by Lauren Wood
It didn’t take long for the secretary to be knocking on my door, telling me that I had an urgent call. Everything was always urgent with her and I almost didn’t take it, but I am glad that I did. I would have missed a call I didn’t want to. It was an old friend from high school that I hadn’t seen in years.
“Bobby, what are you up to?”
“Not much. I am in Miami and I was wondering if you want to get a drink, talk about old times. I am in town until the morning.”
I looked at the clock that didn’t seem to be moving anyways and I told him the name of a bar that I would meet him at in thirty minutes. My heart wasn’t in it anyways today, so I took the rest of the day off, to my secretary’s aggravation. She walked me to the door, telling me how many important calls I had to return, but I knew they would all be there in the morning. I gave her the rest of the day off and that at least got a smile out of her. Then the service would pick up all of the angry callers that I ignored today, so that would just have to do.
Making my way down to the pub a few blocks away, I saw Bobby at the bar and waved him down. He was always a pretty big guy, but now it seemed like the years had caught up with him and the weight had settled lower in his body.
“It has been a long time Dennis. Look at you. All dressed up like your old man now.”
I didn’t like the reference because I knew it was true. My father dressed in the same sort of suits that I was wearing right now. I had hated the way he dressed back then, swearing that I would be different. But in the end, I was running his company and now wearing his suit. It wasn’t a reminder that I cared for.
“And you haven’t changed a bit. I thought you were here on business?”
“I am. I am a recruiter now. I get to dress however I want and check out football games all day. I was in the city to watch a ball player that is going to be going places very soon. I haven’t seen anyone play like that since you.”
I was jealous. I couldn’t believe that he got the job everyone wanted. It was always a dream to stay in the game. I was happy for Bobby for finding a way to do that and get paid. It wasn’t much by what he was wearing, but I had a feeling that his happiness was higher than mine. I had everything, except that stupid little grin that he had on his face now. Money couldn’t buy that kind of happiness.
“So what have you been up to Dennis? Are you married, kids?”
His question threw me off and I asked if he had any of his own. Was that the reason for the goofy grin on his face, love and family?
“I have a wife and three daughters. Kids do something to you.”
I nodded my head and didn’t answer the question right away. I liked to think that I had it all, but maybe I was missing something. Maybe there was more to life than money and an endless supply of beautiful women.
“So how about you Dennis? How is the love life? Has anyone gotten you to settle down for a while yet?”
“No, not even close.”
“That is hard to believe. When we were in school, you always got all of the hot pieces of ass. God, I had wished more than once that I was you back then. I can’t believe that none of them talked you into going down the aisle and making an honest woman out of them..”
There was one woman that I had thought about it with. I was young though and I was convinced by others that there would be time later, other women and that then it was just a fleeting feeling. It hadn’t been and it turned out to be a feeling that I never felt again.
“Once, back in the day when we were still in school.”
“Kendra?”
I turned to him and nodded. I hadn’t thought about Kendra in a long time, but all of this talk about marriage and kids had me thinking about her. Bobby bringing up her name, instantly put me in the mind frame of way back when and I caught myself smiling for no apparent reason.
“Yeah, Kendra.”
“I wonder what she is up to nowadays? I would have given my right arm with a chance with her. She was one hot number. I wonder if she still is or if she let herself go?”
I gritted my teeth a little because after all of this time, I still didn’t like to hear about her from other men. She would always be mine in my eyes. Period. No matter how much time passed didn’t matter. Kendra was always mine and never Bobby’s to sit there and talk about. Why did it bother me that he thought she was hot?
“She was. I wonder what happened to her too. I bet she is just as pretty as she was back then.”
He got me thinking and on my way home I wanted to know more than anything what happened to Kendra. I just had to know. Where was she? What was she doing and more importantly, did she ever think of me like I fondly thought of her? I wondered what would have happen and I cursed Bobby on the way home. It was his fault that I was even thinking about all of this. I had been perfectly happy being blissfully unaware of what was missing in my life, now a picture of Kendra was in my head and I had to get the answers that I burned for.
Kendra was more than just an old flame, she was the memories of some of the best sex of my life. When I was with her, I had been unstoppable and she had been a woman that could never get enough. I wanted to see what she was up to, but my body’s response was to the fact that I still remembered how she felt and how she tasted. How could I have forgotten her when all of my best memories were with her?
Chapter 4
Dennis
I got home and didn’t have much idea how I was going to go about finding her. Kendra had most likely moved on and gotten married, changed her name. She was beautiful. I could still see the little dimples in her cheeks when she really smiled. Her blue eyes were always so bright. There was no way that she was unattached. The more I thought about it, the more I convinced myself that it was all a fool’s errand anyways. Why was I trying to find her, just to find out that I couldn’t have her?
