by Hazel Parker
That didn’t stop him from firing up the computer when he got home and going to the website Amanda had set up. There was already a pretty heavy bidding race for the dark-haired beauty. Blake laughed and wondered how many of those bids were coming from men who would be sitting in a pew and nodding sanctimoniously in agreement with Amanda’s father tomorrow morning in church.
His fingers itched to make a bid, but he held back. It had been a while since he’d been with a woman, granted, but surely he wasn’t contemplating risking his livelihood for one evening between Amanda’s pretty thighs. He tried to banish the image of his hands on her waist, on her breasts. He had to quit imaging himself sliding between her thighs, had to quit wondering if her skin was as warm and soft as it looked.
Damn. It looked like he’d be taking a cold shower before going to bed tonight. He watched four more bids post to the webpage before he finally closed his laptop and headed to take a cold shower. His dreams were still heated and sensual. He woke harder than he’d ever been in his life after dreams about winning the bid and taking Amanda on a blanket by the creek, in his office, in his bed.
He sighed and went to take another cold shower before he got started with his morning chores. He almost wanted the bidding to be done so that he could get this idea out of his mind, even while he didn’t want it to end. He liked the idea of the bidding still being open. If it was still open, he still had the option of changing his mind and taking Amanda for his own. He needed a distraction, something to keep him from picturing her naked and flushed beneath him every time he closed his eyes. He had no idea, though, what that distraction might be.
Chapter Three
Amanda stretched out as best she could on Aimee’s narrow couch—where she’d been crashing ever since her mother had died and she’d been able to get the heck away from her dad without raising Mom’s suspicion—and reveled in the fresh air that was coming in the open window.
The air was cool and crisp even as the late summer sunlight began to warm it, and she could feel fall settling into the air. It moved over her body like a caress, and for a moment her soul felt light. She felt almost…hopeful.
Then, as it always did, reality came crashing back to her. Mom was dead, and her dad had betrayed her in her last days. The anger and humiliation came rushing back to her, but this time they were accompanied by a dark satisfaction. Last night she had finally taken steps toward making her father feel every bit as hurt and disillusioned as she had been. She hoped he was positively mortified. He’d certainly looked like he was. Heavens knew she was a bit mortified with herself, but it was worth it.
Mom wouldn’t think so. Her kind, sweet mother would have hidden her hurt and forgiven her father. She would have accepted his sins while only crying in private because she would have been loath to hurt the feelings of the man who’d ripped the very heart from her chest. And she most certainly wouldn’t have wanted her only child to auction off the purity she’d been saving for marriage to the highest bidder for revenge.
Mom wasn’t here though. She’d died of a painful, debilitating disease after being betrayed by the man who had promised to love only her until death did them part…Amanda had seen exactly what came of being a sweet, caring soul.
She was done with that path. From now on, she made her own way, fought her own battles, and paid for her own upkeep. She would use whatever tools were at her disposal to do so, including her own body. Amanda saving herself for marriage had been her mother’s dream, not hers. She’d gone along with it because she’d always been the obedient preacher’s daughter. She’d ignored her desires and done as she was told…but not anymore. From this moment forward, it was life on her own terms, consequences be damned.
Her phone rang, and her father’s number lit up the screen. He’d called well into the night last night before giving up on her answering. Now he must be awake and ready to continue the harassment. She would let him stew, let him ask himself why again and again as she had after she’d crept out of the worship hall the day her innocent faith in the world had died. She hadn’t been able to get answers from him without worrying about alerting her mother to his betrayal. Now he wouldn’t get any answers from her.
“Good morning, Pretty Woman,” Aimee said in a sleep-laden voice as she wandered into the room.
Amanda laughed in reference to the old movie she’d been watching with Aimee when she’d finally figured out the way she could get her revenge. Aimee was wearing a short t-shirt that left her midriff bare and a pair of tiny pajama shorts. A well-muscled man with a buzz cut and more tattoos than Amanda could count trailed out behind her in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. His eyes were firmly glued to Aimee’s ass. Amanda wished that she had Aimee’s trim figure for a moment, but then she firmly tamped down on the jealousy.
