Edge of Glory (Friendship, Texas Book 1) (4 page)

"Not every day a girl can keep my attention and have me thinking of something other than the pool."

"You probably say that to every girl that you bring back to your place…" I looked down, trying not to meet his eyes.

"No…" He moved his hand to the small of my back, pulling me closer. His breath was a whisper on my lips and all I could think about was how he would taste. "That's actually the last thing I would say to another girl."

His eyelashes fluttered as he slowly leaned in.

ROSALIA. ROSALIA. ROSALIA. ROSALIA.

My phone screamed from my pocket
.

Shit.

Jay scooted backward and sat up as the vibrating of my phone jolted between us.

"Eh…sorry…" I crammed my hand into the pocket of my jeans, pulling out my phone.

Jay put his hand up and nodded before pulling the needle off of the record, stopping the music.

I cleared my throat before putting the phone to my ear. "Hullo?"

"Lia where in the hell are you?" Dana practically yelled in a hushed tone on the other end.

Uh oh. Was I late for work? Did someone call in for the dinner rush? Shit I didn't even know what time it was. "Um… just hanging out with a friend…"

I looked at Jay. He was putting up the record and not paying attention to my call.

"Would that friend be Jay Morningstar?" she questioned, I could hear the sass in her voice. How did she know that?

"Um why would you think that?" I stammered.

Jay arched an eyebrow at me and cocked his head.

"Because there are a herd of reporters here asking why the owner's daughter's car has been at Jay Morningstar's place for the last half an hour."

"I have to go," I muttered, ending the call and shoving my phone into the pocket of my pants before standing up.

"What? Why? You just got here."

I shook my head and headed for the door, trying not to meet his eyes. If I did, I knew there was no way I could leave.

"My parents called. Someone called in and I have to get to work," I lied.

I reached for the door, but his hand was on mine. My breath caught in my throat and my pulse quickened. I was a terrible liar.

"Are you just saying that or did I do something wrong?" he asked.

"You didn't do anything wrong. I just…I have to go."

"Well, can I call you later?"

I didn't know how to answer that. He was probably just being nice. That's all it was. He didn't want a girl that he had to chase. A loser like me.

"Yeah. Sure."

I didn't want to leave Jay's.

I wanted to tell him exactly what was going on at the restaurant.

"Okay. Good.  Hopefully we can hang out again. The guys won’t listen to any of the records with me, so I need someone to talk music with."

I forced a smile. That sounded like something I'd rather sit and do, instead of dealing with whatever was going to happen at the restaurant.

"Yeah. That'd be cool."

He took my hand and walked me out of the room. I walked as slow as I could, wanting to relish in every moment and our almost kiss. I didn't know what my feelings were for him. In the beginning, it was the thrill of the hot Olympian and now I was seeing past the guy in the Speedo to the guy that wanted to be out of the spotlight. The one who listened to records and told me I was beautiful.

Jay Morningstar was going to break me and I couldn't stop him.

He followed me out to the car, leaning on the door for a while.

We both didn't say anything. I wanted to hug him. To kiss him. To do something that showed I was so into this guy, but I didn't even know if I knew how to do it right.

"I'll FaceTime you later, okay?" he asked.

I nodded, getting in the car and buckling my seatbelt. "Yeah. That'd be great," I said before closing the door.

I watched the blue of his eyes out of my rearview window, thinking it was probably the last time I’d see him.

Serves me right for thinking I could have anything with a guy like him.

Always under my parents’ thumb.

Now I had to go and face the music.

Okay, so Dana may have been exaggerating about the herds of reporters outside the restaurant. As I coasted down the hill to the downtown area, there were a few new vans parked outside, but nothing out of the ordinary.

What would the stations like TNC report? Would my name be mentioned? What would Jay say about it?

That was the question that really got to me. I tried not to think too much about it, but truth be told, I was a serial over thinker.

My mouth felt like it was full of sand. It was so dry that I couldn't even speak.

Sonny was standing at the front of the restaurant waiting. He quickly opened the door and made sure to shut it and lock it behind us so that the reporters couldn't get in. That didn't stop them from shouting and flashing their cameras.

"Well, well it looks like the golden child isn't so golden anymore." He crossed his arms across his chest, smirking as he looked down at me.

"How mad are they, Sonny?" I pursued, wringing my hands together.

"Oh, they are pretty upset." It wasn't Sonny that spoke. I winced. It was my mom's gruff accent booming behind us.

