Beautifully Brutal (Southern Boy Mafia #1)

by Nicole Edwards

  And he damn well intended to give it to her.

  He brushed the head of his cock through her slit, teasing her clit and then gliding lower. He lined up with her entrance and pushed inside.

  Fuck.

  She was tight … so goddamn tight. He met her gaze, looking for signs that he was hurting her, but there were none. He inched deeper, holding his breath as her body gripped him almost painfully.

  “Need more,” she whispered.

  Max pushed his hips forward, but he stopped before he was lodged all the way, wanting to make her beg him.

  Her nails dug into his ass as she tried to pull him closer.

  Crushing his mouth to hers, Max plunged forward, her muscles clasping him as he worked his cock deeper into her until, finally, he was buried to the hilt.

  Courtney cried out, and he swallowed the sound, his tongue licking into her mouth. He gave her a moment so that her body could acclimate to him being inside her. And when her legs wrapped around him, he knew she was ready.

  “God, you feel good,” he said against her lips, continuing to kiss her as he pumped his hips, filling her, retreating, only to fill her completely again. She was so tight, so fucking wet, her body gripped him, strangling his dick with pleasure.

  Courtney’s mouth pulled back from his, and she stared up at him. The raspy words that came next made his dick throb. “Fuck. Me. And don’t stop until we both can’t breathe.”

  Max separated their upper bodies, kneeling between her thighs. He braced one of his hands on the headboard, the other around her hip and lifted her slightly off the bed, pulling out and then slamming into her. He held her tightly, the bed rocking with every movement as he pounded into her to the point he figured the headboard would shatter, but he couldn’t stop.

  Her eyes were closed, her head thrown back, her hands on his thighs, nails biting into his skin as he fucked her harder, faster, harder, faster until sweat beaded on his skin and the room was filled with her cries of pleasure and his answering grunts.

  It was brutal and beautiful at the same time, and Max never wanted it to end, but his balls were drawing up tight to his body, the initial tingle starting at the base of his spine, a warning that he was going to come and he was going to fucking come hard.

  Releasing her hip, Max grabbed the back of her knee, folding her leg toward her and changing the angle. He drove down into her, his hips over hers as his cock tunneled in and out of her pussy while she begged and pleaded, crying out for more until he knew he wouldn’t last much longer.

  “Max! Oh, fuck! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” Her nails scored his skin as her body tightened, her cunt clasping his dick painfully hard, sending pleasure coursing through his veins as he attempted to hold back but found himself inevitably losing the battle.

  “Yes! God, yes! Max, make me come!” Courtney screamed, the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard as she came apart beneath him, and only then did he let himself go, his release battering him until there wasn’t an ounce of strength left in his entire body.

  He collapsed beside her. The scent of hot, sweaty sex drifted on the breeze coming in through the open doors as they fought to breathe. And when they finally came down from the sexual high, after he tossed the condom in the bathroom receptacle and cleaned up, Max pulled Courtney into his arms and held her, refusing to let her go. Only when her breaths evened out and she was sleeping soundly against him did he give in to the exhaustion that overwhelmed him.

  Despite the peace that filled him while he dreamed about her, Max’s world would forever be changed when he woke up to find her gone from his bed, a tiny slip of paper on the pillow she’d been sleeping on that read Thanks for the orgasms the only thing keeping him company.

  She was a wildcat, there was no doubt about it. And based on the note, she thought she had the upper hand. He looked forward to showing her that wasn’t the case.

  A smile tipped the corners of his lips as he lay there remembering the night before. It was then that Max accepted Courtney’s challenge. Because, above all else, that was exactly what she was, and he damn sure intended to conquer her.

  Staring into the bright, empty room, Max vowed to make her his before it was all over.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ever had one of those days when you should’ve just stayed in bed?

  Present day

  Seven weeks later

  April 24th

  Courtney made her way into the Sniper 1 Security office a little after eight in the morning, dragging ass and clutching a cup of coffee.

  She was what one would likely consider a social coffee drinker mostly, but this morning, she had needed the caffeine and had stopped at Percolation—the small shop in the Sniper 1 building—before heading up.

  She’d been up late the night before, having returned from her most recent assignment, pulling bodyguard duty for a spoiled little rich girl whose daddy—the owner of a chain of fancy hotels—had felt it necessary to hire a high-priced, not to mention armed, babysitter to keep an eye on his sweet baby girl. Yes, he’d actually referred to her as such.

  There wasn’t a single thing sweet about that girl.

  For the last month and a half, Courtney had spent her time watching the girl immerse herself in meaningless sex, recreational drugs, and whatever else struck her fancy as she lived up to the bad-girl image the press had of her. Not that Courtney had cared what the pretentious little brat did. It wasn’t her job to care. She’d been there to protect her, which she’d done until the girl’s father had pulled the plug, refusing to do anything more when the snobby brat had ended up in jail for driving while intoxicated after evading Courtney at one of the ritzy L.A. nightclubs they had frequented.

  Truth was, Courtney was glad it was over.

