Aurelia Rowl - Popping The Cherry

You only get one first time …

From driving tests to relationships, Valentina Bell thinks she’s a failure, with a big fat capital F. At this rate, she’s certain she’ll be a virgin for ever. So Lena’s friends plan Operation: Popping the Cherry to help her find the perfect man first time.

Yet somehow disastrous dates with bad-boy musicians and fabulous evenings with secretly in-the-closet guys aren’t quite working out how Lena planned.

Soon Lena’s avoiding Operation: Popping the Cherry to spend time with comforting, aloof Jake, her best friend’s older brother, who doesn’t make her feel self-conscious about still clinging to her V card. But could Jake show Lena that sometimes what you’re looking for most is right by your side?

A Forever for the twenty-first century

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2013

Copyright © Aurelia B. Rowl 2013

Aurelia B. Rowl asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

E-book Edition © June 2013 ISBN: 9781472018052

Version date: 2018-07-23

AURELIA B. ROWLlives on the edge of the Peak District in the UK with her very understanding husband and their fantastic son and daughter, now aged six and four, along with the mad mutt who is happy to be used as a sounding board and writing companion. They are all used to her getting too caught up with her latest writing project … or five! … and she is guiltily counting down the months until she has both kids at school full-time. Her debut contemporary romance, Christmas is Cancelled , was released in December 2012 with book two in the series expected November 2013. She cannot wait to share her YA/NA story, Popping the Cherry , with you and hopes you’ll love the characters as much as she does.

I would like to express my deep appreciation for my husband, and thank him for his unwavering support. Life can be a bit chaotic as stay-at-home-mum to our two (mostly) wonderful children, but my husband is always ready to pick up the slack. Huge thanks must also go to my ABCs – my BETA readers and critique partners—for always being available and for keeping me on track and always having something positive to say. There are too many to mention individually but I couldn’t do it without them.

Thanks also to my editor, Anna Baggaley, for her brilliant vision and encouragement. With Anna’s guidance, this story turned out even better than I’d imagined, way back on that chilly afternoon on January ninth *but most of all, I’d like to thank Anna for taking a chance on me and my characters. I am proud to be an author with HQ Digital, the new digital imprint for Harlequin UK, and I look forward to a tantalising future with this dynamic, forward-thinking publisher.

I would like to give a special mention to Steven Mather, whose rather handsome face you will come to know if you follow me online, and also to Margaret Rowles, PR officer for Beaulieu Enterprises; I only wish I could have included more detail on a truly stunning location.

And on one final note, if you are over fourteen, or a parent/carer of a teenager, and you are looking a real and relevant guide to sex and relationships, please check out www.bishuk.com; there is even a free book you can download. I didn’t discover this fantastic resource prior to writing Popping the Cherry but the two seem to go hand in hand. Shame they didn’t have this kind of thing when I was a teenager!

*There I was, happily unloading the dishwasher before heading off on the school run, when the plot bunnies viciously attacked me with a fully formed story, complete with beginning and end, and then wouldn’t let me write anything else .

This book is dedicated to my wonderful husband—I couldn’t have completed it without him—and also to my children, just because they’re both awesome and make me smile every single day.

Cover

Blurb

Title Page

Copyright

Author Bio

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Chapter One: Dumped

Chapter Two: Intervention

Chapter Three: Stranded

Chapter Four: The Chase

Chapter Five: Rescue

Chapter Six: Crush

Chapter Seven: Propositions

Chapter Eight: Candidates

Chapter Nine: Kiss

Chapter Ten: Apology

Chapter Eleven: Driving

Chapter Twelve: Date

Chapter Thirteen: Panic

Chapter Fourteen: Family

Chapter Fifteen: Police

Chapter Sixteen: Revenge

Chapter Seventeen: Respite

Chapter Eighteen: Confrontation

Chapter Nineteen: Beach

Chapter Twenty: Torn

Chapter Twenty-One: Defeated

Chapter Twenty-Two: Halloween

Chapter Twenty-Three: Hero

Chapter Twenty-Four: Busted

Chapter Twenty-Five: Peace

Chapter Twenty-Six: Tinkerbell

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Waltz

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Gift

Endpages

About the Publisher

I, Valentina Bell, am a failure .

A failure with a big, fat, capital ‘F’ if today was anything to go by.

First, I failed my driving test, after skipping my last class to take the damn thing. English literature is my favourite class too, and it was my turn to read the part of Catherine in Wuthering Heights . Second, my boyfriend of four months and twenty-seven days dumped me, and then refused to drive me home because he didn’t want to waste another minute with me. Bastard! Third, I ended up missing the bus. Barely. The driver even gave me a snarky wave as he pulled away from the bus stop like it was the highlight of his day.

Great. Just great. Really!

It was gone ten o’clock at night, pitch black, frigging freezing for the beginning of June, and I had to try really hard not to cry. I didn’t want to give tossers like Damian and the bus driver the satisfaction, even though they couldn’t see me. More to the point, if I started, there was no telling when I’d be able to stop, and then my face would go all red and blotchy, my mouth would puff up, and I’d get a runny nose. I knew for a fact I didn’t have any more tissues because I’d used the last one to clean the dog crap off my shoes, which is what made me miss the goddamn bus in the first place.

Yeah, my life sucks .

Because screaming like a banshee would probably get me arrested, I groaned instead and stared at my mobile phone out of habit. At least I’d had just about enough battery left to get a call out to Gemma to come and pick me up. I didn’t even get chance to tell her why before my phone died; I’d run most of it down earlier, bitching to her about the rotten driving test.