The Virgin Hero
I have a total soft spot for virgin heroes. I roll my eyes when the heroine is a virgin unless it’s historical romance. So why then do I read virgin heroes like crack?
Maybe because the trope goes against societal norms. We expect males to lose their virginity before they end their teen years. Yet we have a double standard for the females. With whom are we expecting these teen boys to be sleeping with if not their female peers? The one class slut?
Either way, when we come across a virgin hero, he’s enticing because 1. He must have a good reason for being a virgin. Something dark and romantic, no doubt. (Think Edward in Twilight). And 2. All that abstinence has got to be building. You know he’s just dying for sex. Having a virgin hero immediately ramps up the sexual tension with almost no effort on the author’s part.
As soon as we pick up a book with a virgin hero (and believe me, his pure status is a key part of the plot highlighted on the book jacket), you know he’s going to be popping that cherry before the book is through.
In my current release, Desire Unmatched, the hero, Xander, isn’t a virgin, but he may as well be for all the experience he’s had. He’s slept with 2 women, mostly as a procedural thing and has little to no experience in giving his bed partner pleasure. The book is hot, hot, hot as Xander and his love, Emma, learn how to please each other in bed.
Some of my favorite virgin heroes are Conrad Wroth (Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark), Judd Laurens (Nalini Singh’s Psy Changeling), Zacharel the angel (Gena Showalter’s Lords of the Underworld), and Kaleb Krychek (also Nalini Singh’s Psy Changeling)
What do you think about virgin heroes? Do you like them? Do you have a favorite?
*****
Excerpt:
“Oh, you startled me,” Emma put a hand to her chest. “What are you doing here and why are you sneaking around?” She was in the large main office storage room, putting things in boxes and helping to organize the chaotic room. Her hair was piled in a loose bun on her head, and sweat dampened her dusty pale-pink blouse. Nice of Xander to stop by now when she looked a fright.
Xander watched her soberly for a minute. “I heard you’re looking for a job.”
She nodded. “Yep. I don’t want to be a mooch. Everyone around here has done so much for me. I hate to keep taking without giving back.”
“So that’s why you’re inside on this gorgeous day up to your ass in dusty boxes of shit we’ll never need again?”
Way to make her feel useless, but she answered him anyway. “Yes. I overheard Shep complain he couldn’t find anything in this mess. I volunteered to help out.” She didn’t understand why after nearly a month of ignoring her, he was seeking her out now, but she finally had him alone and didn’t question his motives too hard. It was pathetic how much a single word from this man warmed her insides. Even without the blood work, they both knew they were a match. After her horrific kidnapping ordeal, she wanted the connection and the safety of belonging to someone. No, not simply someone. Xander.
“Will you look for a job off campus or on campus?”
“Off probably, and I want to take classes at the university. I hadn’t realized it was down the street.”
For some reason this made him scowl. Idly, she noticed his buzz cut was longer than she’d seen it. Normally he kept it at army recruit length. Today it was practically hippie length at two inches long. He looked good to her no matter his haircut.
“I didn’t finish my degree, remember, Xander?”
“I forgot how young you are.”
“I’m twenty-four. I took a year off between school and uni.”
“And I’m thirty. Like I said, you’re a baby.”
“Is that what has you keeping your distance? Afraid you’re robbing the cradle?” Her bare knee brushed against one of the many cardboard crates she sat among.
“Among other things.”
“Such as?”
He didn’t answer, but she hadn’t really expected one. Xander was a man of few words and even fewer explanations. “Why are you here, Xander? Did you want another kiss?” Maybe she was actually getting to him. She hadn’t imagined his flinch at the word kiss.
“I wanted to see you, that’s all.”
“Because we’re a match, and it’s getting harder for you to deny it. Isn’t it?”
“Something’s getting harder,” he muttered.
She tried to hide her smile. He obviously hadn’t wanted her to hear his words, but now they were out there. And speaking of, she sneaked a peek at his crotch. Yep, no place to hide that puppy. His erection punched out behind the zipper of his trousers.
