That Boy (That Boy Series Book 1)

by Jillian Dodd

  I almost have my hands on the sausage, when Honk! A car horn scares me and I very nearly fall in.

  I manage to work my way back upright and turn around to see Phillip driving into the garage in his recently purchased little red BMW Z3. He’s got the top down, the music blaring, and his hair is all messed up.

  God, he looks sexy!

  It is at that moment, I decide I’m done thinking.

  Click.

  Brain officially turned off, body officially turned on.

  Yikes!

  I walk over to Phillip’s car door, turn my back to it, jump up over the door, and land with my butt on his lap and my legs dangling over the side.

  That was kinda slick. I didn’t know that doing the high jump in track would come in so handy someday!

  Phillip catches me and says, “You know, I think I could get used to seeing your butt hanging out of the freezer every day when I come home.” He gives me a big wonderful smile and says, “I was hoping you were already here.”

  His arm is holding up my back, and he’s looking into my eyes.

  “Yeah, well you might change your mind when I tell you about the real interesting conversation I’ve been having with your mother.”

  “Really? About what?” The way he asks makes me wonder if he already knows exactly what we were talking about. His voice has this, You’re going to tell me a dirty joke, aren’t you, tone to it.

  “You.”

  “Uh oh,” he says, although he doesn’t sound the least bit worried.

  I pull my legs into the car, tuck them under me, and flip around so I am facing him. It’s more comfortable, plus I like looking straight into his eyes.

  “Yeah,” I say, poking my finger into his chest. “Uh oh, for you.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Well, I think she wants me to try to seduce you.”

  “Keep sitting on me like this and you won’t have to try very hard.” His eyes are playful.

  Oh.

  I look down and realize not only is this a more comfortable way to sit, it’s also significantly more intimate.

  I’m straddling the poor guy.

  Shame on me!

  He laughs. “In fact, you’ll be lucky if I let you out of this car.”

  I smile at him, trying to make him think I was smart enough to plan it that way.

  “Oh come on, Phillip, I thought you’d play at least a little hard to get. Be a challenge.”

  He looks at me seriously. “What are you trying to say?”

  I let my voice drop its playful tone because he needs to know I am not joking around about this. “Look, you said I’d have to come to you. So here I am, and you’d better write this down because it doesn’t happen very often: I admit it. I was wrong, and you were right. I didn’t really try in Mexico. I was scared and stupid and I preferred to have you mad at me than not with me at all.”

  “I know this.” He is softening, but still has a stern look in his eyes. “So, no holding back this time?”

  “That’s right,” I state firmly, with a nod of my head.

  “And no games?”

  “What? Am I gonna have to get a lawyer? I think maybe you need to make some concessions too. You did leave me with two strange guys.”

  “Fine. What do you want?”

  “No bossiness,” I say with a sweet smile.

  “Deal.” He is grinning from ear to ear, and I can tell this makes him happy, but evidently he is still not completely convinced because he lowers his voice and says, “So you’re really going to give this a try? A real try?”

  “No, Phillip, I’m so through trying. I am doing.”

  I curl my fingers into his shirt, pull him closer, and plant a big kiss on his lips. I keep kissing and kissing and kissing him.

  I’m kissing him with every ounce of pent up passion I’ve been holding inside me for however long I’ve loved him. His hands are in my hair, so it’s hard to determine right now when that exactly was. Oh, who cares? This just feels so incredibly right.

  Finally, I think.

  I may never stop kissing Phillip.

  Ever.

  Of course, it is at this moment that I’m startled by another loud, echoing, Honk, Honk!

  I open my eyes and slowly tear my lips away from Phillip’s. His dad is honking and turning into the driveway.

  Phillip grins at me, but his eyes are smoldering. “Dad followed me home from the office. I was under strict orders from Mom to make sure he got here on time. They’re heading to Lincoln tonight with the Diamonds.”

  “Yeah, your mom told me,” I say back, still staring into his eyes. We’re just sitting here staring at each other, and I know I should probably move, or get out of the car, or something, but I sort of don’t want to. I’m afraid I might break the spell.

  Something special just happened here, I think.

  Just then, Phillip’s mom walks out into the garage and says, “JJ, did you fall in the freezer?” She sees me sitting on Phillip’s lap, in the rather intimate position, laughs, and shakes her head. “You work fast. Heck, if I’d known my powers of persuasion worked so well, I would have suggested this to you years ago.”

  I’m embarrassed, to say the least, but, hey, she kind of asked for it.

  I extricate myself from Phillip’s lap, and we both get out of the car.

  I notice that he can’t seem to take his eyes off of me. In fact, he is gazing at me with such intensity that it’s making me blush.

  Thank God, the Diamonds pull up in the RV. Mrs. Mac becomes a drill sergeant. She knows something has happened and wants everyone out of there quick. They get everything loaded up and leave.

  Phillip and I are all alone.

  Finally!

  I’m sitting on the kitchen counter, and he is standing between my legs, his arms wrapped around me.

  “Well,” Phillip says, trying to be practical, “what do we have to do to get ready for this party?”

