“What happened to being in love with Reed?” I asked. Dallas changed her mind more than her hairstyle, and that was quite a feat.
“I didn’t feel the connection when we were on stage. Plus, he kind of smelt like BO.” She wrinkled her nose at the memory. “I want someone more sophisticated, like Nick.”
“Cole said Nick has a girlfriend. Sorry.”
She swatted me with both hands. “Don’t say that! You’ll break my heart.”
“Better to know now than get hung up on a dream that can’t happen.”
She stopped, mid-swat to stare at me. “Nobody should take dreams away, how can you be sure they won’t come true?”
I was going to say that dreams generally didn’t come true but it sounded too depressing to say out loud. I guessed some of my disappointment at the way Cole had ended our date was manifesting itself in my mood.
I shall call you. I should have asked him when. I would have expected the next day to be a good time, but apparently he didn’t. No matter how many times I checked my cell phone, it hadn’t changed with a message or missed call.
“Melly, I’m hungry,” Jemma whined. That was my reality, not swooning around with a superstar.
“Come on, I’ll make you a strawberry smoothie,” I said, leading her inside. Dallas trailed behind, raiding the refrigerator for anything that was suitable for her diet.
“Do you have anything besides chocolate spread and bread in here?” She asked, her head still in the fridge as she rifled around.
“My dad hasn’t gone shopping for a while. I can make you a smoothie.”
“I don’t do dairy.”
I rolled my eyes at Dallas’s latest fad. So far, she had given up meat, gluten, sugar, and now apparently dairy. There was normally something different she was trying. “Have a strawberry then.”
She shrugged and grabbed one of the juicy berries. I threw some in the blender with milk and ice cream, hitting the button as the machine whizzed to life.
“You know, when we tell everyone at school what you did yesterday, your cool factor is going to go through the roof,” Dallas started, her lips slowly turning red with the berry’s juice.
“I’m not telling anyone.”
Her mouth formed a perfect O. “Why not? Cole Newton closed down an entire amusement park for you. If someone did that for me, I’d scream it from the rooftops. Or at least put it on Twitter.”
I wasn’t entirely sure why I wanted to keep all the details to myself. I guessed a part of me knew once the news was out, the inevitable humiliation would come after Cole disowned me. I was used to people leaving, I wasn’t used to them sticking around. There was no reason for me to believe Cole would be any different.
I made up a lie instead of telling Dallas the truth, it was easier that way. “Cole said not to tell anyone. He could get in trouble if people found out about us.”
“Trouble from who? He’s a superstar, he can do whatever he wants.”
“What are you talking about?” Jemma asked. I’d forgotten she was there and listening into everything we said.
“Nothing, here’s your smoothie. Go and eat it outside in the sun.” I slid the drink across the bench for her. She took it, giving me a suspicious look before leaving. Jemma was a smart kid, she was probably already working out how to use the information she gleaned to blackmail me later on.
“Melrose?” Dallas clicked her fingers to get my attention again. “Why wouldn’t he want people to know about you?”
I shook my head, trying to get my thoughts to make some sense. I was not good at the whole lying thing. “Because he’s supposed to stay single. His fans don’t like it when he’s got a girlfriend.”
“But Nick has a girlfriend.”
“Yeah, and you wouldn’t have known that if I didn’t tell you.”
“Point taken.”
It wasn’t enough, I needed Dallas to give me her word that she would keep her mouth closed about Cole and I. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone and you’ll keep my secret.”
A look of pain crossed her face. For Dallas to keep the juicy gossip to herself was a big deal. She pursed her lips together as if determined not to make a promise she couldn’t keep.
“Dallas, promise me,” I begged.
She threw up her arms in defeat. “Fine. I promise. But I want you to know that you owe me. If anyone else breaks this story at school, I am going to hunt you down and skin you alive.”
I didn’t doubt she would. “If I’m ready to go public, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Good.” She took another strawberry and we returned back outside.
I wondered what Cole was doing at that moment. Was he somewhere enjoying the beautiful day? Was he cooped up inside doing interviews? Was he thinking about me? I had no idea what he was doing.
I still had his number, I could call him. Then I would be able to know exactly what he was doing, I could ask him myself.
But that was desperate. I didn’t want him to know I was waiting for his call. I was an independent young woman, I wasn’t supposed to be dying for a guy to call me. How did other girls handle this whole dating thing?
“You should have kissed him,” Dallas said to break the silence. “That would have given you a better story to tell everyone when you’re allowed to.”
“So I was supposed to grab him and just lay one on him?” I laughed, the thought was crazy. I could never take a guy by the shirt and plant a kiss on his lips. Even the thought of doing that made me blush. Add Cole being the guy to the mix and I would die of embarrassment.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s the guy’s job to kiss the girl first. I can’t go against hundreds of years of tradition.”
“Yes you can! I would, especially when the guy is Cole Newton.” She pouted her lips and kissed the air. I laughed, there was nobody like Dallas in the world. She really was unique.
“Well, maybe he should have asked you out instead of me. That would-” I was interrupted by a knock on the door.
