Part of Me by Magan Vernon

Title: Part of Me
Series: Friendship, Texas #4
Author: Magan Vernon
Release Date: Feb 21, 2017
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Welcome back to Friendship, Texas. A town where your best friend may be dating an Olympic swimmer and his best friend may or may not also be an Olympic swimmer you sort of, kind of did the nasty with against Nonna's goat pen.

“Is that…?” I asked, staring at Dr. Burly Santa.
He smiled and nodded. “That would be your baby’s heartbeat.”
The emotion I’d been storing away came flooding back as tears burst from my eyes. A baby. A person. This was real. I was carrying a tiny human inside me.
The doctor tried to console me as he gave me samples of prenatal vitamins and paper after paper was piled in a folder with my name and September on the front.
September. My baby’s due date.
Holy shit, I was going to be a mother.
And Johnny was going to be a father.
I had to do so many things to prepare and people I had to tell. But at that moment, I just stared down at my stomach. My stomach holding my baby.
This wasn’t just about me and my future anymore. This was about us. And whether I liked it or not, this baby was a part of me, which meant Johnny was a part of me. It was time we stopped running from each other.

  

“Why not? Starting to have second thoughts? Don’t want to let yourself go and have another session against the goat pen?” Johnny asked, wiggling his eyebrows and unwrapping his straw.

“I can’t drink because I’m pregnant,” I blurted.

Johnny stopped, mid opening his straw, letting it hang in the air as the paper fell to the table. He blinked once then twice before he opened and closed his mouth. “What?”

I sighed. “I’m pregnant. Okay? I thought I was just sick at your apartment then I went to the doctor at school, and they did a pregnancy test and referred me to an OB in town who confirmed it. I’m due in September.”

“Are you sure…?” he asked, still holding the straw in midair.

“Sure that I’m pregnant or sure that it’s yours? Because I haven’t been with anyone else in a very long time and we weren’t exactly good about using protection. So, yes, I’m sure. And if you want to ask any other questions, I really don’t have the answers. I just know that a bun is in my oven, and no one else but you, me, and the doctors know. Not Lia. Not my dad. No one.”

“Shit…I should have pulled out, but your dad came home, and I was so close, and it was too late…shit…” He ran his hands over his face and stared into the bowl of chips as if it had the answers.

We sat silently for a few minutes before he finally stopped staring and his eyes were on me again. “So…what do you want to do?”

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean what do I want to do?”

“I mean do you want to get married? ‘Cuz I’ll propose right now. Fuck dating and taking it slow, let’s do this,” he said, taking his straw wrapper and twisting it into a bow before holding it out to me.

I shook my head. “Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean we need to get married. We barely know each other.”

“Yeah, but we’re having a kid, I mean at least I think we are. I’m all for women having a choice and all, but if you’re thinking of another option, I’d like to know that too.”

I sighed. “I don’t think I can do that other choice. I heard the baby’s heartbeat the other day, and well…there is a person in me. A person with a heartbeat.”

Johnny put his hand on mine. “Tell me what you want me to do, and we’ll figure it out together.”

I looked up, meeting his concerned eyes, which was something I never expected. “I don’t know what I want,” I squeaked out.

I was never a crier, but now, with the extra hormones, I felt like I could cry at the drop of a hat. That was the last thing I wanted to do in a restaurant with a hot swimmer staring at me.

“Wanna get out of here and go somewhere more private?” he asked.

“But aren’t you hungry?” I asked.

He smiled and pulled out his wallet, setting a few bills on the table. “I can swing through a drive-through. Come on.”

Johnny stood up and offered me his hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

 

Magan Vernon has been living off of reader tears since she wrote her first short story in 2004. She now spends her time killing off fictional characters, pretending to plot while she really just watches Netflix, and she tries to do this all while her two young children run amok around her Texas ranch

  

Rumor Has It - BLOG TOUR

Title: Rumor Has It

Series: Friendship, Texas #2

Author: Magan Vernon

Release Date: Oct 25, 2016

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A Brand new Standalone, Second Chance Rom Com from Friendship, Texas featuring Country Music's Biggest Superstar, Eddie Justice and Friendship's resident author, Brook Carrington.



"Rhonda, pst, Rhonda is that the Carrington girl? The writer who was at the bakery with that country singer Eddie Justice? I thought she was in Austin?" one of the old church ladies not-so-subtly asked the woman next to her.



I rolled my eyes and Clay looked at me with a mischievous grin. Slowly I stretched my arms over my head and leaned toward my brother, not so quietly whispering, "I can't wait to get out of church so I can go home and get some Eddie Justice man meat."



The old ladies gasped and started whispering. They didn't need to know that Eddie and I had only ever been next door neighbors and friends, well until we spent the night breaking a tree branch, if that counted for anything.

I wrinkled my nose, thinking of the way my t-shirt clung to me, drenched in sweat, and how I had to smell probably worse than I felt. “I’m going to hop in the shower first.”