It made no sense, but I still went about finding her. The most obvious way was social media and I was thankful that her name was rather unique in the spelling. There were only a few with her name and after a quick view of the profile pictures, I knew instantly which one was her. In the back of my mind I had tried to gauge what she would look like now. Ten years is a long time and she could have changed a lot. But she hadn’t, not a bit from what I could see. She had the same dimples and the same devilish eyes that had always pulled me in before.
I stared at the picture for a while and I did nothing else. All of the memories I had with her started to flood back, no matter how hard I tried to stop it. I remembered too much and there was a moment that I questioned everything. What would have happened if I would have stayed back and been with her? My football career was okay, but it wasn’t enough to get me into professional. I still ended up working at my father’s company like I always knew I would. There had been big ideas of fame in football, but it never happened. I got my fame and fortune in business, much like it was predestined to be.
Scrolling through her posts and pages of information, I was surprised how open she was about everything. She worked at a youth shelter. I wasn’t sure what that was, but I imagined that it was linked to some kind of social work job. It didn’t pay much in the public sector, but that didn’t surprise me. Kendra had always wanted to help people and it seemed like she had found who it was she wanted to help.
It also occurred to me that she was still the sweet girl that I once knew. I had broken her heart and I knew that. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I had. She loved me and I loved her, though I never said it. I had said everything but that. I even let it slip once and then changed it to tell her that I loved being inside of her. It was a cop out and one that I regretted now. Kendra had a right to know how I felt about her.
I made the decision to contact her. We weren’t connected, so I had to ask her to connect and then wait. It was a long wait and there was only space for a sentence to be sent with the request. I closed the app on my phone and waited for a long time. It was actually only ten minutes when I opened it back up and checked to make sure that the no
tifications was on. I didn’t want to miss anything from her, no matter what time it was. I thought she would have responded by now.
Going to bed, I was thinking about Kendra and what I had picked up from her timeline. It looked like she was single, though there were a few pictures with her and another man. It didn’t have the most romantic feel to it, but I didn’t know what to think. Her status was unclear and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wanted her to be single. Then I would be able to get a second chance. I hadn’t thought about it, but damn Bobby and that stupid grin of his. It was irritating to no end, but at the end of the day I wanted to be as happy as he was. I was only truly happy when I was with Kendra. She had made me feel different than any other girl I had ever known. Now my life was filled with gorgeous women, but it was an empty sensation when I went home at night. None of them were enough compared to Kendra.
***
It took almost a week before I got a notification from Kendra. Every morning, noon and night I was checking the app, but nothing. When I finally did get a notification, it was not at all the one I was looking for. Kendra had refused my friend’s request and now I couldn’t even play through all of the ways I was going to win her over. I felt like for once I had failed miserably.
Why didn’t she at least want to talk and catch up? It didn’t make sense to me. She still wasn’t mad, was she?
I sent the request out again, trying to connect with her, with a different sentence. I hoped that this time I would get her attention, but I wasn’t sure if that was going to happen. I had a feeling that I had hurt her more than I ever could have realized.
Peggy came in with my coffee and asked me what was the matter with me. “You got that sourpuss look on your face.”
“Nothing, why?”
“You look sad Dennis. Did you have some bad news come in?”
Peggy had worked for me for several years now and she knew me too well. She also didn’t get the whole point of giving space either, but I had gotten used to that side of her. The woman cared, but right now I just wanted to be left alone with my thoughts.
“Yes, I got some bad news.”
“Well Sir, you always turn it around somehow. I am sure you will this time.”
“I made a mistake many years ago and I don’t know if I can turn it around.”
She waved me off as she was walking out of the office. “I have seen you do the impossible. I am sure whatever it is, you will figure it out soon enough. You are a hard person to say no to Dennis.”
Peggy left and I was left thinking of what she said. I was the one that closed the deals. I was a closer. I changed people’s minds and I knew Kendra front and back and everywhere in between. I knew what it was that she wanted and in the end it was the same thing that I wanted. It just took me longer to figure it out.
At the end of the day, I got another denial notification and I can’t say that it was as devastating as before. I was going to take it as a challenge. This is what I did in business to win and I know that it would work just as well on women. Kendra wasn’t that different than all other women I had been with. All women wanted to hear those sweet words that told them how much they were loved. I had never been good at that, but with Kendra it wouldn’t have to be made up. I felt strongly for her and I knew that if she would just give me a chance, I would be able to convince her that we were meant to be together.
