Claiming Beauty (Taking Beauty Trilogy 2)

A girl needed her beauty rest, you know? Apparently, that wasn’t going to happen here. By the time I checked in and took my bags to my room, the sounds of the party streaming down the hallway were irresistible. So was the thought of spending a few minutes with Liam, but I was pretending that wasn’t why I was going.

I changed clothes, putting on a pair of jeans and a low cut red velvet blouse. I’d had a thought earlier that if I opened up to Liam a little, maybe played his game just a bit, then maybe I could get him to open up to me. I wanted to do a good job with this article, and I wasn’t opposed to going to such lengths to make that happen.

The first thing I thought when I walked into the band’s party suite, was ‘where did all these people come from?’ A least a hundred people were crammed in there, all of them drinking and partying.

I spotted Ian and Rhone in the corner and decided to join them after helping myself to a glass of wine from the bar.

“Hello, Catherine, did you enjoy the show?” Ian asked.

“I did, it was amazing,” I replied.

“It always is,” Rhone said. Ian shook his head in disagreement.

“It was shit, Liam went on for way too long,” he said.

“Did he?” I asked. “Does he do that often?”

“All the bloody time! I’m convinced he only does it to piss me off.”

“He seems to piss you off a lot,” I replied.

“Fuckin’ twat. He does it all on purpose. He loves gettin’ under my skin,” Ian said, as he took a swig off the tequila bottle he was holding. “Always has, since we were lil’ tots.”

“You shouldn’t let him upset you so much, sweetheart,” Rhone said, lying a comforting hand on his arm.

“Listen if I could fuckin’ bloody help it, I would. He’s the only chap in the world that can piss me off so much.”

“Are we talking about me?” Liam walked up with a jovial smile and a bottle of whiskey in his hand.

Ian rolled his eyes and grabbed Rhone’s hand and pulled her away without a word. Liam turned to me with his hands raised in mock confusion.

“What did I do?”

I laughed and shook my head.

“I have a feeling you know exactly what you’ve done,” I replied.

“Piss Ian off? Excellent, it’s good for him,” he replied. “But who wants to talk about him? How are you doing?”

“I’m good. I’d love to ask you a few more questions, if you’re up for it.”

“Sure, luv. Let’s find a quiet corner,” he replied, turning and searching the room. He grabbed my hand and I let him led me to an empty couch along the window. We’d just sat down when three women walked up, their faces awash with gushing adoration.

“Liam Mercury!” one of them squealed, sitting on the other side of him. She ran her hand up his arm, and leaned into him, her very exposed cleavage squishing against him. “You’re my favorite! I’ve been wanting to meet you forever!”

“Oh yeah?” he asked. “How’d you get in here, luv?”

“Big D brought us up. He said you might have time to have a drink with us?”

“I don’t know about that. I’m in the middle of some —,”

“Mr. Mercury, I’ve had your poster on my wall since I was a little girl!” her blonde friend interrupted. “Honestly, I just love you!” she squealed. “You’re so amazing and so talented. I loved it when you sang ‘Somewhere Else’ tonight.”

“Well, thanks, hon, but I’m —,”

“My father turned me on to you,” the third girl gushed, “and I’ve been a fan ever since. Can I get you a drink or something?” She sat down on the other side of him, squeezing in between the two of us, completely ignoring me. The three of them began bombarding him with questions and eyelash fluttering adoration. He drank it up, occasionally looking over at me apologetically. I shrugged and stood up and walked away.

This was obviously not the time nor place for an interview. A few quiet moments alone with this man was not that easy to achieve. If this kept up, I was going to need a lot more than a week to get my story.

And for the first time, that didn’t really sound so terrible.

Chapter 10

LIAM

As the blubbering women surrounding me chattered on and on about how awesome I was, I made a mental note to kick Big D’s ass when I got him alone. I’d told him no women tonight, and here I was, once again cornered by them.

I could hardly blame him, considering in the entire five years he’d been with me, I’d never once told him not to bring girls back after the show before. But for fuck’s sake, he’d do well to listen to me, no matter how out of character it was.

I turned to my right, and was disappointed to see that Catherine had disappeared. I wouldn’t have stuck around either if I were here.

In fact, what the fuck was I still doing here?

“Excuse me, ladies, I’ve got to drain the lizard,” I said. They giggled and parted, letting me up for air from their constant barrage of compliments. It was bloody exhausting. How many times could a bloke say ‘thank you’?

I know, I’m sounding ungrateful again. But for fuck’s sake, give a man a little breathing room, will you?

After pissing and finding another drink, considering I’d downed the entire fifth of whiskey I’d been holding while I was sitting on the couch, I sauntered off to find Catherine. She was the only thing I was interested in right now.

It would have been easy to take the three girls back to my room and spend the rest of the night rolling in the sheets with them, but for some reason, since Catherine had arrived, she was the only person I wanted to spend time with. Everything else bored me to tears.

Maybe it was her steely resistance. I mean, fuck, I wasn’t used to that. Maybe it was her eyes, always watching me, observing me, like I was in a fuckin’ cage or something. I wanted to give her something to write about. I wanted to give her a lot more

than that.

I saw her sitting in the corner talking to Rocket and I cringed. Not that bloody bloke! He was regaling her with tales from the road, or some other bullshit, and she was laughing heartily. I hesitated, watching them from afar before approaching. She was so fuckin’ beautiful, it almost took my breath away. But more than that, she was whip smart, and apparently, not a fan of bullshit.

I liked that. I always preferred the direct approach in life myself, and I appreciated a woman who didn’t beat around the bush. Life was way too fuckin’ short for playing games. I’d figured that out a long time ago.

Which is why I decided tonight was the night to make my move. All I had to do was get her to my room, and I’d have her writhing on my cock in no time. But first, I needed to get her out of Rocket’s slimy clutches.

Chapter 11

CATHERINE

Liam approached like a predatory cat. He slithered up to Rocket and I with hunger in his eyes. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like being the one he was stalking. Not only did it help with my plan to get close to him, but it was flattering as hell to have one of the biggest rockstars on the planet have you in his sights.

Which is why I knew the way to get close to him was to play hard to get just a little longer. If I gave in too early, he’d figure it out and get bored and leave. Just like he’d gotten bored with the girls on the couch. I needed to keep his attention a little longer than they had. I looked over his shoulder and saw the three of them sitting on the couch alone, their heads buried in their phones.

Once he was within earshot, I made my move.

Rocket was rattling on about their last tour or something, and luckily he said something funny at just the time Liam walked up. I laughed loudly, caressing his arm and leaning into him.