"Tell us you're going to a friend's house with pizza and then we see your face on TV going to some boy's house?"

My mother was usually a very pretty woman. Her Mediterranean features made her look like she could have been an Italian film star with her cropped black hair and large almond colored eyes, but none of these features stood out to me right now. She looked more like an army general with her furrowed brow and taught stature. It was like she towered over me, even when she was my same height.

"Ma…I...I… can explain"

“Can explain?" She pointed a nimble finger at me. “Can you explain why you thought it would be a good idea to lie to me and your father? To go to some boy's house? Bring him pizza and who knows what else like some tawdry call girl? We raised you better."

It wasn't like I was having sex with the guy on the front porch. Hell, we didn't even kiss, but I knew better than to argue with my mother. This was the first guy I've even hung out with in years that she knew about.

  She made a face like she had just sucked on a lemon, squinting her eyes and sucking in her lips as she looked out the window at the people milling around in front of the restaurant. I thought she was literally going to spit at them.

There were a handful of reporters. Nothing crazy. Probably just trying to get a scoop about where Jay Morningstar had disappeared to and then they'd go away. Maybe not even real reporters and just rabid swimming fans.

But I wasn't going to argue that with my mom.

Most girls my age were off at state schools, doing whatever they wanted. Their parents wouldn’t know about them going on dates or hanging out with swimmers.

Not me.

“I’m sorry, Ma,” I whispered, looking down at the floor and trying not to meet her cold stare.

“Good." She nodded.

Sonny stared out the window. "It looks like those kids are leaving. I think they were hoping we'd give them more answers on the Olympic swimmer. I wished at least one of those bloggers or wherever were hot. I'd be a swimmer for that."

Mom sighed, shaking her head. "Why were you even over there, Lia? Any boy in the public eye like that, calling on nice girls like you, is usually looking for one thing."

I didn't want to tell my mom that he probably wasn't. That I wasn't the type of girl that guys went for, even though Jay called me beautiful. The first time a guy ever called me that.

"He just wanted a pizza, Ma. That's all."

Mom nodded as if she was satisfied with that answer. "Okay. Well next time just send one of the delivery boys out, okay?"

I sighed and nodded. "Okay, Ma."

I went to the back of the restaurant to grab my apron. I figured since I was there, I might as well work. But I couldn't help staring down at my phone, willing another message from Jay.

I even hovered over the Facebook app, thinking of messaging him.

But the damage was already done.

I left him and now he knew that I was just another loser girl and that was all I'd ever be.

“Lia can you get the back tables for me? I’m swamped.”

I peered over Dana and looked over the restaurant. The red plastic booths shined with only thirty minutes left before we closed. The last few people coming in were just getting takeout orders. I curled my upper lip, looking down at her, holding one hand on her stomach and the other on a basket of bread.

“Please, Lia? There's only one table over there and I just have to get a few things done. You know how your brother is a stickler about me being late.”

It’s true. Even though Dana married my brother, Nicky, I still didn’t know how she could stand his stubborn, Sicilian temper and impatience.

“You’re lucky that you're having my future niece or else this wouldn’t work so well.”

She smiled, the sweat visibly forming on her upper lip. “You’re the best, Ro." She patted my back as she waddled toward a table.

I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with any more customers, or people period. I hadn’t heard anything from Jay and Ma had started handing me literature about UT Dallas, when she knew good and well I had gotten my acceptance letter to USC and just needed to fill out the financial aid forms.

No matter how many times I said that I brought up USC, she would just change the subject. Now it was like all she could do was talk about how California people are such bad influences. TNC mentioned something about Jay Morningstar spotted with a waitress from a restaurant in Friendship, Texas, but no more was said. I wasn’t even a blip on the radar.

I had my five minutes of fame on Facebook. But none of that really mattered because Jay still hadn’t called.

The restaurant had a back area that we usually reserved for banquets, or what used to be the smoking section. A few steps led to the dimly lit room. I could barely see the guy sitting at the very last booth with his oversized coat and ski cap. Why would someone pick the very last booth in the corner of a restaurant anyway? I hoped that he wasn’t some sort of a mass murderer who preyed on unsuspecting waitresses.

“Sorry about that." I walked over to the booth, not looking up from my notepad.

“Don’t worry I’m not here for the food…”

I looked up to see the only thing poking out from the ski cap was a smile and I knew that smile. I could recognize it anywhere.

“Jay?”

  I tilted my head to the side, moving my notepad down.

