Title:
Unwritten
Series:
Beachwood Bay #7
Author:
Melody Grace
Release
Date: March 10, 2015
Synopsis
He’s
my best friend’s brother – and the only boy I’ve ever loved.
Movie star, manwhore, and totally off-limits.
Until
now.
I
told myself it was time to move on, until one epic night changed
everything. Now there’s no denying the way I feel when he touches
me, or the reckless desire in his eyes.
Once
we cross that line, there’s no going back. But can I risk it all
for him when he’s still hiding secrets of his own?
Some
love stories are destiny. Ours is still unwritten.
Links
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Excerpt
I
only have one New Year’s resolution, and it’s the same I’ve had
for six years now:
Make
Blake Callahan fall madly, deeply, and uncontrollably in love with
me.
Every
year, I write it in big block letters on the first page of my new
journal, and every year, I finish out December with those some words
still taunting me. But not this time. This year, I’ve decided, I’m
really going to make it happen.
“Happy
New Year!”
Noise
floods through my thoughts. The party is in full swing around me,
hundreds of people crammed into the amazing beachfront mansion. Music
plays so loud I can feel it in my chest, and everywhere I look,
people are flirting and laughing, getting ready for that midnight
kiss.
I
check my phone. Just a few minutes to midnight. My heart beats
faster. If I’m going to do this, I need to do it now. I can see
Blake out on the deck, looking illegally hot in a vintage white
T-shirt and jeans that deserve an award for their services to
womankind. I haven’t seen him in a couple of years, but clearly, he
only gets more devastating with age. It’s the reason he’s tipped
as the hot new Hollywood star, about to break out in his first big
movie role. But to me, he’ll always be plain old Blake Callahan: my
first love, my unrequited crush.
My
best friend’s older brother.
I’ve
always been too scared to cross that line, but tonight is different.
Tonight, everything changes. I take a deep breath, slide the doors
open, and step outside.
“Hello,
stranger.” My voice comes, sounding flirty and bold. Good
start.
Blake
turns, and I swear, his jaw drops. I feel another tremor of nerves,
but they melt away when I recognize the familiar look in his eyes,
the one I’ve seen from plenty of guys since my transformation, but
never from him.
Desire.
He
blinks at me in disbelief.
“Zoey?” he
says, sounding uncertain. “Holy shit, what happened to you?”
Play
it cool, I
remind myself. Easy,
breezy, like he’s
been the last thing on your mind.
I
arch an eyebrow. “Good to see you too.”
I
sashay over and lean in to kiss him on both cheeks, the way I learned
in Europe. I leave a smudge of scarlet on his skin, so I reach up and
wipe it away. He looks confused. “Sorry, Paris,” I explain,
kicking myself for the familiar gesture.
“Uh,
hey,” Blake recovers. “Welcome back. Is it just a vacation
visit?”
“It
depends,” I say.
“Uh,
depends on what?” Blake asks. His gaze drifts down my body,
all the way to my peep-toe sandals, the ones that usually make me
feel invincible. But now, I feel stripped naked under his blue eyes,
my heart beating so loudly in my chest I swear he can hear it over
the muffled sound of the music inside.
You.
I
bite back the truth. “You’ll see,” I answer cryptically
instead. “But, yes, I’m back.”
“Tegan
will be happy, I know she missed you,” Blake smiles.
“Me
too.” I try to relax. This is Blake, I remind myself. Not some
stranger. I know him. “I missed all of you guys,” I add,
thinking of the whole Callahan family: Tegan, and their two other
brothers too. “Europe is a long way from home.”
I
take the spot beside him and lean out to watch the dark shadow of the
ocean play along the distant shore. “So what’s your
resolution?” I ask, trying to sound flirty.
“I
guess… Make some great movies this year,” he smiles. “Not
screw up and wind up waiting tables again to make a living.”
I
laugh. “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,” Blake retorts, teasing.
“Sure
I have,” I remind him. “I remember a certain show you did
one Christmas…”
“No!” Blake
bursts out laughing. “God, why would you remind me about that?”