Jemma jumped up. “I’ll get it!”
I grabbed her before she could get away. “No, Jem, stay here. I’ll get it.”
I hurried inside and checked the peephole on the door, well aware of both Dallas and Jemma hovering behind me. They were just as bad as each other, I may as well be babysitting two kids.
Standing on the stoop was a delivery guy, a huge bunch of flowers in his hands. I opened the door and accepted the delivery.
“Who are they from?” I asked the man.
“I only deliver them.” He shrugged after handing me the heavy flowers. The bunch was full of bright colors, everything from gerberas to lilies to peonies. They were gorgeous, bright and happy. “Check the card, it might give you a clue.”
I thanked him before he left. I waited until the door was closed before I grabbed the card. I was scared about what it was going to say. I assumed the flowers were from Cole, but they could have been a nice way of fobbing me off. It was less likely I would go to the media if he had done something nice for me, right?
“Well, what does the damn thing say?” Dallas asked, as impatient as usual.
“Come on, Melly. The suspense is killing me,” Jemma added.
I pulled the small card out of the envelope. I would rather have done it without an audience. I plastered on a steady face and prepared myself for the worst. At least I had a nice day out and a bunch of flowers, that was more than I had on Friday even if I didn’t have Cole himself.
I braced myself as I read through:
Miss Melrose Morgan,
Thank you for your company yesterday. I still haven’t taken off my gift shop t-shirt because it reminds me of you. I hope these flowers are as beautiful as you are.
Talk soon, Cole xoxo
I read it out for my audience. They gave a unified “Awww” when I reached the end.
“Oh my God, Rosy. Cole Newton really is in love with you,” Dallas gushed.
Jemma’s eyes practically popped out
of her head. “Cole Newton? That’s who you’ve been talking about all day? He’s like famous and stuff.”
I knelt down so I was at her eye level. “Yeah, he is. But it’s a big secret, Jem. You can’t tell anyone, especially Dad.”
“Dad doesn’t know?” She looked scandalized, like it was the worst crime in the world to keep something from our father. I guessed in her young world, it was.
“No, he doesn’t. I’ll tell him when the time’s right. Can I get your pinkie swear?” I held up my little finger, praying she would do the same.
Jemma gave me a cheeky grin before finally complying. We linked our pinkies and shook on it. That was as much of a promise as I was going to get from the kid. Even though she was likely to forget about it and blurt everything out to Dad the moment she saw him. I made a mental note to tell him before too long. After all, I was going to have to explain the flowers somehow.
“This is so huge,” Dallas said as she took the flowers from me and headed for the kitchen. She started to go through the cupboards. “Where do you keep your vases?”
“Um, we don’t have any?”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, seriously. It’s not like any of us get flowers all the time. Or ever, for that matter.”
She rolled her eyes and filled the sink with water. “If you’re dating Cole, you’re going to have to get a vase. Everything I’ve read about him says he’s so romantic. You are a lucky girl, Miss Melrose Morgan.” I liked the way Cole said my name much more than Dallas did.
As I watched her preen the flowers into the perfect position, I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my lips.
Cole might not have called yet, but he was thinking about me. Judging by the size of the bunch of flowers, he thought about me a lot.
Perhaps he wasn’t going to leave my life as easily as he had come into it. Perhaps Cole might stick around long enough to get to know me.
Or perhaps he would move onto the next town and completely forget about me. I still wasn’t comfortable with pretending everything would end happily. I wasn’t prepared to let my guard down. Not for Cole Newton and not for anyone else.
Still, there was one thing I did know for sure. I was completely, utterly, stupidly, star struck.
Star Kissed
Chapter One
How on Earth did I get here? I had to keep asking myself that question over and over again. Little me, Melrose Morgan, was on a private jet. That’s right, the kind that flies through the air and doesn’t require three hours of waiting time to board.
Getting my dad’s permission to go was fun. I had to beg, plead, and promise to name my first child after him. I had to check in every three hours and was not allowed to do anything that my little sister Jemma couldn’t do. Considering she was only nine years old, that included pretty much everything. I could breathe and eat, that was about it.
But I didn’t care. I was soaring through the air and getting ready to spend an entire weekend with Cole Newton. He might be one-fifth of the superstar band, Two Dimension, but he wanted to spend his few days off with me.
“Prepare for landing.” The voice buzzed from the intercom, startling me. I pulled my seatbelt tighter and braced for the descent.
I hated flying. I hadn’t done much of it before so each time I practically had a heart attack when the plane took off or landed. It was unnatural, only birds were supposed to fly, right? I had no idea how the darn things stayed in the air and expected them to fall out at any stage.
I gripped both the arm rests and closed my eyes, trying to take a few deep breaths and pretend we had already landed safely.
Until I remembered that it was worse not seeing what was going on and my eyes sprung open again. I peeked out the window, seeing the tops of buildings whizzing by seemingly just yards away.
I didn’t breathe again until I was safely walking on the tarmac into my waiting limousine. I preferred four wheels over two wings any day.