She would not be eaten up with envy for her friend. Besides, Aimee worked her butt off to keep that figure. Amanda figured her friend could have the size five jeans, and she could keep the important things in life, like wine…and chocolate.
“Well, I’m no Julia Roberts, but then somehow I doubt that the highest bidder is going to be a young Richard Gere. We’ll be like their fledgling, homely understudies.”
Aimee snickered in response as she shoved Amanda’s legs aside playfully and settled next to her on the couch with her laptop. A moment later, she exclaimed in surprise.
“He may not be Richard Gere, but he’s probably going to be loaded. Look at this!”
Amanda sat up to take a look at the screen. She was shocked to see that hundreds of bids had been made, and the current top bid was over ten thousand dollars.
“What’s that?” The boyfriend—Amanda rarely bothered any more to remember the names of Aimee’s latest flames—was peering at the screen. She watched as his expression went from curious to shocked, then speculative. His eyes raked up and down her body. She wasn’t wearing much, just a sports bra and leggings.
“Damn. I just might be tempted to make a bid on that myself. Any chance you’re giving out free samples?”
Amanda sneered at the lust in his eyes when he’d just emerged from her best friend’s bedroom. Aimee wasn’t nearly so discreet in her disgust. She reared back and slapped him.
“Get the hell out, Charlie.”
“Relax, babe. I was just making a joke.”
“Out.” Her voice was firm, and he sulked back to Aimee’s bedroom to get dressed. Amanda had a feeling it was the last time he’d be allowed in that room.
Aimee changed boyfriends about as often as she changed her sheets—sometimes she thought a new boy toy was the reason Aimee changed her sheets—but while she was with them she didn’t look at anyone else.
Amanda had asked her once why she changed men so often when she seemed so into them while they were here. Her friend had laughed and said that the second she wasn’t that into them she moved onto the next one. The beginning, she’d told Amanda, was the best part. No strings, no feelings or arguments. Just raw lust.
For her own sake, she hoped Aimee was right. She was about to embark on her first ‘beginning’ and wasn’t planning to even attempt to move past that first stage. Her phone rang again, and she sighed with disgust. He wasn’t going to quit calling, so she might as well answer it.
“Good morning, Daddy.” She filled the last word with sarcasm and malice.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Amanda?”
“Tisk, tisk…don’t say hell. You’re a man of God…for fuck’s sake.” The cursing wasn’t like her and her lips fumbled over the rough word, but she wanted to show him once again that she wasn’t the innocent little girl who had once trusted him so blindly.
Charlie came into the room and was obviously trying to listen in on the conversation, but Aimee ushered him out the front door and slammed it behind him.
Amanda turned her attention back to her father’s voice as it roared in her ear. “Do you have any idea how last night’s stunt made our family look? What people must be thinking?”
&n
bsp; Now Amanda saw red. “Yes, by all means, let’s focus on what people must be thinking. Not on my reasons for doing what I did. Not on the fact that I will be committing a sin against God. Let’s just focus on how it is going to be hard for you. That’s all you care about, after all…right Daddy?”
“You know that isn’t true, but as a man of God, I—”
“As a man of God, you shouldn’t have fucked Cindy Mason behind the pulpit while my mother lay dying.” Her voice raised to a shout as the sentence finished.
There was a long silence.
“Amanda, I…”
“Don’t. Just don’t. You did what you wanted with your body, so now you will let me do the same with mine. Just because you sin in private doesn’t make it any better. At least I’m not breaking vows to someone who loves me.”
“God loves you.”
“Fuck off, Dad.”
She hung up. For an instant, she didn’t feel any satisfaction. She only felt cold, empty, and ashamed. She bottled up the feelings, shoved them in the same place she stored her father’s betrayal and the pain of her mother’s death. She wasn’t a victim anymore, so she wasn’t going to act like one. She talked to Aimee for a few more minutes while they looked over the website, but eventually it was time for her to get dressed and go to work.