  You’ve got to be kidding me!

  I know Phillip is very practical and always needs to get everything finished and in order.

  But, come on! Isn’t this what he wanted?

  Okay. Fine. I guess I’ll just have to persuade him not to be so practical.

  So I start kissing him, but it’s not working quite as planned, because, although he is kissing me back, in between kisses he is asking me questions.

  “Did you go to the grocery store?”

  Kiss.

  “No.”

  “Did you pick up the beer?”

  Long kiss.

  “No.”

  “Did you make a list?”

  Longer kiss.

  “No.”

  “Did you do anything?”

  “Not yet.”

  Then I jump off the counter, lead that boy up to his room, and lock the door.

  It’s time to finally do what everyone seems to think we have already done.

  A few hours later, he remembers the party. “You know, we really need to get out of bed. There must be a ton of stuff to do.”

  “Actually, we have nothing to do. Your mom made everything. I think she was hoping this is exactly where we would spend our time. She really did suggest that I seduce you. It may even be on my list.”

  “I can’t believe she said that.” He tilts his head. “You know, come to think of it, I had a suspiciously similar conversation with Ashley today. She was a little less blunt though. She said I needed to get off my ass and do something. I think they were working in tandem.”

  “So were you going to?” I ask. Because I really need to know.

  “Going to what?

  “Do something.”

  “I’m pretty sure I already did,” he laughs, as he traces my jawline with his finger.

  I smile, remembering exactly all that he did, but that’s not what I meant. “I mean, if I hadn’t completely thrown myself at you, what would you have done?”

  “Well, as stubborn as you are, I probably would’ve had to throw you over my shoul
der and carry you up here, kicking and screaming.”

  I give him my mad face.

  “But then,” he says, as he kisses my shoulder, “I would have done something like this. And something like this.” He kisses my neck. “And something like this.” He kisses my ear. “And something like this . . . ”

  Okay. I get the picture.

  And I am so loving the way it looks.

  A few more hours later and we’re both starving.

  For food, I mean.

  It’s nearly ten o’clock and, well, we never did get any dinner. I run downstairs to raid the refrigerator and bring up a tray of cheese, some crusty bread, and a bottle of red wine.

  “Isn’t that supposed to be for the party?”

  “There is so much food I don’t think anyone will miss it.”

  “Probably not, but I missed you while you were gone, Princess. You were down there much too long.”

  “It only took me about two minutes.” I shake my head and roll my eyes at him, while I set the tray on his nightstand.

  “Two minutes too long,” he replies as he grabs me, throws me on the bed, and kisses me.

  “Phillip,” I say, finally wrenching my lips away from him, “it’s taken you twenty-two years to get me into bed, two minutes should feel like a blip.”

  “Twenty-two years? Don’t flatter yourself. Maybe like eight years.” He gives me a naughty grin. “But I’ll tell you this: now that you’re finally here, I’m not wasting another second.”

  YES!!!

  We feed each other cheese and bread and drink some wine.

  Unfortunately, the crusty bread was not the best choice because now there are crusty crumbs all over, and I really thought I was being careful to avoid that. Since his mom is such the expert on all things seduction, I’m surprised she didn’t tell me about this. I use my hand to try to sweep the crumbs onto a plate.

  “Remind me to properly thank my mother for making the food and for whatever it was the two of you talked about.”

  “Phillip, I had already decided about this before I got here,” I smile naughtily, “but I am following her advice to relax and enjoy you.”

  He laughs. “So, did you, uh, enjoy me?”

  “Uh, yeah, very much so.” I kiss his neck and whisper in his ear, “And I think I would very much like to enjoy you some more. Right now.”

  I’m lying all snuggled up with Phillip. He’s sleeping and his breath is tickling my neck. I know I should be getting some sleep too, but I can’t.

  My brain decided to kick back on now that my body is so worn out.

  I just keep thinking how incredibly happy I am. I want to pinch myself to make sure it’s not a dream. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Part of me kind of wants to kick myself for not doing this sooner, but I don’t. I’m too happy. I feel . . . well, it’s hard to describe, but I’ll give it a try.

  You know how sometimes you go shopping and find a great dress? You try it on and it fits you and looks great on you in the store. So you buy it and take it home.

  But then when you put it on because you are getting ready to go somewhere, you feel like it’s just not quite right.

  Like maybe something is missing.

  So you keep looking at yourself in the mirror, trying to figure out what it could be, what it needs. You try on different shoes, another hairstyle, some dangly earrings, a rhinestone necklace, maybe even a wrap. But no matter how you seem to mix it up, there is still something missing.

  Oh you’ll look good, maybe even great, in the dress.

  Just not fabulous.

  You won’t have that glowing look because deep down you’re not confident in the dress.

  That’s kind of how it felt with all the boys I’ve dated in the past.

  Something was always missing.

  I’d try to rearrange them, or me, or what I was doing, but no matter what, I couldn’t quite get it right. And the fix is a really mysterious thing.

  I think it’s because the fix is an emotion. A feeling. It’s not really a tangible item.