“Come
on,” I tease him, “you were the hunkiest Ebenezer Scrooge
that Santa Monica ever saw.” He dressed up as a surfer Scrooge
and played scenes on the promenade for fifty bucks. His brothers
never shut up about it; we teased him all year.
“Please
tell me you don’t have photos, the tabloids would go crazy,” he
groans.
“Your
secret is safe with me.”
“I
knew I could count on you.” Blake smiles, and I’m hit all over
again with the force of him: that chiseled, handsome face, the smile,
those magnetic blue eyes that always belonged on a movie screen. I
feel the same flip in my stomach I felt the day we first met; time
and distance have done nothing to lessen his effect on me.
I
think I see something shift in his expression, a glimpse of desire,
but it must be wishful thinking, because he turns away.
“You
better get back inside,” he says shortly. “You’ll miss the
party.”
Disappointment
crashes over me.
I
turn and slowly walk away, feeling like a fool. All my plans are for
nothing; I tried and struck out again.
But
did you really try? A
small voice nudges me. Didn’t
you promise to give it your best shot?
I
gulp, then before I know what I’m doing, I whirl around and stride
back to him. I put my hand on his arm, and pull him around to face
me.
“It’s
the New Year,” I say stubbornly, my heart racing.
“Not
for another ten seconds.” Blake looks confused. They’re
counting down inside, chanting the numbers.
Time
is running out.
“Then
I guess we’ll have to pass the time.” I take a deep breath,
gathering all my courage, and then I reach up on my tiptoes and press
my lips against his.
“Nine!
Eight! Seven!…”
The
voices fade away as I fall into the kiss. Blake’s mouth is warm,
and I can taste the bourbon on his lips, feel the faint scrape of
stubble on his jaw.
This
is it. I’m finally kissing him.
But
then I realize, Blake is frozen in place. He’s not kissing me
back—but he hasn’t pulled away either.
I
loop my arms determinedly around his neck and pull his body down
against mine. As if it was the signal he was waiting for, Blake
suddenly sweeps me into his arms. He spins me around, pushing me back
against the railings as he kisses me hard and deep, and I come
undone.
God…
This is what I dreamed about, all those years of innocent fantasy. I
must have played this moment a hundred times over in my mind, but
nothing is as sweet as the feel of his lips claiming mine, the heat
and desire blazing to life throughout my whole body.
He
eases my lips apart and sinks his tongue deep into my mouth. I moan
against him, arching up to press closer against his body. I can feel
the taut muscle through his clothes, the gorgeous planes of his
shoulders and back. His hands slide over my body, cupping my ass and
molding me to him, until there’s not an inch of space between us.
And all the while, his mouth is driving me crazy, teasing and
demanding, his tongue sliding hotly against mine, igniting a fire in
my bloodstream that spirals low between my thighs.
The
sound of fireworks cuts through the haze. I pull away, breathless.
Bursts of glitter and stardust light up across the bay, and there’s
the sound of cheering inside. For a moment, I feel like the universe
is celebrating our kiss, then I realize we kissed our way into the
New Year.
Elation
crashes through me. He
kissed me back. I
wanted a sign, and here it is: big neon letters saying “He wants
you too.”
“That’s
decided then,” I murmur to myself. Blake is standing there,
looking shell-shocked. I smile. “Happy New Year.”
I
turn on my heel, and quickly duck back into the house before I can
ruin the moment. But just as quickly, my joy fades. Because now that
I know there’s something between us, my feelings aren’t so safe
anymore.
Loving
him could destroy my friendships, my sense of family—everything
that’s important to me in the world. Once we cross that line,
there’s no going back.
So
do I take that risk?
Author
Bio
Melody Grace is
the New York Times bestselling author of the Beachwood Bay series. A
small-town girl turned SoCal beach lover, after spending her life
with her nose in a book, she decided it was time she wrote one
herself. She loves steamy romance novels, happily-ever-afters, and
lusting after fictional menfolk. She lives in LA with her two
kittens, Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers.
Author
Links
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