by Holly Renee
The Touch of a Villain
The Boys of Clermont Bay Series Book 1
Holly Renee
Copyright © 2021 by Holly Renee.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictional manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or deceased, or events is purely coincidental.
The Touch of a Villain
Cover Model: Sergio Carvajal
Cover Designer: Cassie Chapman with Opulent Designs
Editor: Becca Mysoor and Ellie McLove
Proofread: Rumi Khan
www.authorhollyrenee.com
Also by Holly Renee
THE BOYS OF CLERMONT BAY SERIES
The Touch of a Villain
The Fall of a God
THE GOOD GIRLS SERIES
Where Good Girls Go to Die
Where Bad Girls Go to Fall
Where Bad Boys are Ruined
THE ROCK BOTTOMS SERIES
Trouble with the Guy Next Door
Trouble with the Hotshot Boss
Trouble with the Fake Boyfriend
THE WRONG PRINCE CHARMING
The Wrong Prince Charming
Don’t forget to sign up to Holly Renee’s Newsletter for news about future releases and exclusive giveaways!
For Christina.
For always believing in me when I don’t believe in myself.
I’m so thankful for you.
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
TO BE CONTINUED
THANK YOU
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter One
Josie
I never wanted this. Life wasn’t supposed to go like this.
I picked up a shell out of the sand and almost crushed it in my hand before I threw it. It disappeared into the dark water, and I knew I would never see it again.
Just like I would never see my mom.
“What did the ocean ever do to you?”
I jolted at the sound of the voice from behind me and spun around. There was little light out on the beach except for what came from the house party and the steady beam of the moon, and I could barely make him out as he made his way toward me.
The ocean hadn’t done anything to me.
“Nothing.” I shook my head and looked back out toward the ocean as he sat down in the damp sand a couple of feet away from me.
The ocean hadn’t done a thing but be steady and constant and infuriating. It was a reminder of how vast the world was, and of how alone I was in it.
My mom was gone, and my dad didn’t care.
And my new stepbrother had lost me the moment we arrived at this stupid party.
I had barely known him a week, and already, he felt as unreliable as the rest.
I was alone and the ocean mocked me.
He leaned back on his elbows, and I couldn’t stop myself from peering over at him. He looked like he belonged out here on this beach. His skin was tan and his dark hair flopped forward into his face, making my hands itch to touch it even though I didn’t know him.
“I’m Beck.” He leaned on his elbow and held his hand out to me. I stared at his hand for a second before placing my own in his.
“Josie.”
He dropped my hand and a wicked grin lit up his face.
I knew that this boy was trouble. Even with only knowing his name, I knew that. That fact was easy to spot from a mile away.
“You new here?”
“I am.”
“And you’re already over the party?” He hiked his thumb over his shoulder toward the still pumping music.
“Guilty.”
He smiled again, but I had no idea what the hell he was smiling about.
“Why aren’t you in there?” I let my gaze run over his full lips to his sharp jaw. He was handsome in a way that made me feel like I shouldn’t be looking at him. Like he was a sin.
“I’m over it too.” He looked like he meant it. Whatever was going on at the party, he had as little interest in returning as I did. “You want to go somewhere?”
My body tensed at his words. I didn’t even know this guy, and he wanted me to go somewhere with him?
Silence lingered in the air between us. A smirk sliced through his lips and a mischievous look rolled through his eyes as they held my attention. Yeah, this guy was trouble, and for some crazy reason, he intrigued me. He held up his hands, his smirk deepening. “I didn’t mean it like that. There’s just this really cool spot a little way down the beach. You can either stay here and throw some more shells or you can trust a stranger. Choice is yours.”
I should have said no. I had seen enough true crime documentaries to have that instilled in my head, but part of me wanted to go with him. There was no way in hell I was going back into that party that was more orgy than truth or dare, and I had my cell phone in my back pocket.
I glanced at the extravagant house before looking back at him. I was sure there were worse ways to die.
“Are you going to murder me?”
A loud, boisterous laugh shot from his lips. “I don’t think so.”
“Have you ever murdered anyone else before?”
His eyes sparkled, and I couldn’t tell if they were brown or green or a mix of the two colors, but I knew they were mesmerizing.
“If I had, do you think I would be sitting here on the beach with you?”
“Probably.” He stood and dusted the sand off of his jeans.
“It’s a well-known fact that attractive serial killers get away with their crimes for a lot longer.”