Chapter Four
Blake cursed to himself as he examined the horse’s hooves. It was obvious to his trained eye that the horse was foundered. The sudden onset of the condition when he was always careful to prevent it worried him. Not only had he lost the use of a valuable animal, but he needed to get a vet to determine the cause of the condition. Anything from diet to a blood infection could cause the condition, and he worried that it was something that might be serious, even fatal.
He wouldn’t be riding the horse again, but he still owed it to her to get her the best treatment possible and give her a good quality of life after she’d served him so faithfully. He didn’t believe in getting rid of an animal just because they were no longer useful to him.
His mood had already been tense. He’d woken up frustrated and needy after dreaming of Amanda all night, and this bad news just blackened his mood even further. Still, he kept his hands gentle on the horse as he finished examining her and then stomped inside to call the vet.
Two hours later, his mood started to improve considerably. The vet had been busy, it appeared, because he’d sent his lovely assistant, who was on call for the weekend, out to take a look at the horse. If Amanda wasn’t sure of the problem, he would come himself, he’d assured Blake. Blake couldn’t help thinking, as he watched Amanda’s curvy figure moving toward him, that the vet wouldn’t look nearly as good in a skimpy top and cut-off jeans. He’d take the voluptuous assistant any day. She was every bit as competent as the vet after working for him since she’d been a gangly teenager, and she looked a damn sight better.
She’d changed a lot from the short, scrawny teen with no grace and a love for any animal she could get her hands on. She still was great with animals, but she’d shot up, grown up, and filled out really damn well. He led her out to the barn and explained his concerns. Then he left her to her work, though he wanted nothing more than to stay and watch her. He went to saddle up a different mount and ride the fences, as he’d been planning on doing before he’d had to stop to call the vet.
Blake couldn’t keep his mind on the task though. All he could think of was how badly he wanted the gorgeous girl who was currently in his barn. He pictured himself taking her again and again as he rode, fighting an erection that was making the saddle damnably uncomfortable.
By the time he gave up and rode back to the barn to see how she was doing, in his mind he’d tasted her breasts, her stomach, her center, and her thighs. He’d imagined taking her in the hayloft, in his bed, even on horseback…it gave a whole new meaning to the reverse cowgirl. As he neared the barn he tried desperately to tame the thoughts. He was still so hard that he was afraid she’d see if he got out of the saddle, so he stayed mounted.
She was leaving the barn just as he pulled his mount to a stop. She glanced up at him and their eyes met. He couldn’t look away, even though he was afraid she would look into his eyes and know exactly how badly he wanted her. Finally, he looked away from her to break the spell so that he could think enough to speak, but then his gaze just fell to her lips.
“Would you like to come inside and get something to drink before you go?” His voice was rough, and he didn’t know where the invitation had come from. He certainly hadn’t planned on offering to take her inside for a drink.
“You’ve never offered me a drink before, Blake. Why now?” Was her voice a little breathier than usual, or was he just imagining it?
He couldn’t take his eyes off her lips. “I thought you might be thirsty.”
“I saw you there, at the pavilion last night. I know why you want to invite me inside.”
The words made the blood return to Blake’s head—the one that did the thinking anyway; the other had no problem with lacking blood flow at the moment—and he was shaken enough from his lustful thoughts to realize that she was actually blushing. How intriguing, that he could make the woman who was auctioning her virginity off to the highest bidder blush.
“If you want me, you should have made a move sooner. Now you’ll just have to bid along with everyone else to get what you want.”
She tried to act nonchalant, but her cheeks were flushed and her nipples were pressing against the front of her shirt. A slow smile spread over Blake’s face.
“Darlin’, I might do just that.”
