Beautiful Trouble (Dirty Hollywood Book 2)

by Claire Raye

  I want to believe him, but I’ve been naïve before and it just made me look stupid. But I also don’t want to be that desperate needy girl who always needs reassurance. I let the conversation rest there, because his response should be all I need.

  “So tell me about your job. You know about mine, but you’ve never said a word about what you do,” Lewis prompts and I knew this conversation would come back up eventually. I just didn’t think it would happen this quickly. When he didn’t ask earlier I took that as his lack of interest, which didn’t fully surprise me. It’s what I’ve always dealt with.

  “I’m a personal assistant, so I pretty much do whatever I’m asked.”

  “Whatever you’re asked?” he questions, his eyebrows going up and I know where his mind is heading.

  “Lewis, pull your mind out of the gutter!” I shout, swatting at him.

  “You set it up. I’m still picturing you with Julia Harris.”

  I roll my eyes and try to shove him away from me, but he grabs hold of my wrist and pulls me against him.

  “Trust me when I say my interest is only in you. You were never a small breeze blowing through my life, Ava. You were a fucking tornado, harsh and all consuming, and I felt you in every part of my body.”

  His words shouldn’t have this effect on me, but they make my heart stop and I hold my breath.

  “You barely know me.” It’s an attempt to gather my thoughts but fuck me if I haven’t set him up again. It’s our thing, this flirty banter that we both know leads to him settling himself between my legs.

  Lewis laughs, his head falling back and when he looks down at me his eyes are on fire, filled with lust and seduction. His lips part, taking in a slow breath before he speaks.

  “Ava, I know your body better than you do. I’ve explored every fucking inch of it. And now that you’re back I intend to keep finding new ways to make you scream my name. But not just that,” he says, his lips brushing softly against mine as he speaks. “I want to know everything about you.”

  “What if…”

  “No,” he scolds, shaking his head slowly as he glares at me, and it scares me that he knows my thoughts so well already. “You are it for me.”

  How can that even be possible?

  But I feel the exact same way.

  When I walked out of Lewis’ apartment on what I thought would be the last time I would see him, my heart ached in my chest, crumbling to pieces, and I cried all the way to the Tube station. But I told myself this was always what it was supposed to be—a fling.

  He never once faded from my memory, and even after returning to the US, he consumed my thoughts. I could have easily found him, but I knew there was no chance he could find me. And after the way I’d left, I assumed he’d never want to see me again.

  I didn’t intend to come back here looking for him, but I found myself being pulled in his direction everywhere I turned.

  And when I was presented with a job opportunity here in London, I knew there was a reason.

  Because he is it for me.

  “Is this crazy? “I ask him, and he chuckles a little.

  “Abso-fucking-lutely. But my parents got married after only knowing each other for fourteen days and they’re still together. Some things are just meant to be.”

  “And we’re it?”

  “Tell me, sweet girl, how many pubs have you walked into alone at closing time?”

  “Just one.”

  Chapter Three

  Lewis

  It’s still early when I wake the next morning, my body tired from all the things I put it through the night before. Turning, I see Ava still asleep, curled up beside me, her naked body warm and inviting.

  I’m so fucking glad she’s still here. It makes a change from all the mornings she snuck out early back when this thing was just a…thing.

  Daisy whines and I realize now what it was that woke me up. I reach out a hand and she licks it. “Alright girl, I’m getting up,” I whisper, reluctantly pulling myself from the bed.

  I dress quickly and grab Daisy’s lead, but before we head outside, I quickly scrawl a note for Ava in case she wakes up before I get back.

  Walking Daisy

  DON’T LEAVE!

  I leave it on my pillow, my eyes raking over her sleeping body, lying in my bed exactly where it’s supposed to be. Smiling, I reach down and run my hand softly over her shoulder before adding another line.

  I’m glad you came back.

  Outside, I take Daisy down to the nearby park, letting her run around for a bit longer than usual because I didn’t take her out last night after Ava showed up at my pub.

