by Jenika Snow
This is the perfect place to do what I’m about to do.
The dance isn’t only for couples. It’s for families. From time to time, the younger kids and teens saunter in to look for their parents or to grab a cup of sweet tea or hot cider. They’re happy to be outside enjoying the hay-bale maze, horse-drawn hay rides and other games set up for their entertainment.
When I look back on all the memories I have of my parents as a loving couple, this dance is one of the times that come to mind. They brought me every year as a boy. Back then, I spent most of my time out playing games or making mischief with my friends. But I still remember the looks my father gave my mother as they danced up close, or how they held hands as they socialized with other couples, or the warm embraces they shared when they figured no one was looking.
I smile as my mental image of them blends with tonight’s crowd. They’d be so proud to know that I’m here tonight, keeping up the tradition. I hope to do more than that. If all goes well, I’ll be the lucky man to make all new memories with Lila at my side. And if our lives follow the course I hope for, we’ll be back here with the family she and I create together.
Lila’s mother, Laura, comes over to stand at my side. She nurses a glass of the wine she’s barely touched all evening. I take a long drink of my beer, my gaze on her daughter and the other girls as they dance and laugh.
“How’s it going? Are you ready to knock this outta the park?” she asks, a hint of excitement in her voice.
I swallow the ice-cold liquid and turn to her briefly. “As ready as I’ll ever be. How about you?”
“We’re good as gold. Anytime. Just give me the nod from the front entrance. I’ll be watching.”
“Give it a few minutes after this set finishes.”
“No problem.” She clicks her wine glass on my beer and gives me a wink. “I have every faith in my future son-in-law. You’ll be great!” she chirps, turning to go back to her socializing.
As the song ends, Lila and her friends hug each other before dispersing to their respective boyfriends, husbands, and families. Lila scans the room, looking for me. When our eyes meet and lock, it all comes flooding back.
She’s mine.
All mine.
I can’t wait for the world to know it.
Her smile seems to brighten as she moves through the crowd toward me. Once she’s close enough, her arm snakes around my waist and her head rests on my shoulder.
“That was fun!” she says through long inhales to catch her breath, a movement that draws my eyes to her cleavage between the deep V of her silky top. Damn, this woman gets hotter every time I see her. It’s a miracle I haven’t snuck her off to a quiet corner around here and taken what’s mine. But there’ll be lot of other dances in our future where we can be frisky. I want this one to be memorable in other ways.
I offer her the beer I got for her. “You sure looked it.”
“But I’m so rusty on the old dance sequences,” she tells me, lifting the beer bottle to her lips. She takes a few long sips then lowers the bottle to waist height. “Either that or I’m out of shape. Look at me, I’m sweating a little.”
“You’re glowing, gorgeous. Just beautiful,” I say and don’t think twice as I tip her head up. My mouth covers hers for a kiss. The moan she exhales at my lips causes a deep lust to come over me. She softens against me and my cock twitches at her lower belly. My fingertips burn as they move down her back, craving more contact, but I remember where we are. I should be used to this by now, but I’m glad I’m not. I’m thrilled that the spark between us has grown to a full-out blaze that won’t end anytime soon.
“Let’s get some fresh air, beautiful,” I whisper at her ear. Taking her hand, I lead her toward the nearest side door. On the way out, we pass by Marie and Patrick, who give me a knowing look because they’re in on tonight’s surprise.
“We’ll be back in a bit,” Lila tells Marie. “Just getting some air for a minute.”
“Sounds good. We’ll be right here.”
Seeing the smirk on Patrick’s face makes me smile as I remember the night I almost fought him for Lila. Judging by the way he looks at Marie, I should’ve known he had no intention of being my competition for Lila. It’s a look I recognize because it’s the same way I look at my woman. I have no doubt they’ll hook up one of these days.
We make it to the doors and there’s a lightness in my step. I won’t get used to this feeling either. Ever since she came back to town—back to me—Lila has breathed new life into me and every part of what used to be a damn wearisome existence.
One night with her was all I needed to know that all those years were worth the wait.
A cold blast of air hits us outside. Lila wraps her arms around herself. “Yes, just what the doctor ordered. It’s like summertime inside. I was so hot.”
I pull her close and run my hands down her upper arms. “Not as hot as I got from watching you, sexy.”
Grinning, she tilts her head up at me. “You like watching, do you?” she muses.
A gust of wind whips around us, blowing strands of her hair around her face. I tuck some behind her ear. “If it’s you, yes, I’ll stare at your pretty face and gorgeous body all day long. All night too.”
She lifts up on the tips of her cowboy boots and kisses me, her lips already cold. “Me too, baby.” She smiles against my lips. “Especially if you keep your cowboy hat on.”
“Don’t tempt me, naughty girl.” Drawing her in to my side, I guide her past the front doors and take a quick look inside. Everything’s ready.
“It’s probably too chilly for a walk without your coat,” I tell her and grasp her hand in mine to double back. “Let’s go back in for a while.”
