Wrong (Hollywood Bad Boys) Read online

  The usual security guard—a tall redheaded man named Clint—was there, and he squinted at the car and raised his hand to inspect us, not realizing it was me.

  “Hey, Clint,” I called out as Jacob rolled down his window.

  “Oh, hi, Nora. Didn’t realize it was you,” he said. His smile was replaced with an expression of shock as he saw who I was with. “Oh, wow, Mr. Archer. My wife loves your show. Please, go ahead.”

  The gate swung open, and Jacob stepped on the gas, pulling up in my driveway just three minutes later.

  “So this is your place,” he said, stepping out and appraising my little one-story villa with an unreadable expression. He was probably used to much bigger houses than this, but that was too bad. We were on my turf now, playing by my rules, and he could damn well deal with it.

  “Come inside,” I said, unlocking the front door.

  Oscar barked like mad as he raced into the hall to greet me, and I kneeled down to pet him. “Hello, gorgeous boy. Miss me?”

  He sat back on his haunches and cast a suspicious look at Jacob, and I smiled. “It’s okay, boy. This is Jacob. He’s um…a friend.”

  Oscar barked again, and I laughed. “All right, yes, you can go out in the backyard for a while. You probably need to pee, after all. But no jumping over the fence again!”

  I stepped over to the side door and slid it open, and Oscar bounded out, panting with joy.

  “Cute dog,” Jacob said, his voice strangely frosty. “Where’d you get him?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him, and then I pressed my lips shut again. There was no point opening the ex-files and spilling my guts about James and all the awful shit he’d done. The whole point of tonight was to forget that.

  “Just, uh…a local pet shelter,” I finally replied.

  Jacob arched a brow, and I got the impression he somehow knew I was lying, although I had no idea how.

  “Sit down,” I said, gesturing to the dove-grey sofa in my lounge room. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

  I smiled and stepped into my room, and as soon as I closed the door, I made a mad dash to my bathroom to make sure I was sex-ready. Yep, no sneak attack period raising its ugly head. I was good to go.

  I walked back into my bedroom and rummaged through my drawers, looking for my sexiest lingerie. Hmm…the black and cream French set would do. The silky fabric covered enough of my body to be coy, but little cutouts with black ribbon laced through them exposed enough to tease and titillate at the same time.

  Perfect.

  I slipped into it, spritzed a bit of perfume on myself, and then I opened the door and sashayed out. “Jacob,” I said. “I’m…”

  I stopped dead in my tracks, the words drying up on my lips.

  The room was empty.

  Chapter Six

  Jacob

  Shit.

  Shit, shit, shit.

  I was doing the wrong thing, as usual, and I couldn’t stop myself. I wasn’t supposed to come back here and sleep with Nora, let alone pay for our dinner and make her think I liked her at all, but the truth was… I did like her. Not only was she hot as fuck, she was obviously a strong-minded woman who was dedicated to her job and independent enough to handle life on her own without taking shit from anyone, especially annoying men like me.

  And did I mention she was hot as fuck?

  Yeah, I guess I did already, but it was worth saying again. That photo James showed me the other day made her look like a damn angel, but it hadn’t even been a good photo considering what she looked like in person. She was lovely. Intoxicating. Impossibly beautiful.

  She smiled at me and let me inside her cozy house, and all my lusty feelings toward her immediately vanished when I saw Oscar, James’ stolen dog. After questioning Nora about him, she lied and told me she adopted him from a local homeless animal shelter, and I started thinking with my brain again, rather than with my dick.

  She was a compulsive liar, and if there’d ever been any doubt about that, then there wasn’t anymore. She’d just lied straight to my face about how and where she acquired the dog, and there was no way I could get involved with someone like that.

  It was time to do the right thing.

  I waited until she went into her room to freshen up, and then I headed to the glass side door and opened it as quietly as possible. Oscar was quietly chewing on a toy on the far side of the yard, and I crouched down and called to him. “Hey, Oscar. Here, boy.”

