Be My First: A Billionaire and Virgin Romance

by Lauren Wood

  James sprinted toward Annie. She was still lying on the ground. “Are you hurt?” Annie shook her head as he struggled with the ropes to untie her. He pulled the gag out of her mouth and kiss her hard.

  “I’m so sorry James.” She threw her arms around him, hugging him close. “I just thought if I went back that I could protect you. I had no idea.” She sobbed.

  From behind Annie, James saw Big Ray stop dead in his tracks. “I almost forgot something.” Big Ray came running toward them with his gun raised up in the air. He was running straight at James.

  “NO!” Annie screamed and jumped in-between Big Ray and James. Big Ray clubbed her with the back end of his pistol sending her sprawling onto the ground. He cocked his fist back and punched James square in the face knocking him back a few steps. James put up his fists ready to defend himself but was distracted by Annie lying motionless on the ground.

  Big Ray continued to punch James until he crumpled into a pile on the ground beside Annie. James counted one, two, three, four kicks to his ribcage before finally blacking out.

  “James. James! Oh Lord, please James open your eyes!”

  James could hear Annie’s voice ringing in his ears. When he came to, he could see a huge gash along Annie’s forehead. He tried to sit up. “Annie, you’re hurt.” Ignoring his own wounds.

  She gently placed her palm over her wound, it was still bleeding quite heavily. “I’m quite alright. I think it looks much worse than it feels.” She smiled weakly.

  James tried to sit up again. The pain sharpened through his abdomen with each struggled attempt. Besides bruises James was sure he had several broken ribs. “I think I need a hand to get up.” He reached up and Annie helped pull him to his feet. His eye was swollen shut and he looked down to see blood smeared across his hands. This wasn’t good.

  “They took everything.” Annie spoke in a shaken voice. “The blankets, the water, all of our food and firewood. There is nothing left.”

  James searched their surroundings, they were alone without supplies in the middle of the desert. Judging by the sun, it couldn’t be any later than eight o’clock in the morning. “If we hurry back toward Wiltshire, we might make it before sundown.”

  “James, we have no horse! We will never make it.”

  “Not if we stand around and talk.” He reached out for Annie’s hand and began to pull her along. Each step was laboured. He had a massive limp. Wincing with each small movement Annie pleaded for them to stop.

  “I will go find help. You have to stay here.” Annie cried.

  “We have to stay together.” James trudged on.

  The day was hotter than any day before it. Becoming more and more dehydrated slowed their pace. With only an hour until sundown Annie begged James to stop and rest. “You’ve pained yourself enough. We should stop here for the night and carry on in the morning.”

  “We will freeze to death out here once the sun goes down Annie. We have to keep moving.” He urged.

  “You have to trust me.” Annie placed her hands on James’ shoulders and placed a gently kiss on his cheek. “I will be right back.”

  Knowing better than to argue, James sunk himself into the sand to rest his aching feet. Exhausted, he laid his head down and closed his eyes. The sun fell and night arose while James drifted away. A few hours later he awoke with a start. Where was Annie? Panicked he got to his feet as quickly as he could in search for her.

  “How was your sleep?” Annie’s voice chimed. A fire was thriving in front of them.

  James looked puzzled. “Did you do this?” He pointed down toward the flames.

  Annie beamed up at him. “You have been asleep for three hours. It gave me plenty of time to search for some wood. I messed up a few times but it turned out alright. What can I say? I had a good instructor!”

  In this moment more than ever James felt a deep desire for this woman. Sure, she may not understand that silence is golden but at least she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. She was honest and passionate. James loved how outgoing she was, making friends everywhere she went. In this moment he couldn’t find the words to describe how amazing this woman was. Without a filter, James blurted “I’m in love with you.”

  Annie beamed but held back.

  “We have to get back to Wiltshire tonight.” James grabbed for her hand. “The Fader Hallows are going to destroy it and the families living there if we don’t do something about it.”

  This time, Annie know it wasn’t her place to argue. Instead, she scattered the fire to snuff out the flame and followed in stride with James.

  Wiltshire was nearing, the lights were flickering in the distance. The town was quiet, most of the townsfolk were in their beds asleep.

  “What are we going to do when we get there?” Annie whispered.

  “We are going to find the sheriff. He will know what to do.”

  When they reached the sheriff’s doorstep, it had to be at least three o’clock in the morning. James reached up and knocked on the solid oak door. He could hear it echo inside of the sleeping house. Less than a minute later the door creaked open. A man in his pajamas and slippers stood in the doorway with a candle flickering in front of his face. He had long grey hair and a long beard. His expression was gentle and kind.

  “James?” the man asked, exasperated.

  “Sheriff, I am so sorry to wake you at such an unholy hour but I need your help.” James pleaded.

  “James Wiltshire, I thought you were dead!” The sheriff sounded surprised. “Get inside right now before anyone else sees you.” He ushered James and Annie into the house.

  It was warm indoors. Annie peered around, she had never been in such an extravagant house. The sheriff led them to the kitchen and placed a glass of warm milk in front of each of them.