“Want me to join you?” he asked.

“Um ...”

He stood up, grinning and slowly peeled his shirt off before tossing it on the couch.

I’d seen Eddie without his shirt plenty of times growing up and even more now on magazines. But seeing the newly ripped six-pack and those hipbones that dipped into his Levi’s, I was practically panting like a dog in heat.

“Do you expect me to whip my shirt off too like some girl in a music video? Because if I did that, I’d probably break something.”

The grin widened on Eddie’s face as he sauntered around the couch until he was right in front of me.

“Then I’ll take it off for you,” he whispered in a husky voice.

I gulped; doing the only thing left to do, I lifted my arms over my head.

He pulled my shirt off as if it wasn’t an old sweaty thing, and his eyes roamed over my now bare chest and stomach. I wasn’t exactly the most in-shape person and my wider hips and skinny waist were something I’d hated in high school. But as an adult, I definitely knew Eddie appreciated the curves when he bit his bottom lip before putting his hands on my hips.

He lifted me up as if I was as light as a feather, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, letting him carry me to the single bathroom.

Eddie let me go slowly, my tennis shoes hitting the tile floor. The bathroom wasn’t the smallest in the world, but it wasn’t huge either. At least the guy who owned the house before us updated it a bit with a stand-up tile shower and a glass door.

Before I could move to make sure I had clean towels and shampoo somewhere, Eddie’s lips were on mine, and his hands made quick work of the button and zipper of my jeans.

His kisses were hot and longing, letting me taste the sweet heat of his tongue as he licked and nibbled my bottom lip.  His hands roaming over every part of me as soon as I was free of my clothes, turned me into a puddle of goo.

I was too turned on to even think about anything but the feel of Eddie’s lips on my body. It wasn’t until he whispered in my ear that I was knocked back to reality.

“Let’s get cleaned up.”

He pulled back slightly to turn on the water of the shower behind me. It sputtered before a steady stream sprayed.

My pants were down to my ankles, and I was still in my tennis shoes, watching Eddie strip out of his boots then his jeans and finally those black boxers.

I’d seen my fair share of naked men in all sizes and levels of hairiness, but seeing the sculpted body of Eddie Justice was enough to make me gulp and I had to hide my staring by quickly removing the rest of my clothes and shoes.

He reached behind me, cupping my ass before his lips were back on mine. Our bodies tumbled backward under the warm water as my hands claimed every part of him I could touch.

I stepped back, hitting my elbow on the shower wall. Damn tight spaces.

I broke the kiss briefly only to inhale a large stream of water and almost choke on it. I pounded on my chest and bent over slightly. Trying not to look at Eddie, I didn’t want him to see how much of an idiot I looked like.

“You okay?” he asked, putting his hand on my back.

“Yeah. Maybe getting frisky in the shower is better in theory than actual practice. I’ll let you shower first, and then I’ll get in,” I said, putting my hand on the door.

Eddie grabbed my arm and whirled me toward him. The water dripped down his face and over his kissable lips to his impeccable chest. “Why don’t you just sit down and let me wash you?”

I was almost too dumbfounded to speak and let him gently push me toward the shower seat.

He grabbed my body wash from the rack showerhead, poured some in his hand, and lathered it up. Slowly, he kneeled down, his hands massaging my arms then over my neck and each breast and nipple until they formed a soft peak and I moaned softly.

He kept moving his hand lower, sweeping over my stomach and then to my thighs. Working his way down my thighs and then back up, he placed his hand on my mound and hooked a finger inside me. I thought he would stop there, bringing my glorious agony to its peak and getting me off with his long fingers. But then just as quickly as his hand was inside me, his tongue replaced it. If I thought Eddie was a master at playing guitar or using his hand, I was way wrong. That magic tongue of his could do way more than belt out a Grammy-winning song.

I put one hand on the back of his head and the other on the glass wall of the shower. An orgasm took hold, and my entire body shook, the steady spraying stream of the water engulfing my scream. But the sound of the water didn’t mask the epic crash of the glass wall completely falling off the hinge and toppling sideways until it wedged between the window and the toilet seat across from the shower.

“Holy shit,” Eddie said after moving his mouth away from between my thighs only to lean back and hit his head on the shower valve. Which, of course, decided his head was big enough to knock that off the wall, and a big rush of water spewed out the hole where the valve had been.

Eddie scrambled to stand up and held his hand out, helping me out of the shower.

I didn’t even know where the towels were and if I even needed to be concerned with getting dry when the entire bathroom would be flooded soon.

“Want me to call my dad and see if he knows a plumber?” Eddie asked, yelling over the rushing water.

“Yeah. You call him, and I’ll call Clay.”

Magan Vernon has been living off of reader tears since she wrote her first short story in 2004. She now spends her time killing off fictional characters, pretending to plot while she really just watches Netflix, and she tries to do this all while her two young children run amok around her Texas ranch.

