Grey Wolf in the White House: The Trilogy (Paranormal BBW Erotic Romance) (6 page)

“Come in!” she called, expecting to see
Damien again, or perhaps the woman with dessert.

A tall male figure stepped into the
room, and Ari’s mouth dropped open as she realized who was standing
there.

Marco.

***

Marco smiled and crossed the room,
sitting on the end of the bed.

“What are you… how did you know where I
was?” Ari asked, suddenly realizing that she hadn’t let him know
that she wouldn’t be home for a while.

“My uncle told me you were here. He
asked me to call in sick for you,” he said.

Beth’s earlier words flashed
through Ari’s mind. ‘
Your room-mate called
in sick for you… at least, I think it was your room-mate’.
She had assumed that it was Damien who had made
the call, and that Beth simply didn’t know what Marco sounded
like.

“Your uncle?”

“Uncle Damien. He is my mother’s
younger brother.”

Marco is a vampire.
Another memory flashed through her mind. When she
had first told him of her suspicions about Remy being a werewolf,
he had made a joke… or at least, she thought he had.

‘Seriously, Marco, I think
the President is… a werewolf.’

‘Right, and I’m a
vampire,’
he had replied.

“This is all too much. What the hell is
going on?” she shouted, leaping to her feet. “Was it you who hid my
letters?”

Marco looked guilty.

“Yes. But only to protect
you.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that? I
can look after myself!”

Marco sighed.

“After you told me that you had seen
the President in his wolf form, I knew that it was only a matter of
time before he realized that you knew. When I was called away on a
work emergency that night, only to discover that there was no
emergency, I realized that he had gotten to you. I could smell him
in our apartment. I couldn’t say anything to you, because then I
would have had to admit what I am, and we don’t like telling many
people of our existence,” he said.

“So you are a vampire? Just like
Damien?”

“Yes. I was just worried about you,
Ari. I tried my hardest to make you break it off with him by hiding
the letters, but you just kept seeing him. He is dangerous, Ari. I
saw all the bruises on you. I had to tell my uncle what was going
on.”

So that’s how Damien found
out.

She blushed as she recalled the reasons
why she had so many bruises on her. Remy was a very rough lover,
but she had never disliked it. In fact, she had loved feeling so
powerless and dominated; something about the experience was
incredibly erotic.

“I really think that there’s been a
misunderstanding,” she said.

“No, there isn’t. You might
think he’s just playing a little rough with you, and maybe he is…
for now. Trust me, Ari, you
cannot
get involved with one of them. He is dangerous,
and he won’t let you go now that he thinks he has you. If you
leave, it won’t be long before he seriously hurts you. Please stay
here, where my uncle can keep you safe,” Marco replied, a pleading
look in his eyes.

Ari considered his words and
sighed.

“I’ll think about it. God, Marco, how
did I ever not notice what you are? I mean, you’re always out at
night, but I just assumed you were staying over at a girl’s place,
or something.”

He grinned.

“Nah. I just don’t need to sleep. Don’t
feel stupid for not knowing. Like I said, hardly anyone knows about
our existence. Except the werewolves, who hate us with a
passion.”

“I’m really tired, Marco. I’m going to
go to sleep. I’ll think about what you and your uncle have said,”
she said.

“Okay. I’ll go home and make sure Remy
doesn’t try to break in again. I know what he’s like.”

With that, Marco left,
turning out the light before closing the door behind him. Ari
couldn’t believe what had happened in the last twenty-four
hours.
Remy wasn’t who he said he was,
Damien Xavier is actually good, and Marco… one of my oldest
friends… he’s a vampire. What else could possibly
happen?

Her cell phone pinged on the
bedside table next to her, and her blood ran cold when she saw who
was calling.
Remy.
Hitting ignore, she blocked his number, turned the phone to
silent and then fell into a deep sleep, filled with images of
vampires, werewolves and ancient Rome.

When she woke the next morning, she had
made her decision.

***

It had been three weeks since she made
her decision to stay under Damien Xavier’s protection, and Ari
hardly ever regretted it. With every conversation that she had with
Damien, she came to realize more and more that Remy was as
dangerous as he said he was, and further, that he had likely been
using her. Occasionally she would dream of Remy, his strong arms
encircling her waist as they joined, but Damien would later quash
all thoughts of going back to him.

‘Did he ever say that he
loved you? That he would tell the world of your
relationship?’
Damien had asked two weeks
ago, and the question had sent a searing pain through Ari’s
chest.

No, he never said that he
loved me. He didn’t seem to have any intentions of revealing our
relationship to anyone,
she had
realized.

Damien had arranged for her to begin
working for him, and while Beth had been upset to hear that she
wouldn’t be returning for the last week of the internship, she was
happy for her.

‘I’ll miss you around here.
I thought I warned you to stay away from Mr. Xavier,’
she had teased when Ari called her to let her
know.
‘God, from what I’ve heard, I would
not want to work for him. He seems to like you, though. Good on
you, Ari,’

Her work could be done from the safety
of Damien’s mansion, so she didn’t need to leave the vampire
compound at all. He had given her a small office in the east wing
of the mansion, and she worked closely with him whenever he was
home. After this long, though, she was starting to feel cooped-up,
and missed the outside world.

‘I want to go out. I need
some things from my apartment,’
she had
said, but Damien had convinced her otherwise.

