chapter Thirteen
Of all nights for Carrick to break his fucking routine, it had to be this one. Ringo sat at the blackjack table and glanced at his watch for the third time. Every night Carrick came onto the floor at 8 p.m., except for tonight. It had been a risk to come to the casino in the first place since it was likely they had Ringo on tape, or had security on high alert because of the shooting.
There had been a shooting. Ringo knew he had definitely pulled the trigger on his gun since there were two shots missing. But whether he had actually hit Carrick or not was a mystery. And with the guy not showing tonight, it meant Ringo still didn't have answers. Carrick waseither late , dead, or wounded. The news hadn't mentioned anything about Carrick or The Ava, and there wasn't a hint of any shooting, so Ringo didn't know what the hell to think.
The whole situation was starting to piss him off. His specialty as quick, clean kills with high-caliber weapons. He'd been a sniper in the Marines, and in a manner of speaking, he had continued with the same work.
He didn't kill with his hands, or with messy, convoluted sick shit like rope or a blunt object. He didn't want to beat anyone with anything, exert any sort of energy, or have to resort to violence. There was no blood on Ringo's hands, clothes, or shoes when he did his job, and half the time his victims never knew what had hit them.
If he had known Donatelli wanted something weird, he'd have said no thanks right from jump. But he'd thought an Italian businessman would appreciate a quick shooting, not go in for this mutilation crap. Ringo didn't even know how to cut someone's head off. He'd looked into it, and the bottom line was, it was messy as hell.
The Italian was going to have to settle for a slit to the throat, and even that didn't thrill him. He just wasn't comfortable putting his hands on anyone. Not that it mattered since Carrick was a no-show and come morning Ringo was either going to have to beg for another chance, run for his life, or plug Donatelli to end the situation.
Not happy choices.
"Hi!"
Fuckin' A. Ringo studiously ignored Kelsey, even as she popped her skinny little ass into the seat next to him. He did not need this shit right now.
"Don't you remember me?" She sounded hurt, as she tugged on his jacket sleeve.
Sitting very still, he turned his head and just looked at her. She was wearing a red dress this time, with crisscrosses under her breasts. She wasn't giggling, but pouting.
"I remember you with regret."
"That's not very nice."
If she was looking for nice, she needed a better strategy than hitting on guys hugging the gambling table. "I also remember you leaving me right when things were getting interesting."
"I got scared when things went so fast," she told him with a perfectly straight face. Her fingernail was trapped between her teeth and she slouched in the seat, looking worried. "I'm really, really sorry. Do you forgive me? I shouldn't have run out on you like that."
What was he, fucking stupid? "Yeah, let me guess. You're a virgin and you've never done anything like that before." He moved his money over to the dealer to go in for the next round, and scoffed at her. "I don't know what game you're playing, but find another fool. I don't make the same mistake twice."
"Me either, I promise. This time I won't get scared, because I know what to expect."
That made no sense to him. Expect what? It wasn't like he had a defect or a double-wide dick or anything. He wasn't a nature show, and there weren't that many ways to have sex standing up.
Kelsey smiled and leaned a little closer. "Tell me your name."
He blew cigarette smoke in her face. "I don't have a name."
"Oh, come on. Pretty please, with sugar on top?"
Ringowanted to tell her to go fuck herself, since she had left him sixty seconds from sexual completion, feeling like he'd swallowed a shot glass of Demerol. Yet there was something about her the way she was so perky and naive and flat-out stupid that he found he couldn't do it. He felt sorry for her.
Which shocked him, right down to his Italian leather sandals.It had been a helluva long time since he'd felt any emotion for anyone.
"No. Now here's a twenty." He put a chip in her hand. "Run along like a good little girl and find someone else to talk to."
She made a distressed noise, but he turned back to the table. He noticedshe didn't set down the money he'd given her when she stood up.
But instead of leaving, she draped herself over his shoulder. Ringo stiffened. He didn't want her touching him. And under his jacket he carried his gun.
Ready to shove her off, or leave the table, he was shifting when she whispered in his ear, in an urgent voice, "You can't kill him, you know."
That stopped him cold. Abandoning his money and the game, he stood up and clamped a hand onto her wrist. She sucked in an exclamation of shock and pain.
But he just held her and said quietly, "We're going for a little walk."
Fear flashed in her eyes, but she didn't call for help.
And when he pulled her, she came along with him, giving zero resistance, like a skinny lamb with lipstick straight to slaughter.
-at-
Ethan couldn't believe he'd let Alexis throw her panties at Tom Jones on the stage.
But she had said she was repressed, and never did anything fun, and this was necessary to prevent her from becoming an angry, shriveled-up cat woman.
Ethan couldn't follow the leap in logic, so he had just nodded. But now that they were heading upstairs in the elevator, he was very much aware of the fact that under her tight, low-rise jeans, she was panty-free.
