Winning the Virgin: A Western Billionaire Cowboy Romance

by Love-Wins, Bella

  She stiffened and tossed me a saucy look. I smiled at her reaction. But then, predictably, she shut it down. It was like curtains came down behind her gorgeous eyes. She was shutting me out and it was pissing me off, dammit!

  “Bar maid.” She looked back at her clipboard, effectively closing me down. “That’s what I am, remember?”

  “You are many things.” I wanted to touch her. To run my hand over her back or take her hand. But she remained illusive. “And you could be many more.”

  She sighed as if I was boring her.

  “For example, this festival is a huge success. You could be managing dozens of types of business ventures. And that’s just to start.”

  She tried to hide it, but she blossomed a little under my praise. It was all true. I decided to go a little deeper.

  “And then there’s life stuff. You could be a wife.” I stepped closer, my voice getting husky despite my best efforts. “A mother.”

  She cast me a startled glance. I gave her a slow smile full of promise. I’d finally gotten her attention. I’d—

  She laughed in my face.

  It should have pissed me off. Instead it turned me on. Riley-Ann being a smartass was the equivalent of waving a red flag at a bull. It made me want to charge.

  I just grinned and took a step back, allowing her to do her thing. I wanted to pester her all day. Instead I sat with Danny, helping with some money flow issues as Riley ran the whole damn fair.

  I was equally impressed and amused as she did on the fly problem solving throughout the day. She even caught an escaped piglet herself. I grinned, snapping a picture of the barmaid with squealing piglet pressed to her bosom. Her cheeks were bright and she looked adorable, sexy and capable, all at the same time. I figured if nothing else, I could taunt her with it later. And if we got married, I was blowing it up and hanging it on the mantel above the damn fireplace.

  She did her best to ignore me, but I caught her sneaking a peek once or twice. I knew she wasn’t immune to me, no matter what she said. Still, I didn’t mind the chase, as long as it ended with her in my bed for good.

  I had to admit it, having to work so hard for a woman was out of the realm of my experience. In the past, I’d only had to snap my fingers. And that was even before I was one of the most successful men on the planet. But it didn’t make me want her less.

  If anything, it made her impossible to resist.

  Impossible to ignore.

  I was halfway in love and borderline obsessed and I didn’t give two damns about it.

  For now, I was happy just to watch. She was in her element. She shone bright as the sun as she wrangled livestock, visitors and staff. A feeling of contentment settled in my stomach. She was the woman for me, alright. Riley-Ann was one in a million.

  A billion, really.

  I just had to convince her I was the man for her.

  13

  Riley- Ann

  I stood outside the part-way open red and white canopy tent, and a bout of nerves hit me. The men’s and ladies’ auctions were the event we were hoping to bring in a windfall for the charity, but so far, things weren’t looking so promising.

  From the men’s auction earlier, we raised less than a thousand dollars, mainly because of the caliber of the men we scrounged up to be bid upon. The men I scrounged up.

  They were mostly farmers and hardened ranch hands, and none were all that handsome.

  None of them were Caleb.

  Had Caleb agreed to participate, I was sure the women from town would’ve been falling all over themselves trying to win him. Maybe some of the men too, if it meant having dedicated face time with him for sage advice, tips, or to pitch some idea or another to the most successful guy within a few hundred miles radius.

  But Caleb wasn’t budging.

  I’d tried to convince him. Danny had done her best to twist his arm too. The whole organizing committee had taken a shot.

  But the man just dug his heels in and refused to get on board. He hinted at having a better idea for raising funds, which was enough for Danny and the committee to drop the issue. The problem with his suggestion was that it wasn’t likely to help today’s numbers. His plan, whatever it was that he had been brewing, was separate from today’s event, so I needed to do what it took to ensure that the ladies’ auction would pick up the slack for the sad results where the men’s auction was concerned.

  Which was why a few minutes ago, I had agreed to put myself up on the block when Danny had asked me to. Hell, Danny and a few of the other ladies on the organizing committee had been willing to put themselves up for auction at the last minute too, so who was I to say no?

  I looked inside the canopy tent again a few minutes before the event was set to start. By the looks of the townsfolk still filing inside, the event showed some real promise. All the chairs that had been set out were already filled, and people were standing at the sides and back, talking amongst themselves as they waited to partake, or at least look on as witnesses. No doubt, talk of who had bid for whom and for how much would be the subject of juicy gossip, probably for weeks or months to come.

  “How does it feel to join the ranks of the local cattle?” my best friend Kate asked, her voice brimming over with lightheartedness as she stood at my side and looped her arm into mine at the elbow.

  “Whatever it takes, honey,” I answered honestly, letting out a sigh now that I had my bestie near me for emotional support. “At this point, I’d lift my little barmaid apron or show some cleavage, if that’s what it takes to get to our fundraising goal.”

  She raised her oversized sunglasses and turned to me, squinting. “That bad, huh?”

  I shrugged one shoulder, uncertain. “Maybe, although the turnout so far is looking a whole lot more encouraging than it was for the men’s auction.”

