Part of Me: Friendship, Texas #3 Read online

  "You're lucky I’m drunk and think you're cute," I said, yanking him by the arm and pulling him around the corner.

  "What? That actually worked? Sweet," he said with a big goofy grin on his face.

  I smiled and leaned against the fence behind the little goat house, out of sight from the windows of the Conti house.

  "No, but I think if I can get you half-naked, I could get one hell of a payday from TNC for a photo of swimmer peen," I said, pulling my phone out of my skirt pocket.

  His eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare."

  I waved my phone and licked my lips. "Try me."

  He moved forward, taking both of my wrists in one of his big hands and holding them above my head. Pressing his broad chest against mine, he pinned me against the fence.

  "What are you going to do now, Sofie?" he whispered with his lips barely an inch from mine.

  I figured that was basically an open invitation, so I leaned forward and crushed my lips to his.

  He put his knee between my legs, spreading them apart and pressing all of him against me.

  "Oh my god, that's so fucking hot," I mumbled against his lips, which sounded more like, "Oh meh ger, sah fern hert."

  "So you're a talker, eh?" he said against my ear before nipping it.

  "Wait, don't leave bite marks. I need those for work. My ears, that is," I said.

  Johnny leaned back, the moonlight casting a soft glow on his face. "Are you way too drunk right now to do anything?"

  "Are you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow before rocking my hips forward and feeling his hardness press against my core. "Guess not."

  "You could get me hard whether I've been drinking all night or not," he said, pushing against me and moving his hips in a circular motion, the friction itself bringing me to the brink.

  "Is this because I got my braces off and learned to straighten my hair? Because you probably wouldn’t be doing this if I were still the geek from two years ago. Though, I am still that geek, just with better hair and eyebrows," I said.

  "If you sit on my face will that get you to stop rambling?" he asked.

  I pouted. "No need to be rude."

  "Sorry," he whispered, leaning forward. He let go of one wrist but kept the hand with my phone in it above my head.

  "You can’t just say sorry and expect me to drop my panties for you. That only works in romance novels and porn," I grumbled, trying to keep my face neutral, but the guy had a smile I would definitely sit on.

  "What? I gave you dinner. Well, the Contis fed you, but I did do those weird tasting shots with you. And what’s more romantic than humping against a goat house?" he asked, broadening his grin.

  "Technically, it's a pen," I said.

  He smirked. "Okay, smart mouth. If this isn't a come-on, then what was that whole bit about being hot and fluttering your eyelashes?"

  "I was hot! I'm wearing a sweater, and we were drinking. And as far as eyelashes go, sometimes mine stick together when I use this cheap mascara. Lia told me to spring for something not in the clearance bin, but that extra five dollars could be used for things like snacks."

  He laughed; a great sound that came from deep in his stomach. His stomach that was still against mine and hard, as were other things. "A woman after my own heart. But I'd go for licorice."

  He leaned in ever so slightly, licking my bottom lip. "Which is exactly what you taste like."

  "Screw it," I muttered. Putting my free hand on his chest, I pulled his lips back to mine.

  I'd had sex a grand total of three times and all with the same guy. The first time, he finished on my shoe after three minutes. So we tried it, and he came on the floor before he even entered me. By the third time, he finished but then confessed he was gay after I'd dated him for six months. We still dated for another three months before he left me for a guy in his dance troop.

  I wasn't a quick hookup girl, but hell, for a gold medal swimmer, I could be.

  "Wait, wait," Johnny said, pulling back with his eyes still closed.

  "What? Don't tell me now you're over me. Is it the lip-gloss? I can rub it off."

  He shook his head then took my cell phone, which had dropped to the ground in our heated kissing. "I'm totally not a hookup guy. Even though you won’t believe me, I'd still feel better if I at least got your number and you gave me yours."

  "Really? You're giving me blue labe to get my phone number? Can't we do this after?" I asked.

  He slid my phone in his pocket. "Eff it. You're right."