She flushed harder and hurried to collect her things and leave after telling him she’d be in touch with test results. Blake smiled and watched her go. Then he went and pulled up the website. He made a bid that he was pretty sure would guaran-damn-tee she’d be having that drink he’d offered in the near future. Now all he had to do was find a way to keep from spontaneously combusting in the mean-time.
Chapter Five
Amanda dropped off her things at the vet’s office and then headed home, knowing that there weren’t likely to be any more emergency calls this weekend. She couldn’t get Blake off her mind. She could almost feel his gaze like a caress when he’d looked at her. For a moment, she allowed herself to wonder how it would feel to be with him, but she quickly crushed the thought.
Her inexperienced mind couldn’t picture anything in detail, but she was filled with a deep yearning that made her middle feel hollow and uncomfortable. This was silly, and pointless. Blake was hardly the kind of man who would be willing to pay for sex. He could get it for free any time he wanted, she was sure. She wiggled uncomfortably against the tingling sensation between her legs as she drove home.
“Holy crap, Amanda. You have to come see this!”
She was barely through the front door when Aimee’s excited voice reached her ears. Amanda wandered into the living room, glad for a distraction from her thoughts about the handsome rancher whose house she’d just left.
“What is it?”
“Well, I know that the bidding doesn’t end until Friday, but I think your virginity has officially been purchased.”
“What do you mean?”
Amanda grabbed a soda from the fridge and then dropped down on the couch beside her friend.
“You smell like a horse.”
“I’m not surprised. I spent my morning in a horse barn, dear.”
Aimee had a dating website open—it looked like Charlie was going to be replaced pretty damn quickly—but she switched to another tab once Amanda settled beside her. Amanda’s ‘virginity vendor,’ as Aimee had jokingly been referring to it, filled the screen and Amanda scanned the page quickly, trying to figure out what made Aimee think that the auction was a done deal. When she saw the most recent bid, her jaw hit the floor.
Thirty minutes ago, ‘lonstar27’ had put in a bid…the previous bid had been eleven thousand. His? His was for fifty thousand. No one would be able to top that. It was true, t
hen. She’d been bought and paid for. And for fifty thousand dollars!
This was huge. She would be able to move out of this town, where memories of her mother’s life and her father’s betrayal crowded her no matter where she went. She would be able to go to college so that she would never have to be dependent on some cheating bastard of a man to support her…she would have to sell herself to the highest bidder. She already had.
The only thing left now was to go through with it. The thought was terrifying, but she wouldn’t back down now. She’d given her word, and Amanda Bales was no liar. A prostitute? Maybe. But a liar? No sir-ee. Not this girl. A bitter laugh escaped her throat.
“You know you don’t have to go through with it, sweetie. I’d say you’ve put your dad in his place.” Her voice was soft, and it warmed Amanda to know that her friend knew her so well. She needed the money for college, though, and she would not back down on her word.
“I’m doing it, Aimee. As soon as I made that announcement, there was no going back. Let’s hope that Mr. Lonestar27 is below seventy and isn’t missing any teeth.”
“I don’t know…If you get an old enough one, maybe there will be an equipment malfunction, know what I mean? You can keep your end of the bargain and still waltz right out of there, cherry intact.”
Amanda snorted at the bizarre logic, and Aimee let out a full belly laugh in response. The both dissolved in laughter for a moment, but then Aimee’s face became serious once more.
“On a serious note, though…your dad stopped by. He seemed really upset, Amanda. I know that was your goal, but he really looks like shit. I almost feel bad for the guy, you know?”
“I do, but I’m still going through with it. I would regardless of the money, because he deserves it, but fifty thousand? Aimee, I can pay for my entire bachelor’s degree with that if I’m careful and I apply for some grants. I lost almost all my scholarships when I decided to stay home and take care of Mom. And Dad isn’t going to pay for my education. He just wants me to find a good ole boy, preferably a preacher like him, and settle down. He never did understand why that life didn’t seem like enough for me. This is my chance to take my future back, to get out of this town. I’m not giving it up because some sanctimonious, two-faced prick is a little upset.”