by Jenika Snow
Wrangling His Virgin
Bella Love-Wins
Jenika Snow
WRANGLING HIS VIRGIN
By Bella Love-Wins and Jenika Snow
http://bellalovewins.com
www.JenikaSnow.com
[email protected]
Copyright © February 2018 by Bella Love-Wins and Jenika Snow
First E-book Publication: February 2018
Cover Design: RBA Designs
Editor: Kasi Alexander
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This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
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Lila
I ran from him, from my feelings … from my hometown, all because I was too afraid of how I felt. I was gone for years, trying to stay away because I thought that was the best. I was wrong. But I’m back now, and my feelings for Logan haven’t changed, haven’t dimmed.
I love him, have always loved him.
And it’s time I face reality and tell him how I felt all those years ago. It’s time I finally be truthful and hope that I don’t cross lines and ruin the most important relationship I have.
Because not having Logan in my life is not an option.
Logan
From the second I saw her, I knew she was my girl. But I was a fool and let her slip away. She was gone without a trace for years, but now she's back.
That face, the kindness in her eyes, those curves, that fire between us still raging hotter than summer in the desert. I'm surer than ever. Lila is still perfect for me.
I doubt she'll give me another chance this time around, but I don't care. I won't give her up. Not without answers. Not without a fight.
Warning: Jenika and Bella teamed up to bring you this short and filthy romance. Get your cowboy hat on, kick up your boots, and grab a cold glass of water. You’re in for one hell of a ride.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
About Bella Love-Wins
I. Sneak Peek From Bella
Blurb and Author’s Notes
1. Prologue – Jackson
2. Dahlia
3. Jackson
Also by Bella Love-Wins
Get a Free Book from Bella!
About Jenika Snow
II. Sneak Peek From Jenika
CLAIMED
Prologue
Want More From Jenika?
Chapter 1
Lila
My heart is racing and my palms are sweaty. I wrap my fingers tightly around the steering wheel and stare straight ahead, seeing the sign for Hartford come into view.
My hometown and where I’d run from years ago. Every time I think about this place one person comes to mind.
Logan Stewart.
Even now, my heart starts racing at the thought of his name. He was a friend, the first person to welcome me to town when I moved here with my mother fresh into high school. He befriended me, made me feel welcome when I was an outsider. And I swear I fell instantly in love with him.
I can’t believe I am coming back here. It’s a town I thought I’d never return to, all because I am too scared—was too scared—to tell the boy I loved that I wanted him in my life as more than a friend.
Going to college in another city was the perfect excuse to leave Hartford, and my feelings for Logan, behind. But truth was I never stopped loving him.
I never will.
And even though it has been five years since I’ve seen or spoken to Logan, the point where I realized I needed to let him go is still so fresh in my mind, just like it happened yesterday.
The music is so loud that my ears are ringing. I’m trying to find Logan in the sea of bodies at the party, but everyone seems shoulder-to-shoulder. I feel like I’m lost at sea in this moment.
I push my way past people and head into the kitchen. At first I don’t see Logan, but after a few seconds of looking around the room I finally spot him with a group of guys off to the side. I make my way over to him, my heart thundering, my love for him so intense I suffocate from it at times.
I wish I was strong enough to tell him how I feel, to let him know that he’s the only one I’ve ever seen myself with. I want a future with him, and even though I’m only seventeen and we’re both graduating this year, I know what I want in life. And that’s him.
But I have a feeling my emotions are one-sided. I feel like Logan doesn’t see me as anything more than his friend, a pal to hang around with. Although I’ve never seen him with a girlfriend, not in the four years that we’ve been going to school together. And that makes my heart full, makes it feel like maybe I do have a chance if I ever get the nerve to say something to him.
But still I’m realistic. As much as it pains me that I’ll probably never be anything more to him, I’m also not going to stop being in his life, even if it’s only in a platonic way.
No, I’ll just keep how I feel to myself, because in the end that’s the safest thing to do, the one thing that won’t have me ruining everything.
I slow as I notice Melinda Atkins, a girl I know wants Logan, walking up to him. She’s been trying to get with him the entire school year. Although Logan has never shown any interest in her, that doesn’t make my jealousy any less real.
Melinda is beautiful and perfect. I’m homely and average. She’s the head of the cheerleading squad. I’m an outsider that never really fit in. I’ll never know why Logan doesn’t want her, because every other guy in school does.