“Okay, but not for too long. All this talk about being hot and naughty has me feeling a bit of both,” she teases, but as she steps through the barn doors, she freezes. Her hand flies up to her face, covering her mouth as her eyes land on it. There’s a large custom sign hanging from the rafters. The dance organizers let me put it up just for Lila, just for tonight. In bold white letters against a black background, it reads,
Lila Clark, Will You Marry Logan?
Her mother sees us at the door, giving the signal for the DJ to turn the music down for a minute. Everyone stops and turns to look, voices hushed, waiting for me to make my move.
It’s time.
Taking her hand, I lower one knee to the ground and meet her eyes, reading the shock and excitement that fill them.
“Logan, oh my gosh,” she whispers out on a breath, her eyes glassy and close to tears.
I pull out a red velvet ring box from my spring jacket, opening the lid to reveal a white gold ring with a cluster of small diamonds around a solitaire. It’s the ring my father gave to my mother when he proposed, and I hope it brings Lila and me all the years of love my parents had, and many more.
I slip the ring out of the box and lift it toward her. “It’s taken me a little longer than I thought to make it to this point…a lot longer… but I hope my timing’s right. Lila, you know how I feel about you. We’ve been best friends for a long time, and even with those years we spent apart, I held you close to my heart. I love you, Lila. I don’t remember a time when that wasn’t the truth. And more than anything, I want to spend every day for the rest of our lives showing you how much. Lila Clark, will you marry me?”
She nods excitedly and the word ‘yes’ forms at her lips, but the words don’t make it out past her throat.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I add, sliding the ring onto her finger.
“Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you!” she shouts for everyone to hear.
I stand and dust off the hay that clings to the legs of my jeans, then I lift her feet off the ground, my arms around her waist for our first kiss as an engaged couple. It’s warm and tender, sweet and sexy, everything that is Lila Clark. She pulls from my lips but doesn’t stop, kissing me again and again, neither of us paying any mind to the thunderous round of applause that fill
s the air around us in celebration of our special moment.
As the music starts again, her mother, Marie, and Rowan come over to congratulate us with brisk handshakes and tight hugs, to admire her ring and wish us well. Friends file by as well, reminding us we have all the family and love we’ll ever need, right now and forever.
About Bella Love-Wins
Bella is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling Author who loves writing steamy, high-action romance stories about bad boys, athletes, firefighters, billionaires, and alpha males who know what they want and aren't afraid of laying claim to the women who catch their interest.
She enjoys a happy ever after ending, as well as reading, hiking, the countryside, and traveling to destinations unspoiled by commercial tourism, like Las Vegas. :)
Like so many characters in her novels, Bella gets all hot and bothered for action, romance and unexpected love connections that take her breath away. For the next while, you'll find her in Toronto, plotting and writing about her latest stories on her MacBook.
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The Billionaire and the Virgin
Copyright © 2017
Bella Love-Wins
All rights reserved.
Blurb and Author’s Notes
BLURB
Jackson
I caught her trespassing on my property. That makes her mine.
The world tilted a little on its axis the second that innocent little country girl appeared from the other side of the privacy glass on my penthouse terrace. Everything changed. Her timing couldn’t be any worse, but the second she climbs onto my balcony, I have to have her.
Her name is Dahlia.
My doll.
Now, she’s my property.
She doesn’t know it yet, but Dahlia is about to be owned.
Dahlia
The bossy billionaire wants to make me pay.
The first time I laid eyes on Jackson Knight, the bossy billionaire next door, he gave me an intense, panty-dropping stare with those mesmerizing sky-blue brooding eyes.
The second time, I trespassed onto his penthouse balcony to retrieve a wayward, high-strung Shih Tzu I was pet-sitting for his neighbor.
Jackson warned me never to do that again, or next time he’d punish me and make me pay.
Well, dogs will be dogs.
It happened again.
And I found out he wasn’t lying about punishing me.
Now I’m naked and tied to Jackson’s bed. Any minute now, I’ll have to tell him that I’m a virgin.
*Authors’ Notes:
I’m so excited to share this three-chapter sample of The Billionaire and the Virgin with you!
Prologue – Jackson
Dahlia’s been mine since the second I saw her.
My doll.
She opened her mouth to whisper something, but I stop her by taking her lips for the kiss I’ve been waiting all week to give her. I wrap a hand around her waist, gripping the small of her back as my tongue parts her lips. She molds to my chest as much as she can with her bindings, yielding to each swish of my tongue as I explore every contour of her mouth. Tasting her for the first time is more intense than I expect. I want to cover every inch of her body with mine and impale her hard without holding anything back.
Moving deeper into the kiss, I support my weight with one arm and stretch out beside her. She can’t turn to face me, but she does what she can with her legs, sliding one up and down between my ankle and calf through my pants. I have to pull away, so that I don’t end up ripping off my clothes and burying my cock deep inside of her. The entire night is ahead of us, so I plan to pace myself and taste every inch of her before I fuck her hard.
