Belle and the Beast: A College Enemies to Lovers Romance

by Ruby Vincent

  “By the time I truly understood what I’d done, I was afraid. The betrayal of a lie spreads deeper the longer you let it go on. Telling the truth would’ve broken my parents’ trust in me. It would have sealed your hatred. I was afraid, Carter, that once I told the truth, we couldn’t go back.”

  I traveled down and gripped his hands. “Can we, Carter? Our love story”—I choked on a laugh that was part sob—“tell me it’s not over.”

  “Can we come back from this?” Carter raised our hands, and my head with them. “My parents believed you, Belle. They always thought something was wrong with me. I was neurotic. Argumentative. Wouldn’t let things go. Now I was making up dangerous men in the woods. My refusal to admit it was fantasy was all the proof they needed to stick me in therapy. For months, people... you... tried to convince me I was crazy, and I couldn’t understand what I’d done so wrong. All I wanted to do was protect you.”

  “Carter, please.” Wetness soaked me from head to toe. The ocean pulled and tugged to drag me in, and the strength to resist was leeching away. “I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

  “There’s no need. You were right, Belle.” And then he was gone. I fell on the sand, gazing up as he stood and turned away.

  “We can’t come back from this.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “When are you two going to make up?”

  I tucked my head under Preston’s neck, distracting him with kisses on his collarbone. Carter came out onto the private terrace, saw me, and turned right around. Nathan and Preston could still stand to touch me, so I assumed Carter didn’t share the rest of our story, but things had been frosty between us for the last two weeks.

  “Carter has every right to be mad at me,” I said simply. “If he doesn’t want to make up, I have to accept it.”

  “Wish you both would tell us what’s going on,” Nathan said. “The clown thing was cold, Belle, but it wouldn’t take him two weeks to get over it.”

  You think using his fear of clowns against him is cold? Just wait until you hear about my cruel, targeted mission to cover up his brutal attack and make him question his sanity. I’m the worst kind of fucking scum. I deserve worse than the silent treatment.

  It was what I deserved, and having known that, I still wished he would talk to me. It didn’t matter what he said. That he forgave me. That the engagement and his plans to make our wedded days a misery were still on. Or that our love story ended here—with my sacrifice. We had no more battles to fight. Carter Knight and Belle Adler were through.

  I would’ve taken anything so long as he looked at me. Spoke to me. Whatever ended this crushing silence.

  “I have to go, guys.” I kissed them both. “The boys are on party planning duty and Zion’s saddled with finding the entertainment. He wants to do it right and watch his picks play live. He needs the list of bands I checked out.”

  “We’ll see you on the golf course.”

  Another day. Another adventure on the good ole cove.

  After the counseling session, we were piling onto the shuttle and being driven to the opposite end of the island where a country club and a round of golf awaited us.

  Until then, Zion, Owen, and I hunted down gig times and worked up our place of attack. It was crazy but, if you asked me in a soundproof room with the music turned all the way up and the shades drawn, I would confess I liked— no, that I was loving my time in Citrine Cove.

  Hanging out with Kelli, Zion, and Mila. Trying a new thing every day with the people I would have shared four years with if Mom and Dad weren’t worried about me alone in a boarding school with Mal on my tail. It felt like falling in with the friends I was supposed to have.

  Then there was Preston and Nathan. Most days I forgot we only had the summer. A good thing because that knowledge would color the time we had together, and I indulged each kiss. Every stolen moment. Every night tangled in their sheets.

  Nathan was right—as he was about a fair number of things. Life had been so terrible for so long. One more summer in love wasn’t too much to ask.

  I grinned at my boys through the sliding glass. Sappy, siren-addled hypocrite I was, it didn’t change the fact that I was sinking deeper into my feelings for these men every day.

  Who could blame me? Citrine Cove is where lovers find each other. The glittering ocean, dancing palms, sunny days, and warm nights were designed to hop us up on the happy drug and drive us to find someone to share it with.