  “Well that’s gotta be a good sign,” she chirped, leaning her head forward to take a look inside the tent. “Not bad! Standing room only. That’s a good sign. I hope the men dig way deeper into their pockets for you ladies.”

  “I’m banking on that.” I looked across at Kate, studying her from head to toe. Maybe…

  She shook her head and wagged a finger at me. “Don’t even think about trying to convince me to be one of the ladies you put up for auction, doll,” she said, shooting down my idea before I could verbalize it. “And you can wipe that drool off your chin too.”

  “Damn, am I that predictable now?”

  “Hell yeah, you are,” she said as she nodded. “James wouldn’t consider going along with it, either.”

  “Really? What if I begged?” I tilted my head to one side and added one of those pleading little expressions she had seen before, the one where I gave a bit of a pout and let my bottom lip shake for effect.

  “Nope.” She wasn’t buying it. Not this time.

  “Come on, Kate. Not even to help out the town? I mean, we can really use the funds for the playground and local youth center upgrades that the town has planned. Are you sure you can’t use your charm to sway him in our direction?”

  “Sorry, doll,” she answered with finality, and I knew she wasn’t about to change her mind. “James won’t go for it. One of the ranch hands was carrying on with the other guys about bidding for me with his entire month’s paycheck if I joined the auction… And James overheard. He almost gave the guy his walking papers for disrespecting our marriage.”

  “Wow. Which ranch hand?” I only asked to be polite, but I already could make a good guess as to who it had been.

  “Like you have to ask,” she fake huffed.

  I smile. “All right, I know it’s Mike. That one… he’s such a flirt.”

  “He really is a ladies’ man,” she agreed. “Someone needs to teach him about boundaries.”

  “What did he do this time?”

  “Nothing he hasn’t tried before,” she breathed out, knitting her eyebrows together.

  “Maybe James is just the right guy to do that.”

  “Oh, I don’t know abo
ut that. If James has to say another word to Mike, it’ll be his fists that’ll do the talking,” she huffed in frustration for real this time. “But anyhow, when does the bidding start?”

  “Any minute now,” I answered.

  “I’d better get a prime spot! James tells me that there’s a tradition where the man with the highest winning bid gets to throw the woman he wins over his shoulder and carry her away… in front of everyone,” she said excitedly, practically beaming.

  “What? No way. That’s way too degrading. I swear to God, no one’s picking me up, carrying me, hog-tying me, or any such nonsense.”

  She reached into her mini backpack and lifted out her smartphone. “I’ll be ready to capture the moment if and when that happens!” she exclaimed, and headed inside the tent a few steps behind the town mayor, who had volunteered to be the announcer for this portion of the event.

  I gave Kate a scowl of disapproval but couldn’t hold back my smile as she glanced back at me cheerily. She was taking far too much enjoyment from the fact that I was suckered into being a volunteer participant in the auction.

  More like a victim.

  As I waited for my cue to head inside, Danny and the other ladies up for auction joined me at the tent entrance.

  “Ready, girls?” Danny asked us while undoing the top couple of buttons on her plaid button-down blouse.

  “Nope. Not really,” I said honestly. I was sure, from the faces around me, that I was echoing the common sentiment among the rest of the group of five of us.

  Danny stuck her chest out, making her cleavage more pronounced. “Just remember it’s for a worthy cause,” she hummed and slid the stretchy hairband from her high ponytail, letting her light, wavy hair fall past her shoulders.

  I had never seen her with her hair down before in all the time I had worked at the bar. She had a whole different look. She was really going all out for the event, so the least I could do was suck it up and take one for the team too. The success of the auction was not just good for charity. It would also look great on my resume, should I eventually start looking for work other than bartending.

  I put it to rest once I heard the mayor clear his throat into the handheld bullhorn speaker he had been carrying around the fair all day for group announcements. I looked around the place. It was packed with barely any standing room, and soon, on the mayor’s signal, the buzz of chatter dwindled down to an almost nonexistent hum. It was turning into the type of memorable moment that the townsfolk would be talking about for weeks, if not months.

  In his classically charismatic style, the mayor thanked the crowd for joining and encouraged them to make their bids while keeping in mind that all funds raised will go back into the town.

  Then he introduced us.

  The five proverbial lambs heading to our demise.

  We filed inside, weaving through the tight spaces in the crowd, and took our spots beside him at the front of the tent. It was then, as I turned to face the large group, that I saw Caleb stride into the tent. Taking off his cream suede Stetson cowboy hat, he took a spot directly beside the entranceway, and when our eyes locked, he gave me a knowing wink.

  Shit.

  No.

  No way.

  He wouldn’t dare.

  Was this the “other idea” he had been hinting at to Danny and me? Gosh, I really hoped not.

  “Now, I’ve already outlined the ground rules of this auction during the men’s portion of the auction, earlier,” the mayor continued.

  He turned his head to look at someone near the right of the tent. I wasn’t sure who, but to me, it felt as though he was about to direct whatever he said next to someone in particular.

  “Many of you are well-versed on these guidelines, but it certainly warrants repeating now, for clarity… and to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself, right, Gerry?”