  As I watch her chasing pigeons, my mind replays all the things Ava and I talked about last night.

  I’d surprised myself by admitting how crazy I was about her. But having lost her once, having spent months trying to work out why she’d left without a word and how the hell I could possibly find her again, I wasn’t about to let the opportunity go now she’d finally walked back into my life.

  And it had been a relief to actually say it. To confess that my dare to her the night she walked into my pub had turned out to be far more than that for me.

  I knew what this was between us. I’d spent the last three months processing it. Accepting that how I felt about her was unlike anything else I’d ever felt with anyone. I still couldn’t explain it.

  We are polar opposites but perfect together all at the same time.

  “Fuck me,” I murmur wondering how the hell I am so gone for this girl.

  Daisy comes running over with a huge stick in her mouth. Chuckling, I pull it from her. “You can’t take it home,” I say, throwing it.

  Fucking gone for her… I was fucking in love with her.

  I was. Had been from the second she’d walked into my pub. “God,” I groan, shoving a hand through my hair as I whistle for Daisy to come back.

  Putting her lead back on, I let her carry the stick back home, ditching it before we take the back stairs up to my flat.

  As soon as I get inside though, I see the bed is empty, my heart already thudding in my chest as I scan the room, looking for her. Just as I open my mouth to call out, I hear the shower start up. Smiling, I quickly feed Daisy before stripping off my clothes and heading into the bathroom to join her.

  She’s standing under the water, her long hair wet and pulled over one of her shoulders, exposing the back of her neck. I open the door and get in, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the top of her spine as my hands slide around her waist and I pull her against me.

  “You stayed,” I whisper, nuzzling her neck.

  She groans, arching her back and pushing her arse against my dick. “You kind of demanded I should.”

  I chuckle, sliding my hands up the sides of her body, lifting her arms and walking us toward the wall. I put her palms flat against the tile above her head as I slide a leg between hers and nudge them apart.

  “Good girl,” I whisper, as she half turns, her eyes closed and her head leaning against the tile.

  I run my hands back down her arms, down the sides of her ribs, brushing against her breasts before trailing them down her back to her arse and between her legs.

  “Fuck,” I whisper, as I slip a finger inside her. “You’re so wet.”

  “Hmmm,” she murmurs, eyes still closed as she pushes against me, asking for more.

  I slip another finger inside, pumping them slowly in and out as I lean down and kiss her shoulder. She groans, taking one hand off the wall as she reaches back and grabs my dick.

  My teeth bite into her shoulder, my eyes closing as I take her hand and put it back on the wall. “Behave,” I murmur.

  “Lewis,” she pants as I slip my fingers out. She pushes back against me again, her arse pressing into my hips, against my dick, demanding more.

  It’s fucking ecstasy and agony and I need a taste, need to feel her, so without thinking, I grab my dick, position it against her and slide slowly inside.

  “Fuuucckk,”
I groan, my head falling backward at how good it feels. I should pull out, grab a condom, but as soon as I do, I feel myself sliding back inside her again, unable to stop myself. It feels so fucking good.

  Ava moans as she pushes back against me in encouragement, my hands now moving to her hips, my fingers digging into her skin as I rock her against me, ride her on my cock.

  “Fuck baby, I gotta get a condom,” I say, my breath heaving, my jaw tight as I fight to control myself.

  “No,” she breathes out, her face against the tile, mouth open. “It’s okay, am…am on the pill.”

  My heart lurches in my chest, my fingers tightening at her hips as my body stills, trying to comprehend what she’s telling me, what she’s letting me do.

  “You’re the last guy I slept with, Lewis,” she says, opening her eyes and meeting my gaze.

  “I’m the only fucking guy you’ll sleep with,” I growl, pulling out and turning her around.

  I slide my hands to her arse and pick her up, pushing her back against the tiles as she wraps her legs around my hips.

  “Watch,” I demand, as I move into position. “Watch as I fuck you bare,” I tell her. “And I’m gonna fuck you hard, sweet girl, just the way you like it.”

