Mr. Wrong

by Alessandra Hart

  This one was…erm…slightly more personal. I initially stayed on the date even when it started to become terrible because all I’d been able to hear in my head was Angie’s voice saying, ‘see the date through till the very end or you won’t get that contract,’ so I gritted my teeth and remained seated, trying not to stab Jacob with my fork as he droned on about skull bowls and sexy teenagers.

  But as I got progressively merrier on all the wine I was drinking to keep myself from leaping across the table, dragging him into the kitchen and drowning him in a vat of béchamel sauce, I found myself actually wanting to take him home. It didn’t matter what he said or how much it enraged me; he still got my engine going. He was just that attractive. All I wanted to do was drag him into my bed, jump on him and show him once and for all which gender was the truly dominant one.

  Yeah, I wanted a bit of angry hate sex. Who didn’t from time to time? And yeah, maybe I was setting women back twenty years by wanting to sleep with the asshole bad boy based purely on his looks rather than searching for a quiet nice guy… so sue me.

  We were all allowed a slipup once in a while.

  I suppose there was also the fact that he was a famous actor. Not many women could say: My ex was an absolute bastard, so I dumped him and had hot, sweaty, angry rebound sex with a gorgeous Hollywood star. But after tonight, I could say exactly that. I hadn’t intended to go further than a kiss on the cheek with whomever my rebound date turned out to be, but hell, a romp with a man as sexy as Jacob Archer could be just what I needed to get out of this funk.

  Even if he was a massive ass.

  He stared at me from across the table with wide eyes as I stood and gathered my things. “Are you serious?” he said. “You actually want me to come home with you?”

  His shock nearly made me laugh, but I kept my composure. “Yeah. You coming or what? I don’t have all night.”

  He couldn’t get his things fast enough, including his wallet, which had miraculously appeared in his hand. “You don’t have to pay,” he said hurriedly. “Sorry, I…er…I forgot it was in my back pocket.”

  I suppressed a smile. A-ha! The ‘making me pay’ thing had almost definitely been a test to weed out gold-diggers all along, just as I suspected earlier. Apparently I’d passed.

  “I suppose with a salary like yours, a five hundred dollar dinner feels like a mere pinkie finger in the ass,” I replied, echoing his earlier sentiments of what it might feel like for someone like me to pay for an expensive dinner.

  Once again, Jacob was speechless, and he simply shook his head as if trying to wake himself from a dream before striding over to the hostess to pay the bill. Ha! Who had the upper hand now, Archer?

  We walked in silence to his car, which was parked back at Raffles, and I gave him my address to put into his GPS. His car was a swanky-looking black thing (I couldn’t identify the exact make or model, I wasn’t really a ‘car person’) and he steered it carefully through the city traffic and then up the winding roads which led to the entrance of my gated estate.

  The usual security guard, a tall redheaded man named Clint, was there. 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. 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. 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, but then I pressed my lips shut. 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. 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. Yup, 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 and spritzed a bit of perfume on myself. 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.

  6

  Jacob

  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 crap 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. I couldn’t wait for her to let me inside something else.

  But all my warm, 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. That’s when I started thinking with my brain again, instead of 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. Who knows what other insane shit she might lie about? There was no way I could get involved with someone like this.

  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 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 driveway.

  The fence was a sturdy brick one, and it seemed like it would be 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. I grabbed it and then pulled myself up onto the top of the fence. Then 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. 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 turned 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. He let out a guilty bark from the other side of the fence.

  “Oscar!” she said with horror, sprinting toward me. “No!”

  “Run, boy! Quick! Go to the black car!” I called out, hoping he’d somehow understand. 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. With a surprised yelp, I fell backwards off the fence, landing with a heavy thud on Nora’s lawn.

  I groaned as I lay there, winded and dazed. 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 my 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 not trusting 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 idiot!”

  “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 around eight inches shorter than me, she was surprisingly strong when she was angry, and that was definitely saying something considering all the weighted 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 baby 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 the yard, where several well-chewed dog toys lay. Oscar himself was rubbing up against Nora as she straddled me, still pinning me down. 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. 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 pet theft.”

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

  “Nothing. Leave. Now.”

  I shook my head. “No. 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 then 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 w
as 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.”

  “Just let me expl—”

  She shoved me in the chest, hard. 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 pushing on my chest 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. 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 Nora’s driveway, cursing myself for being such a fucking prick. 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 happened tonight, and there was a stunned silence on the other end of the line.