  A rumble of giddy laughter rippled around the room. I was a newcomer to this town. I had no idea what he was referring to, but then again, I was less interested in sharing in their inside joke, and more invested in finding out whether or not my ass was about to be sold off to the one man in this tent who could bring my will to its knees.

  God help me.

  “There will be one bid at a time, folks.” The mayor went on, reading from a list on a folded letter-size piece of paper he had pulled out of his shirt pocket. “No talking above one another. No boisterous comments. No touching the ladies up for auction. The agreed upon price is final, and related to that, all sales are final. No refunds,” he chuckled, and the crowd echoed his levity.

  “Buyers and individuals sold during today’s auction agree to the term of one afternoon or evening for their date, to a maximum of six hours. The specific date and time shall be agreed upon between both parties. Under no circumstances does this sale constitute permission for the buyer to solicit inappropriate favors, or to act in any way that is considered unbecoming of a gentleman…” He cleared his throat again and added, “Except with the expressed permission of the auctioned party. That’s about it for ground rules, ladies and gentlemen. So without further ado, let’s get started.”

  One by one, the ladies beside me were introduced to the crowd. And one by one, they were sold off.

  By the time my name was called, the amount raised had already surpassed two thousand dollars. Clearly, the male bidders were willing to dig deeper into their pockets to snag us fillies.

  Then it was my turn.

  “Last, but by no means the least, folks, is one of our fine town’s newest members, Riley-Ann Billings. Most of you know her as the pleasant and ever so efficient bartender at Danny’s fine drinking establishment. Those of us on this year’s county fair organizing committee know her as the esteemed member who willingly and humbly accepted a major role, working tirelessly to ensure that today went off without a hitch. Which it has, thanks in large part to Riley-Ann’s behind the scenes help. And here she is again, like several of our committee members, doing her part to help some more. So, here we go, ladies and gentlemen. As with the other ladies, we’ll start the bidding at two hundred dollars.”

  Before anyone could lift their hand, I saw Caleb’s arm shoot up sky high. He had been hanging back for the entire time, and hadn’t so much as entered a single bid. Now he was raising his hand.

  For me.

  This was not going to end well.

  14

  Caleb

  I stood in the back of the crowd, arms crossed over my chest. The crowd was buzzing. Excited. Giddy almost. Some people were rambunctious and sleepy at the same time from drinking beer in the warm afternoon sun.

  But I was focused.

  My prize was within reach.

  All I had to do was reach out and grab it.

  The MC came out and made some more small talk. Not bad for a small country carnival, I thought to myself. Then the girls went in. Five women. None of them held a candle to Riley-Ann.

  But no one did.

  They started at the far end, away from my sexy barmaid. That was smart. They were saving the best for last.

  The bidding was fast and furious and definitely inappropriate at moments. I smiled, biding my time as girls were sold off for anywhere from a couple hundred, to five hundred bucks. It was no surprise to me that Danny had a bidding war going on with a couple of older gents, though she slapped the winner’s arm when he tried to manhandle her. Then it was Riley-Ann’s turn.

  She stepped forward looking nervous but covering it well. She didn’t think she would be bid on, I realized.

  The girl really was plum stupid for being such a smart person.

  Bidding started and stalled out around a hundred bucks. She looked relieved that she’d made some money for the charity.

  Well, prepare to have your mind blown, sweetheart.

  “One hundred thousand dollars.”

  The crowd got real quiet, as if everyone was holding their breath. Riley-Ann looked like she was about to faint. Then I heard one sharp bark of laughter.

  D
anny was at the side of the stage holding her belly as she laughed. She pointed at me and shouted, “I knew it!”

  Then the whole room went bonkers.

  My back was slapped as the crowd parted to make way for me. I stepped onto the stage and stood in front of a dazed looking Riley-Ann. Then I bent down and hoisted her over my shoulder.

  “Squawk!”

  I would swear on the Bible that Riley made a noise like an outraged duck. Maybe a goose. A swan if I was feeling generous.

  I let my hand land on her gorgeous bottom and smiled.

  I was definitely feeling generous.

  When I set her down on her feet outside the tent, she looked dazed.

  “Do you need to get your handbag or something?”

  “No, I didn’t bring one.”

  “Did you drive?”

  “Danny picked me up.” She shook her head. “You...”

  “Yes, me.” I smiled at her, thinking she looked good enough to eat. “I’m taking you home so you can shower and change.”

  “Change?”

  “For our date.”

  “Oh. You really want to do that? I thought maybe it was a publicity stunt.”

  I stepped closer, brushing my knuckles over her cheek.

  “I really want to do that.”

  “You don’t think its better if we just forget it?”

  I almost choked on the laughter that rose in my throat. The little cutie looked so hopeful. But no, I wasn’t going to let her get away that easily. I wasn’t going to let her get away at all.

  “Not a chance, sweetheart.”

  I drove her home and was finally invited in. She lived in a rancher cabin on her friend’s land. It was neat and well kept, but I wanted her to live in luxury. My girl deserved silks and satins. And king sized beds to roll around in. I stared at her couch and decided that I could make it work if need be.

  The couch was out of date but it had nice big chunky arms. Perfect for bending someone over and…