Free Take It Like a Vamp by Candace Havens Page A

half-slip on. Besides, I’m so not your type. I’m about five inches too short, and my ass has flesh on it. Unlike those skeletons you date. It seems like sex with them would hurt. It’s all angles and bone. You could lose an eye that way. Maybe you should make them wear knee and elbow pads.” The image sent her into another fit of giggles.
    She heard him sigh behind her. The dress pooled around her feet.
    “Hey, what happened to my shoes?”
    Linc held out his hand. “Step out, so I can put this up for you.”
    She did as he asked. He draped the dress over one of the chairs in the dining room and then returned. He avoided looking at her, but pointed to the barstool. “Sit down and focus on eating. Your shoes are by the door.”
    Five bites in, she could feel her senses returning.
    “You’re sort of brilliant,” she said before stuffing a fry in her mouth. She’d cut out carbs a few months ago when she couldn’t zip up her favorite pair of jeans. She missed carbs—especially French fry carbs.
    “Why’s that?” Linc asked.
    “The food. My headache is still there, but there are fewer hammers banging around in my brain.”
    He chuckled. “Casey, you crack me up.”
    She waved a hand at him. “Oh, Linc, that’s what all the men say. I’m the funny one. The sweet one. Sometimes the smart one.” She pursed her lips and eyed her burger. “Tonight, for a little while, I felt like the pretty one.”
    For some reason that made her want to cry, but she couldn’t remember why.
    …
     
    The driver made it from Fort Worth back to downtown Dallas in exactly twenty minutes. Nick jumped out of the car. “Give him a larger than normal tip,” he said to Mason as he ran for the door.
    They’d traced Casey’s phone to her condo. Mason had discovered from the doorman that Linc had gone upstairs with her, and hadn’t come back down.
    Rage burned in his limbs and his fangs bit into his bottom lip. If Linc touched her, he’d have to kill the man. He didn’t care how long they’d been friends. Casey was off limits, and Linc knew it.
    Why had they left together? He’d been gone twenty minutes at the most. Hugh said she was sick. Could someone have poisoned her? He wouldn’t put it past any of those bastards.
    The rage was quickly replaced by terror.
    If something happened to her, he would never forgive himself. She was so precious to him. She didn’t like that word, but it was the right one. No one in his long, miserable life had meant as much as she did.
    The idea that he might care a little too much wasn’t lost on him. No, he was protective of her. In a way, she was an innocent. He’d brought her into his world, and now it was his job to take care of her.
    Outside her door, he paused.
    “Linc, yes,” Casey moaned and then purred like a kitten.
    Nick unlocked the doors and threw them open, not caring that his fangs popped. He’d rip Linc to shreds.
    “What was that?” Casey asked and then giggled.
    Oh fuck. He had to kill the bastard . The sight on the sofa didn’t help. Casey, in only a lacy bra and slip, had her feet in Linc’s lap as he rubbed her feet.
    “Oh, it’s you,” Casey mumbled and then wrapped her arms around herself as she hid her body from him—or tried to.
    His fangs retracted. “Linc, I’m going to ask this once, and I want the truth. What the hell are you doing here?”
    Linc gave Nick a murderous glare. “I’m taking care of Casey,” he said. “Do you have a problem with that?”
    A growl came from deep within Nick. He snarled.
    Linc carefully placed Casey’s feet on the pillow next to him and stood. Face to face, they stared at one another.
    “Uh, guys. Why are you so growly? Nick, are you wearing fangs?” Casey slurred. “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to ask Linc out on a date. Wait, Linc. Are we on a date? I can’t remember. Why’d you stop rubbing my feet?”
    She was drunk.
    He looked back at Linc, who smirked.
    That’s right asshole. You gave her how many