Friendship, Texas Series: Volume 1

by Magan Vernon

  He shifted his body, adjusting the Speedo so I could feel exactly what was behind it and how it pressed against me. "I like both looks. I like all of you."

  There was no other answer I could think of except to kiss him and he gladly reciprocated with a kiss that took my breath away. Moaning into his mouth, he tightened his grip on my waist and pushed me against the wall of the pool. I gasped as he pushed me up with his knees, pulling me onto his lap and I wrapped my legs around his waist.

  I over thought everything. It was what got me through my life. Being cautious. Staying the same and not moving forward. The craziest thing I'd ever done was give my phone number to an Olympic swimmer.

  Now, being in his arms in the water, made me stop thinking. Stop breathing. All I could focus on was his lips on mine.

  I didn't know how long the guy had been standing at the edge of the pool. It wasn't until a giant wave of water hit the side of my face that I finally pried my lips away from Jay's and looked behind me where Noah Riley stood.

  "Hey, Noah!" Jay waved, like it was no big deal that he was in a Speedo with his girlfriend on top of him. "Here to clean?"

  Noah rubbed the back of his neck, his voice coming out husky with his accent. "Yeah. Sorry to interrupt. Johnny let me in."

  "Sorry. Man. We can get out of the pool. I think Lia brought me some treats, too," Jay said, finally eyeing the red box at the side of the pool.

  Noah just nodded and stepped to the side, keeping his head down.

  Slowly I got off Jay's lap, my clothes dragging me down as I practically crawled out of the pool while Jay got out in one swift movement and held his hand out to me, helping me to my feet. We walked past Noah, through the door toward the kitchen.

  Jay glanced behind me and shut the door before he leaned in, pressing his forehead to mine. Water dripped from his hair and over those long eyelashes to his full lips. "Sorry about that. I forgot Noah was coming to clean the pool. Sometimes I lose track of time when I'm in the water...or when I'm with you."

  I wanted to say that I felt the same. That time stopped when he was around. That I forgot about my insecurities.

  But, truth be told, I was too scared to say it. I didn't want to give my whole heart to this guy and have it be crumbled.

  "Yeah...I didn’t even know there was a pool here. I thought you just practiced in Rockwall."

  “This isn’t much of a pool. It’s only about twenty-five yards so not really great for heavy training, but we can do a few things. It works until I can get out to Rockwall.”

  “Oh. Cool. I guess.”

  He opened his mouth and then shut it, slightly shaking his head and pulling back. "So are those cupcakes really for me or did you bring them for Johnny and Scotty?"

  I let him take my hand after he grabbed the box. "They're for you, but I guess you can share."

  He squeezed my hand and smiled, leading me toward the kitchen before shutting the door to the pool behind us."I don't share my food and I don't share my girlfriend, so I think we'll have to save these for after dinner. Want me to order in?"

  "I should probably head home at some point..."

  Jay's eyes roamed over me. "In those wet clothes?"

  "Yeah. I should dry them I guess."

  He nodded toward the door. "Come on. I'll dry them, order us some Chinese, and you can wear something of mine. Sound like a plan?"

  "You do know that the closest Chinese place is in Royse City and only pick up, right? I don't think I could leave the house like this?" I held my arms out, water dripping off my shirt.

  "Then I'll order and pick it up while you change."

  "Or...I can cook."

  He raised his eyebrows. "You're going to cook for me?"

  "My mom did teach me something. As long as your fridge isn't just filled with beer and potato chips, I should be able to whip up something."

  "You should probably get out of those wet clothes first. He stepped closer, his toes against mine. I sucked in a deep breath as his fingers grazed the bottom of my wet shirt before he pulled it off, tossing it to the floor beside us.

  His eyes roamed over me, biting his bottom lip before he ran his finger along my jaw line.

  Every hair on my body stood on end and a shiver ran low in my stomach.

  I wanted to kiss him. To get lost in him. To forget the world. But as much as my lady parts were like "Yeah, girl, you go for that hottie swimmer," my brain wasn't going to have it.

