Cherry Popper (Cherry 1)

“Not gonna happen,” she shot back.

Her denial only made me want her more. “I’d like you to reconsider.”

“No.” With unbreakable steel in her eyes, she held my gaze without flinching. “It was hard to walk away from that money. It would have helped me out immensely. But I felt so degraded, so objectified. I don’t expect to have the man of my dreams peel off my wedding dress before he makes love to me for the first time…but I didn’t want my first time to be like that. I wanted it to mean something.”

For a twenty-three-year-old, she had high expectations for something people tried to give away as soon as possible. Her self-respect for her virtue only made me want her more, because it had so much more value. “If it makes the rest of your life easier, that’s all that matters. You aren’t going to look back on that memory with regret. You’re going to have more money in your pocket for the things that matter.”

She shook her head slightly. “I don’t understand. You’re trying to convince me to change my mind, but another woman can replace me at the snap of a finger. She could meet you at your hotel in the next hour. So what are you doing?”

It was a great question. “I want you.” It was the simplest, easiest answer.

Her eyes flicked down for a moment, like she couldn’t handle the abrupt response. “Why?”

“I don’t know. I just do.” She was beautiful, but so were a lot of women. On the surface, there was nothing extraordinary about her. But underneath those looks was a special woman, a kind of person I’d never met before, someone who still thought the little things in life mattered. “And I think you’d be better off. You aren’t going to find Mr. Perfect to sweep you off your feet and take your virginity in the most romantic way possible. At this age, any decent man wouldn’t want to deal with that. And then the other dogs will just want to fuck you because you’re a virgin.”

“Like you?” she countered.

“Yes. But at least I know what I’m doing. And I’ll fairly compensate you for it.”

“Compensate me?” she asked with a laugh. “I feel like I’m selling eggs or cookies or something…”

It didn’t seem like anything I said would change her mind. “You’re attracted to me. You enjoy kissing me. Apparently, you enjoy having my dick in your mouth… So, why not?”

“Because you’re an asshole.” She stopped eating her chips and looked me dead in the eye. “You told me to shut up. You grabbed my head and fucked my mouth like I was a sex toy instead of a human being. It was so…robotic. It wasn’t passionate or hot. It was just… I felt like a body. I never felt like a person.”

That was exactly how I liked it, empty and meaningless. I liked taking a woman’s virginity the way I fucked a whore. It was all about sex, all about getting off and feeling her tightness. I made them come because I was a natural at it, but it certainly wasn’t romantic.

“No amount of money is worth being treated like that. I felt like a whore.”

Because she was—an innocent whore.

“So, forget about me and find someone else who will be happy to do it.”

She kissed me like she enjoyed it, so it made me wonder if I could have her if I treated her right. Maybe if I just asked her out on a date and bought her flowers, I could finally get what I wanted. But that seemed like too much work for a one-time fuck. “I’ll make it $200,000.”

She stared at me blankly, like she didn’t understand a word I said.

“I’ll double the payment if you reconsider.” Regardless of how moral she was, that had to tempt her. That was a lot of money, even for a moderately wealthy person. She could remove a third of her debt. “That could wipe out all of your student loans. You would only be left with the medical expenses.”

When she didn’t turn me down right away, I knew she was considering it.

I waited patiently for her to give me an answer, to tell me that was a fair price for her cherry. It was more than what I paid anyone else, but I knew it would be worth it.

That hatred entered her gaze. “You’re an even bigger asshole than I thought. For a rich jerk like you, this is all a game. You buy whatever you want because you have so much money that it means nothing, but for people like me, I suffer every day because I didn’t have a silver spoon in my mouth. Now you throw more money at me because you can, because you know I have no other option. You want my virginity because you get off on it, not caring if I have to sell my soul so you can have it. Instead of being a good person who helps someone in need, you use their struggle to your advantage. It’s fucking despicable.” She grabbed her purse and slipped out of the booth. “Fuck off, Slate Remington. Your money is no good here.”