  Waking up early with Nathan and renting boards to surf the southside of the island. Midnight walks on the beach with Preston. Sharing slushies on the museum steps. Racing the golf carts around the property. More freaky sex than a girl can handle. It would be perfect if the ticking clock I refused to think about wasn’t hanging over our heads. As well as—

  I heard a screech behind me.

  Carter disappeared through the door, stepping onto the terrace now that I had left.

  It would be perfect if not for the gaping wound Mal and I both dealt Carter Knight that day. I wished every day for his forgiveness, all the while knowing I wasn’t worthy of it.

  My phone went off. Inching closer, I watched the breakfasting friends as I pulled it out.

  “I’m on my way up, Z.”

  “Z? Who is this Z?”

  Terror pierced my heart, pumping biting cold through my veins.

  “Mal.”

  “Hello, Arabella. Where are you?”

  He asked the question so casually. Like he had reasonable expectation of receiving the answer.

  “My name is Belle,” I snapped.

  Mal continued like I hadn’t spoken. “You haven’t been home in weeks. Did those people send you somewhere? Abroad? Are you in England with that bitch’s family?”

  “Why in the fuck would I tell you? When will you get it through your head, I hate you!” In a breath, I was screaming. “You’ve ruined my life! Hurt the people I care about! Tinged every second of every day with fear and suspicion! I will never want to be with you, you violent thug—!”

  “Enough!” His bellow knocked me physically against the wall. “I will find you! Wherever you go, you can’t hide from—”

  I threw the phone with all my strength. It sailed past Carter’s head as he rushed inside, flanked by Preston and Nathan. My knees gave out, dropping me hard on my backside.

  “Belle?” Preston and Nathan knelt beside me. “What happened?”

  “It was him,” I croaked. “He called.”

  “Does he know where you are?” Nathan whipped his head around like he thought Mal would come around the corner. A paranoia we now shared.

  I shook my head.

  “It’ll be okay, Belle.” Preston hugged me tight. “He won’t come near you ever again. I promise.”

  Preston carried me up to his room. He laid me down on his silk sheets and tucked me under his arm. Carter watched from the doorway as Nathan climbed in beside me. He lifted the sheets, tucking us in, and when they fell, Carter was gone.

  NATHAN

  “We don’t have to do this.”

  Belle and I walked hand in hand across the green.

  “It’s not too late to pack it up and head back to the villa,” I said.

  “And let Mal overshadow another day of my life? I want to be here. With you. Like this. Until someone catches us.” She kissed the back of my knuckles. “How is the search for a wife going?”

  “Do you really want to talk about this?”

  Thick, dense trees surrounded, blanketing us in peace and solitude. We rode our cart over the green, leaving behind the dutiful couples beginning in order, and those who skipped the golf and went straight to the club café.

  “I really want a distraction from Mal,” she replied, “and to know I’m not getting in the way of you making a better life for you and your mom. Every time I think of him, I’m reminded of why it’s so important.”

  Grasping the back of her neck, I captured her lips in a rough kiss. Our tongues clashed, battling instead of dancin
g, and hungry moans poured from her as I ground our middles together. “You could never be in the way,” I said after we broke apart. “I am searching for someone, Belle. Talking with a few girls about what it would mean, but I respect you enough not to give the daily play-by-play of my mission to marry another woman.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered. “Or maybe I shouldn’t. Be more of an inconsiderate jerk, baby. Then it won’t hurt so much when this summer is over.”

  “You’ll have to take me out back and shoot me if you want to prevent the pain.” Our words were out of sync with the tender rubbing of our noses. The hands seeking soft flesh under our shirts and past our belts. “It’s going to hurt, but it doesn’t hurt right now.”

  It hadn’t hurt for the last three weeks.

  My grandfather was still the greatest douche ever born. My mother struggled to remember my name. Half of the people who truly loved me in this world were gone. Pain was a constant companion. But my designated drinking buddy that hadn’t made time for me in a while. For the last three weeks, I hadn’t touched a drop.

