by Melody Grace
Austin shakes his head. He looks desperate. “She was lying. We had a casual thing, on and off, but I promise, it was never anything real. Not like it was with you.”
My heart stops.
I blink, not ready to believe what I just heard. “It’s not…” I murmur, turning away. My head is warring with my heart right now, fighting the instinct just to fall in his arms again. But I have to think straight. “We spent a day together, that’s all,” I point out.
“So?” Austin’s face creases in that gorgeous, sexy smile. “It was the best day of my whole life. And I want a hundred other days like that with you. A million.”
My head spins. I want to believe him so badly, but I remember what happened with Matt: how he just turned around and quit on us without a single warning. I can’t go through that again, and be someone’s impulse decision they take back on second thoughts. Not with him.
“Austin…” I gulp for air. “We barely know each other. You can’t just say…” I stop, looking back at him. “What are you saying?” I ask nervously. “What do you want?”
“I want you.”
His words wash over me, and the tight knot in my chest unravels, just like that. Austin lifts his hands and cradles my face. His touch is warm against my cool skin, and I close my eyes to savor the feel of him.
My heartbeat pounds faster in my chest. The nearness of him is overwhelming, the physical connection that can’t be denied.
“Austin…” I whisper again, opening my eyes. I can’t believe he’s really here.
He’s staring down at me, a raw hunger in his eyes that sends my pulse racing. “It’s you, Sophie,” he murmurs, gently stroking my cheek. “I can’t explain it, but it’s you. And maybe this is fast, and reckless, and crazy, but it doesn’t have to be. We can take this as slow as you like, one day at a time. I just know, the minute I thought I’d lost you… It made me realize you’re the only one I want.”
Joy crashes through me. “No,” I say, smiling.
Austin’s smile falters. Hurt blazes in his eyes.
“No!” I say quickly. “I mean, I don’t need to take it slowly. I know. I feel the same way too. It’s you.”
Austin lets out a breath of relief, and then his arms are around me, and his lips are claiming mine. Hot and hard and slow, he kisses me all the way to my soul as the noise from the party drifts around us and happiness swells bright in my chest.
I cling to him, tasting him, holding his body down against mine, giddy with the feel of him solid in my arms.
I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. Right here, with him. Nothing matters except for that, because I know, deep down, this is the beginning.
Finally, we come up for air. Voices come, chanting from downstairs. “Five…four…three…” The final count is drowned out by cheers and celebration. Across the bay, fireworks explode in a sudden riot of color, flooding the sky with a thousand stars.
I gasp in delight. “Look!”
Austin draws me back against his body, holding me tight. His lips graze my ear, setting every nerve alight with sensation.
“Happy New Year, sweetheart.”
And I know, it will be.
THE END
(Almost)
10 minutes earlier…
Blake
It’s fifteen minutes to midnight on New Year’s Eve, and my agent is freaking out.
“Don’t you get it?” he demands, on the phone from LA. “This is the excuse we’ve been waiting for. Their filming permits fell through, so you can pull out!”
“I don’t want to quit,” I explain for a tenth time. The party is in full swing around me, people greeting me as they pass. I flash a smile back, raising my glass of bourbon in a toast. “Look, can’t we talk about this in the morning?” I tell Josh, my eyes drifting to a gorgeous brunette in the corner giving me a flirty wave. I wink at the woman, and she smiles back. Perfect. “I’m kind of busy right now.”
“Too busy for your career?” Josh shoots back. I sigh.
“Hold on, I can’t hear you…” I look around for a quiet spot to get away. There’s a door to the back deck, so I hustle through the crowd getting ready for the big countdown.
I slide the door open. Outside, it’s quiet enough to hear myself think. The air is cool and salty, the beach shadowed in the dark. “Look, Josh, I want to do this movie.”
“But it’s beneath you.”
I laugh. “C’mon, I’m not Brad Pitt.”
“Not yet. And you won’t be, not if we don’t pick the right parts for you. I’m trying to help you.” His voice turns pleading. “You’re on the edge of breaking out, but one wrong move could end it all. Trust me, stick to the plan and you’ll be the biggest new name in Hollywood come next year.”
I pause. Acting has always been my dream, and I’ve been working my ass off for ten years to make it happen. Embarrassing commercials, tiny theater gigs, two-second blink-and-you’ll-miss-me roles on TV—I did it all, and never seemed to make it any further. I was about ready to give up when my big break arrived, the day I turned twenty-five: I landed the lead in a massive action alien-invasion movie. It was a big deal, for an unknown like me to get the part. Suddenly, I had people lining up who never gave me the time of day before. Managers, agents, publicists, all swearing they can make me the next Ryan Gosling, the new Jonny Depp—but only if I pick my next moves carefully.
Plenty of guys get one shot in this game, but not many keep working, building a career to be proud of.
I pace, torn. “The director’s a buddy of mine,” I tell Josh. “And I have time in my schedule next month…”
“It’s a low-budget indie movie that doesn’t even have a location anymore,” Josh replies bluntly. “Didn’t you get the scripts I sent?”