  He gave me a curious look with his head tilted to the side, and then he padded over to me and sniffed me.

  “Good boy. Do you want to see your real house again?” I asked, patting him on the head and scratching him behind the ears.

  Golden Labradors were very expressive animals, and judging by the look in Oscar’s eyes, he was happy about what I’d just said. Or he was happy about the pats he was receiving. Either way, I was getting him out of here. I wasn’t going to let the poor animal live with this insane woman any longer, no matter how fucking gorgeous she was. And smart. And witty. And…

  Shit.

  I was starting to think nice things about her again.

  Stop it.

  “Let’s go, Oscar,” I said, rising to my full height and beckoning him over to the fence. I couldn’t take him back through the house—Nora would see and hear us—and I couldn’t see a side gate anywhere, so my only option was to take him over the fence and sneak back around to my car in her drive. The fence was a sturdy brick one, and it seemed easy enough to hoist myself up onto it and stand on top while I enticed Oscar to jump over. If that didn’t work, I could always pick him up and help him over.

  Just before I jumped up, I spotted a bone-shaped chew toy on the grass, and I picked it up and then pulled myself up on top of the fence. I held out the toy as the dog watched me curiously.

  “Here, boy,” I said. “Jump over. You’re a big boy, I know you can do it.”

  He stayed still.

  I groaned. “I know Nora was acting like it’s naughty to jump the fence, but she was joking. It’s not naughty at all. C’mon!”

  Oscar still looked uncertain, but when he finally spotted the dangling toy in my hand, he began to get excited. He did a few enthusiastic laps of the yard and then made a mad dash toward the fence, and with one big leap, he was over it.

  “Good boy!” I said, throwing his toy down to him.

  Just as I said that, the outside light went on, and Nora appeared at the door, clad in lingerie. Very sexy lingerie. Oh, Christ…

  “What are you doing up on my fence?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

  Before I could answer, she looked around and realized Oscar was no longer in the yard, and he let out a guilty bark from the other side of the fence.

  “Oscar!” she said with horror, sprinting toward me.

  “Run, boy!” I called out. Just as I was about to jump down to the other side to join him, I felt a small hand close tightly around my ankle, and with a surprised yelp, I fell backwards off the fence, landing with a heavy thud on Nora’s lawn.

  I swore I could see stars for a moment, and when I opened my eyes, Nora was standing over me with her right foot on my chest, holding me down. Fuck, she looked amazing. Her curves in that bra and panty set almost made me pop a boner, but it was hard to do that when her foot was traveling up from my chest and toward my throat.

  “You’re trying to steal a fucking dog?” she said, pressing down harder with her toes. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  Oscar had made the jump back over the fence by now, and he was standing by her side, panting and looking very happy indeed about the little adventure he just went on.

  “Traitor,” I muttered at him, narrowing my eyes in his direction.

  “Don’t talk to him!” Nora screeched, digging her foot deeper. “Tell me what the hell you’re up to!”

  “Get your foot off my neck and I might be able to answer,” I choked out.

  She moved her foot back down to my chest, obviously still not tr
usting me to stay still. “Start talking,” she said.

  “I came...I came to get the dog. You stole him from James.”

  An incredulous look passed over her face. “James sent you?”

  I shook my head. “No. My best buddy works with James. I met him, and he told me all about the nasty shit you did, including stealing his dog. So my friend and I….we decided to get Oscar back for him. He’s heartbroken.”

  “All the nasty shit I did?” she practically shrieked. “You stupid fucking moron!”

  “Your foot…is on my throat again…” I choked out.

  Nora leapt on me, pinning me down to the grass with her entire body as her hands closed around my neck. For someone eight inches shorter than me, she was surprisingly strong when she was angry, and that was definitely saying something considering all the heavyweight workouts I did four times a week at the gym.