  I pecked Belle’s cute, button nose. “If it’s a distraction you’re after, I have another idea.”

  “Me kicking your butt at golf?”

  “Butts are involved, but golf isn’t.”

  That naughty, impish smile returned. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

  “Come with me.”

  I raced her to the golf cart, hopping in and zipping off, rattling clubs and all. Belle’s laugh was high and clear. She squealed as we raced to where, she didn’t know. Belle was just happy to be with me.

  And I’m supposed to walk off this island with someone else? When someone this beautiful, smart, and balls-achingly tempting can turn her whole day around just at the prospect of being with me.

  I had our destination in mind. The golf course and country club shared this patch of island with the least populated part of the cove: the orange grove. We drove our cart to the back fence and abandoned it. Belle shrieked as she tipped over the metal, landing with a thump.

  “Will we get in trouble if we’re caught?”

  “What are they going to do? Call our mommies?” I replied. “We’re not fruit thieves. No harm done if we take a walk around.”

  I hopped over to join her. Belle took off running immediately.

  “You didn’t bring me here for a walk,” she shouted over her shoulder. “If you want some, you better come get it!”

  Oh, I’m going to get it.

  The salty-sweet mist of the ocean raced ahead of us, whipping through the trees, and shaking the oranges on their branches. It was the kind of perfect day that came a few days a year. Comfortably warm, clear skies, and the feeling in the air like consequences were suspended for the day. You could do anything. Be anyone.

  It was the kind of day that came more than a few times—when I was with Belle.

  Belle ducked down a row and turned to see if I was still on her tail. Flushed, rosy exertion infused her porcelain cheeks with color. Her eyes danced, catching a trick of light that made them appear almost silver. I put on a burst of speed and lifted her up—mouths connecting before we hit the ground.

  Our clothes came off without care. My belt flung up into a tree. Her bra cast aside. I rescued my shirt from her treatment, laid it on the ground, and Belle on top of it. She bit her lip as I slowly drew her thong down to her ankles.

  “I should ask again,” she whispered. “What if someone catches us?”

  “Someone was too busy staring at my ass to listen to the tour guide. They wait for the coolest part of the day to pick. The rest of the time, they wisely stay inside the air-conditioned processing plant.”

  Belle dug in my pants. “I would like to point out that I was not the one staring at asses, Mr. Are-You-Wearing-Underwear.” She lifted her prize from my pocket. “But I’m impressed with your ability to listen and ogle at the same time.”

  I plucked the condom from her fingers. “The least impressive of my skills, baby. Trust me.”

  “I know.” She winked. “You’re also extremely talented at hula-hooping while eating a sandwich.”

  “Be sure to spread that around.”

  Belle rose up and kissed me, abruptly ending our banter. She tasted like our perfect day bottled into one. Sunshine, citrus, and salty sea air.

  My hands found her breasts, rubbing and tweaking the little nubs, enticing soft moans through her lips and past mine. Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin had their due, but the creator of the most beautiful music in this lifetime or any other, would always be Belle Adler.

  I pushed her back down and continued my exploration. Her back arched as I nipped along her collarbone, pressing her heated skin to mine. Seizing my chance, I licked a stripe over her nipple, delighting in her gasp.

  “Say it,” she said.

  “You first.”

  “Nathan!”

  “Busy at the moment. We’ll pick this up in a minute.” I dropped my head, sinking between her legs with eagerness that was digging into the grass. I spread her wide and listened to her breathing pick up. Sensed her pulse racing like it was my own.

  This was my addiction.

  In true fashion, I just replaced one with another. Drinking the pain away became indulging Belle in every pleasure. Making her body respond like a grand piano surrendered to the tappings of my fingers. I’d linger on her, and inside of her, long after this summer was over.

