The Touch of a Villain: An Enemies to Lovers High School Romance (The Boys of Clermont Bay Book 1) by Holly Renee (best book recommendations TXT) 📕

was kept. I was surprised by how big the grounds were. Of course, you could see the building was massive from outside, but once you were inside, it felt like a maze. The dining room and a few meeting rooms were at the center of the club. The golf course along with a gym, sauna, and pool were to the left, and I didn’t have a clue what was on the right. The farthest I had been that way was to Mr. Clermont’s office.

I hadn’t dared venture around without a chaperone. Not without Allie.

Today was the first time I had even been near the course.

The large metal scoop was heavy in my hand as I flipped open the lid to the ice machine. I needed to focus on work. Work, school, and getting out of here.

All three things would be vital to my success.

I needed the money, I needed my dad to give me what was rightfully mine, and I needed to get the hell away from this place.

The door to the machine slammed shut, and I jumped.

Beck was standing there, and I hadn’t even heard him. I was so lost in my head that I wasn’t paying attention.

“You scared me.” I dropped the scoop in the ice bucket and took a small step back.

He looked pissed off. He had no right to be, but it was written all over his face.

“What are you doing?” His hazel eyes looked almost black, and even though that should have put some fear in me, I found nothing but an ache low in my belly.

I looked down at the ice bucket and back at him. “Getting ice.”

“Don’t be a smart-ass.”

“I didn’t realize I was.”

“Why did you run off?”

“I didn’t run off.” I flipped the ice machine door back open and grabbed another scoop full. “I’m working. You know, work?”

He looked like he wanted to pummel me, but I kept going. “Some of us have to do that for a living.”

“Don’t play poor girl with me, Josie. I know who your daddy is.”

“I don’t live off my daddy.” I shoved the scoop back into the ice harder than I needed to. “What’s that like?”

“You don’t know shit about me.” His lips were stretched tight and his chest puffed in anger.

“And you don’t know shit about me.”

He stepped toward me, but I held my ground. I wouldn’t dare let him see that he intimidated me. Even if I could barely control the way my hands trembled.

His chest hit mine, and I let the ice scoop fall from my hand as I stared up at him. His chest heaved, pressing against mine with a force that did little to calm my own temper, but he didn’t say anything.

He just stared at me with a look on his face that was completely unreadable. He was angry, sure, but there was something else.

There was something he wanted to say that he wouldn’t. There was something that he was hiding.

“You should go.” I looked toward the door where he must have come in through, the same door that was still standing wide open. Anyone could walk in here and see him pressed against me.

“I think you should probably not tell me what I should be doing.” He touched my throat with gentle fingers that were in complete contrast to the rage in his eyes. I knew that he had no intentions of walking away from me right now. He didn’t care if he was putting my job at risk. He didn’t care about anything but himself.

“You hate my family,” I reminded him, and his eyes flicked from my throat where he was watching his hand on me.

“Trust me. I’m aware of the fact.”

I could have sworn his hand spasmed around my neck as if he wanted to press harder, as if the thought of me being one of them was going to cause him to lose control.

“Why?”

His gaze lowered to my mouth before moving back to my eyes. “Because they’re trash.”

That didn’t tell me anything. It didn’t tell me what happened between them.

“And you hate me?” I whispered because I didn’t want it to be true.

He didn’t answer me though. Instead, he smashed his mouth against mine, and his teeth felt like they would draw blood against my lips.

He wasn’t gentle or smooth. He was kissing me like he was trying to prove something, maybe to himself, maybe to me. I wasn’t sure.

But I knew that I didn’t want it to stop.

Even though he couldn’t even say that he didn’t hate me, and in that moment, I hated him, I still wanted him more than I had ever wanted anything before in my life.

But I couldn’t just let him have whatever he wanted.

I pushed against his chest and forced his mouth away from mine.

“That’s not good enough.” I shook my head and tried to clear the fog of lust.

He leaned forward as if to ignore me, but I turned my face before he could kiss me again. If he did, I knew that I wouldn’t stop him.

“I know you two were friends. What happened?”

Beck leaned back slightly and stared down at me as his chest rose and fell against mine. “We were friends.”

“And?” My pulse raced, and I could feel his beating as fast as mine under his shirt.

“And he touched things that didn’t belong to him.”

What?

“So this is about a girl?” I pushed harder against him, but he didn’t budge. He didn’t move an inch, and he didn’t say anything more.

“So this is just some sort of revenge on Lucas?” I pointed between the two of us. “He fucked something of yours so you’re going to fuck something of his?”

He was absolutely insane.

I moved, trying to push past him, but he pushed his body harder against me, trapping me beneath him.

“You are not his.” His voice was sharp and full of venom that it made me want to believe what he said.

“Then whose am I?” I challenged him. I was so tired of his bullshit answers and his