  His lips were back on mine, and he slowly lifted me, pushing me against the goat house as I wrapped one leg around his waist and steadied myself on the bottom rail of the fence with my other foot.

  "Wall sex—that's really freaking hot," I murmured, still not sure if my horniness was sobering me up or if I just couldn't shut up.

  He kissed down my neck and steadied me with one hand, pressing his hips against me. He reached into his back pocket with the other then held his wallet between us. "It's been a while, but I think I have a condom in there if you can get it."

  I raised an eyebrow. "Why can't you get it?"

  He smirked, sliding his hand down to my skirt and pushing my panties to the side before he hooked a finger inside me.

  "Holy..." Arching my back, I leaned against the goat house and swore the man hit my G-spot and every other tingling nerve he could with those long fingers.

  "Because I'm busy," he whispered, his hooded eyes locked on mine.

  I quickly opened his wallet, finding two dollar bills and a bunch of game tickets from Chuck E Cheese before I located the lone condom. I chucked the wallet on the ground, but before I could open the foil wrapping, an orgasm took hold, and I had to grip Johnny's shoulders to keep from falling over.

  "Damn, that's hot when you come on my fingers," he said, still moving his expert digits in and out of me.

  "If you keep doing that, I'm never going to be able to open this. What if I rip it? Then what?" I asked.

  Johnny grinned and slowly moved his hand to my hip. "Then I guess we'll be having some little swimmers."

  "You're going to completely dry me up if you keep talking like that," I said, rolling my eyes.

  Johnny took the condom from my hand and ripped it open with his teeth before spitting out the top of the wrapper. "It won’t take me too long to get you worked up again."

  I sucked in a deep breath, and Johnny stopped, literally with his hand down his pants. "If you don’t want to do this, tell me now. I'll go beat off and hope the goat doesn't try to lick my ass. But if you don't want to do this, we don't have to."

  I never thought a guy would ask me to stop when we were getting hot and heavy. Or a guy who didn’t know if he had a condom. Something was different about Johnny and not just because he was sexy and smelled like chlorine.

  “I don’t think Capra would wake up for that unless you had pasta,” I muttered, listening to the goat snoring in the opposite corner of her pen.

  Without breaking eye contact, I put my hand on his then slowly tugged his pants and boxers down, staring at his hardness. It didn’t feel as big when it was in his pants, but holy hell, the thing was like a freaking Coke bottle. Slowly, I slid the condom down the length of his shaft, barely able to get my fingers around it. Thank God, he was circumcised because I had no idea what I would have done if it were something I hadn't seen before. “You’re going to have to take it slow with that thing,” I whispered, putting my hands on his shoulders.

  "I can go as fast or as slow as you want it,” he murmured, pushing my panties to the side again. Instinctively, I arched my back, and Johnny guided his member inside me slowly. Each inch caused me to bite my lip, and I moaned lightly.

  He grinned and grabbed my legs, so I wrapped both of them around his waist. He rocked gently inside me, his body lined up with mine so he hit every right angle. It was as if we were meant to fit perfectly together. And oh hell, did it feel better than anything else ever had. This was nothing compared to my halfway screw ses
sions. This was rainbows and sunshine and fireworks.

  I'd just had an orgasm not a minute before, and now, I was clenching around him and clawing at his shoulders, trying not to scream. I didn’t even know multiple orgasms were possible.

  Johnny continued to rock inside me; his lips went from my mouth to my neck and my ears as he moved inside me. “Is this okay?” he whispered into my neck.

  I wanted more. I was getting high off his body. I gripped his shoulders and whispered, "Harder."

  He growled before grabbing my hipbones and pushing me against the goat house as he thrust long and hard. Circling his hips against mine, he caused a whole new sensation throughout my body that had my toes curling.

  "Holy!" I screamed, unable to hold it in.

  He pushed harder, bringing me to the brink again, and I arched back. My body shook, unable to control the climax that took over me.

  And apparently, the goat house couldn't control itself either as I slammed into the back of it.

  Everything moved in slow motion as I first heard the errr then the pen toppled over, and Johnny and I went with it.

