Loving and Loathing Vegas by Lex Chase Read Free Book Online Page B

tending to his own. Vegas expressed that same need to please with his food.
    Jackson swallowed. It seemed like a joke with Vegas’s frequent Sisyphus analogies, but it was the truth. Vegas focused on the pleasure of their customers instead of tending to his own.
    The door dinged with another steady stream of hungry customers. Jackson was somewhat pleased they didn’t have enough tables at the moment and had to form a waitlist.
    The waitlist meant extra income and more reviews on TripAdvisor.
    But with Jeshebet’s infernal wailing, some of the customers muttered to each other in concern. And if there’s anything Jackson knew, it was true infernal wailing. Jeshebet came dangerously close to outdoing herself.
    Jackson turned to the pass-through and found Vegas looming directly on the other side, only inches away.
    Vegas’s green eyes crackled with hidden demonic energies he had long locked away. Stoically, he nudged the slice of pie across the pass-through shelf. “Pie,” he managed to say.
    Jackson knitted his brows, concerned. “You okay? I think your seal is breaking….”
    Vegas shook his head and blinked, but his eyes remained bright and sparking. “I cracked the seal a few days ago,” he said sternly.
    “How did you manage that?” Jackson felt playing dumb was the wisest choice. Could it have been because Vegas pleasured himself and felt a climax for the first time in centuries? It couldn’t be something as simple as that. Why would he compromise his pride for a fleeting moment?
    “I needed it for the edge,” Vegas said, and seemed to expect Jackson to understand.
    But Jackson read between the lines. “Are you cheating on our bet?” He scowled at Vegas.
    “Nope. The night’s not over yet,” Vegas said, and offered a toothy grin.
    Jackson gasped. “Your fangs are showing.”
    Vegas ran his tongue over his elongated canines. “So they are.”
    “Be serious,” Jackson said. “No one can see you like this. Hell, no humans can be near you. They’ll convulse in bone-shattering orgasms just from you standing next to them.” He patted Jeshebet as her cries became white noise. “Can we focus? There’s a waitlist going. Maybe bring out more pies?”
    “We’re already half through the stock. The candy cane chocolate silk is going fast,” Vegas said. “This is four times the size of our usual holiday crowd. Push the white chocolate truffle cake. I can put a marshmallow snowman on it or something.”
    Jackson nodded, and Jeshebet screeched and grimaced.
    Vegas leaned back, knocking his knuckles to the threshold of the pass-through. “Bah humbug to you too, smooshy-face,” he told Jeshebet.
    “Smooshy-face?” Jackson asked, offended. “She has a perfectly good cherub face.”
    “But when she cries, she smooshes her face up like a rotten pomelo. Hence, smooshy-face,” Vegas said. Over his shoulder, the kitchen timer chimed above the deep fryers. “Fish and chips are ready. Back in two.”
    Jackson snorted in derision as he took the pie dish. Balancing the screeching baby on his arm and the dish in his hand, Jackson set it down in front of the woman. “I’ll take it off your bill, ma’am.”
    At first she maintained her sour face, but slowly smiled. “I wish I had the grace to stay as calm under pressure.”
    Jackson nodded, then stroked through Jeshebet’s peach fuzz of hair. She quieted, and Jackson eased the knots in his stomach.
    And then there she went again.
    “Are you sleepy?” he asked her. “Do you need a nap?”
    Cillian scuttled about the diner, refilling water glasses and smiling sweetly. For a guy who ran a quirky charms and talisman shop that reeked of patchouli, he really had taken to customer service.
    The door chimed, but this time a single customer entered.
    Ennis.
    Jeshebet laughed.
    Jackson blinked as she babbled happily and kicked her tiny feet.
    The customers erupted into collective applause at Jeshebet’s sudden positive mood shift.
    Jackson swept a bow as best he