Loren had told her how difficult it was for the Program soldiers to deny their instinct to be with their DNA match. So far, Xander had her questioning their connection. She felt the pull, but he’d been so distant, she thought maybe she was imagining the whole thing. Now she wondered. Perhaps Xander had been feeling the sexual pull toward her as much as she’d been toward him, but was better at denying his urge. She had no such qualms.
If he accepted her as his match, she’d belong here. It had taken her own father nine weeks to notice she’d been missing after Paulson kidnapped her. Xander wouldn’t misplace his match for more than nine minutes.
“Let’s blow off some steam,” she said, rising to her feet.
“What?” He looked startled.
She gestured to his crotch. “I want you, and you obviously want me. We don’t have to make a lifetime commitment. We can simply release some steam.” Lies, all lies. She wanted him sexually. She wanted him forever. Before he could refuse, she unbuttoned the sheer blouse she wore over a tiny pink camisole. She had his full attention now. The black fatigue pants he wore stretched tighter over the hard ridge of flesh.
Her friends at home would laugh to see her up to her usual tricks. She didn’t consider herself a slut, but she’d hooked up with her fair share of men. There was nothing wrong with liking sex, in her opinion, and she knew sex with this man, her possible match, would rock her world.
“Emma,” he said, but she didn’t know whether it was a plea to stop or keep going. So she ignored his wishes and went with her own. Which meant getting naked, right here right now in the dusty, crowded storage room. She could drag him over to her apartment down the hall, but if she interrupted this moment for even a second, she knew Xander would bolt. No, no time to get to a more private place.
Shep thought she wouldn’t want to be in the bachelor apartments after her experience at Paulson’s hands. She appreciated the distance from the bachelors, but not for the reasons thought. Living down the hall in the same building as Xander would’ve been torture. It would’ve been a battle every night not to sneak out and climb in bed with him. But now he’d come to her.
Oh shit. She was taking off her shirt, and yep, there was her bra, every bit as sexy as he’d imagined. And he’d imagined a lot. How the hell had this happened? He’d had a plan, a goal, and five seconds with Emma had blown it out of the water. He’d known Shep hadn’t particularly wanted him to match and breed, he was too much of a loose cannon.
Fine with him.
Easy as pie never to sign up to match. It wasn’t as if a guy’s perfect match would come strolling onto the compound. Except his had. And now she was getting naked, and, God help him, every reason he had for steering clear of her was flying out of his brain. Understandable, really when all blood flow was heading south.
“Emma, stop.”
“Not a chance.”
*****
Genetically enhanced soldier Xander Bristack has spent his life under the imposing rule of his dictatorial, controlling father. Under his father’s watch, he is The Program’s deadliest and coldest killer. But when Xander is kidnapped by enemies of The Program only one thing motivates Xander to escape. His true match, the sexy Emma Harrison.
He’s been obsessed with Emma from afar, yearning to have her in his life and in his bed, but knowing he should never involve the beautiful blonde in his messed-up life. However, when Xander breaks out of his prison and returns home, Emma refuses to let him keep his distance, enticing him to surrender to the heat between them. She teaches him that passion trumps duty and that love doesn’t mean blind obedience. His desire for her cracks the shell he’s hidden in his whole life.
Available from:
Ellora’s Cave
*****
About the Author:
By day, Lynne Silver lives the suburban soccer mom life; volunteering with the PTA, doing laundry and working. By night she enters the sensuous world of alpha males and passionate heroines.
She calls the nation’s capital home and lives in an old fixer-upper with her husband and their two sons. When not writing romance, she reads it. Lots of it. Over and over and over again, preferably with a bag of M&Ms in hand.
Website: http://www.lynnesilver.com/
Blog: http://www.lynnesilver.com/blog/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lynnesilver
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LynneSilverAuthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4441166.Lynne_Silver
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lynne-Silver/e/B004FQXSAE
*****
I’ve not read any of Lynne’s books & I’m looking forward to checking them out. Thanks for the giveaway!
I have already read Desire Unmatched and can’t wait to find out who the next book in The Coded For Love series will be!