I think of the pile of cookie-cutter action movies and thrillers stacked in the guest room upstairs. Guy with gun on a quest for vengeance, end of story. “I want a change,” I protest, “I spent three months playing to a green screen, pretending to fight robot aliens. Look, Dash does great work. It’s small, but credible.”
“Credible?” Josh snorts. “You want credibility, you go back to making a hundred bucks a day in the theater. You want to be a fuck-off movie star? You pick the projects I tell you to pick.”
I can feel my frustration rise, so I cut him off before we can both say something we regret. “Look, I appreciate the advice. Let me think about it. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“Sure thing.” I can hear partying on his side of the call too. He’s probably at some big bash in the Hollywood Hills full of A-list talent. It was a big thing for him to sign me, and although we might disagree over some things, Josh understands this game better than anyone.
“You know I’m right,” he adds as a parting shot. “Don’t screw this up.”
He hangs up, leaving me out on the deck with a major decision on my mind.
What the hell do I do next?
I always thought, once I got my break, things would come easy, but now it feels like everything is harder. There’s more at stake. It’s easy to dive into a project when you’ve got nothing left to lose, but now I’ve had a taste of success, I’ve got so much more riding on my next move.
“Hello, stranger.”
I turn at the voice and promptly stop dead. The woman in front of me is a vision of slinky black silk, all luscious curves, red lips and glossy blonde hair. I blink in disbelief.
“Zoey?” I ask, not processing what I’m seeing. The last time I saw my younger sister’s best friend, she was gawky and casual in jeans and tortoiseshell glasses. Now, she looks like she just stepped off a runway—and out of every man’s fantasy. “Holy shit, what happened to you?”
Zoey arches an eyebrow. “Good to see you too,” she smirks, sashaying over to kiss me on both cheeks. “Sorry, Paris,” she says as an explanation, reaching to wipe away a smudge of lipstick. As she leans in close, I catch a breath of perfume, something spicy and intoxicating that wraps itself around my senses and m
akes me think of late nights, and intimate dinners, and the slide of silk on naked skin.
I struggle to focus. “Uh, hey, welcome back. Is it just a vacation visit?”
Zoey gives me a mysterious smile. “It depends.”
“On what?” I blink, still feeling like someone smashed me over the head with an anvil. This is Zoey, she’s been running around with Tegan since they were teenagers, she’s like a little sister to me.
At least, she used to be.
Now, I can’t help my gaze from drifting lower, over the tight slinky dress she’s wearing, and the sexy curves of her body, all the way to her shoes: red peep-toe sandals that lace all the way up her calves.
They’re the sexiest shoes I’ve ever seen.
“Uh, depends on what?” I drag my attention back up to her face, and find Zoey watching me with a curious smile.
“You’ll see,” she says cryptically. “But, yes, I’m back.”
“Tegan will be happy, I know she missed you.” I steer the conversation back to a safe topic: my sister.
“Me too,” Zoey smiles. “I missed all of you,” she adds. Her eyes meet mine, an unreadable expression in her gaze.
I find my mind is blank; I try and think of what to say. She’s been out in Europe for over a year now, working at some magazine. Tegan reports back, but I never paid much attention to the details.
Now, I wish I had.
Zoey takes a place beside me, leaning out over the railing to watch the dark beach, and the ocean crashing beyond. I try not to notice how her body arches, giving me a heart-stopping view of her low-cut neckline.
“So what’s your resolution?” she asks, a flirty note in her voice.
Her dress strap slips lower on her shoulder. Her body is close enough to touch.
I suddenly feel light-headed.
“I guess…make some great movies this year,” I reply. “Not screw up and wind up waiting tables again to make a living.”
She laughs. “No way. We all knew you had the talent, it just took the world a little while to catch on.”
“You haven’t seen me act,” I point out.
“Sure I have,” Zoey gives me a mischievous grin. “I remember a certain show you did one Christmas…”
“No!” I burst out laughing, remembering that year. I took fifty bucks to dress up and play a scene from A Christmas Carol on the 3rd Street Promenade. “God, why would you remind me about that?”
“Come on,” Zoey teases me, “you were the hunkiest Ebenezer Scrooge that Santa Monica ever saw.”
“I swear, that wig and beard gave me a rash.” I shake my head at the memory. “How do you even remember that?”
She shrugs, still smiling. “I told you, we all knew we had a star on our hands.”
I groan. “It’s only a matter of time before the tabloids drag up those photos.”
“I leave the country for one year, and you get hounded by the paparazzi.” Zoey shakes her head, looking amused. “Mr Big Shot.”
“It’s not like that. They just love the whole angle with Dex too,” I explain.
“‘The Hottest Brothers Since the Hemseworths,’” Zoey quotes.
“You saw that?”
“Are you kidding?” she laughs, “Tegan wants to get it framed. You must hate it,” she adds. “I know Dex could never stand the attention.”
I shrug, self-conscious. “It’s not so bad. My agents all tell me it’s part of the game. Play it right, and it can help me win the big roles.”
“And that’s what you want? Total world domination.” Zoey’s tone is still light, but I can tell there’s a deeper edge to the question.