  Ava groans, her heels digging into my arse. But I don’t need anymore encouragement as I bury my dick inside her. She gasps, her hands grabbing my shoulders as I start to pound against her.

  I watch my cock slide in and out of her, mesmerized by the sight, by how fucking good it feels like this with nothing between us. Ava’s head falls onto my shoulder, as she watches us too.

  “Touch yourself,” I tell her, my mouth at her ear. “I wanna watch you come.”

  She moves her fingers and starts to rub, our bodies finding a rhythm together as I fuck her hard against the wall and she works herself against me.

  It doesn’t take long before I feel her start to clench around me, the low moan she lets out as her fingers rub faster, harder. I push into her again and again, my balls clenching as I push her closer and closer toward her release.

  “Oh god,” she breathes. “Lewis…yes, yes…”

  She comes hard, her hand gripping my shoulder, her nails digging into my skin and sending me right over the edge with her.

  “Fuck, Ava,” I shout, the sound echoing around my bathroom as I explode inside her.

  Ava’s arms hang loosely around my neck as I stand, leaning our bodies against the wall, both of us breathing hard as we come down from the high.

  Eventually I can no longer hold her up and I reluctantly pull out as I gently lower her legs to the floor.

  “You okay?” I whisper, pulling her into my arms.

  “Mmmm,” she smiles looking up at me. “Yes, I’m very okay.”

  I chuckle, reaching for the soap. “Yes, sweet girl, you most certainly are.”

  After our shower, I head into the kitchen to make us some tea. Leaning against the kitchen bench, I watch as Ava gets dressed, pulling on the same jeans she was wearing last night before grabbing one of my long-sleeved t-shirts from the chair in the corner of my bedroom.

  “Where’s all your stuff?” I ask, pouring hot water into our cups.

  She looks up at me. “Hotel,” she says, ditching her socks and heading barefoot into the kitchen.

  “Hotel?”

  She nods, taking the cup I offer her and adding a splash of milk and a sugar. I make a mental note of how she takes her tea, realizing I didn’t even know before now. “I dropped it off when I flew in last night before coming here. I’m staying there until I find somewhere to live,” she adds.

  “Bullshit,” I immediately say. “You’re staying here.”

  “Lewis,” she replies, putting her cup on the bench as I pull her into my arms, my hands sliding under the t-shirt of mine she wears. “I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  She cocks an eyebrow at me. “Well for one thing, we barely know each other,” she says. “And…”

  “We know each other,” I say, cutting her off as my eyes drop to her mouth. “In all the best ways. All the ways that matter.”

  A smile tugs at her mouth and I kiss her, running my tongue along her bottom lip.

  “Your place is kinda small,” she adds. “I’ll cramp your style.”

  I shake my head, my mouth still on hers as I deepen the kiss, as though trying to convince her. “No, you won’t,” I tell her. “And if you do, I’ll just buy us a bigger house.”

  She smiles against my mouth, as though she thinks that’s a ridiculous idea.

  “Stay, Ava,” I murmur. “Please.” Even I can hear the pleading in my voice, the need and the want in those three words as I ask her not to leave again.

  I watch as she pulls back, her eyes finding mine. “You really want me to stay?” she whispers.

  “Fuck, yes,” I tell her before my lips crash against hers in a hard kiss.

  After we finish our tea, we head over to the Savoy, where she’s left her stuff. It’s a fancy arse five-star place and I don’t miss the stares I get as we walk inside, my arm draped around Ava’s shoulder.

  We couldn’t look more different. Me, unshaven and dressed in worn jeans and a t-shirt, my sleeve of tattoos on full display.

  Ava is model beautiful, still in her jeans and my shirt, but now wearing knee high black boots, her long black hair shining, and her make-up done.

  Polar opposites.

  My boots echo against the tiled floor and I watch as the guy behind the desk sizes me up before turning to Ava and smiling at her.

  Fucker.