  "Uh, so, dinner. And maybe a shirt?" I asked, stepping back.

  Jay licked his lips and opened his mouth then shut it again. "Yeah. Let me grab you some clothes."

  He turned, and was out of the kitchen, and up the stairs before I could say anything else. At least that gave me time to catch my breath.

  God, I sucked at this. This beautiful man was going to end up leaving me because there was no way I could keep up with him.

  He was back downstairs with a pair of sweatpants and a black t-shirt in his hands. I thought he might have changed out of his Speedo, but nope, there he was in all of his half-naked glory.

  "Uh. Should I go to a bathroom to change?" I tried to keep my eyes on his face and not let it trail down his stomach and to other places.

  "Oh. Yeah. It's past the living room so you'd have to go by Johnny and Scotty."

  I blinked hard. Okay so I couldn't go past them wearing my bra and wet jeans and I couldn't exactly strip down in front of Jay.

  Or could I?

  Before I could let my pesky brain get in the way, slowly I unbuttoned my jeans and peeled them off along with my socks and shoes until I was standing in front of Jay in a very wet, very sexy bra and panties.

  I grabbed the dry shirt out of Jay's hands and slipped it over my head, looking down at the writing. "Did you seriously give me a shirt that says 'I love breast?'"

  He laughed. "It says stroke on the back. Breast stroke."

  My face heated up and I tried not to think about him stroking my breast and focused on my breathing instead, darting my eyes around the kitchen. "Um. Are you going to put on clothes?"

  He grinned, a laugh escaping his full lips. "I'm actually more comfortable in this. I can put on shorts if you want."

  "And maybe a shirt if we're going to be cooking."

  I held the sweatpants in front of me and looked from the large pants to Jay. He must have gotten the hint because he slowly turned around and I quickly kicked off my panties, thanking God the long shirt covered my lady bits, then pulled the sweatpants on.

  "You want me to cook? Didn’t your mom say never to get in the way of a Sicilian woman in the kitchen?" he asked over his shoulder.

  I raised an eyebrow and walked around him until I was facing him again. "You don't think I'm going to do this all by myself do you?"

  "You're not going to serve me?" That damn Wheaties box smile came out and I almost gave in.

  "I don't think so, Morningstar. You've got to work."

  "Oh, you're serious if you just referred to me by my last name like a teammate."

  "I might not be able to do a breast stroke or whatever, but I'm pretty sure I can kick your ass at cooking."

  I turned toward the kitchen and Jay's arms were immediately around my waist. His lips on my ear. "This may be the first time I look forward to losing."

  "Uh, so where's the pantry?" I pulled away, not wanting to leave his warm body but as soon as I felt something very hard pressed against my butt, I figured it was better to move.

  At least I knew how to cook. The other thing in the kitchen, I wasn't experienced with.

  "To the right of the fridge. I'll let you go through that and I'll grab some clothes." There was a hint of sadness, an edge to his voice.

  This man was going to leave his inexperienced girlfriend sooner or later. Part of me just wanted to give in, but it wasn't how I was raised. It wasn't how I thought.

  A lot of girls I went to high school with were losing their virginity the first chance they had with a new boyfriend then cried when they broke th
eir hearts a few months later.

  I didn't want to be that girl. I wanted to give my whole heart, my whole everything to this guy, but I also didn't want it to break.

  "So, find anything?" Jay was at my side, this time fully clothed in sweat pants and a tight-fitting t-shirt.

  "Uh, well, y'all have the largest supply of macaroni and cheese in the world."

  Jay picked up one of the many boxes. "Hey. It's carbs and it's easy to make. Cooking isn't exactly any of our strong suits."

  I took the box out of his hand. "I guess it's good that I'm better than you at one thing."

  "Then you'd better not teach me your secrets, or I might not keep you around." He smiled, but part of that hit me in the gut.

  It shouldn't have. He was joking, but I wondered how long he would want a girl like me around. I had to push those thoughts out of my head and focus on something I was really good at, cooking.

  I may suck with talking to boys or not being awkward, but I was one hell of a cook.