He cocked his head to the side and ran his teeth over his bottom lip as he ran his gaze over every part of me. “You think I’m attractive?”
Shit. Did I say that out loud?
“We both know you’re attractive.” I rolled my eyes and stood alongside him. My blue jean shorts were damp from the sand, but I dusted them off the best I could. “The unknown factor here is if you’re innocent or on the run.”
His smile turned devilishly lethal with the deepening of his grin.
“So, are you going to chance it?” His voice was as smooth as butter as he took a step back, and I found myself eager to follow him.
I knew I was going to say yes before the word ever left my lips. I was in this town all alone. In this world all alone, and I desperately wanted to be anywhere other than where I was.
I didn’t want to think about my dad or my stepbrother or the fact that I could no longer turn to my mom.
I wanted to take a risk with him regardless of the consequences.
No one would even notice if
I was gone. I doubted they would even care.
I was on my own, and the only thing that mattered in that moment was the two of us on this beach with no one to stop us.
No one to care about the reckless decisions I made.
I took a step past him and looked him over. “I don’t even know you.” I didn’t wait for him as I kept walking in the direction he was heading, but he quickly caught up.
“You can get to know me.” He got ahead of me and turned around to face me. His eyes trailed over me from head to toe as he walked backward in the sand, and I couldn’t help but notice that his gaze held no shame when it finally met mine again. “We can play a game.”
“A game?” My stomach tightened as I thought about the kind of games he probably played. His eyes sparked with mischief, as if daring me to take a risk.
“Yes. You can make an assumption about me, and I’ll let you know if it’s true, then I can make one about you.”
This game of his sounded dangerous, but I had already made plenty of assumptions about him in my head.
“You’re a player.”
He rubbed his chest playfully, but his eyes lit up at my words. “Damn. Right off the bat, huh?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Am I wrong?”
“You’re not right.” He shifted to walking beside me, and the smell of him overwhelmed me.
His cologne was a mixture of smoke and spice, and I could practically taste it on my tongue. “But you’re not completely wrong.”
He smiled before biting down on his bottom lip. “My turn. You’re an only child.”
“Yes.” He technically wasn’t wrong. Lucas was only my stepbrother, and I wasn’t meeting him until after I was seventeen. In every way that mattered, I was an only child.
He snapped his fingers. “One for one.”
We walked farther down the beach, and I thought about what to say next. I had plenty of assumptions about him in my mind, but I wasn’t sure that I should say any of them out loud. “You’re not an only child.”
“I’m not. I have a younger sister.”
“Poor thing.” I chuckled. “I bet she can never get a date with you around.”
A storm brewed in his eyes before he pulled his gaze away from me and out toward the ocean. I instantly regretted what I had said.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
He grinned and slipped a mask over his emotions. “You’re good. My turn.”
I didn’t push him further. I didn’t even know this guy. I had no right to his secrets. Even if I desperately wanted to know them.
“I bet that you didn’t want to move here.”
“What makes you say that?” I crossed my arms. He was spot on.
“I don’t know.” He shook his head slightly. “I just get this feeling that you don’t want to be here.”
“I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. No.”
“It’s not too bad.” He kicked a small shell across the sand. “I’ve never lived anywhere else, but I don’t hate it.”
“Why do I get the feeling you can’t wait to get out then?” We were still walking down the beach and passed more and more houses that looked so damn similar to the one we had just left. Some were larger than others, but they were all grandiose.
Just like my father’s house. It was just up ahead.
“You’re a little too good at this game.” He chuckled and ran his fingers down the back of his neck. His bicep bunched under his t-shirt, and I saw the edge of a delicate tattoo peeking out. “I’m not leaving Clermont Bay.”
“Like ever?” I laughed, but he looked serious.
“I mean, maybe eventually, but not anytime soon.”
I understood how that felt. If it wasn’t for my mother’s life insurance policy, I wouldn’t be able to pay for college either. Even with it, there was no way I would make it through without working my ass off. It didn’t matter that my father had more money than I could ever dream of. I refused to touch any of it. “So, what? You just party with those rich assholes then?”
“Don’t forget you were there too.” He chuckled. “But unfortunately, I am one of those rich assholes.” He pointed behind us to a house we had just passed. It only sat a few away from my father’s, but it stood out from the rest. The large stone house looked like it had been there long before the rest of the homes even though it was still pristinely taken care of. It had a regal feel about it that made it seem old and established. Not like my father’s. Everything about it felt new. “That’s my house.”