  “Hi,” she says, returning his smile. “Ava McDonald,” she continues and once again I mentally note a new thing I now know about her. “I know I’ve reserved a room for two weeks, but I’m actually going to check out today.”

  He looks at her confused before turning to me. I can’t resist giving him a smug smile.

  “Is there a problem?” he asks, looking back at her.

  Ava shakes her head, apologetic as she says, “No, absolutely not. It’s just I’ve found somewhere to stay,” she continues. “Sooner than I expected.”

  I feel my grin widen as this guy once again looks at me as though he’s trying to work out what the hell is going on.

  Yes buddy, it’s exactly what you’re thinking.

  I turn to Ava, my hand cupping the back of her neck as I say, “Why don’t I fix this up while you go grab your things.” Turning to the desk clerk, I ask, “How much do I owe you?”

  He nods, flushing a little as he taps away at his keyboard and Ava turns and looks up at me. “I’ll get it,” she says quietly. “You don’t have to pay for my room.”

  “I know I don’t,” I say, leaning down to kiss her. “But I’m going to. Go get your stuff.” Ava stares up at me and I smile. “Go,” I add, winking. She frowns but doesn’t argue, turning and walking over to the concierge desk to organize her things.

  After I’ve fixed up her bill and we have her bags, we grab a cab and head back to my flat. Inside, I shove my clothes to one side of the wardrobe and empty a couple of drawers so she has space to put her things.

  Ava stands in the middle of the flat, her eyes surveying my open plan living space that’s now become her home too.

  “Are you sure you want this?” she asks, fingers locked together.

  I walk over to her, cup her face in my hands. “Yes.”

  “Why?” she whispers, looking up at me. I know what she’s thinking. This is too fast, too soon. Too much.

  I smile, brush my lips against hers. “Because, you’re it for me, remember?”

  She opens her mouth to speak, but I silence her questions with a kiss, pulling her back to the bedroom. Just as I’m lifting her shirt up, the buzzer sounds out, the long, continuous sound caused by someone holding the button down and signaling the arrival of only one person.

  V.

  Chapter Four

  Ava

  The buzzer continues to sound, loud and long as a smile spreads ac
ross Lewis’ face. He’s stunning when he smiles, masking the harsh exterior of his tattoos and disheveled appearance. Something I imagine turns people off, but it’s what drew me to him.

  That and his filthy mouth.

  “You ready to meet V?” he asks, taking me by the hand and before I can question who V is, I’m being tugged in the direction of the front door.

  Daisy wastes no time, barking and rushing to the door as if she’s well aware of who’s waiting on the other side.

  “Lewis, hold on,” I implore, almost begging him to stop moving and luckily, he does.

  Spinning around to look at me, still beaming, he tucks a few strands of loose hair behind my ear. “Yeah?”

  “Who’s V?” My heart kicks up a few notches because it’s obviously someone important to him and I’m not sure we’re ready for that step just yet. I can’t be meeting his friends already. I don’t even know his last name.

  “My best mate,” he replies casually and continues to move toward the door, but I grab for his arm, stilling him. Hearing him say the word “mate” in his accent practically drops my panties right there, but I need to focus.

  “Lewis,” I all but yell out. “I cannot meet your best friend right now.”

  “Why not?” he asks, his lip turning up at the corner in a smirk as he shrugs his shoulders.

  “Well…” I stammer. “For one thing I’m not dressed very well.” I pull at the t-shirt I’m wearing as it’s far too big and look down at the jeans I’ve had on for a solid two days at this point. “My clothes are dirty, I barely have any makeup on and I…”

  “You look fucking stunning,” he interrupts, pulling me into his arms and burying his face in my neck. He groans in appreciation as he begins to suck at the sensitive spot below my ear. A shudder runs up my spine and despite the warmth radiating through my body, goose bumps rise up on my skin. “Fuck, I love that just touching you elicits this response. Just wait and see what…”

  His words are cut short by the sound of the buzzer once again going off, but this time it’s in succession with the ringing of his phone.