  “James I am so relieved to see you are alive.” The sheriff gleamed. “The Fader Hallow Gang showed up today and announced they had left you for dead in the middle of the desert. But here you are!”

  “It’s true!” Annie squealed. “They beat us up and stole our supplies. We were as good as dead.” Annie slurped back her milk. It warmed her from the inside out.

  “Now we need your help.” James began.

  “James, there isn’t anything I can do. They have already started to obtain the town. They have killed mothers and children! They swear that this town will go up in flames if everyone doesn’t abide to their rules. Several folks have already decided to flee before things get worse. They have threatened to shoot anyone on site who looks to cross them.”

  “Where are the Fader Hallows now?” James demanded to know.

  “They overtook your bar, James! All of the outlaws are staking out at the inn and stealing all of the alcohol. They have claimed Wilty’s as their own. None of us knew what to do and we were extremely outnumbered so we couldn’t fight back.” The sheriff shook his head in disappointment. “In all of my years, we have never backed down from a fight. We have never given up, especially in the presence of any gang. There were just too many this time…” He trailed off.

  James bit his lip and scratched that back of his head. He was thinking of something; Annie knew that look. “Sheriff, I think I have an idea.”

  The sheriff helped James gather a few of the townsfolk and they tip-toed their way down to James’ stable behind Wilty’s Tavern. Annie was told it would be best to stay behind at the sheriff’s place. He had found her fresh linens and sent her to bed.

  “Now listen closely,” James whispered quieter than ever before “behind the stable is a pile of wooden planks. I need each of you to grab your fill and carry it back toward the tavern. We will each be assigned a window or a door. All at the same time we will begin to board them up. It will be loud and it will be sure to wake them up so we must act quickly. When you are finished, run. Go as fast as you can and get home to your children and wives. I will then take care of the rest.”

  As instructed, like worker-bees, each of the townsmen gathered an armful of planks and sauntered of
f to their assigned destinations. On their cue of an owl’s call they all began to hammer the planks to the side of the building covering all of the windows and doors. Unaware of what James would be taking care off, they completed their task.

  Just as they had expected, people inside began to stir. This was James’ cue. He lit a match and held it in the air. “This is for you Mom and Dad.” He flicked it inside of the bar. Immediately, the floorboards caught fire which spread quickly toward the bar. He could see a silhouette walking down the stairs from the inn, Big Ray. James smiled and took off out of sight. He could hear the screams and gunshots from the Fader Hallows as they tried to escape their certain peril.

  Without a word James took off running toward the rest of the townsmen and told them to go home. He knew with the amount of alcohol stored in the building, the small fire would spread very quickly and he didn’t want there to be anyone else caught it its path.

  James arrived back at the sheriff’s house and walked down the hallway to where Annie was sleeping. Silently he lay down beside her. Tomorrow morning was going to come soon. It would reveal if his plan had worked or not. If not, this could be the first and last chance he would ever have to hold Annie.

  Morning arrived just as it had every day prior to today. James squeezed Annie’s hand and they stepped out into the sun. “Well James, I think you saved Wiltshire.” The sheriff placed a firm hand on James’ shoulder. “As of today there is no trace of any Fader Hallow Gang members. I am sorry about your bar though.” He stepped back inside of the house closing the door behind him.

  Puzzled Annie drug James down off the porch. Down the street Annie noticed the charred remains of Wilty’s Tavern. “Oh, James. What happened to your tavern?” She cried.

  This only put a smile on James’ face. “I had no other choice.” He pulled her closer to him.

  “But you loved that place. You didn’t set it on fire did you?”

  “Like I said, I had no other choice.”

  Annie remained quiet. For the first time, contemplating the proper response. “Where did you get that idea?”

  “From them. Now I guess you can say that we are even.” He smirked, holding Annie for another day.

  THE END

  BLOODTHIRSTY ALINE MASTER

  Chapter 1

  Melissa listens to her favorite band on her headphones, hearing the melody and immersing herself into each and every word. She feels her long blond hair flowing in the wind, as she bicycles hard towards a job that she really doesn’t want in the first place. She’s one of their best barista’s in this coffee shop that is known for quite an eclectic clientele.

  “I wonder if I can keep a straight face when I see Jennifer. If anybody is going to be able to see through my false smile, it’s going to be her.”

  She contemplates calling in sick, but she’s already been on vacation for the past two weeks. The breakup between her and Andrew was like world war three. There was a lot of screaming and breaking of glass, but she still can’t understand why he was the one that was getting angry. Melissa had found his emails to other girls, including some very racy photos that really should’ve been kept between boyfriend and girlfriend.

  “Just because we’ve been best friends since high school, doesn’t mean that I can’t keep a straight face. I really don’t want to get into this with her, because Jennifer can be quite smug when she knows that she was right. I thought that I could prove her wrong about Andrew, but it would appear that her assumption about his single life was right on the mark.”

  Melissa has hit her stride by the time she reached one block away from her final destination. She’d already gone past the wall and was able to feel that second wind coming over her. Her legs were fatigued, but she liked the fact that she could work out and didn’t have to worry about insurance for a car. That was an expense that she didn’t need or want.

