Bitten By The Bad Boy: A Bad Boy Vampire Romance (9 page)

“Ya think?” Kyra blurted.

“Anyway, I did not remember biting you when we were together,” Patton continued. “It was disconcerting for me.”

“It was disconcerting for you?” Kyra practically screamed. “You turned me into a vampire!”

“No, I didn’t.” Patton’s shoulders slumped, “I mean, it was not my intention. I had no way of knowing you would actually go and feed on somebody to complete the transition.”

“You pissed me off. You were a bit of a dick, remember?” Kyra retorted.

“Yes, and now I’m apologizing.” Patton seethed. “I don’t normally apologize. To anyone. Ever.”

“Shocker,” Kyra muttered.

“Listen, you don’t have to see me ever again.” Patton reiterated. “I just wanted to say my piece. Liv can be very persuasive for such a tiny thing.”

Kyra looked away from him. She couldn’t bear the weight of his gaze on her, the way it made her feel self-conscious and alive all at once. Liv told her there was more to the man but he’d already rejected her – more than once. A few words couldn’t change that, could they?

“Well, I will leave you to your event,” Patton said quietly. “I understand tonight was quite a coup.”

Kyra heard his hand hit the door knob. “Wait.”

Patton didn’t turn to face her. “Yes?”

“Did we really spend an evening together, before the other night?” Kyra asked.

His shoulders slumped. “Yes,” he whispered.

“And you wiped the memories from me?” Kyra continued.

“Yes.” Patton’s response was barely audible.

“Why would you do that?” Kyra asked.

“I did not want this life for you.” Patton did not face her at first but then slowly turned, his hair half covering his face as his jaw flexed with the admission he did not want to make. “I tried to stay away from you because I knew then that I wanted you, that I would not hesitate to turn you just to keep you with me. I am sorry I could not refrain.” He turned to leave.

Kyra stayed his hand. “Why didn’t you say all of that before?” She leaned up, stretching her body against his and kissed him.

His hands flew to her hips pulling her into him. Kyra arched her back as his lips moved along her jawline and down her neck to the swell of her breast. Patton deftly untied her dress and slid it off her, without missing a beat. He buried his face between her breasts before taking her left nipple in his mouth. Kyra pulled his head back and slanted her mouth over his. She fumbled at his pants, groaning in frustration before tearing them open. Patton growled low in his throat and grabbed her ass as he put her up against the wall and entered her.

Their eyes met as Patton withdrew and then pushed in again, deeper, slowly with such control that Kyra felt him in every inch of her body. He teased her like that, held her against the wall as he pumped in and out, touching every nerve until she cried out.

“I need you too.” She whispered.

Patton’s eyes flared as he rocked into her and let loose, everything between them dissipating in a flood. He laid his head on her shoulder, hair falling over his face and across her chest. “I love you, Kyra Donovan. I’ve loved you every night since I first met you and I swear to you that I will love you every night of forever.”

Kyra pulled lifted his chin so she could see his silvery eyes, “say it again.”

“I love you.” Patton whispered.

“And I love you.” Kyra kissed him on the nose playfully. “Now was that so difficult?”

THE END

Message From The Author:

Hiii

I hope you enjoyed the main book.

As promised and as part of this special package there is a bonus book included that has never previously been released anywhere before and you can start reading this now on the next page!

BONUS BOOK

OBEYING THE

VAMPIRE BILLIONAIRE

JASMINE WHITE

About This Book:

College graduate Chloe Bishop was used to obeying her bosses in her previous jobs and when she began to work for mysterious CEO Michael Andreas she expected no different.

However, Chloe had no idea that Michael was actually a vampire and very soon she would be obeying him in more ways than one...

OBEYING THE VAMPIRE BILLIONAIRE

Chapter One

Chloe sat uncomfortably in her chair. She was the only person waiting in the lobby. The receptionist answered phone calls with her back turned from her as if daring her to bother asking a question. It had been twenty minutes since she had called upstairs to whomever was supposed to be conducting her interview, and apparently, no one had bothered to call her back. Every now and again someone sprinted past her, coming out from one dark, heavily-vaulted door, and disappearing behind another. Rarely did anyone smile or acknowledge her.

From what she was able to find out online, Dreas Pharmaceuticals was on the forefront of some of the newest technologies in medicine. Working for them would certainly weigh on the positive side of career choices on her resume. What probably wouldn’t was the fact that she hadn’t demonstrated interest in science. She graduated school with and English major and a minor in Mass Communications.

She had been surprised that she was called back in the first place, thinking that they might want even their clericals to have some interest in medicine or biology. The one person that she knew who that worked for this company was an acquaintance from school who had a nursing degree, and from what she remembered, that woman hadn’t done more than take a bookkeeping job.