The city buildings were lit up with twinkling lights as they reflected on the car windows. I didn’t bother asking where we were going, my chaperones rarely told me. Cole liked to surprise me, a concept I was still getting used to.
We drove for just over twenty minutes before pulling up in a crowded parking lot. We were at an entertainment center, the billboards flashed with the news Two Dimension were playing there that night. My watch said it was about to tick over to ten o’clock, meaning the show was probably almost over.
Mr. Driver handed me over to Mr. Earpiece who took me through the long corridors and tunnels of the center. He reassured me we were almost there but didn’t say anything else. Somewhere in the distance were muffled screaming and music which grew louder the further we went.
“Here we are, Miss Morgan,” Mr. Earpiece said, ushering me toward a small space with more electrical cords than I had ever seen before in my life. “You can watch the show from here but don’t cross that line or the audience will see you. Understand?”
“Yes, thank you.”
He nodded, pressing a button on his earpiece and hurrying away again. I carefully stepped over the cords and found my view of the stage. All the band members were singing their hearts out in front of thousands of screaming fans.
My eyes fell on Cole. He had a layer of sweat from the bright lights but he looked to be having the time of his life. Since our first date three weeks ago, we had had many late night talks and his love of being in the band was evident in everything he said. Cole loved his job, pure and simple. He didn’t even think of it as a job.
I worked at Burger Nation, and I definitely thought of it as a job. I didn’t spent fifteen hours on most weekends with my manager Creepy Pete for fun. He needed to pay me to stick around.
I caught myself singing along to the songs and my face started to burn with embarrassment. Cole knew I was a big fan of Two Dimension, but it still felt weird going all fan girl over them. I had to play it cool, at least that is what I told myself I was doing. In reality, I was probably playing the dork like I normally did.
They only sung three more songs before taking their final bow for the night and running off stage in the dark. The house lights in the center went up a few seconds later. I had no idea what I was supposed to do so I just stood there, hoping Mr. Earpiece would return and rescue me.
The audience didn’t seem to be in a rush to leave, some were still chanting their name and demanding an encore. They had already done one fake exit, how many times did they expect them to come back?
My vision went black as my eyes were covered. I froze, who on earth was standing behind me? I fought the urge to swat their hands away and restore my vision.
“Guess who?” I could recognize that voice anywhere.
I pretended to think it through. “Umm, Cole?”
My vision came back as he swung me around to face him. A smile was beaming on his gorgeous face, his beautiful green eyes sparkling in the low light. “How’d you guess?”
“Just lucky, I suppose.” I shrugged nonchalantly, even though I couldn’t get the grin off my face. When I had first met Cole, there was some indefinable connection between us. I thought it might just be wishful thinking, but it was still there – burning hot.
He took my hand in his. “Come on, I want you to meet everyone.”
I followed him blindly, going wherever he wanted to take me. We wound our way through the corridors – why were the corridors so windy, seriously? The place was like a maze, I was going to need a map to get out of there.
Our adventure through the looking glass came to a halt in a large room. Clothes were hung on a temporary rack on one side, couches and food tables were dotted around the other walls. Lounging all over the place were the other members of Two Dimension.
Cole didn’t really need to introduce the guys to me. I probably knew more about them than they did. I was kind of a mega fan and definitely ashamed to admit it. So, instead, I pretended I knew nothing and went along with it.
“Melrose, this is Luke.
”
“Hey, sexy,” Luke said in greeting, winking. He actually winked at me. My best friend Dallas would probably die right about now.
“Watch it,” Cole warned him before moving onto the next one. “This is Nick.” Nick just waved at me, I waved back. “Dylan, and Reed.”
“Hey,” they replied in unison.
“Everyone, this is Melrose,” Cole said proudly. It was so sweet the way he said it with such conviction, it took away my doubts of coming so far alone.
“Thank goodness you’re here,” Dylan said with a roll of his eyes. “Cole has been going on and on about you. We were beginning to think he made you up.”
I stole a glance at Cole, he had a touch of pink in his cheeks. So Dylan was telling the truth, he did talk about me to them. Great, now I was starting to blush too.
“It wouldn’t be the first time he’s made up a girl,” Nick teased, garnering a round of laughter from the guys.
“Don’t listen to them,” Cole whispered, before adding louder, “They are just jealous that I have an amazing girlfriend and they don’t.”
Shut the front door – girlfriend? He had never referred to me as his girlfriend before, we hadn’t even discussed what we had. Apparently Cole had already decided he was my boyfriend. I thought I was having an out of body experience.
Nick stood up and patted Cole on the shoulder. “Nope, I’m telling the truth, I have an amazing girlfriend too. Remember?”
“Whatever.” Cole shrugged. He squeezed my hand and leaned in closer. “Let’s get out of here, there’s more people I want you to meet.”
I nodded and waited in the corridor for him to change out of his performance clothes. Apparently all the guys had to leave them there for washing before the next show.
I expected Mr. Driver to still be waiting outside in his limo so was really shocked when Cole guided me over to a little Prius and held the door open for me. I got in, even more surprised when he jumped in the driver’s seat.
The Star Kissed Collection Page 5
