Beautiful Brute (Court University 3)

It was soft, warm, and I wanted to imprint him into my entire being. I wanted this kiss and him to be important. I wanted it to have the most feeling out of every other kiss I’d ever had. I wanted to remember him above all else and beyond anyone else. I wanted this to be it.

I wanted him to be someone else.

I fought for this feeling with him to cover the lasting impression of another, to be priority in my memory of kisses. In fact, I tried so hard it took me a second to realize when things got too hot and Lawson’s hands ventured to places I wasn’t ready to go. Gripping my thigh, he pushed my legs apart, and as Lawson’s fingers graced my panties, I shoved them away.

So many questions in his eyes when I pulled back, and I felt bad. I gripped his shirt. “Sorry.”

“No. It’s okay,” he said, his finger tracing underneath my chin. “Just too much?”

I nodded, a small smile on his lips before he kissed me again. There was less pressure than before, which I liked. He kept things really chill, easy as his tongue tasted mine. He tasted like wine, and though hints of his cologne were a little overwhelming, I didn’t mind since he was such a good kisser. His big hand eased behind the nape of my neck, and kissing harder, he moved it down. He got one good squeeze of my breast before I pushed him away again.

“Lawson…”

He let me go, completely this time, but he also worked his hand down his jaw. He pulled back completely, staring out the window, but this time, he looked pissed, and I didn’t understand.

I sat back to my own side of the car, adjusting my skirt.

“So I can’t touch you either?” he asked, coming so far out of left field my eyes twitched wide. With a sigh, he wrestled dark hair. “I’m just saying. I thought…”

“What did you think?” Completely closed off now, I felt suffocation in his nice car.

He put his head back. “I thought you were casual. That this wouldn’t be a thing.”

“What made you think that?”

He lifted a hand. “I mean, I saw you that day at the pharmacy. I don’t know. With what you bought and everything—”

“So that gave you license to try and get into my pants?”

Another hand raise, this time to pat the air. “Just relax. It’s just seeing that I assumed sex wasn’t a thing for you. That you weren’t one of those closed-off chicks.”

Chicks, huh?

Suddenly disgusted with him and the fact I’d fallen for his Don Juan crap, I got out of the car. I didn’t know where I was going to go out in the middle of nowhere.

I must not have, because after I got out with my purse, slamming the door, I stood there. I placed my back to his ride, huffing after being basically fondled.

His window pulled down.

“What are you doing, Cleo?”

Silence.

“You gonna get back in the car? I can take you home. Is that what you’d like?”

Again, I said nothing. Needing a moment to cool the hell off before speaking to him.

He gave me more than that.

Before I knew it, he was starting the car, and I whipped around to find him backing away. “Hey!”

Nothing but headlights in my eyes as he backed off the overlook, then onto the road. He peeled away after that, leaving me stunned, and screaming, I got out my phone. I barely could find the buttons to call Kit, let alone speak to her. I was shaking, unable to breathe. I actually had to squat just to relieve my panic.

I heard her voice, and it took me a second to realize my predicament. I was alone. Alone out in the middle of nowhere.

And I’d let myself get played yet again.

Chapter Eighteen