  “You’re so wrong about everything. You have no idea! So let me set you straight about James,” she hissed. “He abused that poor dog. He locked Oscar outside without any food or water for hours at a time. Sometimes he kicked the poor creature just for fun. I found a video of that on his phone, and if you don’t believe me, I can show you! I forwarded it to myself in case he ever tried to call the police about me taking the dog. So yes, I stole Oscar, but I couldn’t leave a helpless creature there to be abused so horribly.”

  “James….James abused him?” I asked, my eyebrows drawing together in confusion. Surely that nerdy, thin-haired accountant couldn’t have done such a thing.

  Nora nodded. “Among other things. Now look at Oscar,” she demanded. “Does he seem sad to you? Neglected? Abused? Or does it seem like he has a happy home with lots of toys, food and attention?”

  I cast my gaze weakly around at the yard, where several well-chewed dog toys lay. Oscar himself was rubbing up against Nora as she straddled me, still pinning me down, and he had the most adoring expression on his face I’d ever seen as he panted and stared at her.

  “He loves you,” I said.

  “Yes, he does, because I saved him from a horrible life. And I love him too!”

  “I’m sorry. I thought…”

  “Thought what? That I’m a hooker? That I tried to fuck James’ uncle? That I faked cancer and all that other shit that he’s been spreading about me?”

  I nodded, and she glared and leaned closer, eyes blazing so hot that I actually worried I’d catch fire. “Like I said, you’re wrong. James is full of shit. He faked cancer and lied about a ton of stuff, and when I realized he wasn’t going to get help for his compulsive lying, I dumped his ass. Oh, and there’s also the fact that I found out he was abusing Oscar and fucking about ten other women he met online. And he doesn’t even have an uncle!”

  “So why did he say—”

  She cut me off. “He’s telling everyone we know that I did all those things to cover his ass. He obviously thinks if he convinces everyone that I’m insane, no one will believe me when I try to say that he’s actually the insane one. But guess what? I have all the fucking texts. I can prove that he lied about a bunch of shit, if anyone actually ever bothered to ask me!”

  “Okay, okay. I believe you,” I said, my voice turning husky. It was growing increasingly harder to ignore the fact that she was right on top of me, and my dick was already throbbing in my jeans, desperate for me to tear those panties off her and sink inside her.

  Nora suddenly got off me, wrapping her arms around herself. Apparently she’d only just remembered that she was half naked.

  “I knew this was too good to be true,” she muttered. “Now get the fuck out of my yard, or I’ll call the police. I’m sure all your fans would love to hear about their darling Dr. Easton West being arrested for attempted dog theft.”

  I got to my feet, casting a curious glance her way. “What do you mean, this was too good to be true?”

  “Nothing. Leave. Now.”

  I shook my head. “Tell me.”

  For a moment, she looked like she was going to cry, but instead she set her jaw and shook her head too. “I just…for a minute tonight I actually thought someone like you might actually hit on me at a bar and ask me out without any ulterior motive. But look how fucking wrong I was. Obviously that’d never happen, and you’ve done nothing but act like a fucking prick all night. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking when I invited you here!”

  Shit. Until now, it hadn’t even fully occurred to me how awful it was that I’d done this. I had no problem being a dick to Nora when I thought she was a cancer-faking, dog-thieving harpy, but now the tables were turned. I’d taken an innocent woman out on the worst date of her life and tried to steal her dog, and I made her feel like shit about herself at the same time.

  It wasn’t true that I wouldn’t go near her in any other circumstances, though. She was gorgeous; surely she had to know that. In fact, the only thing that would ever stop me from approaching a woman like her would be the worry that I wasn’t good enough for her, given my not-so-stellar reputation.

  “That’s not true,” I said. “Nora, I’m so sorry. You’re fucking amazing. You’re sexy as hell, and not only that, you’re—”

  “Get out!” she said, cold fury etched on her face again. “Get out of my yard, and never, ever come back here again!”

  “Just let me expl—”

  She shoved me, hard, and then she turned to Oscar. “Maul him!”

