Collide Into You

by Devyn Cole

  “Don’t worry about what Sam said. He’s right that we don’t really control shit about our own careers. But he’s wrong to include himself among the people who decide who gets to live and die in the industry,” Austin tells me as he closes the door.

  “I know, right? Does he even represent anyone besides us? I ask.

  “Damn, I really needed today to be going better than it is for what I’m about to tell you,” Austin sighs.

  Austin grabs my hand gently in his. I can’t explain why, but suddenly I’m feeling really anxious.

  “Lindsey, as you know, I’ve had to deal with the scars that my last marriage left on my ability to be vulnerable and all that. But, strangely, I’ve found it so easy to trust you in only a few months. It’s like I’ve known you my whole life,” he grins. “So, anyway, Lindsey Fox, if that’s not just a stage name. Will you marry me?”

  Austin gets down on one knee and pulls out a small black box, then pops it open to show me the huge diamond ring he’s bought.

  “Omigod…” I say, my voice cracking.

  I would never in a trillion-zillion years thought that Austin Turner would ever propose to me, and I certainly wouldn’t have thought that it would have been this fast. In fact, I’ve been pretty concerned that his relationship with his ex-wife meant that it’d take many years before he’d want to get married again, if ever.

  But now that he has, all I seem to be experiencing is horrible fear. And, now the way he’s looking at me as I continue not to respond breaks my heart as much as it seems like it’s breaking his.

  “Austin, it’s just that I…”

  “Nah, I get it,” he says, definitely not getting it. Though, to be fair, I’m not sure if I get it myself. “It’s a little hard to say you do when you don’t.”

  “Babe, we can work on this…” I say, reaching out to him.

  “No, we can’t,” he says, pulling away. “You either feel the way I feel, or you don’t.”

  “Austin, please don’t do this to me!” I yell at him, my vision blurring with tears. “I can’t lose you!”

  But, he just turns away.

  Austin doesn’t slam the studio door behind him as he leaves me here alone. It hurts even more than if he did because, as I turn my pale hand black wiping off my running mascara, I see him looking at me with this emotionally dead look in his eyes— like a complete fucking zombie.

  “I don’t want to lose you…” I whisper to myself.

  I feel the shockwaves of my worst fear realized. And, I don’t even know why. Because the truth is that I did want to say it. But, I don’t know the words to explain why I didn’t.

  Chapter Seven

  Austin

  I’m sitting in an empty hotel room at the Roosevelt the morning after an intense drinking binge that was unfortunately well-documented and broadcast to millions of people. My publicist called me a few hours ago to tell me that remarkably it’s made me even more popular with my fans. Now, I’m seen as a “bad boy” who now needs reforming after everything he’s been through. For once, they’ve gotten me right…

  I look through the window at the city skyline wondering how I let her slip away. As much as I want to blame Hollywood for all my problems, this place didn’t make me give up on the only good relationship I’ve had in my life. I did that all by myself.

  Whether I want to admit it or not, without this place, I wouldn’t have met Lindsey. And if this city never gives me anything else that brings me any joy, I’ll still be grateful to it for her. Being with Lindsey was my unrealistic Hollywood happy ending.

  Yet, as I think about waiting to see if she’ll reach out to me and getting frustrated because of all the men I know will make a play for her as soon as they realize I’m out of the picture. Hell, they’ve probably been trying like hell this whole time I’ve been with her.

  But then I think about how being too prideful is what got me to this point. I can’t allow myself to get dragged around by fate anymore. I have to find her and claim her all over again…

  I start feeling a surge of hope. Sparks of energy that feel like they’re revitalizing me back to life and love. But, just as this happening, someone starts knocking on my hotel door.

  Figuring it’s probably Sam asking for his job back, I ignore it. But as I start to recognize the musical pattern of the knocking, I start to think…no there is no way.

  I stand up from the corner of the bed and run over to the hotel door, knowing what an idiot I am for getting my hopes up for nothing. But, when I open the door, I realize I haven’t.

  “Lindsey, I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I told you I wouldn’t leave, but—”

  “No, I’m sorry! I realized after you left that if you hadn’t I would have made you end things, because your proposal scared the hell out of me,” she says, teary-eyed. “I never told you…my stepbrother and I are orphans. Our parents abandoned us both when we’re both really young. I think I’m still getting used to having you want to stick around.”

  “I’ll wait as long as you need to feel totally safe with me, Lindsey,” I say to her.

  I pull her against me, and our mouths collide, wishing on everything that I’m never released from the hold this girl has on me.

  Chapter Eight

  Lindsey

  “Where are we going?” I ask Austin as I hold onto his chest.

