Sunkissed (16 page)

9 WEEKS LATER

Trista felt the imaginary butterflies in her stomach, just as she had way back when, before her first Broadway play. Looking around her dressing room, she smiled at the abundance of flowers from well-wishers. The orchids were from her agent, the purple and yellow assorted flower basket from her father and Madeline, and three dozen pink roses from Quinn. Just as she was putting on her costume, a knock at the door brought another floral delivery. This time a dozen red roses arranged in a beautiful bouquet.

“Oooh, girl, who sent these gorgeous flowers? I don’t see a card,” Darby said, fingering one of the stems. Darby was the makeup artist and worked exclusively for Trista. During the short six weeks she had been in New York City, they had become close, like brother and sister. She’d told Darby everything that had happened to her recently, from the time she was fired from the TV show to Blake cheating on her to her move to Florida. “Could they be from your former lover?” he asked, referring to Riker.

Trista thought Riker was probably watching a Key West sunset right now and drinking a Mai Tai from the comfort of his new bar. She hadn’t heard from him since he left her in the hospital cafeteria. That seemed like ages ago. “No, those are probably from Greg and Tony,” she said of her two friends from whom she leased her apartment.

“Honey, red is for
love
. Not gay BFFs who coordinate your outfits and help decorate your apartment.”

Darby had a point. But she had made it pretty clear to Riker that it was over for good. After Nicolette’s accident, she felt so guilty about her relationship with him. If she had stopped sleeping with Riker from the get-go, then Nicolette would have never had her car accident. The doctors had told her that the combination of alcohol and Valium in Nicolette’s system slowed her reflexes, causing poor judgment when driving. However, Trista knew that if it wasn’t for her, Nicolette wouldn’t have left the children’s play upset and driven twice the legal speed limit down a narrow, two-lane beach highway. Nicolette had crashed into a parked car on the side of the road, totaling her own car, causing the severe brain injury. The swelling in her brain finally subsided and she was out of ICU within a week of the accident, and in physical rehab ten days later—all miracles. Trista considered herself lucky that Nicolette had no memory of what had happened; she didn’t remember the accident or any events leading up to the accident for two weeks prior. Meaning that she didn’t remember anything that happened between Riker and Trista. After discussing the situation with her father, they decided not to rehash the events with Nicolette until she was better. Far better. And so Trista intended to keep her promise to not see Riker again. The day Nicolette started physical rehab, Trista left for New York City at the insistence of her father. She was lucky the producers let her keep the role, and she’d immediately started work as soon as she returned to the city.

She put the red roses on the side table opposite of her dressing table. She situated herself in the makeup chair and waited for Darby to work his magic. “I can’t think about some secret admirer sending me roses right now. I need you to make me beautiful while I go over my lines one more time,” she said. She lifted her face toward the ceiling and waited.

“Honey, you’re already gorgeous. And if you don’t already know those lines, then you’re screwed.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“Thirty minutes to show time!” a voice said through an intercom system.

“I know you’ll be fine.” Darby finished touching up her makeup and added a spritz of body glitter. Trista stood up, twirling around in her red dress and black-sequin pumps. “You look fabulous,” he added.

Trista blew him a kiss and headed out to the stage. A few minutes later, she was ready for the opening night to begin. Taking a deep breath as the curtain slowly ascended, she got a glimpse of the audience before they turned the spotlight on her. Her best friend Quinn sat in the front row, in the reserved spot Trista had arranged for her. Quinn had visited Nicolette in the hospital and helped Trista move her things to New York. She was there for her every step of the way, and for that, Trista was grateful. She was still a little disappointed that her dad and Madeline couldn’t make it, but she knew that Nicolette needed them more right now.

Giving a small smile to Quinn, Trista focused her attention on the rest of the audience. As soon as the spotlight hit her Trista would speak the first line of the play. But a split second before the light blinded her from the audience, she saw him. Sitting a few rows directly behind Quinn. At first she thought she was seeing things. How could she ever forget that dimpled smile, those inquisitive, blue eyes, and the way he cocked his head to the side when he was really concentrating on something? Like he was now. She blinked a few times, but she could no longer see past the front row. Her heart thudded loudly against her chest. The audience was deafeningly quiet, everyone waiting for her to speak.

All she could think about was Riker.

Author Note: To read more of Trista and Riker’s story, look for the second installment of The Blue Mountain Beach series,
Sunswept
, coming soon (Oct 2014).  

TRACI HOHENSTEIN is the #1 Amazon international bestselling author of the Rachel Scott series, which includes
Look for Me
,
Asylum Harbor
,
Burn Out
, and
Cut & Run
. She lives in Florida with her husband and three children. Please visit tracihohensteinbooks.com.

Rachel Scott Series

Look for Me

Asylum Harbor

Burn Out

Cut & Run

Deceptive Measures
(Coming Feb 2015)

Hollywood Hills Novellas

Special Delivery

Split Decision

Sinfully Delicious

Blue Mountain Beach Series

Sunkissed

Sunswept 
(Coming Oct 2014)