I pull apart from our kiss, and smile as she takes a breath and runs her tongue over my bottom lip, eager to continue. I’m just as ready to devour those lips again. Raising off the bed, I move to the spot between her knees, parting them to make room as I bury my hands into her long, raven tresses, and tilt her head up sharply, crashing my mouth over her lips.
Her feet slide up the bed, and she presses her thighs against the outside of my legs. Heat radiates from her center and in an instant, I’m rock hard. Gripping her back with one hand, I lower my torso and hips to her body, letting my full weight rest on her as I grind my cock at her barely legal pussy, separated only by my boxers and slacks.
Dahlia is hardly breathing, surviving on the lungful of air we share, and manages a whimper that sounds like words. I want to stifle out the sound, to keep this kiss going, but she repeats the words.
“Sorry, what?” I ask, pulling from her mouth to let her speak.
“I said, I haven’t been with a man…like this. I just wanted you to know.”
There’s no stopping the ringing in my ear that sounds like I’m in the middle of a room during a five-alarm blaze. Lifting up off her torso, I study her face. “Did you just say you’re a—”
“A virgin,” she answers, finishing my sentence. “Yes. I’m…that.”
A slew of questions starts to surface, along with two urges fighting each other in every single cell in my body. The one hardwired to my dick wants to end her virgin status right this second. Right here in my bed.
Dahlia
“Be good, you hear? Or there won’t be any special treats for my darlings. Give me a kiss, babies. Give Mommy a kiss. I love you all.”
Is Vivian ever going to leave?
I nod repeatedly with a polite smile lifting my lips. This is my attempt to keep a look of professionalism on my face as my part-time boss, Vivian Chandler, lowers to the floor to dole out embraces and kisses to her little ones in the hallway outside her penthouse condo front door. Well, not all so little. She still babbles on and on to me with instructions about her fur babies before she flies off for a three-week trip to Europe. Preston, one of the more senior condo concierge staff, waits patiently with her mountain of designer suitcases stacked on a shiny gold-plated rolling luggage rack at the elevator on the opposite wall.
After some more cuddling, the pampered pooches go back to what they were doing. Vivian rests her Salvatore Ferragamo designer handbag on the threshold and starts to put on her plush, all-cream fur coat. That’s progress.
“All the emergency numbers are in the email I sent you, and in the top drawer beside the fridge,” she reminds me again. “And upstairs in the dogs’ room.”
“I’ve got them right here in my cell,” I tell her, pulling my phone from the pocket of my sweatpants. “And the dog monitoring app is installed from the last few times I was here. Even while I’m on campus, I’ll know what they’re up to, and I’ll be close enough to make it over here fast if they need anything.”
“Great, and don’t hesitate to put them up in their playroom if you’re at school for more than a couple of hours. It’s one of the few doors Daisy still can’t open on her own. Just remember to fill the food and water dispensers, and they’re all set to stay in there for a while.”
“Sure. I’ll do that.”
“But make sure you take them out after they eat and drink. We want to minimize any accidents…especially on my Persians on the landing.”
“Got it.”
Vivian stares longingly past me at her three pets. Sheba, a tan-colored Shih Tzu, is at the far end of the expansive condo living area, bouncing off the floor every so often as he paws at the all-glass sliding door to the balcony. Bailey, a white Bull Terrier, is waiting in the middle of the marble foyer, sitting dutifully beside Daisy, the black-and-white spotted Great Dane that stands at almost my full five-foot-six in height. Like I said, not so little.
“I’ll take great care of
them, Ms. Chandler,” I say for the hundredth time. “I promise.”
“And you’re sure you don’t mind sleeping here while I’m gone?” she asks with concern as she picks up her purse again, eyes fixed on her pets while distractedly sliding the leather straps over her shoulder.
“Not at all,” I say, beaming. And my expression is authentic, too, because who wouldn’t want to stay in a multi-million-dollar penthouse condo instead of a tiny, cramped Brooklyn walkup apartment for a few weeks. “In fact, it’s a big help. This building is fifteen minutes from Columbia, so you’re saving me a fifty-minute train ride each way from Brooklyn. Trust me, I intend to be here whenever I’m not in lectures. All the time. Day and night. Don’t worry, Ms. Chandler. They’ll be fine.”
“I’m going to miss you, my babies,” she whimpers out, a little choked up. “So much! But I’ll be back in a few weeks with all your favorite imported treats, my darlings.”
Daisy, Bailey, and Sheba more or less ignore her. They’re used to me being around. I’ve been pet-sitting off and on for Vivian for more than a year and a half. That’s almost as long as it’s been since I moved from Cedar City, Utah, to New York to complete a degree in Veterinary Sciences at Columbia U. These dogs are practically my family. I’m also the only person Vivian trusts to take care of them. Which is why I got this gig.
Mind you, this is the first time that I’ll be with them on an extended overnight basis. The last time Vivian had to go out of town, she left them at the doggy spa. They were fine, but Vivian was not happy about Bailey losing a couple of pounds while she was away. She almost sued them for negligence, but changed her mind when I reminded her that Bailey has a history of picky eating, which was echoed by her vet.