I square my shoulders and move toward Logan again. I can tell he’s been drinking quite a bit, but he’s also smart enough not to drive anywhere. He’ll probably crash in one of the rooms upstairs. That has me thinking about how I’d like to lie beside him, feel him holding me, his strength surrounding me. I can hear Melinda saying something to him, her high-pitched voice grating on my nerves. I’m pleased when I see Logan push her away, but before I can go to him I watch as he pushes past everyone and heads out of the kitchen and up the stairs, stumbling as he makes his way.
I should take him home. I haven’t had anything to drink, and I hate that we are even here. As I’m about to follow him, convince him it’s time to leave, Brody, one of Logan’s friends, stops me. He starts rambling on about something, but I’m not paying attention. For ten minutes I’m stuck there listening to Brody slur on about football, college, and the occasional “pussy he snagged.” I nod and smile, but excuse myself and go upstairs.
Once I’m at the top of the landing I glance around. The house where the party is at is huge, with several doors on either side of me, all of them closed. I can hear moaning coming from some, despite the loud pumping of music. Just as I’m about to check the rooms, a door opens at the end of the hallway and I see Melinda coming out, her shirt partially unbuttoned, her skirt skewed. She has this sour look on her face, as if she’s pissed.
My heart plummets to my stomach as I think about who she might have been in that room with. She walks past me, her blond hair slightly disheveled. When she sees me, the pissed-off look vanishes
and she grins at me. She stops in front of me, the cloying scent of her perfume nauseating.
“He’s all yours, princess,” she all but sneers. She moves past me and I watch her go down the stairs. I face the hallway again and make my way into the bedroom she exited. There, sitting on the edge of the bed and staring out the window, is Logan. I can see his shirt is pulled out from his pants, but at least he still has the latter on.
Did they have sex? The very thought of him with Melinda makes me sick, not just because she’s a mega bitch, but because I love him so damn much.
“Logan?” I say softly, and step into the room.
He looks over his shoulder at me, a distant, almost sad look on his face.
“Hey,” he says and smiles.
I walk in farther, and the new position I’m in shows me that his pants are unbuttoned and the zipper is down. I feel everything in me turn to ice. Although I have no reason to be upset, because I have never told him how I feel, just knowing he was with someone makes my heart hurt.
He stares at me for long moments, as if he wants to say something to me, but I don’t even want to hear about what happened with Melinda. I don’t know if he will tell me, but he’s drunk enough that he might inadvertently say something. But this part of me rises up, one where I want to tell him the truth, where I want him to know how I feel.
“Logan.” I say his name softly again, feeling my heart thunder wildly. “There’s something I want you to know, something I need to tell you.” His eyes are glossy and red-rimmed, and I almost don’t say anything because he’s been drinking. I’d prefer he were clear headed, but I don’t want to wait anymore. “I care about you so much. So, so much—”
He smiles at me. “I care about you, too. You’re my best friend.”
And just like that I shut my mouth. I’m his best friend. His friend. I shake my head, on the verge of crying. “How about we leave?” I smile and hold my hand out, forcing the tears to stay back. This town isn’t for me. And as much as I want Logan in my life as more than a friend, I realize that it’s just not in the cards. I need to let it go. I need to let him go.
My fingers start to ache and I loosen my grip. I am chasing a job back in Hartford, or maybe deep down, where I refuse to admit it out loud, I’m actually chasing my feelings for Logan. I can’t lie and say I’m not anxious to see him again, even if I know it’ll be a little weird. We never talked about that night again, not before I left for college.
My mother, who still lives in town, makes sure to tell me about him now running his father’s farm, how he’s “grown into a strapping young man,” how the years haven’t been good to him because he’s parentless and alone.
And my heart aches for him, knowing he doesn’t have his parents around anymore. I wish I had been there for him back then, wish I could have held his hand and told him everything will be okay.
Things happen way too fast, and I hate that so much time has passed between us, that I haven’t been able to see him, hear his deep voice, let him know that I’m sorry I’ve stayed away.
I wish I would have done a lot of things differently, but maybe this is my chance to make things right. Maybe this can be the perfect time to reconcile our friendship.
Chapter 2
Logan
I push open the front door of the only bank in Hartford and all the air leaves my lungs. My muscles seize with one Lucchese boot planted inside and the other on the hot sidewalk. Stiffly, I step outside, set my tan Stetson on my head, and run my palms down the side of my work pants. I squint and wait for my eyes to adjust to the bright midday sun. I want to be sure I’m not mistaken. Or is my mind playing cruel tricks on me? Just yards from me, parked in a sky blue Chevy Cruze on the other side of the street, is the one person I never thought I’d see again.
Lila Clark.
It’s been years since I laid eyes on her. Five years and some months. I didn’t realize I was keeping track, but now that she’s back, I must’ve been subconsciously counting the hours since she disappeared from my life. She was gone without a trace. She left a gaping hole in my heart that nothing and no one has been able to fill. Still, seeing Lila now, it almost feels like no time has passed at all.
