Beautiful Brute: A Stepbrother College Romance (Court University Book 3) Read online

  BEAUTIFUL BRUTE: Court University Book 3

  Copyright © 2020 by Eden O’Neill

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Cover Art: RBA Designs

  Editing: Straight on till Morningside

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Cleo

  A massive chest rose and fell with heavy breath beside me.

  I slept… with a boy.

  A giggle suppressed as I hunkered down, peeking at him from my pillow. He was beautiful in ways that weren’t right, hard body filling half my bed and long.

  Holy crap, was he long.

  His actual ankles hung off my full bed, sliding out of the sheets when he tugged them up and tucked them above his hips. A perfect V-shape lingered below chiseled ab muscles, his chest broad and golden.

  I bit back a snicker at his dick hair. He gave me full-on dick cleavage, a smattering of dark hair at the base of his dick. I couldn’t see all of said dick currently, but his morning wood outlined my rainbow bedding like nothing else.

  Oh my gosh.

  A sigh in his sleep and he turned, perfection from his chiseled jaw line to his full lips. He had a deep cavity near his right eye, like an old scar from something. Outside of that tiny imperfection, he stunned with hallowed cheekbones cut from the gods and a pair of deep-set eyes that glistened when he laughed. He had green eyes when they weren’t closed, and though I’d only seen him in a dark club and my bedroom last night, they’d been awesome. They were like see-through marbles.

  Clear.

  Lush.

  Utterly gorgeous.

  I tried not to breath now for fear he’d wake up and see me ogle. And my God his laugh. He had such a rich tone, the lines around his mouth revealing he liked to do this often. He liked to laugh, a kidder and a jokester. He kept trying to find ways to bring it out of me last night, to poke and touch me.

  He’d been perfect.

  He was perfect from his body, to his smile, to his laugh. He had the looks of Chris Pine, his shaggy brown hair that curled and feathered only adding to his features. With the fun-loving personality of Chris Pratt and the height of a Hemsworth, he was absolutely all the Chrises.

  All the boxes checked.

  All goals met.

  All virginity lost.

  A reminder of that burn, that soreness, quaked between my legs, and I hoped I hadn’t come across as much of a virgin now as I did last night. I mean, I couldn’t have been a great lover, it being my first time and all that, but I hoped he hadn’t noticed.

  He’d been good, slow, and it didn’t hurt once we picked up. In fact, I’d been so overwhelmed by sensory overload and the fact I’d come so quick last night, the discomfort hadn’t even bothered me.

  This guy had made it easy, all golden and glistening with sweat. He’d enveloped me in a way that made me feel small but not in a bad way, his name, Brett.

  Cleo Erikson-Fairchild had a conquest dadgummit.

  The huzzah I kept internal. It was all I could do not to leave this bed and doodle his name surrounded by hearts in a notebook. He’d just been really sweet, and I definitely wanted to go out with him again. That was if he hadn’t picked up I’d been a virgin. I’d heard it could be a turn off for guys so I hadn’t mentioned it.

  I need to call Kit!

  My friend would want to know how I fared last night. We hadn’t gone to the club with intentions to lose my virginity, but I sure had been open to it. I’d wanted to head into my senior year of college a new woman, ready for the world and go beyond my comfort zone. I always stayed in that tight little box a lot.

  I didn’t want to be in that box anymore.

  Meeting Brett last night had come with opportunity, and though I started to reach for my phone to call my roommate and best friend since freshman year, I stopped when a hand came to settle around my hips. Brett hugged me to him, and I found a nice place there, his body heated and warm.

  Lacing my fingers across his chest, I stared up at him, full well knowing I was all googly-eyed.

  “So, um, I’m awake,” he drummed, a lid peeking open. He revealed one of those glistening green marbles. He grinned. “Just FYI in case you were wondering.”

  Holy crap.

  Stiffening, I tried to play the fact off. “Oh, okay. Cool.”

  “Cool.” A chuckle when he peeled both eyes open, a translucent, sea foam green rounding his irises. He was an aquatic prince sans the trident, his arms stretched wide before he brought them around me again. “I just felt bad. You know, since you were staring and all that.”

  My face heated. “I wasn’t staring.”

  “Hmm.” An ass pinch before his big hand hugged my cheeks. “How does that lie go again?”

  He pressed his mouth into my neck, and I thought I’d come right there, the burn tingling my lower lips. He jiggled my bottom, and when he got anywhere close to touching me down there, I giggled.

  He pulled back, the grin sexy on his full lips. “You’re cute, you know? Sexy.”

  A foreign term to me, but I drank it in as hard biceps surrounded me. Brett tipped my chin, kissing my mouth open, and immediate warmth settled in my tummy. Deep, his tongue dueled with mine, hot lava in his touch as he tugged the sheets off my body.