That had been a few years earlier, but it was the kind of information odd enough to stick out in her head. Not that either courses of study were a requirement for the job that she vied for. This position was for an executive assistant.

What drew her to it was the prospect of a solid salary and full benefits. She wouldn’t have dreamed of taking a job like this when she first went into college, but now that she was out of school, facing the prospect of heavy student debt and all the other expenses of life, she was quite happy to take this job. She would use it as a stepping stone toward something better. Survival came before pride. Not that there was much pride in missing bills and dodging debt collectors.

This was exactly the fourth interview that she had been on for this company. No one seemed to be able to tell her anything of substance. Each interviewer rehashed the same speech in a different way: Dreas was the best drug company in the industry, with a focused team of professionals, and high respect for confidentiality in every area of their work
. Go team spirit.
Please sign the confidentiality disclaimer here
.

She was directed not to mention the fact that she had been contacted for an interview. The last person she spoke to, who seemed to have an overwhelming dislike for her, made sure to point out the fact that the company did extremely thorough background checks, and that she would
not
be invited back for another interview. She said it with a tight smile, as if she fully expected a background check to reveal that she was a murderer or someone who tortured animals for sport.

Apparently, she passed, because here she was.

Chloe was beginning to think that maybe it was a joke. Perhaps she was only invited back by mistake, and now someone was trying to figure out how human resources could fix their foul up. She had heard of worse things happening. Corporate America could be an unpredictable and cut throat place.

“Miss Bishop.”

Chloe started at the sound of her own name. She had expected someone to approach her from the door directly to her right. Instead, this man approached her from behind, taking her by surprise. She popped up from her chair. “Yes, that’s me,” she said brightly, smoothing back her hair and testing her legs. She was wearing heels, and she had sat just long enough that she was beginning to lose feeling in her limbs. She sincerely hoped that she wouldn’t stumble once she started to walk.

“I hope that you didn’t wait too long for me. Vicky, how long has Miss Bishop been sitting here?” He looked young, no older than thirty by her guess. He was dark hair and blue eyes, a lovely combination. She couldn’t help but notice that he was muscular, even beneath his dark suit jacket. He looked like the kind of man that got out and played sports after work.

She didn’t imagine he would be a gym rat. She hoped that this was perhaps the last of the human resources people that she had to meet with, someone that she wouldn’t have to come across again. This man’s attractiveness would make it hard for her to concentrate.

Vicky’s head snapped up and she turned her chair around to face him. “Mr. Andreas, sir, I called Bernadine the moment that Miss Bishop got here, that was a little over fifteen minutes ago,” she defended herself. Chloe swallowed. The woman seemed genuinely scared of losing her job. And probably with good reason. Andreas was the company’s CEO.

“It really wasn’t that long, and Vicky was very kind,” Chloe intervened. “I didn’t even notice the time pass.”

Andreas didn’t seem moved. “Perhaps I will talk to Bernadine then,” he said coolly.

He didn’t bother to introduce himself, though his identity by that time was obvious. It bothered her that she didn’t have a chance to shake hands with him, and she wondered if this was because he was already pissed for some reason or if he had a general lack of manners.

Chloe was ushered into a long corridor with many doors, and the boss walked ahead of her, swiping his key card through several different entrances. Once we reached the elevator, he placed his hand over a biometric scanner which gave him access the moment he touched it. She was fairly awed by this level of security, but she kept her thoughts to herself. If this were only a corporate office, then that didn’t explain such a high level of security. Perhaps there were research labs or drug compounding facilities on the property which no one spoke of.

The elevator went up several floors. The doors opened to expose a black carpeted suite. There was a view of the city from the windows that filled the expanse of the back wall. This space was at least twenty floors up. There was a lone, glass desk, with one chair for the occupant and one for the guest. There were several monitors mounted on the walls, and she took note that one of them was CNN. Without a word, Andreas motioned for her to take a seat, and then crossed to the opposite side of the desk, where he typed silently at his laptop for a moment before bringing his attention back to her.

“Would you like to tell me why you applied for this job?”

Chloe exhaled. “Actually, I would like to know why I’m being hired for this job. None of your staff will tell me anything about the position other than the title, and from what I can see so far, the people in charge of your hiring process aren’t a happy lot. I have more than the skills needed for a basic administrative job, if that’s what you’re looking for. Otherwise, you’ll have to tell me what you need in order for me to be able to say whether I’m a good fit for you or not.”

He tapped a pen against his desk. “Well that’s brutally honest.”

Chloe shrugged. “If you’re going to ask me that question about what is my greatest strength and greatest weakness, directness could probably fall under both.”

He smiled, but the movement was quick, and she wasn’t entirely sure that it was genuine. “Okay. Well there may have been some extra mystery when dealing with the advertisement for your position, because you will report directly to me. My staff is very protective of our business, and of me specifically. Whenever we have recruited for this position before, we were met with certain challenges, and my team is eager to avoid those at all costs. So they have built in a lot of levels to the screening process to help eliminate anyone that might not be what we’re looking for.