   

Rumor Has It by Magan Vernon

Title: Rumor Has It

Series: Friendship, Texas #2

Author: Magan Vernon

Release Date: Oct 25, 2016

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A Brand new Standalone, Second Chance Rom Com from Friendship, Texas featuring Country Music's Biggest Superstar, Eddie Justice and Friendship's resident author, Brook Carrington.



"Rhonda, pst, Rhonda is that the Carrington girl? The writer who was at the bakery with that country singer Eddie Justice? I thought she was in Austin?" one of the old church ladies not-so-subtly asked the woman next to her.



I rolled my eyes and Clay looked at me with a mischievous grin. Slowly I stretched my arms over my head and leaned toward my brother, not so quietly whispering, "I can't wait to get out of church so I can go home and get some Eddie Justice man meat."



The old ladies gasped and started whispering. They didn't need to know that Eddie and I had only ever been next door neighbors and friends, well until we spent the night breaking a tree branch, if that counted for anything.

The last time I was at the Friendship Cemetery, Eddie dared me to pee on the old chorus teacher’s grave. That was also the last time I was arrested, and my parents never let me live that down.

Now, as I sat between my mother and Clay, I kept my hand in my pocket, running my fingers over the guitar pick as I’d done so many times before.

I had no idea what the hell I was going to do now without my dad. My mom was still teaching, and Clay was in town, but as much as I thought my mother needed me, I needed her too. I had nowhere else to go.

That thought left my brain as soon as it entered when Noah Riley approached the casket, strumming some notes on an acoustic guitar. My breath caught in my throat as soon as I heard the melodious voice of a person I never thought I’d hear again in person.

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,” Eddie bellowed.

My heart beat wildly in my chest, and I could hear my own shallow breathing. As soon as I saw the bottom of his brown boots hitting the grass below, my eyes followed up the line of his dark pants and the suit that molded to him. The Eddie I remembered was a tall, lanky guy with shaggy hair that hid his brown eyes. Now, Eddie, the country music superstar, had obviously spent a lot of time in the gym. He had the ass and arms to prove that one—not that I was checking him out at my father’s funeral. He’d also cut his hair, and a slight stubble adorned his cheeks. Time had been good to Eddie’s looks and his voice.

No one sitting around me had a dry eye as everyone stared up at Eddie, his voice carrying through the cemetery as he stood next to Noah.

Every single emotion ran through me, and I didn’t know which one to feel. I was supposed to be mourning my father, not thinking about how good my former best friend looked or how mad I was that he left me and never looked back.

As the funeral ended and I walked with my mom to the car, my heel caught in an armadillo hole, and I went tumbling face first toward the grass.

I thought I was going to die. Well, die or eat a ton of grass.

Instead, arms wrapped around my waist and stopped my face mere inches from the ground. I stumbled to a standing position with my cheap heel broken off in the grass.

“Are you okay?” a sweet Southern twang bellowed.

I turned slowly to Eddie, who still had his arm around my waist.

I didn’t know what he wanted me to say to him. Did he want me to hug him? To say how much I’d missed him, and that I hadn’t been able to fully commit to another guy because I’d been in love with him forever?

Nope, I didn’t do any of those. Instead, I pulled my heel out of the ground and scowled. “You ruined my shoe.”

Then before he could get another word in edgewise, I turned and hobbled on my uneven feet to my mom’s car. 

Magan Vernon has been living off of reader tears since she wrote her first short story in 2004. She now spends her time killing off fictional characters, pretending to plot while she really just watches Netflix, and she tries to do this all while her two young children run amok around her Texas ranch.

   

Rumor Has It by Magan Vernon

Title: Rumor Has It

Series: Friendship, Texas #2

Author: Magan Vernon

Release Date: Oct 25, 2016

Add to Goodreads

A Brand new Standalone, Second Chance Rom Com from Friendship, Texas featuring Country Music's Biggest Superstar, Eddie Justice and Friendship's resident author, Brook Carrington.



"Rhonda, pst, Rhonda is that the Carrington girl? The writer who was at the bakery with that country singer Eddie Justice? I thought she was in Austin?" one of the old church ladies not-so-subtly asked the woman next to her.



I rolled my eyes and Clay looked at me with a mischievous grin. Slowly I stretched my arms over my head and leaned toward my brother, not so quietly whispering, "I can't wait to get out of church so I can go home and get some Eddie Justice man meat."



The old ladies gasped and started whispering. They didn't need to know that Eddie and I had only ever been next door neighbors and friends, well until we spent the night breaking a tree branch, if that counted for anything.

Magan Vernon has been living off of reader tears since she wrote her first short story in 2004. She now spends her time killing off fictional characters, pretending to plot while she really just watches Netflix, and she tries to do this all while her two young children run amok around her Texas ranch.