  “So goddamn sexy,” he crooned, sliding his hand between my legs. I jumped, accidentally kneeing him, and he smiled. “You okay?”

  Stop being such a virgin.

  Okay, so I wasn’t a virgin anymore, but I still felt like one. All this was new, but I closed my eyes, trying to stay out of my head. This was all good until Brett explored with his thick fingers, thumb and forefinger brushing my sex. I jumped again on instinct, wriggling, but froze entirely as he entered my raw core.

  His fingers retreated immediately, of course, lashes fanning up, and I nearly face-palmed myself.

  I nudged his arms. “Don’t stop.”

  “You sure?”

  I cupped the sharp blades of his back for emphasis, bringing him down on me. A sexy grin and his lips returned t
o mine, my hands bracing his shoulders. He took us right back to where things left off, easing my legs apart. He actually got his entire digit in before my body protested and froze up again. I was just so sore, badly since it had been my first experience last night, and this time, Brett ignored my urge to keep going.

  “Yeah, you’re not, okay.” He fell to his side, concern on his perfect Chris Pine lips. “What’s up? You’re not into this?”

  So I was definitely into this.

  But how did one tell this perfect fusion of, simply put, the best Chrises that she’d only been touched like once and that was by him?

  “Er, um,” I started, and when his eyebrow raised, I sighed. “I’m just inexperienced.”

  “Right.” Another grin before he pressed his mouth to mine, that big Hemsworth body all over me. “You’re funny.”

  I wished I was. I wished it didn’t still hurt because he was fucking sexy and I wanted him inside me right now like I wanted ice cream sundaes. Like I wanted lava cake and snickerdoodles. Like I loved caramel corn.

  Jesus, he makes me insatiable.

  “This tight, little body isn’t inexperienced,” he said, moving a hand over my breast. He pinched a nipple, and I moaned. He breathed heat over it. “It’s sexy as fuck.”

  Again, foreign to me, which was why I’d been so forthright at the club last night. I was tired of being the soft, inexperienced virgin. I wanted to have some fun and finally get out of my head. I let life hold me back a lot, and Kit amping me up last night only helped me out. She’d been having sex since high school, and my college roommate couldn’t believe I hadn’t had the same experiences yet. She’d called me sexy too before, I guess, but that was so not me in my shorts past my knees and calf-length skirts. I was mission trips and Netflix, not sexy woman of the world. That’d just never been me.

  But Brett had made me feel that way last night, adventurous. He’d made me laugh, so hard I thought I’d barf a lung. His experience in the bedroom only added to the perfection he was. He’d made me feel so deeply, knew pleasure. Just like now.

  Tweaking my nipple, he positioned a knee between my legs. He rubbed my sex, just a brush, but it tickled, and I squeaked.

  I actually squeaked.

  A slow eyebrow lift in my direction, and I literally did palm my face.

  You suck, Cleo Erikson-Fairchild. You totally suck!

  My fingers peeled away. “Okay, I have a confession.”

  “All right.” A smirk before he played with my fingers, and I was glad he found this funny because I sure didn’t.

  I bit my lip, completely embarrassed. “Uh, last night was my first time.”

  “First time for what?”

  I gave him a look, an obvious one, and his eyebrows jumped so far up his face I thought they’d shoot into his Chris Pine hairline.

  Our fingers stopped the dance when he removed one. He twirled it in front of me. “So what we did last night…”

  “My first time.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “As a heart attack.”

  Reality moved over his face then, and when he lay back, looking completely freaking stunned, I knew I lost him.

  Brett’s thick fingers shoved into his hair in silence, his sight dancing on my star-coated ceiling. I’d put up those corny, glow-in-the-dark stars when I’d been like twelve, but had been too lazy to take them down. We’d had to come to my childhood home last night since I was on break from school, but I didn’t expect my parents back until later today since they were out of town on business. My adoptive father—well, technically, my stepdad—was a congressman and my mom worked for him. I thought them being out of town gave me an opportunity.

  But now, I was only embarrassed.

  My heart beat like a jackrabbit during Brett’s silence, and I thought he’d literally run from my bed like I had a contagious disease.

  Say something please.

  Too many moments passed, too many of him staring at the ceiling. Wide-eyed, he looked like one of those memes were the guy is trying to calculate the most intricate problem. His throat jumped. “All right.”

  “All right?” I asked, hopeful. I hoped it would be all right.

  I really wanted to see him again.

  He was nice, and though he was probably local, I was sure I could work something out to see him again. I was supposed to be going back to school tomorrow, but my university was only like an hour away. A long distance thing could work if…

  Totally ahead of myself, I deflated. Especially when something hardened Brett’s features.

  His eyebrows drew in, his stare calculated, cold. It was the opposite of how I’d seen him before.

  “Brett?”

  He said nothing, the swallow hard in his throat. Turning, he schooled whatever that was before. He picked up my hand, lacing my fingers. “A virgin… all right.”