  “‘Back to the beginning…’ he sings as he pulls over onto a familiar exit. “What do you think about that, Lindsey? That’d pass for a lyric in one of your corny heartbreak songs. Wouldn’t it?”

  “Shut up!” I yell, punching his bicep and seriously hurting my hand.

  We drive down the familiar ramp to the beach where we first got together. I mentally prep myself for another terrifing sand expedition, but Austin, instead stops the bike in the parking lot.

  “What? You’re not going to nearly kill us again, driving on the sand?” I ask him. “Thought you were all about escaping through danger.”

  “Nah, I’m done with that,” Austin tells me.

  He helps me off of his motorcycle and, we race each other onto the empty beach.

  Austin lifts me into the air and tosses me like ten feet into the water.

  “Omigod!” I squeal, totally soaked.

  A pissed off little banshee, I rush into Austin, who pretends I’m strong enough to push him to the ground. He pulls me down with him, then rolls over me.

  I try to bite his lip, and he lets me. I’m sure it hurts because I have freakishly sharp teeth, but he doesn’t seem to mind, especially since I’m also in the process of unhooking his belt.

  “You sure about this?” Austin asks. “We’re a ways from Los Angeles, but this is still Southern California. Someone is always watching with an iPhone half-cocked and ready for action.”

  “Then, they’ll get the best damn show of their fucking lives!” I tell him, sticking my tongue out.

  I look into his deep-set eyes, held by a face that seems so much less burdened than the day I first met him. In fact, Austin looks a lot happier than he did in that movie trailer for the movie that made him a star that I always meant to watch but didn’t. I’m not saying I’m the sole reason for the fact that he’s happy now. But surely I’m a pretty major contributing factor!

  Austin bites my neck while I stroke his stiffness with both hands. I feel sparks of electricity invade the space between my slick thighs. He peels my shorts down to my ankles and then does the same with my panties.

  Austin’s kisses are gentle, but the pressure of his hands is rough. He lines himself up with my entrance, and as we stare into one another, we soon become one.

  My eyes roll back in my head as I dig my nails desperately into his shoulder blades and slide up and down his massive torso. My body begins to writhe blissfully underneath him, and it isn’t long before I feel myself swelling around his hardened masculinity.

  “Not such a bad thing to make love in public with me. Is it?” Austin asks, smiling out of the corner of his mouth.

  T
he heat from the sun makes me feel like we’re melting into one. Austin leans into me, so deep that I’m thrust into a perpetual state of bliss.

  “I love you, Lindsey…” Austin groans inside my ear.

  “I love you more,” I whisper back. “I had a dream last night where you and I collided. I wish you could have seen it.”

  Epilogue

  Austin

  Today we’re on that same beach that might as well belong to us after all this.

  I’m sitting inside a limousine with a bunch of my best friends from back home. They’re making fun of me for letting a celebrity gossip magazine photograph my wedding. It was actually Lindsey who made me agree to it, but I’ll take the wrap for her. She was dead set on wanting her fans to share in her happiness and, even though it’s weird as hell to me, I guess I can’t blame her for loving them like family.

  Ryan, my best man and my childhood best friend told me earlier that he wants to move out here to pursue his music career, but his girlfriend won’t come. I told him that dating a musician isn’t for everyone. I sure as hell never thought it would be for me. But, you only know after you take the risk whether it was worth it. All I could tell him honestly was that I’m so glad I took it.

  I peer through the window and managed to spot Lindsey swapping one limousine for another. My friends are going to punch me again if I say it out loud one more time, but each time I look at her, I swear she’s never looked so beautiful.

  “Ready to go, buddy?” Ryan asks me, popping open the door.

  “Nah, but let’s do it anyway,” I tell him, frowning as I step out of the car to the torrent of blinding camera flashes.

  I wave graciously out to the sea of faces, honestly wishing this day could just be shared between my wife and me. But, it makes her really happy when I’m not an asshole, so what the hell.

  My groomsmen flank around me as I march down the long carpet leading to the wedding arch just next to the water.

  Then, she appears at the other end of the carpet. She’s so elegant and yet so sexy, I feel myself getting so stiff just like I still do literally every time I see her.

  As she walks towards me, I think about the fact that just about everyone here thinks we’ll be divorced within a year. In their heads, they’re saying that two narcissistic celebrities can’t sustain a love story. Except, we can.

  And we did.

  About the Author

  Short, Hot, Safe, HEA, Did I Already Say Hot? ‘Cuz Hot!

  Devyn Cole means Insta-love stories to set your heart asunder. Tons of huge alpha males always included for *ahem* other things…

  I’m glad you chose to read this story : ) Thank You.

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