  I mean, I’ve made a few drunken mistakes.

  Who hasn’t?

  Well, okay. Phillip. But he is so not normal when it comes to that sort of thing.

  He’s always in complete control.

  And I have to say, it’s always been a trait of his that sort of bugged me. I’m always trying to get him to loosen up. But tonight, I learned there are many benefits to being with a man who’s in control.

  Ahhhhh.

  Oh, sorry, I got lost there for a minute.

  What was I talking about?

  Oh yeah. I was saying that I’ve made a few drunken mistakes, but for the most part, if I was with a guy it was because I thought he might be the one. Or at least someone who I thought I might want to try to make into the one.

  After being with Phillip, I can tell you that I could put absolutely anything on in my closet, and it would look perfect.

  Well, except for the bridesmaid dress I had to wear for Katie’s wedding. Nothing could help that!

  And not because of the outfit, but because of how I feel inside.

  I am positively, one hundred percent, completely complete.

  It’s like the line from that Jerry McGuire movie, “You complete me.” I always thought it was some cheesy movie line. I know that every girl, me included, melted when Tom Cruise spoke those wonderful words.

  But, come on. You complete me? Get real!

  And that’s how you feel when you don’t understand. All this time I’d been going through life not even knowing that I was incomplete.

  I’m telling you, this is something they should teach you in school.

  I’m a college graduate, and I didn’t even know that I had been walking around all this time, slightly defective.

  But I don’t care anymore, because I know it to be true.

  With Phillip, I am complete.

  I yawn, snuggle up closer to him, and fall into a blissful sleep.

  I’m awakened at dawn.

  No kidding.

  By Phillip, kissing the back of my neck.

  Okay, so maybe things with Phillip won’t be totally perfect after all. I mean this morning boy thing is probably going to drive me crazy. He’d better not expect me to start getting up early with . . .

  Oh.

  Phillip starts doing something to me that I am too polite to talk about, but I can tell you this. It’s worth being woken up for.

  Oh!

  Maybe I will become a morning girl after all.

  It’s almost nine and we’re still in bed, trying to get motivated to do something besides stay here all day. The Nebraska game starts at eleven-thirty, and everyone is due to arrive around eleven.

  Speaking of arriving, I realize I still don’t know if Monica is coming to the party.

  So I ask bravely, “Um, Phillip, what about Monica?”

  He looks at me kind of funny.

  “Look, I know you’ve gotten kinda serious with her lately, and well, I just need to know if she’ll be here today. You know, so I can prepare myself.”

  Phillip pulls me close and runs his hand through my hair. God, I love it when he does that. Then my mind wanders to all the other things he does that I love and, I swear, I blush just thinking about them.

  “Why in the world would you think Monica and I have gotten serious? I was just telling Danny the other day that she’s been driving me nuts.”

  I blink my eyes.

  Hard.

  I am going to kill Danny.

  He told me that to make me jealous!

  He manipulated me.

  And it worked!

  Now he will try to take the credit for us being together, and he will never let me forget it. We’ll be sitting in wheelchairs at the old folk’s home, and he will still be telling me that I owe him. And I don’t think I can take that!

  Shit.

  “Danny told me.”

  “Danny lies,” Phillip says, smirking.

  Yeah,
I know.

  “That little ……” I start to say a bad phrase about Danny, but Phillip just laughs and kisses me.

  I’m back in dreamland.

  “We really need to get up and get things ready,” I tell him.

  “Nah, I think we should just lock the door, turn off the lights, and not come out all weekend.”

  I am tempted. Very tempted.

  But our consciences get the best of us, so we get up and do everything on Mrs. Mac’s list. While Phillip runs into town to get beer, I take a quick shower and get ready.

  I’m looking at myself in the mirror and am now thinking that I really wished I hadn’t waited so long to get together with Phillip. Aside from all the fun we may have missed out on, I think about how many days I could have looked like this!

  I mean, I look beautiful.

  Incredible.

  And I never look this way. Kind of cute, maybe, but not this!

  Whatever this is, if I could bottle it and sell it, I would be very, very rich.

  Quite frankly, I don’t know how I’m going to get through the party today. I feel like people are going to take one look at me and know. There’s a permanent grin on my face, my knees are weak, and my eyes are smoldering, like there’s a fire in them that can’t quite get put out.

  I might as well be wearing a flashing neon sign. I slept with Phillip. Flash. I slept with Phillip! Flash.

  I don’t think anyone will be able to miss it.

  And I’m worried about this because I really don’t want people to know yet. I don’t need any coaching, or advice, or pressure.

  I want to savor this.

  Oh. And I have a big confession to make.

  I think I may have found my prince.

  I always knew I would, and I know, technically, he’s not a prince, but I don’t think you necessarily have to be royal to be a prince.

  I mean, he acts like a prince, and he treats me like a princess.

  He always has. What more could a girl ask for?

  I’m half tempted to look at the sky and yell up to my parents, I told you so!

  But then I remember they always hoped I would marry Phillip, so I guess we’re even.

  I can’t believe that I’m actually thinking about marrying him.