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and kissed the hand that clasped his.

      “That’s it, baby. I feel better already.” His hand tightened on hers slightly and he looked at her intently. “God, you’re pretty. You’re absolutely beautiful, I hope you know that.”

      Normally Alexis would have jerked away her hand and left the room, but she went along with it and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. “I’m going to get you back,” she warned him in a whisper.

      “I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he murmured with an even sexier smile.

      * * *

      In a few hours, Alexis found herself on the receiving end of an inquisition. She was finally at home, facing both her sister and Sherri. Her car was safely home, too, thanks to Alana. She’d listened to her voice mails and had come to the rescue. The fallen tree limbs had been moved so that the car could be driven away, so she arrived at the hospital in time to see Alexis emerging from the emergency room entrance with a tall, gorgeous blond man in a wheelchair. Alana’s calm demeanor didn’t slip a bit, even when the man was referred to as Alexis’s fiancé. She merely raised an eyebrow when Alexis informed her that the man, Jared, was going to need a ride home because he’d been given a painkiller that made it impossible for him to drive.

      Sherri had also showed up at that point and after a short discussion, it was decided that Sherri and Alexis would take Jared to his rented loft and that Alana would meet them afterward at Alexis’s house. Alexis was all too keenly aware that Alana was killing herself not to laugh at the situation, especially after Jared grandly informed her that he was looking forward to having her as a sister-in-law. Sherri drove to Jared’s building and it took both her and Alexis to help him to the elevator and into the big, barely furnished loft. It would have been a clean escape for the two women had it not been for Jared’s kamikaze-like move that resulted in Alexis getting a good-night kiss from him.

      “You saved my life,” he informed her with a goofy grin. “That means I belong to you now.”

      “Jared, tomorrow morning, when the medication wears off, you’re going to have a totally different perspective on this.” Alexis was trying to be pragmatic and logical, but he looked so sweet and charming that it was difficult.

      “Nope. I know what I know and I know that you’re mine.” And before she could utter another word, he planted a big, delicious kiss on her surprised lips.

      “Jared, you must lay down. Your prescriptions are right next to the bed and I put a big glass of water there for you. If you get dizzy or nauseous, call the E.R. or call me. I left my number there, too,” Sherri said in her most professional doctor voice.

      “I just need Alexis’s number. We’re getting married, you know.”

      “So I’ve heard,” Sherri said cheerfully.

      Alexis had reached her limit. She made her small hand into a gun and pointed the forefinger at her temple, silently mouthing the word BOOM. She took one of Jared’s long arms and Sherri took the other and they walked him over to his bed.

      “Go to sleep or the engagement is off. Call me in the morning and I’ll come take you to your car. Where are your pajamas?” She looked around in vain for anything that resembled sleepwear.

      “I sleep au naturel. Wanna see?”

      “Sherri, what the hell did they give him? Is he ever going to recover or is he just crazy?”

      Jared was finally lying across the bed and looked as if he was about to nod off. Sherri was biting her lip to keep the laughter that was building up inside her to a minimum.

      “He’ll be fine. Some people just react very strongly to those kinds of meds. We’ll leave the light on for him and you can check on him tomorrow. Now, let’s get out of here and get you home. You got some serious splainin’ to do, sister.”

      And that’s how Alexis found herself seated across the table from her sister and her best friend, recreating the evening’s events. They were deriving a great deal of enjoyment from her explanation and Alexis had to admit that it was pretty funny when she told them how it came to be.

      “I left the book club and I was thinking about the book we’d discussed when I got a flat. The lightning and thunder didn’t bother me, but that nasty slap-slap-slap noise a flat makes scared the crap out of me. I called AAA, then I tried to call Alana, but I couldn’t get you. So I was ready to wait it out and I was wondering how a sane woman could get hooked up with a vampire and then Jared tapped at my window and I screamed ‘Vampire!’ because that’s the first thing that popped in my head.”

      Alana couldn’t hold it in anymore. She started laughing and it didn’t look as if she was going to ever stop. All of the Sharp women looked somewhat alike; slender with perfect cocoa-colored complexions and beautiful teeth. Alana’s hair was longer than Alexis’s. It was shoulder length and she often wore it in a ponytail to keep auto paint, grease and other kinds of soil out of it. She not only owned Custom Creative, she worked there everyday. No one looked less like a mechanic than Alana, but no one was better at her craft.

      “You called him a vampire? Oh, that’s too much!”

      “He looked like a vamp, thank you very much! He was all wet and his eyes were all funny looking and he’s so pale he glowed in the dark! Yeah, I called him a vampire! We had just been discussing Dead to the World and it hit home, that’s all.”

      Sherri had to get her two cents in at that point. “He didn’t look wet and drippy when I met him. He looked a little rumpled, but that man is really handsome! He couldn’t keep his eyes or his hands off you, Alexis. So are you going to date him or what?”

      Alana laughed again and the sound was beginning to grate on Alexis’s nerves. “They don’t have to date, they’re engaged, remember? He kept calling her his fiancée and told me he couldn’t wait to be my brother-in-law,” she said with an evil grin.

      “I told you, he said that so I could stay in the examining room with him. He wasn’t serious. It was just a little joke between us that got a little out of hand when that pain medicine kicked in. In any case, I’m going to call him in the morning and get him to his car, if necessary, and that’s that.”

      Alexis left her seat and began taking off her nasty, bloody clothes right there in the kitchen. “I should send him the bill for dry cleaning this outfit, but he did change my tire so I’m going to let it slide. But no, we won’t be going out. He’s not my type.”

      Alana’s phone went off and she answered it as she walked to the living room, leaving Sherri and Alexis alone. “How do you know he’s not your type?”

      “I just do, that’s all. He’s not attractive to me,” she said firmly.

      “You need to pull out the list and see how many of your desired characteristics match his personality. You might be surprised.”

      Alexis ignored her and went to her bathroom to get the robe that was hanging from the hook on the door. “Sherri, I love you and I love my sister but you are both dead wrong about this. Jared VanBuren seems to be a nice man, but he’s not the one. Nope. Now, while you pick up Sydney from wherever you stashed her to come rescue me, I’m going to take a shower. And tell my big sister to go home and read Car and Driver or whatever she does at night. Thanks to both of you but I’ve had a hell of a day.”

      Sherri wasn’t that easy to dismiss; she had to have the last word. “After you get out of the shower, make sure you take a look at your list before you decide Jared isn’t the man for you. That’s all I ask, just take a look.”

      “Yeah, right, whatever. I’ll get right on it.”

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