  "Okay, I'm going to need a big stock pot and we're going to boil some salt water."

  "Like from the pool?"

  I raised an eyebrow. "Uh. No. Just get tap water and put salt in it."

  He grinned. "Totally messing with you."

  "Good. You may have lost points for not knowing that."

  "Are we keeping score now? Because you know how much I love a competition." His grin was so wide he could practically split open. I'd never seen anyone this excited about my cooking, not even Sonny who would eat us out of house and home if he could.

  "You're starting at zero, Morningstar." I picked out a few boxes of macaroni cheese and set them on the counter.

  "Oh, come on!" he whined.

  "Boil me some water and find a frying pan, then you'll get two points."

  He opened a small cabinet near the fridge, pulling out the stockpot and a frying pan. "Extra points for speed?"

  "If you can do some kind of flip while boiling water, maybe.” I grabbed a few bags of frozen chicken out of the freezer and set them on the counter.

  "What is this? What are we doing?" Jay asked, standing at the sink and nodding toward the counter.

  "We're going to do use the macaroni for pasta and then I'll fry up some chicken and make alfredo." I turned on the stove and set the frying pan down, scooping some butter onto the heating pan.

  Jay grinned, setting the stockpot on the next burner. "I love it when you talk food to me."

  "Now we're going to defrost the chicken in the microwave." I set a few breasts on a plate and then put the plate in the microwave that was mounted above the stove.

  As soon as I shut the door, Jay placed a kiss on my lips.

  "What was that for?" I asked.

  He smiled. "Because it's not every day someone cooks for me. Wanna come over every day and save me from pizza and macaroni?"

  "Are you going to use me for my cooking skills?"

  He put his hands on my waist, turning me toward him. "I'm not using you for anything, Lia. I like being with you. I like cooking with you. I like everything we do together. Don't take this all so seriously."

  Easier said than done when I kept finding myself searching for reasons that this gorgeous man would want anything to do with me.

  "Hey! What's going on?" Scotty put his hands on Jay's shoulders.

  "Lia and I are cooking," Jay said, turning on the burner.

  "You? Cooking? Are you sick? Or are you poisoning us so you don't have competition?"

  "I guess maybe you shouldn't eat the food if you think I'm poisoning you," I said, getting the chicken out of the microwave and putting it on the skillet.

  "Oh, hell, is that butter and chicken?" Scotty stared over Jay's shoulder.

  "Yep. Frying this up and we'll put it in the with macaroni noodles then I'll make some alfredo."

  Scotty looked at Jay. "Dude, sorry, but your girlfriend totally just turned me on talking about food."

  Jay smiled. "Yeah. She has the same effect on me."

  After cooking and the boys devouring a few bowls of food, my clothes were finally dry. I stepped out of the bathroom, still getting a whiff of chlorine on my shirt.

  "You know you don't have to leave..." Jay said, hooking a finger in my belt loop and pulling me closer.

  "I've been here all day. You have to be sick of me or need to train or something."

  "Naw. I could never get sick of you."

  I couldn't see myself ever getting sick of him either. But the longer I stayed, the longer I wouldn't want to leave.

  "We can get together again soon? Tomorrow?"

  "Tomorrow won't work for me..." His words trailed.

  "Oh."

  Crap. Was he expecting sex and now he was going to leave me and not want to see me again? Ugh. Why did I have to speak?

  "But I can do Friday? I have practice in the morning and afternoon but can pick you up for dinner."

  I internally sighed, thanking God I wasn't over thinking it. "Yeah. That sounds perfect as long as you're not doing the cooking."

  Chapter 15

  Another night and another date with Jay. He wouldn't give me any details about where we were going for dinner or what was going on.

  I was trying to play it cool but after our last night together, I made sure to put on extra deodorant and hoped I didn't sweat through it.

  Dana insisted that if she was going to be working without me that she at least dressed me so that she could live vicariously through me.

  If the heels weren't enough, she also wanted me to wear a lacy white top with a black leather jacket and skinny jeans. I looked like some kind of really off kilter biker's old lady, but Dana said it was cute.