I got home and tried again. I was nothing else if I wasn’t persistent. I knew that there was a lot riding on her acceptance, but even as I waited for another denial to my request, I was already thinking about what I could do to change it to a yes. I just needed an angle. That was all life and business was, just finding the right angle.
“I am going to convince you yet Kendra. I should have done it a long time ago. I am not going to rest until you are underneath me, screaming my name once more.”
There was no one in the office to hear me. I made a few calls and tracked her down better. Now I knew where she lived and where she worked. I was not above going there and getting that face to face that Peggy was talking about. How could she say no to me then? No woman was able to. Kendra was going to be no different.
I knew what her weaknesses were and I knew that I was one of them. While she could deny me through text, I knew that it would be impossible to deny me once we were face to face. All I had to do was remind her how good it was, how much pleasure I could give her. I needed to get my hands on her tight little body again and she would be lost, just as she was before. I could still hear her begging me for more, tempting me to my limits. It was no different now and no amount of years was going to change that kind of chemistry. She wasn’t going to be able to forget who had given her the best orgasms of her life.
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BE MY FIRST: SNEAK PEAK
PREVIEWS
Be My First
A Billionaire and Virgin Romance
Blurb
My New Employee makes it hard…very hard to ignore.
Claire makes me want to throw all the rules away
I’m not supposed to f*ck employees.
But I have never cared for rules.
And all of the rules changed when Claire Adams walked in the meeting as one of my newest consultants.
I ignored the slight stirrings, but it was hard to resist the beautiful woman.
She was so young, innocent and supple.
Her body called to me in so many ways.
She is so ripe for the taking.
It was like she was asking for it.
I just couldn’t say no.
Once I put my mind to it, I get anything I want.
I have money, cars, power.
No one denies me.
Not even her.
I want Claire underneath me.
My mind obsessed about being inside of her.
The noises she would make.
How tight she would be.
I want to be her first.
And I always get what I want.
I don’t care what others think.
How wrong it is.
I don’t care that I am the wolf and she is the sheep.
She is bound to me.
I will have her innocence.
And then she will forever be mine.
***
Be My First: A Billionaire and Virgin Romance
Chapter 1
Claire
“So what about that guy?”
I looked to where Amy was pointing and I shook my head. “Come on, you know that I am not really looking.”
“You are single, have been for months. It is time that you start looking again. You are too picky Claire and you are going to end up an old spinster if you don’t start opening your horizons.”
I chuckled at her and took a sip of my drink. She was right of course. I would never tell her that, but she was right after all. I already had a cat. I was just three cats away from being the crazy cat lady on my block.
“I am looking, sort of. I just know what I want. That isn’t being picky.”
She wasn’t buying it and her brown eyes gave me this look that I knew too well. “What about you?”
“Scott and I are doing okay. I think we should see other people though, you know, keep the options open.”
“Then what is the point of being together?”
“He keeps me from doing stupid things.”
I giggled, “Like Justin?”
“Yes like Justin. That is worth it, right?”
I nodded my head in agreement, but I still wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. This was a normal thing for us. We went out every Friday night and Amy always tried to talk me into dancing with all these different men. She had found the love of her life in a bar, even if they did split up. I knew I wouldn’t find my husband here. I
didn’t know where I would find him, but it wouldn’t be at a place like this.
“That guy is over there staring you down Claire, go say hi.”
I looked where she was looking and I had to admit that she finally found a guy that was easy on the eyes. I certainly liked the look of him and I turned back to Amy when he met my gaze. The man was not what I was looking for, but there was something in his eyes that made me look again.
“Go over there.”
I debated it for a minute and had decided that I didn’t want to go, but that didn’t matter. The guy that was looking our way started to walk over and I fixed a smile on my face.
“Hey ladies.”
Smiling up at the guy, as he got closer, I could tell how handsome he was.
“Hello guy.”
“Tony.”
“Hi Tony.”
“Can I buy you a drink?”
I picked up the glass that I was drinking from. He was a little too late on that one.
“Fair enough, let me take you for a dance.”
He was persistent and with Amy half pushing me out of the bar stool, I didn’t really have a choice but to go dance with him. One dance I told myself. I only have time for one dance and then I was going to go home and work on some resumes.
“You are beautiful, what is your name?”
I smiled at the compliment and told him that my name was Claire.
“I think I have seen you before Claire.”
I shook my head and told him that I doubted it. The man wasn’t listening though. His hands were all over me and I felt his palms tightening up on my ass. What the hell did this guy think he was doing?
I pushed back from him. ‘”Come on, I know where I saw you from Claire. It took me a minute, but I have watched you dance many times before.”
“No, I think you have the wrong girl.” He was not letting go of me and I was getting aggravated to no end. I wanted his hands off of me, right now.