He wasn't a big fan of denim, finding the seams uncomfortable, and jeans awkward as hell to get off a woman. There was something much more satisfying about a dress dropping to the ground in a pool of satin or muslin than yanking and jerking at tight pants, but he was resigned to modern fashion.
And the thought that Alexis wasn't wearing a stitch under that denim did things to his own jeans.Like creating a pop-up tent. "That was so much fun."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"I'm sorry you were the only man there besides Tom and the bouncers." Alexis turned and put her hand on his chest. "But at least you're the owner of the casino so it didn't look too weird."
"I can handle looking weird." Ethan gripped her waist, determined to end the night buried deep inside Alexis. After enduring that screaming estrogen fest, he wasn't going to settle for anything less.
"And I'm sorry I hit you in the face with my panties when I wound upto throw ." She smirked as she walked her fingers up his chest.
"I didn't mind, trust me." Though he would have liked to have kept the scrap of satin himself, not watch it arc through the air and wind up at the feet of a geriatric sex symbol. He hadn't been thrilled when she'd rushed into the bathroom to strip them off in the first place, but he was trying to focus on the end result, not the why.
She was naked under there, and that was the important thing.
Especially now that his hands were on her tight backside, running over those curves and dipping down between her legs.Her breath hitched and Ethan leaned down, intent on claiming those plump pink lips, when the elevator door dinged and slid open.
"Bloody hell," he said, as she darted away from him.
Alexis ran down the hall to her room, shoving the key card into the door slot. Half the time Alexis didn't carry a purse, she just stuffed her keys and driver's license in her pants pocket, and Ethan found that an interesting trait in a woman. Most he knew carried an entire drugstore in their handbag.
He strolled casually after her as she stepped into her room, his still present erection discouraging speed. With a quick burst of energy, he could catch her, pick her up, and have her clothes off before she could even take a breath to protest. But he didn't feel like doing that now. He wanted to let Alexis lead. She craved control and he would give it to her.
It was hard to remember why that was an intelligent idea when he walked through her door and got a foot right in the chest. A whoosh came out of his mouth as a sharp pain vibrated through him.
"What the hell was that for?" he asked as she dropped her leg back down, her fists up and ready.
"You said I could practice," she said, bouncing on the heels o her tiny feet. "But I guess I shouldn't have nailed you right where you got shot. I wasn't thinking. Sorry."
Ethan realized Alexis was still thinking of him as a mortal man, with all the inherent vulnerabilities and weaknesses. That was inaccurate, and the one thing he could not tolerate was pity. Concern was well and good, and showed she cared about him, but Alexis didn't seem to understand the full scope of his powers. Ethan got a little irritated.
"I am a Master Vampire, nearly one thousand years old. I battled the Turkish in the First Crusade, the French in the Hundred Years' War?which I fought for all one hundred years, by the way?and the Germans in both World Wars. One little foot in my chest from a pint-size prosecutor is not going to take me down, bullet or not." Her mouth dropped. He realized that perhaps his words were moreincendiary than informative, right as the butt of her hand shot out toward him. This time he saw it coming and blocked her. But while he was busy preventing her hand from ramming into him, without actually using any sort of force that could hurt her, she pivoted and kicked him right below the knee.
A wince slipped out before he could prevent it. It had been a long time since he'd seen a battle. Maybe he was getting soft if a blow to the shin hurt.
"Pint-size?I'll give you pint-size."
Once again Ethan wished he could read Alexis's mind so he could anticipate what she had in store for him. He was hoping this was the point where she stripped and seduced him, but somehow he didn't think that was where she was going with it.
Just in case things got ugly, he closed the door and moved away from the mirrored closet doors, and into the open living area, back- ingup slowly so he could keep his eye on her. "I didn't mean it as an insult. I was merely pointing out that I
amnot the wimp you seem to think I am. And you're not a wimp either, as you have demonstrated on several occasions."
Instead of replying, she threw a series of kicks, punches, and jabs that had him scrambling to block her. With his reflexes, it should have been a breeze, but since he couldn't read her thoughts or anticipate her moves, and was very conscious of holding back his strength so he didn't hurt her, she managed to land a few shots.
Most he blocked, but she got a foot to his shoulder, a hand to his gut, and an elbow in a place that was just going to hurt both of them if she wasn't careful.
"Alright, BB, you put Buffy to shame." He held up his hands in mock surrender. "You kick vampire ass." Now he wanted her ass in his bed.
Alexis grinned. That scared him. And he had agreed to this. In her mind, he had no doubt she was simply practicing. She wasn't going to let it go yet, not until she was finished.
Ethan felt himself smiling back. Alexis got his blood flowing, aroused his competitive nature. He could hear her blood pumping faster than normal, her heart rate increasing as she lightly danced on the balls of her feet.