  She gets to the coffee shop and she can smell the caffeine in the air. From the moment that she steps through the door, she knows that she’s trapped in a dead end job that wasn’t going anywhere. Her white and blue uniform with the short black skirt is a carbon copy of the one that Jennifer is wearing. Melissa sees her by the counter, chewing gum and twirling her dark hair around her fingers.

  There hasn’t been a day since she went on vacation, two weeks ago that Jennifer didn’t call her and tell her about a certain client that had just started to come in at exactly the same time every day. Jennifer told her several times on the phone that she should come in and get a look at him herself, but she was still nursing a broken heart.

  “I’m glad that you’re here, Melissa and we’ve been slammed from the moment that Jerry introduced the breakfast special.” Melissa jumped right into it, using her considerable charm and curvaceous frame of 5’2 and 120 pounds to her advantage. When she swung her hips, people noticed and it was her openness to talk just about anybody’s ear off that made her one of the best employees that Jerry had ever hired.

  “I can honestly say that I haven’t missed this place, but the people are a different story.” They had regulars and most were police officers, firemen or those that had early mornings in the city. “This is not what I want to do for the rest of my life, Jennifer. There has to be something better and I’ve always believed that I was destined for something bigger.”

  “I don’t know what you’re complaining about and we get exercise by staying on our feet and to be honest, there have been a select few men that make it worth my while to come in every day. Ooooh…I told you about one and according to my watch he should be here in less than 5 minutes.”

  Melissa thought about what she said about the young man in question, but she really didn’t hold any hope that he was anything to write home about “I don’t know what she’s getting so fired up about. She usually has a flavor of the month. This guy can’t be all that special and I believe that she may be a exaggerating slightly.”

  “I know how you can be, Jennifer and let’s just say that I’m not convinced. Even if it was true, then I have to wonder why you haven’t made a play for him yourself.”

  The fresh blueberries cooking in various forms from muffins to bagels were now wafting from the kitchen. You wouldn’t know it to look at Jerry, but he was a consummate baker. Just because he had a gruff exterior, a beard that would’ve made any lumberjack proud, didn’t mean that he didn’t have a softer side.

  Melissa had to stand there and look around and wonder how her life had gotten, so off track. She wanted to be an architect, but losing her folks when she was only 16 was a shock to her system. That was 10 years ago and she had run away from her aunt at the age of 18. She was domineering and opinionated and had no problem using corporal punishment to get her point across.

  The bell rang over the door and Jennifer was now pointing towards the man that had come through the threshold. Through the sun streaking through the window of the door, she saw a handsome brooding dark haired man that seemed to have this way about him. Just looking in his direction, she noticed the two different colored eyes. He was built like a linebacker, wearing a black pair of pants and a black pullover Henley, not to mention his hair was coifed just so.

  “I’m going to do you a favor, Melissa. For your first day back, I’m going to serve him to you on a silver platter. He doesn’t seem to be interested in me and you know how that seems almost an impossibility.” Jennifer had always been quite the eye candy and she had no problem using what god blessed her with to make the big tips. “Don’t ever say that I didn’t do anything for you. If he’s not interested in me, then maybe he’s looking for something a little less abrasive.”

  For some reason, Melissa felt her hands shaking and her palms were literally sweating. There was a flush along the top of her chest and she had to hold herself up by using the counter, before her legs gave out from underneath her. She stayed herself and took a deep breath, before approaching the man.

  “Oh my, you’re new and you have this sense about you that surrounds you.”

  M
elissa thought with her heart in her mouth “You have no idea what I’ve been through and I am not sure you want somebody this damaged. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t be more than happy to take a shot at you.”

  “Ahem, do you want to order, or do you need a few more minutes?” She had never been nervous before, but this guy was certainly shaking her up and making her feel like a giddy little schoolgirl back in the day. “We have some fresh made blueberry muffins.” At the sound of those words, he grimaced and it wasn’t lost on Melissa that blueberries were not exactly his cup of tea.

  “I think that I’ll stick with my usual. Ask your friend and I’m sure that she’ll be able to inform you.” She noticed that he was shifting back and forth in his seat and just couldn’t seem to sit still for very long. There was a bead of sweat along his brow and he was constantly licking his lips.

  Melissa turned her back on him, when she felt his hand grab hers in a vise like grip. “I’m going to need that back.” The way that his fingers dug into her skin made her almost afraid, but also made her feel like her entire body was alive for the first time in her life. She had never felt this kind of sensation with any other guy and maybe she had just found her soul mate and didn’t even know it.

  “I apologize for my abrupt behavior, but I would really like to spend more time with you. You might be exactly what I’m looking for.” This was a bit out of the blue and she thought for a moment that she was dreaming or maybe she was in some kind of accident and was now in a coma in the hospital.

  Melissa thought “This really can’t be happening and something like this doesn’t happen to me. He has to have something wrong with him. It’s the only explanation that I can come up with for the reason why he would even be remotely attracted to me. This is the kind of guy that could have anybody.”

  “I’m not exactly sure what you’re proposing, but I’m pretty much open for anything.” She didn’t even believe that the words were coming out of her mouth and that she was, so easily turned around that she would even consider something after breaking up with Andrew.