The Mate Mistake(The Woolven Secret 3)(4)
Err… he guessed that meant he and Belle were the bonobos.
And it was going to be all over the news.
Fuck.
Chapter 2
Belle Vaughn was in deep, deep shit.
When she’d come to the penthouse at the Bellagio with “Parker Woolven,” frankly, she’d thought he was lying. He had to be a grifter or a con man. If she’d known he was the real deal, she wouldn’t have—well, that might be a lie. She probably still would’ve. This guy was sex on legs and the things he could do with his tongue were the stuff of legends. So point being, it didn’t matter that she thought he was only pretending to be Parker.
All things being equal, Parker Woolven hitting on a waitress in The Greasy Lamb? Yeah. Right. No chance in Hell. A billionaire playboy eating at that dump? Just didn’t happen. Wouldn’t happen. Especially a guy who was practically werewolf royalty.
Except it had happened and now here they were.
Her face was going to be plastered on every gossip rag from here to Shitburg, Maine. Which meant the people she’d been trying to keep off her tail were going to know where she was. Belle would have to run again.
She’d been underground for the last three hundred years. The United States had been great for disappearing. She’d had a couple of close calls, but when it had really been the Wild West, hiding had never been easier.
Belle had managed to stay off the grid and avoid her family and the old way of life they clung to. The violence. All the death. She’d found another way—a better way. Now it was all going to come crashing down around her because she’d spent the night with a pretty boy who’d claimed to be something she was so sure he was not.
He hadn’t smelled like a dog to her. That was the thing. That’s why she’d been so sure he couldn’t be Parker Woolven.
But, as evidenced by the orgy of paparazzi hanging outside their window, apparently he was.
Why didn’t he smell like it, though? He smelled like chocolate. Parker Woolven was all candy, no doggie. Not that she minded werewolves. A lot of her kind couldn’t stand them. Called them mutts and animals, but Belle was all about the live and let live school of thought.
She bit her lip. Mmm. Chocolate.
Belle forced her mind back to the current conundrum.
Parker exhaled, squared his shoulders and sauntered over to the windows, naked. Giving the paparazzi an unobstructed view of full frontal Woolven. But the view from behind wasn’t bad either. He had an amazing ass. She kind of wanted to bite it. It was just so round and firm. It begged to be smacked.
He turned, as if he could feel her appraisal. He winked.
Oh yeah, he knew what she was looking at and probably what she wanted to do to it.
She sighed. He was just so pretty. Of course, it was that kind of thinking that had gotten her into trouble in the first place.
Belle watched him boldly stare down the paparazzi, all the while flashes exploding against the window while they snapped picture after picture of him even as he drew the curtains closed.
“This is bad,” he said, sinking down on the purple, yet somehow still tasteful couch.
No shit. “It shouldn’t be a problem for you, right? You can make sure they don’t print those pictures. Threaten them with a lawsuit. They shouldn’t be able to just… I mean, we had every expectation of privacy.”
He looked up at her. “It’s so much more than that. It doesn’t matter what we do. What legal actions we take. They’re going to get leaked on the net and while if the world wants to see me naked, I’m happy to oblige, my future bride is not going to be pleased. Neither will her family. Or our stockholders in Woolven Industries.”
“So your marriage was supposed to be like a mini-merger? Wow. And I thought my family was old-fashioned. That sucks.”
He shrugged. “It’s how I was raised and part of my responsibilities as a Woolven. It could always be worse. I’m aware of my advantages and my privilege.” His eyes narrowed. “That won’t last much longer if I don’t get in front of this. Look, you said it wasn’t a big deal to get the quickie annulment, right?”
His eyes were coolly appraising. As if he expected her to suddenly put up a fight or ask for money. She supposed there were people in this situation who’d look at it as an opportunity to make some easy, fast money.
Not Belle. She needed to go underground and fast. She’d gotten complacent. She’d been in Nevada way too long. Contrary to popular belief, not all vampires burst into flames in the sun. She loved the sun—and the heat. It made her remember what it was like when she was human. Of course, she wasn’t supposed to be in the sun then, either. Or show her ankles. Or have thoughts of her own.