“In this position, you will do a lot of things for me. Some of it will be as simple as sending emails and correspondence for me. Other things will mean maintaining my schedule and planning events. I am told that I am considered a public figure, especially with some of the projects we have been working on for decades finally coming into fruition. I like for my life to remain as private as possible, and I need someone who will be able to head off unwanted attention is a must. I am basically stalked by three or four different media outlets a day. You’ll get very used to saying ‘no comment’ very often.”

“Mr. Andreas, that sounds like something I can easily handle for you.”

“Good,” he said, with another smile, but this one lasted longer and carried a bit of warmth to it. “Please call me Michael. I will be texting and emailing you about things practically all day once you come on board, so we may as well start off with informal footing. Are you available to start next week?”

***

Michael was very impressed by the latest addition to his company. It had been a long while since he’d had an assistant, and it would be interesting to see how well she faired amongst his staff. Sharla, his attorney, had been the first to tell him her thoughts on the subject.

“After what happened to the last one, I don’t think that it’s a good idea,” she said.

Sharla sat on the edge of his desk, legs crossed. Her mocha colored, flawless skin needed no makeup, but she was busy reapplying blush to her cheekbones.

“You don’t think that I can control myself?” Michael shot back. “That’s highly insulting.”

“It is what it is, honey,” she said, batting her eyelashes at him. “Someone has to tell you these things because obviously everyone else is scared to. What was it with the last person you fired? Did they sneeze or something?”

Michael clutched his hand into a fist. Sharla knew very well the logic behind his decisions, but she was egging him on anyway. Over the years, the two of them had been many things to him, but in the end, she felt like family. He could have retained other attorneys that didn’t question his motives or his sanity, but Sharla had known him longer than anyone else in his life, and could be trusted in a way that no one else he knew could.

Loyalty was a very important thing when surrounded by people with unstable alliances.

“Everyone loses control sometimes, that’s just the way it is,” Sharla said, snapping her compact shut. “I’m only asking that you don’t make messes that are so close to you, because that makes it harder for me to clean up. And the last thing I really need right now is my job being more difficult. We have competitors on our tail, and the last thing we need is for someone to find out what a couple of these products really do. That’s one of the reasons that I don’t recommend bringing anyone new into the inner sanctum.”

“An assistant won’t be privy to the inner workings of the company,” he replied. “She would just be here to smooth details and handle appointments.”

“Either you really believe that, or you’re a better actor than I have ever seen,” she said. “I noticed the way you looked at her this afternoon when you walked her out of the building. As an assistant she might not know anything, but how quickly does that go out of the window once you get her in bed?”

“Again,” Michael said. “You’re assuming something you don’t know for sure.”

“Are you serious? I’m not going to even remind you how long we’ve known each other. Promise me,” Sharla touched his chin with the tip of her red fingernail. “More caution, please?”

“Yes,” he sighed. “You’ve nothing better to do than sit on the edge of my desk all day?”

“You, as always honey, are my chief problem around here.”

“You’re paid well,” he replied mildly, staring out of his window for a moment.

Sharla shook her head and got up. “I’ll leave you to it.”

***

As soon as Chloe got home, she pulled out her laptop. She wanted to do a little research.

She’d actually done thorough snooping about Dreas Pharmaceuticals itself, but hadn’t bothered to research their CEO. What she found left her with more questions than answers. There was tons of news about drugs in development. But she only found one picture of her new boss, a shot snapped of him at a gala for Heartbeats for Women, a charity that donated money for research into heart disease and new treatment. And even that one picture was a grainy, bad shot. She recognized the dark hair and chiseled features, a sort of petulant frown that made her smile.

He was an almost shockingly handsome man.

Michael was listed as one of the richest men on the continent. But little was reported about him. No one was mentioned in the trades as a love interest. It was hard to believe there wasn’t someone: girlfriend, boyfriend, or an ex of either variety. No kids. No former wives looking for a slice of his empire.

Not that any such thing was her concern. She would have liked to have found something that detailed his business acquisitions, maybe something that described how he was as a boss. There appeared to be nothing.

It made her a bit nervous. This man was an unknown property and she was not sure why he had picked her in particular.

The stories about the medical research backed by Dreas was intriguing. There was a drug in development that purported to normalize red and white blood cells. The ability to control the cells could have a myriad of medical implications, provide solutions for several diseases, including hereditary disorders like sickle cell and lupus. There could be even broader applications, but further testing was needed. Unconfirmed sources stated that human trials had already begun, and that preliminary results were promising.

It made Chloe wonder about his need to avoid the press. One would think publicity for his company was a good thing, even if he wasn’t interested in garnering any personal attention.