He took off the ski cap, shaking out his hair and locked his eyes on mine. “About time you showed up.”

I blinked hard, not sure if my brain was actually registering what I was seeing.

"Well…you…"  Okay, it was really hard to try and stand my ground and be mad at him when he looked at me with those pleading blue eyes.

"...Never called. Or FaceTimed. Or whatever." I looked down, putting one hand on my hip. If I didn't look at his eyes then I couldn't melt for them.

"Well…"  He stood up and threw his ski cap down on the table. "I told you that I dropped my phone and I didn't know if you wanted me to FaceTime you. You're the one who left my house in a hurry."

"You could have, or messaged me or something."  I put one foot behind the other.

"Yeah, but you acted like you didn't want me to, so I waited. Then I couldn't stop thinking about you...so..." He slowly tilted his head.

"I thought I'd come here to see you. Well you and the pizza."

I finally looked up, meeting those endless blue eyes. "I think you're here more for than pizza."

He laughed shaking his head before he took a step closer, closing the distance between us. "You do make a good pizza."

"Lia, just shut up and kiss him already!"

Jay and I turned around to see Sonny and Dana standing at the bottom of the stairs with their arms crossed, watching us.

"Hey, come on guys." Jay held his arms out to the side.

"Whatever, I don't want to see my little sister getting it on anyway," Sonny yelled over his shoulder as he walked back toward the dining room.

"Dana?" I tilted my chin toward her.

"What?" She put her puffy hands on her hips.

"That means you too." I waved my hand back and forth toward her.

"Aw, you're no fun." She turned toward the dining room. "But I better be getting details later."

I rolled my eyes before looking back at Jay. He hooked his fingers in my belt loops and pulled me as close as he could. "Are you going to run away if I kiss you?"

"That depends how good the kiss is." I traced my hands up his stomach, feeling every curve of his abdominal line through his shirt. The man had a freaking eight-pack.

"Challenge accepted." His fingers weaved their way until they were firmly centered on my lower back. His lips crushed to mine, taking my breath away. I didn't have much experience in the kissing department, but I'd never been kissed so urgently. So passionately. Moaning into his mouth, his tongue met mine, and I could taste the fresh mint on his lips.

I never wanted to leave that moment. I never wanted to leave Jay.

It was like a dream that turned into a reality.

One I never wanted to wake up from.

When he finally broke the kiss, I was breathless, pressing my forehead to his.

"Good enough that you're not going to run away from me?"

I smiled. "Don't press your luck. You may be fast in the pool, but I can probably outrun you."

He wrapped his fingers tightly around my waist. "Then I guess I'd better not let go."

***

I was in my bedroom, still thinking about the kiss to end all kisses.

Okay, so I was almost twenty, still a virgin, by all accounts not the most experienced girl in the world, but I knew what a good kiss was.

And Jay Morningstar took my breath away.

My phone vibrated against my desk. I was concentrating on finishing my sociology assignment and was going to ignore another text from Sofie.

But when I saw the FaceTime request, I immediately closed out of my homework and fluffed my hair before answering it.

Jay's face was on the screen. And his broad shoulders.

His broad shoulders that weren't covered by a shirt.

I was never a shoulder girl, but the way his moved made me second guess why I never looked at how awesome muscled shoulders were.

"Did you forget something at the restaurant?"

I tried puckering my lips, but felt like a fish, so I just stayed natural. I sucked at this being flirty thing.

"My heart?" He winked.

"Did you seriously just use a cheesy line on me?"

He laughed. "Did it work?"

"I'll give it a six out of ten."

"Dammit." He snapped his fingers. "I'll try for a better one. How about a swimming pick up line? Is your name five-hundred meters? Because you took my breath away." He winked, pointing a finger at me.

I shook my head, but couldn't help the smile that crossed my face. Guys weren't this easy to talk to for me. I'd never had this banter with anyone and I was starting to like it.

"Is your phone still gone?" I asked, changing the subject.

He sighed. "Yeah, I really need to look into a new one, unless you want to see my ugly mug every day when I FaceTime you."

I shook my head. "You're not ugly and you know it. Didn't you get voted sexiest man alive by one of those tabloid type internet sites?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You mean the same one that called me the dumbest man alive? Maybe."

I winced. I did see something about that when I was browsing through the stories on TNC. The media liked to portray him as a dumb jock, and as far as I could tell, he had some depth to him.

Then again I was fawning over him like a lovesick puppy.