‘As long as Remy is
President, he will be one of the world’s most powerful men. He will
be able to find you, and do god knows what kind of stuff when he
does. By now, he must have realized that you want to stop seeing
him, but believe me, he will pursue you… and if he finds you, he
won’t just play rough with you.’

As she recalled his words,
she remembered something that Remy had said to her, and a shiver
ran down her spine. ‘
You shouldn’t have
ignored me. I lied to you when I said that I would leave you alone
if that’s what you wanted. I’m not going to let you go,’
he had said.

Damien is right,
she realized.
I guess I
just have to wait and see what happens.

It was a Friday night now,
and after having had a long work week, Ari decided to take a long
candlelit bath. As she relaxed under the bubbles and let the warmth
from the water send a pleasant heat surging throughout her body,
she sipped a glass of red wine and thought of how kind Damien had
been to her.
There must be something else
that I’m missing.
For nearly two weeks now,
she had found herself developing an attraction to the vampire, but
she had no idea if he felt the same.

As if he could read her mind, she heard
a knock on the bedroom door, and his voice called out
faintly.

“Ari?”

“I’m in here!” she said, grateful that
the bubbles were covering up her voluptuous curves.

He let himself into the room, and then
followed her voice into the bathroom.

“Oh! I apologize. I didn’t realize that
you were undressed,” he said, casting his eyes down.

“It’s okay, you can’t see anything,”
she said.

“I was wondering how your dinner was.
And I also wanted to thank you for your hard work this
week.”

“My dinner was lovely, and this bath is
amazing,” she said.

The red wine was starting to go to her
head, and she blurted out a question that she wouldn’t normally
have ever asked.

“I know that you said you want to
protect me because you see my potential and don’t want to see me
get hurt by Remy, but all this… there must be something else you
want. Is it me?”

Damien smiled, and for a moment his
eyes seemed to glow dark red, the same way it had on the night that
he had abducted her from her apartment. The small flames of the
candles caused shadows to flicker over his face, so she wasn’t sure
if what she had seen was real.

“I do admire your potential as a future
leader of this nation, Ari, believe me. But… yes, I must confess
that I am attracted to you. I wasn’t going to say anything, because
you are under my protection, and it wouldn’t be right. I would feel
as if I were taking advantage of you if anything happened between
us,” he said, his calm voice sending another surge of warmth
through Ari’s body.

With that, he turned to
leave.

“Wait,” she said.

He turned around.

“Yes?”

“I don’t think that you would be taking
advantage of me,” she said. “I’m more than capable of making my own
decisions. I decided to stay here, didn’t I? I could have left at
any time, as you told me.”

“I suppose that’s true,” he said, his
lips quirking up in a smile.

“
Well… come and get me,” she
whispered boldly, setting her wine glass down on the
tiles.

His eyes flashed dark red again, and
this time Ari knew that it wasn’t a trick of the light.

“Would you like me to join you in the
bath?” he asked.

“It’s definitely big enough for the
both of us,” she replied.

His smile grew wider, and
seconds later he was pulling his clothes off and throwing them to
the floor. His body was different to Remy’s; he was taller, thinner
and paler, but still very sexy. His skin appeared to be smoother,
too, and he had almost no chest hair compared to Remy.
Stop thinking of Remy
, she
thought, reminding herself that he had never really loved
her.
What we had was never as real as I
wanted it to be.

Now standing in front of her in only
his underwear, Damien spoke softly.

“Close your eyes,” he said.

She obliged, and seconds later she
heard a small splash as he climbed into the bath.

“Open them.”

As she opened her eyes, she saw him
sitting across from her on the other side of the bath, and
smiled.

“What is it you like so much about me?”
she asked, curious.

“You’re a real woman,” he replied. “I’m
over a hundred years old, and back when I was younger, human women
didn’t seem to care so much about what they looked like. They were
curvy and beautiful, as are you.”

“You’re over a hundred?”

“Yes. I told you a few weeks ago;
vampires live a lot longer. Does my age bother you?”

Ari considered his question. He didn’t
look any older than thirty-five or so, so what did it
matter?

“No,” she replied.

“Can I ask you something about Remy?”
he asked.

“I suppose,” she said,
pouting.

“When he came to you… did he ever make
love to you?”

“Of course he did. You know that. Why
do you want to know that?” Ari asked, confused.

“I mean… did he really make love to
you? Did he touch you softly, caressing every inch of your amazing
skin? Was he gentle with you? Did he let you have any control… did
he even let you on top?”

“Oh. No, not really.”

“And did you like that?”

“I don’t know. I guess so,” she
mumbled.

Ari felt uncomfortable with his
questions. She had liked Remy’s rough dominance of her, but on the
other hand, she had sometimes wished that he would be gentler, and
tell her how he felt about her. Damien must have sensed her
discomfort, and spoke again.

“I’m sorry to ask you such personal
questions. It’s just that… I prefer to be gentle and soft with
lovers. I don’t like the idea of ever hurting you. If I were to
take you to bed, I would want it to be tender and sweet, and
memorable for the both of us.”

A rush of adrenalin suddenly coursed
through Ari’s veins, and she realized that she wanted Damien badly.
She had no idea exactly how long she had wanted him, but right now
she would have given anything to feel his touch on her skin,
especially if he was as tender and generous a lover as he claimed
to be.

“I thought you would want to bite me,”
she said nervously.