  “All right?”

  He nodded, but this time, he smiled. “I can be about that. No big deal.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.” No hesitation with his chuckle, that wonderful laughter that forced heat instantly into my belly. He’d gotten me drunk off that sound without a lick of alcohol last night. There’d been a reason I’d taken this guy home with me. He’d been so nice, easygoing.

  He’d been gentle.

  Perfect.

  He was perfect now, wrapping a thick arm around me. He tugged at my chin. “Really, it’s not a thing. I’m okay with it.”

  He was okay with it.

  Tipping my chin, he kissed me, and suddenly, my vision was filled with wedding bells and “Here Comes the Bride.”

  A growl and he had our fingers laced, dragging them up and above my head. He pressed his whole big body on me, and when I ground my hips into him, he blessed me with that deep laughter again.

  “You sure you were a virgin, gorgeous?” he asked, biting my lips. I believed I’d been, but with him all hot and hard on top of me I wasn’t sure.

  Turning the tides, I shifted, forcing him on his back. He let me be myself with him, be… sexy. He let me take control and when he gathered my hair, I bit back a moan.

  “Hon! We’re home. Where are you?”

  Holy fucking shit!

  I fell off the bed, like literally rolled off the bed with a thud.

  Brett scrambled to the side, eyes wide. “Shit. You okay?”

  “Cleo?”

  Mom’s voice traveled from somewhere in the house again. Meanwhile, I was on the floor flopping around on my purple shag rug. My childhood bedroom was literally like My Little Pony threw up in it, a fascination I had from my pony figurines on my desk to the artist renderings I bought from the internet and put on my walls.

  It was a phase, okay?

  “Honey?” My adoptive father, Rick, called from within the house as well. “Darling? Is everything all right? We heard something. Should we come up?”

  Shit, he’s home too!

  Neither one was supposed to be, obviously, since I brought a boy into their house and screwed him.

  Oh my Goddd.

  “Everything’s fine!” I called, hoping to God they didn’t come up. Scrambling, I got my naked butt off the floor, and I shot to the door. I locked it. “Everything’s good. I swear!”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Positive!” Panicked, I listened through the door, and when I heard nothing, I turned around, facing Brett. He’d gotten up from the bed.

  And was gloriously naked.

  His length hung heavy, thick and veiny. I’d been intimidated as hell by him last night, and his dick had been a huge part of that.

  But then the rest of him.

  Golden perfection, hard and chiseled everywhere he needed to be. A pair of thick thighs pulsed with muscular definition. This guy obviously worked out and frequently. He literally looked like Thor without the hammer, his fingers coming up and curling in his feathered hair. “Your, um… parents, I’m guessing.”

  “Parents?” My lips parted in a daze with my sigh
t on that body in front of me.

  His smile righted. “Yeah. Downstairs.” He pointed a finger in that direction. “Should we do something…”

  Oh, fuck!

  Groaning, I gathered all his things. Like all his stuff from his shoes and shirt to his jeans. I threw the lot at him, but couldn’t find his boxers.

  Where the hell are his boxers?

  “Er, um.” Like he knew, he tugged them off my My Little Pony lamp.

  If I could physically die in that moment, I would have.

  A smile and he was bunching them up with the rest of his stuff. “I’m assuming I need to leave now.”

  God, did I not want him to, but gathering a sleep shirt and a pair of shorts I’d worn the other night, I knew he needed to. I found my sports bra too and tugged all three on. “Yeah, and I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s cool. So, um…” He gazed around, but when I pointed toward the window his eyes widened. “Wait. The window?”

  I mean, I hadn’t tried it, but I figured it was possible. Mom liked to do gardening work out there when she was actually home. There should be some vines up the wall he could climb down…

  A hand grappled my waist, like nearly my entire waist with how big it was. A cool smile and Brett was pressing his naked body up against me. He still hadn’t put his clothing on so I felt basically every inch of him.

  “Cleo, I haven’t climbed out of a girl’s window since high school,” he said, so tempting. He buried his face in my hair. I hadn’t cut it in a while and the soft brown waves basically sat at my butt. He bunched it. “Can we do a little better than that?”

  Oh, we could do way better, and that consisted of us hopping back in that bed while he made me melt. In fact, he dropped the clothes between us, his stuff hitting the floor, and when he brought both arms around me, I thought that’s exactly where we were headed.

  That was until steps hit the hallway.

  A heavy cadence, my dad, before a fist tapped on the other side of my door.

  “Honey, you coming down?” Another tap. “We’ve obviously ruined the surprise, but we came home early.” A light chuckle. “We wanted to see you.”

  Well, I was definitely surprised, and under any normal circumstances, I would have wanted to see them. Since Dad was a congressman, they were basically never home, my mom the same since she worked for him. That’s how they’d met, inseparable since. It’d been a surprise when they told me they were getting married but a happy one.