  I sucked her clit between my teeth, barely giving her time to recover before plunging two fingers inside of her. I set a quick pace, fingering her deeper and faster. Belle smacked my head grabbing my hair. She fisted my curls, grinding me harder between her middle.

  “Holy fucking fuck, Nathan.”

  Trapping her gaze, I licked her from ass to nub, earning a shuddering groan. “Easy with the hair-pulling, babe. You want to ride my face, all you have to do is ask.”

  “Since when do I have to ask?” She giggled as I flipped us. “Usually I just drop my panties and things start going my way.”

  “I have no doubt about that— Whoa!”

  Belle shoved me unceremoniously onto the dirt. Climbing up my body, my eyes caressed the length of the goddess towering over me. “Say it,” she ordered.

  “I see. Tempt a man with face sitting to trick him into meeting your demands.”

  “That’s right,” she sang. “Say it and I’ll drown you in this pussy, baby.”

  My cock jumped to attention. “I love you.”

  “Again.”

  “I love you.”

  “Loud enough for the workers to hear you.”

  Throwing my arms out, I bellowed, “I love Belle Adler! She has made me her bitch mind, body, and soul! I’ll love her until I’m finally smashed against the rocks and killed!”

  Belle laughed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’ll take it.” She guided my hands to her hips, lowering the scant distance to satisfy me in my treat once again. She rocked back and forth on my tongue, head thrown back and sweet whispered nothings pouring from her lips.

  I knew the moment it was time. Her fists locked on my wrists. Stomach clenched and her orgasm took control. She jerked on top of me, bumping my nose, and trembling shaky cries filled the air. If there were people around, they definitely would’ve come running at that.

  Belle collapsed backward. Sitting on my chest, she propped against my knees, grinning in total bliss.

  “Isn’t it your turn?” I asked.

  “I’m going to make you work for it a little longer.” Slowly she took my hand, pressed my fingers to her lips, and sucked them clean one by one. My muscles bound tighter than a bowstring.

  “Woman, you can’t be doing things like that and expect to walk out of this grove without a hitch in your step.”

  “Hmm. Is that a promise?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  Belle flipped. Bending over my knees, she wiggled her pert little ass in my face. “What does doing that get me?”

 
I smacked her right cheek. Belle squealed, falling over my legs giggling. The foreplay was officially over. If I didn’t make love to her right then, I’d do something stupid.

  Like ask her to marry me.

  Slipping out from under her, I rode the heady wave rushing south at the sight of her on hands and knees, ready and begging for me.

  I pushed inside of her to the sound of both of us groaning. Not wasting a second, I started pumping, setting on that spot like a heat-seeking missile and hitting it every time.

  “My goodness, Nathan,” she breathed. “We thought we were good at this before.”

  “I—”

  “If you say anything about getting in lots of practice, I’ll kill you.”

  I laughed. “Balls deep and the threats still keep coming.” I ran a finger down her spine, feeling her shivering beneath me. “I was going to say that it’s gotten better because we have. We’re not the same couple that loved, but didn’t trust each other. Now we’re holding nothing back.”

  “Oh, Nathan.” She rose up, slinking her arms around my neck, and receiving the kiss I’d been dying for ten whole minutes to give her—all the while not slowing my pace. “I love you.”

  I dropped one, two, three tender kisses on her lips. “I didn’t have to make you come first to get mine.”

  “What can I say? You’re making me soft,” she teased. Belle slid to the ground, stretching out, back bent, and cheek resting on my shirt. “But you will have to make me come for the next one. Don’t hold back.”

  Like I could if I wanted to.

  The animal took over whenever Belle simply looked in my direction, but the two of us under the sun, rutting in the dirt like animals, it sent what little self-control I had left tumbling over the edge to die in a fiery crash. I pumped hard, quick, and punishing. My breath trapped in my throat, allowing only fevered grunts to escape. Belle did not have that problem. Her cries bordered on screams. Wild and unrestrained moans that made the oranges wrinkle up and blush.