  But morning had come too quickly, as far as she was concerned. Especially when she was running on only three hours of sleep, having finally passed out after crawling into her own bed trying to drown out thoughts of the one man she’d been running from for longer than she cared to think about.

  Max.

  It’d been just over seven weeks since she’d last seen him. Fifty-one long, painful days of babysitting, where the only positive was her inability to spend too much time thinking about her personal life when she had to be working. Unfortunately, that was the part she missed now that she was home, because the second the Sniper 1 Security private jet had landed back on Texas soil, she’d missed Max immensely.

  She’d felt as though someone had taken a sledgehammer to her heart the instant she’d walked into her house, her eyes traveling to the kitchen, to the wall where she and Max had…

  The point was, her heart ached, her head ached, her body ached. Every piece of her was broken, shattered, yet she knew that life had to go on. She had to put one foot in front of the other because this was her choice. She wasn’t going to roll around in self-pity when she’d been the one to send Max on his way.

  Courtney had known all along that it wouldn’t work. They wouldn’t work, no matter how much her heart wished it were possible.

  “Mornin’,” Jayden greeted when Courtney walked through the main door and into the lavishly decorated waiting area for their clients. The polished wood walls and gleaming marble floors looked exactly the same as when she’d left.

  “Mornin’,” she grumbled in return.

  “Glad you’re back,” Jayden said.

  Lifting her gaze, she met her friend’s inquisitive green eyes. Courtney hated shutting her out, but that was what she’d been doing ever since they’d met for coffee before she’d left. She’d been shutting everyone out. Turned out that taking off to California hadn’t been as simple as she’d thought it would be, especially not after the word got out about her involvement with Max. Once that’d happened, her family had practically blown up her cell phone with calls and texts. Most of which she’d ignored.

  Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to ignore her brother Trace when he and Marissa had flown out to California just to visit. Right, because that ha
d been fun. Turned out, Trace wasn’t willing to let her off the hook. He’d given her hell about her relationship with Max—despite the fact that Courtney assured him it was in the past. The man was like a dog with a bone, unwilling to let go until he was satisfied with the way things ended. Marissa, as always, had proven her friendship, standing up for her and gently talking Trace back from the ledge.

  She’d been none too subtly informed that she was lucky it had been him and not their father who’d come to visit. Courtney couldn’t argue with that point.

  Luckily, she’d been fourteen hundred miles away, sheltered by the crappy assignment her father had sent her on, and hadn’t had to deal with her father’s wrath at the time.

  Work had been her only focus, the only way she could keep moving forward. For weeks on end, she had felt as though she were held together by a fine thread, one that threatened to snap, and now, as she returned to her normal routine, the last thing she needed was to see sympathy in Jayden’s eyes.

  “Thanks. Nice to be back.”

  “So, how was it?” Jayden inquired. “With … you know who.”

  They’d agreed not to speak the rich girl’s name around the office, not wanting to draw attention to the assignment, because, had the girl’s father not been a friend of Bryce’s, there was no doubt they’d have turned it down. Instead, Courtney had drawn the short straw, it had seemed.

  “As expected,” Courtney replied, continuing to move slowly toward the hall that led back to the main part of the office.

  “One of these days, you’re gonna give me all the dirty details,” Jayden told her sternly.

  Thankfully, the phone rang, and Jayden was distracted, which allowed Courtney the perfect opportunity to disappear. Rather than linger and risk a million questions, she made a beeline for her desk, hoping no one else would be in the room where several of the agents, herself included, worked on the rare occasions they had to come into the office. She was only there to complete the official paperwork on the last assignment and to find out where they were going to send her next.

  “Courtney! My office. Now!”

  Shit.

  Courtney stopped abruptly, taking a deep breath and releasing it. She’d known this was going to happen, so she shouldn’t have been surprised. She only wished she’d had a little time to get herself together, to acclimate once again to the day-to-day at Sniper 1, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Reversing her course, she walked down the narrow hallway to her father’s office. Casper sat at his desk, his beefy arms crossed over his thick chest as he glowered at her.

  She took a moment to peruse his features, realizing that the man she hadn’t seen in nearly two months still looked the same, just as formidable as ever. His graying hair was still short, his white-gray eyes, so like her own, were still intense. And focused on her.

  “Yes?” she asked, pretending not to have any idea why he’d called her into his office first thing.

  “Shut the door.”

  Damn it.

  She closed the door, taking another deep, calming breath before turning to face her father once again.

  “Now sit.”

  Courtney bristled at the command, but she did as instructed. She’d never been the type to argue with her parents. However, she’d never been one to talk openly with them about relationships, either, and she knew without a doubt that Casper wanted to discuss her involvement with Max Adorite. There was no way she could continue to put that conversation off.

  Apparently, as she’d learned from Trace, RT hadn’t been the one to share the details of Courtney’s involvement with the mafia underboss, which was how she’d managed to get out of town prior to enduring her father’s tirade. However, Trace hadn’t had an issue sharing the information, and thus, her father had been trying to get her to talk since the jet had landed in California.

  It was a topic of conversation she’d managed to avoid, but that had been easier to do when she’d been several states away while her father was back here in Texas. Not so easy anymore.