  It wasn’t until I was flat on my back and I felt the rip of my panties against my leg that I was able to move again and process what happened.

  A few people had already gathered at the back door, so it was too late to pull my skirt down or pretend it was just a hot make-out session.

  "Are y'all okay out there?" someone yelled.

  Johnny jumped up quickly and pulled his pants up before helping me stand. "Yeah. We're good," he yelled.

  "Are you sure? Man. Shit. Is Capra okay?" Before I could say anything otherwise, Sonny was running toward the pen with his older brother, Nicky, alongside him.

  Both guys stopped, staring at us wide-eyed then at the pen then back at us.

  Nicky shook his head. "Un-fucking-believable."

  "I’ll pay to fix the pen. I'm sorry ... we ... just ..." Johnny stammered, running his fingers through his hair.

  Sonny just shook his head. "We can talk about that later. Just zip up your pants and get the goat shit out of your hair before coming inside."

  With that, Sonny and Nicky turned and left us standing there.

  "So ... think I can still get your number?" Johnny asked, zipping up his pants and pulling my phone out of his pocket. I had no idea where he put the condom, and I didn’t want to ask.

  "Um ... sure ..." I replied, taking his phone and typing my number in the contacts.

  He looked at the door. "I guess we should go back inside and then try to apologize to Lia's scary parents."

  I laughed, handing him his phone and taking mine back. "Yeah. Though Nonna may be even scarier. This is her goat."

  Johnny laughed, looking back at the sleeping goat who hadn't even moved.

  "Gonna go with me to face Nonna?" he asked, holding his hand out to me.

  I smiled, taking his hand. "I guess it's the least I can do."

  Chapter 2

  My phone buzzed on my nightstand, knocking me out of my nightmare that included a lot of swimming goats.

  “Hello?” I asked, trying to clear my throat.

  “Do you know what it’s like to spend your Christmas at the emergency vet because your goat ate a condom?” Lia’s voice was wide-awake and angry.

  I sat straight up. “Is Capra pregnant?”

  Lia groaned. “No. I don’t think a half-goat, half-backstroking baby is possible.”

  “Well ... sorry? You’re the one who told me to hook up by the goat pen.” It was all I could think to say as I slowly got out of bed.

  It might have been Christmas morning, but at the hotel where my dad worked, they always had a fancy Christmas brunch. So he always had to work, which left me alone. He would have been at the Conti’s the night before, but some emergency came up at work. Thank God for that because I didn’t want to get caught with my skirt up by my dad.

  On Christmas, it was a tradition that Lia would come over later in the afternoon, and we’d stuff our faces with her mom’s leftovers and watch trashy movies. But with Jay around, I wasn’t sure what our plans would be.

  Not that I blamed my best friend for getting a hottie boyfriend ... especially if that meant I got the chance to hook up with hottie boyfriend’s swimmer friend.

  “Even though Sonny and Nicky literally caught y’all with your pants down, I think Nonna and my parents think the condom was mine and Jay’s, and we keep getting the stink eye.”

  I covered my mouth to stifle a giggle, but it still came out loud and clear. “Sorry, I’m really not laughing at your expense.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Now that Capra’s home and we’ve had breakfast and presents, are you still up for movies this afternoon? I could use some time away from the house.”

  I raised an eyebrow, even though she couldn’t see it. “That bad?”

  Lia huffed. “They started to let my leash go a little bit more and more then it’s like I go to California, come back, and I’m expected to be the same docile Lia, even with my boyfriend here.”

  “So what you’re saying is that I need to get dressed and expect you both over here soon?”

  Lia sighed. “I’m sorry. Am I a bitch for coming over with my boyfriend? Do you want me to have Jay call Johnny? You can’t get any goats pregnant at your house.”

  I smirked. “I’m sure he’ll call me if he wants to see me. It’s Christmas, so I’m sure he has plans.”

  And as if the dude knew we were talking about him, my phone beeped. When I slowly pulled my phone away from my ear, I had a text message.

  Johnny: Merry Christmas. What are you up to today?