  Oscar simply sat back on his haunches with a blissful look on his face, tongue lolling out of his mouth.

  “Why can’t you be a trained attack dog?” Nora grumbled at him before turning back to me and shoving me again. “Get out of here or I’ll maul you myself!”

  She picked up a metal garden hoe, and I put my hands in the air. “Shit, okay, I’m going. But when you’ve calmed down, can I at least call you sometime—”

  Before I could finish that sentence, she brandished the hoe at me again and began to chase me, and I swore and ran back inside her house, dashing through the hall and wrenching the front door open before she could catch up and murder me. I fumbled in my pocket to find my keys, and within seconds, I was tearing out of her driveway, cursing myself for being such a fucking prick as she watched me leave with narrowed eyes.

  I called Chris on my hands-free kit as I headed toward home.

  “How’d it go?” he asked, not even saying hello as he picked up. “Did you manage to track down Nora at Raffles?”

  “Oh, I tracked her down, all right. I think we were totally wrong about her. About everything, actually,” I replied. I filled him in on everything that had transpired tonight, and there was a stunned silence on the other end of the line for a moment.

  “Shit. James lied?” he finally said, a note of suspicion in his voice. “Are you sure? He doesn’t seem the type.”

  “Yes, I’m sure. That skinny nerd is the biggest player in L.A., apparently. And the biggest liar.”

  “Jesus. And all that other stuff…that really happened?”

  “Yes!”

  There was another shocked pause, and then Chris began to laugh his ass off.

  “It’s not funny,” I said. “That poor woman. I ruined her night. And worst of all, I actually fucking liked her. She’s a really good person.”

  “Look, don’t worry about that,” Chris said through peals of laughter. “I’m sorry, I honestly had no idea James was making all that shit up, but it’s not your fault that all of this happened. And as for Nora…well, don’t worry about it. It’s not like you’re ever going to see her again.”

  I sighed and hesitated. He was right. I’d been such an unforgivable asshole to her that there was no way I could ever darken her doorstep again without her calling the cops or threatening me with garden tools, so as much as I already regretted it, I had to let this one go. I had to try and forget her.

  Easier said than done, though…

  Chapter Seven

  Nora

  “Hello?” I said glumly after picking up the phone. It’d been five d
ays since my awful, awful night with Jacob Archer, and I was still feeling down in the dumps about it. Not only had the man not asked me out because he actually liked the look of me, he’d done it because of that bastard James, who was still out there spreading rumors about me to anyone who’d listen.

  Apparently Jacob had listened enough to try and steal Oscar from me.

  Prick.

  “Hey, it’s me,” Angie said on the other end of the line. “How are you feeling?”

  “Still shitty.”

  “Damn.”

  “Yeah. I still feel awful over the whole date thing. Jacob just made me feel so low. And I don’t know if I’m even allowed to feel bad, because I was kinda using him, right? I mean, it was just meant to be a rebound date; nothing serious or real. Just so I could maybe get a new contract. So what right do I even have to be mad?”

  “Um…you have every right to be mad. He tried to steal Oscar!”

  “Yeah, I suppose.”

  “Well, anyway, I have some news that might help cheer you up,” she said.

  “Oh?”

  “Remember all the terms of our little deal?”

  I sighed. “Yes. And you know I held up my end, obviously.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry. It’s my fault; I shouldn’t have pushed you. But like you said, you held up your end, so I held up mine. I got Delos the contract with Meridian Studios, and part of the contract says they must send you as the sports consultant on Fourth Down.”

  I perked up. “Really?”

  “Yes, really,” she replied. “Exciting, right?”

  “Yes. Thanks so much, Angie!” I said.

  This was great news. Finally, something to get me out of this horrible funk!

  She paused a little too long, and I frowned. “Wait. There’s a catch, isn’t there?”

  “Not so much a catch. But there is some bad news.”

  My heart sank. I just couldn’t catch a break, could I?

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Um…I just found out who the lead actor is, playing Walter Simmons.”