“That one?” I pointed at it in shock. I had no idea of Beck’s last name, and I honestly didn’t care to know. But I knew that whoever his father was, he had to be important to live in a home like that.
“That would be it.”
“I can see why you don’t plan on leaving.”
He laughed and kept walking. We were passing my dad’s house as we spoke, but I didn’t point it out. There was a part of me that knew things may change between us if he knew who I was, if he knew who my dad was, and I didn’t want that.
I knew I didn’t want to run in the same crowd as Beck did. That party wasn’t my scene, and it certainly wasn’t a scene I wanted to be a part of. Plus, it was highly unlikely I would ever have another moment like this with Beck again, so I didn’t want to taint it with information about my father.
“It’s not that.” He smiled, but this one didn’t seem nearly as sincere as earlier. This was the fake Beck. This was the guy he put on for show. “I’m going to be helping my dad run his business.”
“You’re smiling, but you don’t seem happy about that.”
He chuckled, and it was like I could see his mask slipping firmer into place. “Isn’t it my turn to make an assumption about you? I think we skipped my turn.”
I waved my hand, telling him to go ahead. He took a moment to think, then snapped his fingers. “You, Josie… wait. What’s your last name?”
“I’m not telling you.”
“Why not?”
Because I don’t want you to think differently of me. I don’t want you to judge me solely based on who my family is.
“Because I don’t know you.” I laughed it off. “Next, you’ll be asking me for my social security number.”
He rolled his eyes, and the gesture was so cute on his handsome face.
“Fine. What about a middle name?”
“Rose.” It was a middle name I shared with my mother and just saying it out loud made my chest ache. “What’s yours?”
He winced just the slightest bit. “Eugene.”
“Aw.”
He pointed his finger so close to my face, and I immediately closed my mouth. “Do not say it’s cute.”
“But it is cute.”
“Josie Rose, I think that you probably have a thing for jocks.”
“Negative.” I shook my head.
“Why not?”
“Umm, most jocks are douchebags.” The beach curved to the right, and there was even less light the farther away we got from the party. I pulled out my cell phone and clicked on the screen.
I had one text from Lucas.
Where did you go?
I quickly responded to let him know I was on the beach as I listened to Beck talk.
“I take offense to that.”
“So you’re a rich boy and a jock?” I slid my phone back into my pocket.
“Does that mean I have two strikes against me?”
“Absolutely. You’re walking a thin line here.”
He chuckled and nudged my shoulder just as we made our way around the curve. I could barely see the beach behind us, but I wasn’t looking there. I was looking at the giant rocks up ahead of us that formed into a cliff. The waves crashed violently against the rocks like they were angered by their mere existence, and it was so vastly different from the way they hit the beach.
It was absolutely breathtaking.
Beck pointed to a particularly dark spot among the rocks. “There’s a small cave in th
e rock over there. We swim out and climb into it every summer.”
“There’s no way I’m going in there.” I didn’t think he was asking, but I wanted to make sure I was clear from the beginning. I had goose bumps just thinking about it. If the waves were that violent on the outside, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like in there. Who knew what lurked in there?
I barely swam in the ocean. There was no way in hell I would purposely go into a cave.
He watched my facial expressions and laughed. “Even I’m not dumb enough to go into that cave in the middle of the night. Even though I’m a dumb jock.”
“I didn’t say jocks were dumb.” The sand beneath our feet was changing over to small rocks, and I picked one up and attempted to skip it across the water and failed. “I called you all douchebags.”
“Oh. Much better.” He laughed. “I can tell you didn’t grow up playing sports, your throw is weak as hell.”
“Hey.” I was actually offended by that.
“Here.” He picked up another rock and placed it in my hand. This one was much heavier than the last, but I barely noticed the weight as he moved behind me.
If I thought his smell was overwhelming before, it was suffocating now. But it was the most delicious suffocation. The ocean practically disappeared as I was consumed by him. His smell, his warmth at my back, his breath against my neck.
He lined his body up with mine, and he gently gripped my hand in his. I feared he could feel mine trembling, but if he noticed, he didn’t say. He simply moved my arm back and forth as he talked.
“When you’re trying to skip a rock, you have to throw it from the side.” He showed me the movement again and again, but it wasn’t registering. “You have to whip your wrist quickly and let the rock go at the perfect angle. The ocean really isn’t the best place for this, though.” He pressed his chest against my back and used it to turn my body in the correct angle. “You really need the water to be calm.”