"I've met way dumber guys than you. Have you met my brother Sonny? I think he only passed high school by getting girls to do his homework."

"So you got the beauty
and
the brains in your family? That hardly seems fair." He flashed a smile that had my stomach doing somersaults, as well as other parts of my body tingling.

"Stop with the flattery, you don't need to impress me."

He laughed, nodding and pointing to my left. "I was talking to that poster behind you, but if the shoe fits, I guess you're the beauty and brains as well."

I blinked hard and then slowly turned to where I knew my giant poster of Jay was. I should have probably taken that down a while ago, but didn't even think about it.

Okay, that's a lie, I thought about it a lot and just didn't.

Slowly I looked back at Jay's smiling face on the screen. "That was...uh...a Christmas gift."

It wasn't a lie. Sofie did give me the poster for Christmas because I may or may not have been obsessed with the persona on TV. Now that I'd met him in real life, he could seriously become an addiction.

"How would you like it if I had Johnny get me a late Christmas gift and I had a giant poster of you?" He raised his eyebrows.

Blinking slowly I stared at the screen. "Um, that might be weird."

Finally, he shook his head then laughed. "I'm just giving you a hard time."

I let out a deep breath. "Uh, yeah, I totally knew that."

That made him laugh even harder. "You definitely didn't. You were about to freak out."

I shook my head. "You don't even know me to know when I'm freaking out."

He stopped laughing and smiled, leaning into the screen. "Yeah, but I'd like to get to know you better. When are we hanging out again?"

"Ummmmm... don't you have a lot of practice?"

Okay, I wanted to hang out with him. A lot. I just didn't want him to realize how lame I was and have my mom freak out.

My parents had always been overprotective and ever since they found out I lied about going to Jay's, it was like I was the lowliest creature on the planet. They always second-guessed where I was and even gave me extra hours at the restaurant.

Before I met Jay they were beyond extreme in over protectiveness, but now it was crazy. I guess that's what happens when the good girl of the family suddenly goes bad. I'd seen my dad looking at TNC when I thought he wasn't. He knew Jay's story; the playboy swimmer with an arrest record. There was no way he wanted his goody-goody daughter to be corrupted.

Even though I didn't think the guy portrayed by TNC was even close to the real Jay Morningstar.

Jay nodded. "Yeah, but I can make time for you."

I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. "Okay...um...I have to work tomorrow night, but I should be free the next night."

"Not bringing me pizza after work tomorrow?"

I smiled slightly. "If you order one, I can't promise I won't deliver it."

"Then I guess I'm getting pizza every night. Don't tell Coach."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Vaping? Pizza? What other secrets do you have that I should know about, Mr. Morningstar?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything my door was thrown open and I caught a glimpse on my screen of Sonny standing there in just his boxers.

Seriously, at twenty-two it was time he moved out of the damn house. If Ma didn't baby him so much, maybe he would.

But I knew that would never happen.

"Lia! Where are my pants? Hey who the hell are you talking to?"

My eyes widened and I yelled. "Gotta go. FaceTime me later."

I clicked off the app and whirled around to stare at my half-naked brother, who was eyeing me very suspiciously.

"Do you ever knock? Or wear clothes?" I rolled my eyes.

He crossed his arms over his way too hairy chest. "I would if my little sister didn't take my jeans out of the washer and throw them random places instead of just hanging them up."

"You're a grown-ass man, you can do your own laundry instead of having Ma or Nonna do it."

"I'm not the one who is sneaking around and talking to some random dude on the Internet." He raised his eyebrows in a challenge.

I tried to keep calm but ended up sputtering before I could finally speak. "He's not some random internet dude. You’ve met him multiple times now. Besides, I'm a grown woman. You're only two years older than me."

Sonny shook his head. "Look, Lia, I'm not here to argue with you or tell you what to do, but I am going to tell you to be careful. I know you're not very experienced with the whole 'what guys want thing'."

I put my hand up. "I don't want the sex talk from my brother."

"I'm saying this as the guy who has had more than my fair share of girls. Just be careful, okay? I don't know what this swimmer guy's interest is in you, if he's looking for a quick score from a vulnerable girl, or more, but be safe. Okay? Don't let him take your heart or anything else under your clothes."

I wrinkled my nose and slapped Sonny in his bare stomach. "Gross! Why are you getting all brotherly with me?"

"Ow!" He winced then shook it off.  "Hey, I'm just looking out for you, like you should be doing for me, by helping me find my pants. I'm meeting up with some guys in Dallas."