  Unfortunately.

  She could see his irritation written clearly across his handsome face.

  Once she was in her seat, she set her coffee cup on the table beside her and folded her arms across her chest, mirroring her father’s position. “Yes?”

  “What the hell happened Wednesday night?”

  Courtney cocked an eyebrow, a wave of relief washing over her. So he didn’t want to talk about Max. He wanted to know about her last assignment.

  Considering that for a moment, she watched her father. She had no idea what RT had told Casper after Courtney had called to inform him of the change in plans thanks to the girl’s arrest, but she damn sure wasn’t going to supply additional information if Casper didn’t already know.

  “How’d that girl get behind the wheel of a car in the first place?” her father asked, as straightforward as ever.

  “No idea,” she told him, crossing one leg over the other and feigning a casualness she didn’t feel. Technically, she knew exactly how it had happened and had actually watched it all play out. Didn’t mean her father would be happy with her explanation, so she decided to water down the details. “As usual, we were in the VIP room at the club. She said she had to go to the bathroom. I didn’t feel it was necessary to hold her hand. After ten minutes, I went to check on her. She was gone.”

  “Do you realize what this will do to our reputation?”

  “Steph’s already on it,” Courtney told him, referring to Stephanie Trexler, the public relations genius who’d managed to keep Sniper 1 Security out of the hot seat on more than one occasion. “And it’s not like her father’s gonna have much to say. He doesn’t want the news of his daughter’s upcoming stint in rehab to become public information.”

  Casper sighed but didn’t say anything, which surprised Courtney. They simply sat there, staring at one another while Courtney wondered what was going through her father’s mind.

  “She was a brat, huh?” he finally questioned, his face softening somewhat.

  “Very much so.”

  Casper nodded but again remained quiet. He appeared to be regarding her, likely questioning her state of mind. Not wanting him to think too long on that, she prayed he would get on with it. Just when she was going to ask a question of her own, he spoke.

  “Do you have another assignment lined up?”

  “Don’t know yet. I’m supposed to meet with RT in a bit.” Although Courtney was used to receiving her assignments from her older brother Hunter, it seemed her brother had disappeared into thin air, handling some off-the-books mission overseas. What that really meant was her brother was running hard and fast from the woman he loved, the woman who’d stood him up at the altar a few years back, the same woman who was supposed to reappear any day now.

  “Good. I need you to do something for me.”

  Courtney did not like the sound of that. Her father didn’t usually assign her missions—even the rich girl assignment had surprised her—and when he did, they tended to be of a more personal nature. She was good at infiltrating, and he had come to rely on her for that. Especially when…

  “I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Senator Artemis Winslow.”

  “Not really, no,” she told him.

  Casper leaned back in his chair. “Looks like the good senator is digging his heels into the dark underworld.”

  The hair on the back of Courtney’s neck stood on end. That particular expression was how her father chose to talk about the mafia. Namely the Adorite family.

  Surely he wasn’t about to…

  “Based on the news, it appears that Artemis’s granddaughter, Angelica, is about to wed into the Adorite family.”

  Courtney’s lungs seized up, all of the oxygen in the room instantly disappearing, making it impossible to draw in a breath as she anticipated what he was about to say.

  “On June sixth, Angelica Winslow is set to marry Maximillian Adorite. I need to know what the angle is. What’s Artemis gettin
g out of this deal? And I need to know before they say their vows.”

  Her father continued to talk, but the only thing Courtney heard was a roaring in her ears. Her mind drifted back to the last night she’d seen Max, to the last thing he’d said to her before he’d walked out on her at her request.

  Things are about to change for me, Courtney. Major things. But I want you to know, no matter what happens, if you ever need me, I’ll be there. You just have to call.

  Max was getting married?

  Oh, God.

  “Courtney?”

  Courtney brought her father’s face into focus, trying to recall what he’d just said, but she couldn’t.

  “Do you think you can do that?”

  “Why?” she questioned, the word tumbling out of her mouth.

  Casper’s thick eyebrows formed a V as he frowned back at her. “Why what?”

  “Why do you care if the senator’s granddaughter gets married?”

  “It’s not me who cares,” he told her simply, but Courtney didn’t buy it. She could see that same interested look on her father’s face that she’d seen before. There might very well be a client interested in the Southern Boy Mafia, but Casper was curious for his own reasons. She just didn’t know what they were.

  She knew she wasn’t supposed to ask questions. There were certain jobs they did for the government that were off the record, so to speak. And when it came to the Adorites, she figured some power-wielding desk jockey in a tacky suit wanted specific details, especially if there was a well-known Texas senator now involved.

  “Is this gonna be an issue for you?” Casper paused. “Considering?”

  Courtney didn’t respond. She couldn’t. The thick silence lingered between them, making it even harder to breathe.

  “Is somethin’ goin’ on with you and Max Adorite? Beyond the job I originally assigned you?” he finally asked.

  Courtney shook her head. That was the honest-to-God truth. After the last time he’d come to her house, when they’d…

  She was not going to revisit that particular memory again.