It has to be her. She hasn’t changed a bit. From her long, wavy chestnut hair, her stunning heart-shaped face, big brown doe eyes, to her tempting Cupid’s bow lips that I wish I’d kissed a thousand times. Those legs that go on forever, and her soft, subtle curves I’ve fantasized about claiming for myself more times than I care to admit.
But I didn’t.
There were so many chances to let her know I wanted to be more than friends, so many opportunities to make her mine. But I blew it. One of the biggest mistakes I made was thinking I had all the time in the world. I figured she’d be around. I assumed she was the one for me and that fate would take care of the rest.
Had I known that the night of the big end-of-year house party was going to be the last time I’d see her, I definitely would’ve done things differently. There wouldn’t have been alcohol in my system, for starters. I knocked back so many beers and shots that night that I lost track of how many I ingested. My head wasn’t clear. Far from it.
More of my time that night would’ve been devoted to Lila, not my football buddies. Before getting drunk I had noticed her nearby. She was hanging out by the punch bowl or chatting with other girls, making small talk, moving to the loud music when a song she liked came on. She would look my way every so often. At one point during the party, those piercing eyes of hers had met mine across the room and, like all the times before, my heart had tightened in my chest. It was as though no one was in that crowded room but the two of us. She meant so much to me and all I had to do was say something.
But I was so drunk. Too drunk to think, let alone talk. Way too drunk to walk a straight line, much less to walk up to her and take her in my arms like I’d been fixing to do. That was the reason I had stumbled up to the second floor. I just needed to close my eyes for a few minutes, an hour maybe. But that other girl with the plastic smile must’ve followed me upstairs.
Melinda Atkins. This girl had been after me all through our final year and had kept up the chase even after I told her I wasn’t interested. She had me cornered in the bedroom that night, and probably decided this was her chance to follow through on all her blatant hints, overt flirting and obvious desperation to make me her next trophy.
If I’d been sober, there would have been no way I would have let Melinda get near me. But I was so inebriated. Before I could stop her, she moved like lightning and managed to undo the zipper of my jeans and pull open a few buttons of my shirt. It was only after I gave her a firm shove to push her away from me that Melinda finally got the hint and left.
Then Lila came to me.
She saved me from myself yet again.
I don’t remember what I said to her, but whatever it was, it turned out to be all the wrong things. If I’d been more clear-headed, I’d have a clue what I said. Maybe I could’ve told her I was sorry, made peace, found out what was on her mind, did something, anything so she wouldn’t have upped and left me. Maybe then the last five years wouldn’t have been spent without her. Instead, Lila helped me leave the party, dropped me home, and I never saw her again.
Until now.
A slew of questions that have plagued my mind from the day she left town rises to the surface. Why did she leave Hartford? How come she never said goodbye? What exactly did I say or do to cause her to pull away from me? The girl was my best friend. I could tell her everything. At the time, I believed our friendship was a two-way street. But she left.
Over the years, I started to doubt myself and question everything about us. If she considered me to be a friend, she’d have told me she was leaving. She’d have kept in touch. She’d have been there for me when my father took ill, even as a voice on the other end of the phone. And I’d have been there for her, at her side, in her life for whatever she’s been through all these years. She’d know that I decided
against going to college to help keep the family ranch going. She’d reach out to me and be a shoulder when my father passed. She’d have all the right things to say after Mom died. She’d help me find some peace in knowing that Mom was so brokenhearted about Dad’s death that she followed the love of her life to the grave.
If what we had was real, Lila would be in my life right now.
But she isn’t.
And I have no one to blame but myself.
Back then, I was about to take our friendship to the next level. I came so close to laying it all on the line. So close I could almost taste her.
Almost.
But she was here one day, gone the next, and that was that.
I’ve thought of trying to track her down. Her cell number stopped working right after she went away, so I left a few messages on her old house phone number, hoping she’d call back. The voice recording in the answering machine back then was still the Clark family residence. I added my name and cell number each time, and waited for a call back.
That never happened.
If life hadn’t thrown my family for a loop with my father’s sudden illness, then his passing, then my mother’s, I probably would’ve tried harder.
Over the years, the time for questions passed. I had to put Lila out of my mind when I took over the ranch. Since then, I’ve been running the place on my own. It’s been grueling days and long, lonely nights, but I have no regrets about shouldering the responsibility for the business. It’s been tough, ensuring that all my father’s workers can hold on to their jobs. Overall, the rewards of persevering with the ranch have kept me going during the tough years as well as the couple of good ones.