I pause again. I know it’s not cool to talk about ambition. We’re all supposed to act like we just woke up one morning and decided, “Hey, I’ll be an actor.” Either that, or talk about the love of the craft, like all that matters is your acting, even if it is in some run-down dump in the Valley playing Shakespeare to an empty room.
But the truth is, I want this. So much it scares me sometimes. I want to walk down the red carpet at my big premiere, and see crowds screaming my name. I want to be blown up to twenty feet tall on the big screen in every movie theater in the country. I want Emmys and Oscars, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I want to be the best.
“Yeah,” I tell Zoey, admitting the truth out loud. “I want it all.”
I turn to meet her eyes. They’re bluer than I remember, smudged with dark liner, glowing in the night. I get that light-headed feeling again, like a weird electricity is crackling between us: hot and vivid.
Dangerous.
“You better get back inside,” I tell her, resisting the urge to slide that loose strap all the way down her arm. “You’ll miss the party.”
I see a flash of disappointment in Zoey’s eyes, but I force myself to turn my back on her. There’s no way I should be out here, lusting after my little sister’s best friend.
I lean out over the railings and watch the dark ocean glitter under the moon. I deserve a prize for my self-control, I figure, listening to the tap of her footsteps head away from me. The door slides closed, muffling the music from inside.
Self-control, or stupidity?
I block the pang of regret. Zoey is, well, Zoey. Just because she’s looking hot enough to burn the house down, that doesn’t mean I’m going to take advantage. She’s like a kid sister to me, for Christ’s sake!
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I feel a soft hand on my arm. I jerk around, and find Zoey standing back in front of me with a weirdly focused expression on her face.
“It’s the New Year,” she says stubbornly.
“Not for another ten seconds,” I reply, confused. I can hear the chant from inside, starting the countdown.
“Then I guess we’ll have to pass the time.” Zoey takes a deep breath, and then she’s reaching up on her tip-toes, pressing her lips against mine in a hot, hard kiss.
What the—?
I freeze, thrown by the heat of her lips and the soft swell of her body, the dizzying scent of her perfume. I know that I should pull away, but Zoey is determined: she loops her arms up around my neck, pulling me down against her as the countdown fades away and the world contracts to just the two of us, right here.
“Nine! Eight! Seven…”
The kiss deepens, fire and ice raging in my bloodstream, until finally, I snap. I let the burning lust take me over, sweeping her into my arms and spinning her back against the railings, crushing her against my body as I claim her mouth as my own.
I kiss her deep and hard, with a sudden hunger that shocks me to my bones. I don’t know where this desire has come from, all I know is that it crashes through every nerve and atom, demanding more.
I ease her lips apart and sink my tongue deep between her lips. Zoey moans against me, arching up, molding her body to mine. I can feel every inch of her, her gorgeous body burning hot through the flimsy silk of her dress. I slide my hands down her back, over the tight swell of her ass, grinding into her like a horny schoolboy. But dammit, I can’t hold back. Something about this kiss has taken me over, unleashing a primal, animal need.
I want her, more than anything.
The countdown is over, there’s distant cheering inside, but nothing could stop me now. We kiss out this old year, and into the next, and beyond. I lose track of time, I lose track of everything except the taste of her mouth, the hot slide of our tongues, as my hands rove over her body and Zoey melts under my hands.
Finally, she pulls back, breathless and sparkling. Her cheeks are flushed, and her hair tumbles messily round her heart-shaped face.
I want to push it back, to knot it in my hands and pull her to me again. Claim her lips, her body; take this kiss way further than I have any right to do.
Zoey’s lips curve in another mysterious smile. “That’s decided then,” she says, almost to herself. “Happy New Year.”
I stand there, reeling, as she turns on her heel and heads back inside. The door slams shut behind her. I’m left
alone with fire in my bloodstream and one question echoing in my mind.
Who the hell is this woman?
To be continued…
Blake and Zoey’s story is just beginning.
Find out more in UNWRITTEN, out January 24th
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*
THE BEACHWOOD BAY SERIES:
BOOK 1: UNTOUCHED (Emerson & Juliet’s story begins - novella)
BOOK 2: UNBROKEN (Emerson & Juliet’s story continues)
BOOK 3: UNTAMED HEARTS (Brit & Hunter’s story begins - novella)
BOOK 4: UNAFRAID (Brit & Hunter’s story continues)
BOOK 5: UNWRAPPED (Lacey & Daniel’s holiday novella)
BOOK 6: UNCONDITIONAL (Garret & Carina)
BEACHWOOD BAY: THE CALLAHANS
BOOK 7: UNREQUITED (Dex & Alicia begin – novella)
BOOK 8: UNINHIBITED (Dex & Alicia)
BOOK 9: UNSTOPPABLE (Ryland & Tegan)
BOOK 10: UNEXPECTEDLY YOURS (holiday story)
BOOK 11: UNWRITTEN
–- JANUARY 2015
BOOK 12: UNFORGETTABLE
–- MARCH 2015
Author’s note: each book can be read as a stand-alone story, but you'll enjoy reading the other Beachwood Bay books, too.
