His Tasty Cherry Pie: A Double Virgin Valentine

He shoves the last of it into his mouth, the crumbs landing on his sweater, and sighs. “Can I get you on Thursday? I’m flush out of cash…”

“Fine,” I say with a roll of my eyes. “Get the fuck out of here before I change my mind.”

He backs away from the counter, but not before calling out to my girl. “Hey, new girl!”

Charlotte turns to him in surprise.

“Welcome to Bridgeworth Pines,” he says with a wave as he walks backward to the door. “If you need some gas, come down the street and give me a holler. I’ll give you a free pack of gum!”

“What?”

“Todd,” I practically snarl through my clenched jaw. “Get. Out.”

He swallows hard when he sees the fierce look in my eyes and then quickly rushes out the door.

My chest is all tight and my knuckles are burning from squeezing my hands into fists. I take a few deep breaths to calm down.

This girl has gotten me all twisted up. Strong possessive feelings toward her are swirling through me and I know they’re only going to get worse until I make her mine.

I’ve been thinking about her non-stop since my mother told me she was hiring someone who had been on the news lately. My jaw dropped when I looked her up online and saw those stunning hazel eyes so full of life and innocence. She had the most stunning amber hair and this angelic quality about her. I saved every photo I could find of her and have been staring at them ever since.

I didn’t expect her to be so beautiful in the flesh, but when I walked in this morning, the sight of her hit me hard. I could barely breathe when I was around her, close enough to touch, close enough to smell her alluring strawberry scent.

She’s perfect for me. I want her.

I must have her.

This beauty deserves a billionaire to spoil her and give her everything she desires. I’m not a billionaire yet, but I’ll work on becoming one every single day until I can give her the lifestyle she deserves.

“Who was that?” Charlotte asks in the sweetest voice as she comes walking over. The shop is empty and probably will remain that way until people finish work. From three to four in the afternoon is always a slow time.

“He works at the gas station,” I tell her. “He’s an idiot.”

“Did he really just flirt with me by offering to give me a free pack of gum?”

She’s laughing in disbelief and I can’t help but smile too. All of the tension spills out of my body as I watch her beautiful face laughing.

“He never had much game growing up,” I tell her with a grin. “He asked Taylor Thorne to the prom by spray painting it on a cow and walking it into her homeroom. He didn’t even spell her name right.”

She bursts out laughing at the ridiculous image. “Seriously?”

“I wish it weren’t true. I bet Taylor does too.”

“I’m insulted,” she says with a twinkle in her eye. “Taylor got a whole cow and I only got a pack of gum? What does she have that I don’t?”

“Nothing,” I say as my face stills. “You have everything and more a man could possibly want.”

Those adorable cheeks begin to blush as she looks up at me shyly.

God, those lips… I just want to feel if they’re as soft and juicy as they look.

“Maybe I had everything once,” she says sadly. “But not anymore. Did your mother tell you about… my past?”

I was the one who convinced my mother to hire her. She was on the fence about it after Charlotte’s aunt practically begged her to give her niece a chance. Once I saw her and fell in love, I was on team Charlotte all the way.

“I read about it,” I say softly, trying to make her feel comfortable. “It must have been hard.”

“Hard is an understatement. I lost everything. My job, my family, my condo. I thought I was paying the bank for the payments, but my father was just pocketing that too. He told me it was under my name, but it wasn’t. They seized it along with everything else.”

“I heard you’re living with your aunt?”

“Yeah, Aunt Tracy. Do you know her?”

“Everybody knows Tracy,” I say with a laugh. She laughs too. I fucking adore that sound. It makes me all lightheaded and tingly. I want to record it and listen to it over and over through my headphones while I drift off to sleep.

“So, you can imagine how much of an adjustment it’s been living with her,” she says with a shake of her head. “I went from a penthouse suite in one of the most exclusive buildings in New York City to sharing a futon with an old blind cat in the spare bedroom of my aunt’s house.”