clasp on her bra. "Ah, come on, Alexis. Let's just skip it and go upstairs straightaway."
She wriggled out of his arms and headed for the door, despite the ache in her body. Walking away would hurt, but she'd thank herself for it later. She was too vulnerable to do this with Ethan right then?too raw and too willing to fall for him.
Forcing a sassy smile, she said, "You may have forever to live, but Tom and I don't. This may be my only chance to see him."