  I practically tripped down the stairs, making my way to the front door.

  Of course Sonny had to be there first.

  "Jaybird, you here to work out?" Sonny asked, doing some kind of weird bro-hug.

  "As much as I'd like to take you up on it, I have reservations for me and Lia." Jay's arm went instinctively around my waist as soon as I got to the bottom of the stairs.

  "Gross," Sonny muttered, not saying another word as he wandered off.

  Jay's eyes trailed up my jeans and lingered over the too sparkly of necklace on my chest before his gaze met mine. "I've never seen you in this before."

  "I know it's weird. I look stupid. It's Dana's. I should go change." I turned to head up the stairs, but Jay's hand was on my shoulder before I could.

  "Relax, Lia. You're always so quick to think that I'm criticizing you or that someone is going to. I was just saying it's a different look."

  I didn't know how to answer that but luckily Jay just smiled and pulled me toward his car. "Don't over think it. You look hot as always, so stop giving me a look like you want to stab me."

  "I am not," I scoffed, but made sure to check out my face in the side mirror. I did have a tendency to have resting bitch face, but tried to smile more around Jay. Actually it wasn't that hard to smile. Every time I looked at him, I couldn't help but feel butterflies and just want to smile.

  Jay turned on the car and I closed my door. "So are you going to tell me where we’re going?"

  "Where do you think we're going?" He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye before backing out of the driveway.

  "You can't answer a question with a question. That's cheating."

  "Well, we're going to Dallas. And eating. Somewhere."

  I wrinkled my nose. "Still cheating."

  He took my hand and brought it to his lips, placing a kiss on each knuckle. "I never cheat. Just take a deep breath and enjoy the ride."

  ***

  We pulled into the parking lot of a brick building that looked like a warehouse.

  "Um...I don't think I've ever heard of this place."

  Jay smiled and pulled into a parking spot. "Good. Then you'll be even more surprised."

  I followed him out of the car and to a metal door, which led to a large, stainless steel commercial kitchen, but no one wa
s cooking.

  A few people were milling around, talking to different people in chef hats or white coats.

  "What is this? Are we working for our food?" I whispered.

  "You'll see." He squeezed my hand and I followed him to one of the prep tables where a short lady with a clipboard stood.

  "Morningstar, two," he said, matter-of-factly.

  The lady looked at the clipboard and checked it off, smiling. "Okay. I have you two on the red team with Chef McCoy."

  She put the clipboard on the table and handed us each a red chef's hat and apron.

  "Thanks, ma'am," Jay said, nodding before he put the chef hat and apron on.

  "What is all of this?" I asked.

  "Cooking competition class."

  "A what?"

  He laughed. "I told you I was competitive and you said I was a bad cook, so I found a Groupon for this thing where we get together with other couples, have a private chef, and compete to make a meal."

  I looked around the room, seeing the other people in different colored aprons and hats, gathering with a different chef in a white hat. Then I looked at Jay whose eyes held a mixture of worry and excitement.

  "Oh, we are so kicking their asses," I said.

  Jay laughed. "Hell yeah we are."

  He took my hand and we walked over to where our chef was standing in a red hat and coat.

  "Chef, I'm Jay and this is my girlfriend, Lia."

  "Ah, the swimmer has come to join my team. I hope your skills in the pool transcend to the kitchen," the tattooed chef said in a thick French accent.

  Jay put his arm around me. "I'm not the best at cooking but luckily I brought my girlfriend who assures me that we're going to take out the other team."

  "You are a chef?" Chef McCoy asked.

  "Um, well my parents own a restaurant in the suburbs."

  Chef McCoy smiled. "That’ll work. Let's take down the other teams, Reds."

  We followed Chef McCoy to a large, metal table where a few ingredients sat and behind us were rows of stoves and a few fridges.

  A woman in a suit stepped in front of us and raised her hands until everyone took their places behind different prep tables. There were around six or seven couples, each with a different color hat and apron and their own personal chef. When everyone was quiet, the woman in the suit smiled.