Free Deadly Sting by Jennifer Estep Page B

throat.
    “Well, I don’t know about you ladies, but I’m feeling a little parched. Can I get you anything to drink?”
    Roslyn and I both politely declined, but Eva stepped over and smiled up at him, her face as bright, warm, and happy as a sunny day.
    “I’ll go with you, Philly,” she said.
    Eva had her back to me, so she didn’t see me arch my eyebrow at Kincaid again. He noticed, though. A faint blush crept up his cheeks, but he still held out his arm to the younger woman.
    “I would be delighted to be escorted by you, Eva,” he said.
    Eva giggled and took his arm, and Roslyn, Finn, and I watched them head toward the elemental Ice bar that had been set up on the opposite side of the rotunda.
    “Well, I suppose I don’t have to worry about Phillip hitting on me on the ride home tonight,” Roslyn said. “He’s crazy about that girl.”
    “I know. Problem is, she’s still a girl .”
    Roslyn gave me a sidelong glance. “Not that much of one. Not the way she’s looking at him.”
    I snorted. “Tell that to Owen when he finds out. Phillip might be his friend, but Eva’s still his baby sister. He’s not going to be happy with anyone she dates, especially not Kincaid, given all his underworld connections and business interests.”
    I looked at her.
    “Why are you here tonight with Phillip, anyway? I didn’t realize you knew him.”
    Roslyn shrugged. “We have business from time to time. Occasionally, he hires out some of my guys and girls for events on his riverboat. Xavier’s also moonlighted for him as a guard at the casino on occasion.”
    She was talking about the Delta Queen , the luxe riverboat casino Kincaid owned. It was docked not too far away from Briartop Island. The guys and girls she was referring to were the hookers she employed at Northern Aggression. Roslyn had been a hooker herself, working the Southtown streets for years like so many vampires did, before she’d saved up enough money to open up her own gin joint.
    “Sometimes I think you know more people than Finn does,” I murmured.
    “Impossible,” Finn scoffed, grabbing another glass of champagne from a passing giant waiter. “I know everyone who’s anyone, everyone who wants to be someone, and everyone who’s not anyone too.”
    I snorted. Roslyn laughed, showing off her small pearl-white fangs.
    While Finn grabbed some bite-size deep-fried macaroni and cheese hors d’oeuvres from another waiter, Roslyn put her hand on my arm.
    “So how are you really holding up?” she asked, her dark eyes full of sympathy and concern.
    I shrugged. “Just taking it day by day. Although coming here tonight and seeing Owen with someone else hasn’t exactly done wonders for my confidence that we can work through our issues.”
    The vampire stared across the room, studying the couple. “Oh, she’s definitely interested in him, all right. Anyone can see that from her body language, the way she’s smiling at him, how close she’s standing to him, the way she’s keeping hold of his arm as they wander around the room. But I don’t think Owen is into her at all.”
    “Why not?”
    She turned back to me. “Because he keeps sneaking looks at you.”
    Hope surged through me at her words—bright, beautiful, shining hope. But then I heard Jillian laugh and Owen chuckling along with her, and the happy emotion was snuffed out like a candle flame being doused by a blizzard. Owen might be looking in my direction every once in a while, but he was still here with another woman.
    “It’ll be okay, Gin,” Roslyn said, picking up on my darkening mood. “You’ll see. You and Owen care about each other too much not to work things out eventually.”
    I let out a breath. “Even though I killed his first love?”
    The vampire shrugged her slender shoulders. For all she knew about men and women, even she couldn’t answer that.
    And neither could I.

5
    Roslyn gave my arm a sympathetic squeeze, then moved off to talk to a male vampire who was waving