  “Did you put him up to this?” I yelled into the phone, putting it back to my ear.

  “Put who up to what?” Lia asked.

  I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see it. “I guess we’re having a double date at my house. Bring cannoli.”

  I hung up the call with Lia and then texted Johnny back.

  Sofie: So Jay tell you to text?

  Johnny: Um, should he have?

  Sofie: Well, besides the fact you might have goat babies.

  Johnny: WHAT?

  Sofie: Ha! Lia called and said the goat had to go to the vet ER this morning because he ate a condom. Don’t know how that happened.

  Johnny: Oh, shit. That sucks. Is she okay?

  Sofie: Yeah. I think Lia is more pissed at us, though.

  Johnny: She has no proof that was us.

  Sofie: Right, because everyone humps by the goat pen.

  It was a few more minutes before he responded, and I thought that was the end, so I stripped down to hop in the shower. Just before I could leave the room, my phone rang on the desk. No one ever called me but my dad or service calls, so I planned to ignore it.

  That was until I took one last look to see the number on the screen. Johnny’s number.

  I fumbled, grabbing the phone off my desk before unlocking it and sliding it to my ear.

  “Hello? Is this a butt dial?”

  Johnny laughed on the other end, his voice a low timbre that made my stomach and other parts of my body do complete somersaults.

  “No butt dial. I thought calling was easier than texting. I have fat thumbs, and my autocorrect isn’t always pretty.”

  “Oh. Heh. That’s cool,” I replied, chewing on my bottom lip.

  I didn’t talk on the phone much. If I did, it was usually via a walkie-talkie app, and I could just stop talking when I wanted to.

  “So ... Lia and Jay said they were heading to your house to hang out today and asked if I wanted to come with. I didn’t want to just show up unannounced, so I thought I’d ask first. If you wanted me. I can stop and rent a movie or pick up Chinese food or something.”

  I stared at my reflection in the mirror above my dresser and the dark black streaks from last night's makeup, wiping at it furiously with the pad of my thumb. “Uh, yeah, sure. That sounds good.”

  Johnny laughed again. “If this is going to be awkward and you d
on’t want me to come over, just say it.”

  I wanted more than for him to just come ... over ... more emphasis on the “come” part. But if he was, I had to do some serious cleanup—of myself and my mess of a house.

  “No. I totally do. Pick up whatever you want and give me some time to clean my house.” I absently picked up all the random clothes from my floor and shoved them in my closet. I had no clue what the living room and kitchen looked like, but I knew it wasn’t pretty.

  “All right. But I don’t care what your house looks like. My swimming buddy Scotty is the judgmental one. Although I once saw him eat a bagel that had been on the floor for five minutes at the Berlin train station.”

  “Ew,” was the only response I could squeak out as I shoved more items in my closet then grabbed a makeup wipe to clean my face.

  “Okay. Um. I’ll see you in a bit then? Maybe like an hour or so?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Sounds good,” I mumbled, trying to rub off the black marks staining my face.

  “Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  And now, I had an hour to clean my house from top to bottom and try to look cute but not too cute for the swimmer I just had sex with against a goat pen less than twenty-four hours ago.

  No problem.

  ***

  Somehow, I pulled myself together enough to half-ass clean the house and then open the gift Dad left on the table. It was the same thing every year and even in the same candy cane striped gift bag: a check, a scarf knitted by some lady who worked in the kitchen in the hotel and I was ninety-five percent sure she only knew two words in English, and a card that said Merry Christmas.

  Dad tried. He really did, but when Mom first got sick, both of our worlds spiraled, and somehow, we both had to figure out how to live without her. Mostly, we just co-existed.

  The doorbell rang, and I checked my hair one last time in the hall mirror. I had naturally curly hair and usually kept it short, straightening it so it curled under my chin. I could practically do it in my sleep, and it never took too long, but I always had at least one strand like a curly little beacon on the top of my head.

  Smoothing down my hair and straightening out my sweater one last time, I finally looked away from the mirror and slid in my sock-clad feet to the front door.