"What, you're not finished? Got something else for me?"
"You know it. I'm just getting warmed up." She gave one orthose karate yells that impaled his eardrums like a steel rod.
Then she came at him with a flying front kick. Afraid he'd knock her to the ground if he thrust her leg aside, he stepped back out of her reach.
" Ooohh, vampire speed," she said as she landed with a soft thump on the carpet. "That's cool." Her hands unclenched, and she looked finished.Satisfied.
Ethan relaxed his own shoulders and fists. In time to take a blow to the chin, one that sent his teeth slamming into his tongue, drawing blood, and rattling his skull. For such a little foot, which had to reach so far in the air, it packed a wicked punch. Shaking his vision back into focus, he gave her an assessing stare.
"All right, my dear, I'm done holding back. That annoyed me."
"Holding back? Please. You weren't holding back. You just can't handle me."
But this time when she went at him, he was ready and didn't temper his response. She went right with a knife hand, and he blocked. Left, he grabbed her wrist. He dodged out of the way of her palm, and stopped the right, right, left combo she threw at him. She pivoted, he ducked the kick, she threw a fake kick,then went with the opposite foot, only to find her toes jammed into the palm of his hand.
Sweat dampened her forehead and her eyes narrowed in concentration. They circled each other, Alexis poised for attack, Ethan on the defensive. His enjoyment of her grew with each blow she threw, his respect for the warrior in her higher than he'd ever felt for a woman before, and he found himself aroused.Excited.
Physical exertion mixed with the competitiveness between them, when tossed in with the attraction he had for her, which had been hovering close to the surface all night, like a pile of kindling ready to be lit, their sparring took on a sexual tone to Ethan.
Aggressive foreplay, but foreplay nonetheless.He was turned on, fully hard, and breathing in quick, shallow bursts. His fangs wanted to let down, both from blood lust and from sexual want, though he resisted that. He'd save the first bite for when Alexis was writhing in passion beneath him.
After several long seconds of circling each other, she darted forward. He blocked, but she rained strikes on him one right after the other untiltfhey were both a blur of arms and legs, sweaty and bruised from the smack of skin and bone colliding, neither the clear winner. Alexis was relentless, and her determination and skill gave her enough of an edge to sneak in a punch or a jab here and there, which annoyed him and thrilled her.
Especially when she pulled that leg swipe move on him, and he tripped. Taking advantage, she thumped him in the chest and he lost his balance. Knocking his knee on the coffee table, he stumbled back. Alexis threw a punch with a loud " Ki-Hap!" but when she touched him, Ethan clamped his hand around her wrist.
When he fell, she went with him, landing on his body with a grunt. Not giving her time to react, Ethan flipped her onto her back. But she kicked him in the ass and skidded herself out from under him. They were rolling, bumping the coffee table, locked together, squeezing thighs and calves, and both trying to get the best of each other.Neither willing to give up.
"You know, this can only end in sex," he told her as she flattened her palm on his forehead in an attempt to hold him down on his back.
"That's what I'm hoping," she said, breathing hard, breasts brushing his chest.
If he wanted to, he could send her thirty feet across the room with one push, but he wanted to fight fair, and on her terms. That didn't mean he couldn't take it to the next level, though. On his back, Alexis on his lap, he reached forward and grabbed the fabric of her tight T-shirt. With just a little yank on his part, it split into two pieces, resisting only a bit at the neckline before completely giving way.
"What the " Alexis exclaimed,then moaned when he cupped both breasts, flicked open the front latch of her bra, and kneaded the firm, warm flesh.
Eyes glazed, pupils dilated, a thin sheen of moisture on her upperlip, she leaned down and kissed him with hard, eager movements. She nipped his lip with her teeth, which shot desire through every inch of his body, while she ground her spread thighs on his erection.
They kissed with hot, tangled tongues, her nipples beading under his thumbs, and the air was filled with their excited breathing, the rapid race of their hearts, and the seductive flow of Alexis's blood through her plump veins. He rolled her onto her back, and she kicked him in the thigh. "No, I want on top."
"Then take it," he told her, desire thick in his mouth, and arousal reaching a fevered pitch. It had been hundreds of years since he had wanted with this desperate level of intensity, this slam-and-take instinct.
When she got turned on, her eyes went the most amazing shade of aqua. They were that color now, cloudy with passion, and spark- ingwith sensual confidence.
"Okay." She tried to turn him, but he kept himself stiff, hovering over her. Dropping his head, heflickered his tongue over her nipple.
There was a tiny shudder from her, a pause as her eyes fluttered shut, but then she gathered herself and yanked at his shoulder, try- ingto roll him. Legs clamped around his thighs, she tugged and swore while he laughed.
"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 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, big abd 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 the minibar , 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.
"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 rolled ontc 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.
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.