Then another caught breath escaped with a growl and she felt him fill her with his ecstasy. She took complete control of that moment, making sure she didn’t hold enough of his length to be uncomfortable receiving and swallowing, yet keeping up a subtle bliss-preserving movement as he rode the waves of his orgasm.
After he began to twitch from her continued attentions, Karli felt the complete helplessness of his collapse. She moved up the bed to lay on his chest, smiling. His eyes fluttered half-open and met hers. She saw a grin crease his face, in what looked like a mixture of dismay and appreciation.
“You have completely wrecked me,” he sighed. “I’ll never be any good for any other woman. So you’re going to be stuck with me.”
She had looked forward to, anticipated, craved this reunion. Yet Karli felt a momentary twinge of resistance, one formed by an entire career’s worth of refusing to let her personal life have any priority. She took a deep breath, and let herself feel Jake’s closeness, both physical and emotional.
The afterglow of her body and heart’s complete surrender flowed back through her with her breath, washing away the practiced refusal to commit. She released her feelings from the strict confinement of long repression, felt the warm embrace of Jake’s arms encircling her, laid her head on his shoulder, took a deep inhalation of his familiar spicy scent, and realized that she couldn’t imagine ever being with anyone else, either.
“Jake,” Karli asked in a sudden and surprisingly serious tone. “When did you start loving me? I mean, once we got going, I can get that it was nice enough to keep going along, but what got you interested in the first place?”
Jake’s smile beamed at Karli through the darkness. He plumped up a pillow for Karli’s head, then they positioned themselves next to one another on the bed, legs entwined and face to face. “I don’t recall some special moment when Cupid’s arrow pierced my heart and I suddenly adored you and couldn’t think of anything else. Honestly, we were kind of tangled together with work and affection and everything before I even understood that I was falling for you.”
“But I wasn’t exactly nice to you when we started working together. And you were definitely not nice to me. Are you attracted to mean girls or what?”
Jake chuckled into his pillow and ran his fingers through Karli’s short hair. “No. Mean girls do nothing for me. But intelligent women, strong women—they get my motor running. And you are more than just intelligent and strong. You are empathetic. You connect with people. That’s evident in your work, and that attracted me. And you are singularly passionate—”
Jake was interrupted when Karli slugged his shoulder. “So you fell for me because we shag well together? That’s why you love me? Really? Because if that’s it, you’re as shallow as every other guy on the planet.”
Jake laughed again. “I was talking about your passion for your work and for the stories you tell, silly. That passion and intensity makes you amazingly attractive.”
Then he paused and his voice deepened. “But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that you are sexy like no woman I’ve ever been with.” He breathed deeply, then bent forward to whisper in her ear. “I very nearly passed out just now. And you make me faint and dizzy so often.
You have a sexual intensity that’s just... it’s... it’s utterly different and more amazing than I ever thought making love could be. And I think that it has to be because it’s... because it’s you. You’re so passionate and I feel so connected with you. I damn near have an orgasm every time you do just because it’s so intense to be with you and see how beautiful and amazing you are.”
Karli leaned back from his whispering. put her hand to his cheek and whispered in return, “It’s just the same for me, you know. Your creativity is amazing, and your stuff was so good it pushed me to do my best work ever.”
“And I’ve never felt such intense pleasure in bed before. It’s as big as the difference between high-school kissing and actually having sex. It’s mind-blowing. No other guy could ever reach that standard.”
Then she heaved a sigh, rolled onto her back and asked the ceiling, “How are we going to tell my father? And not just that I’m not marrying into Charleston society, but that we’re not going to be moving there?”
“Probably not in a text,” Jake laughed.
Epilogue
Coda Lounge, Savery Hotel
Saturday, July 19
“Here’s to happy reunions!” Bailey smiled and raised her glass toward Karli.
“To reunions!” Mary Rose cheered, downing a shot of something.
“I’m thrilled to be back with you guys,” Karli responded after sipping her Amaretto Stone Sour.
“That’s BS,” Mary Rose blurted. “You’re thrilled to be back with the sexy Jake-man. You’re mildly pleased to be back with us.” She quirked an eyebrow at Karli, daring her to contradict.
“Of course she’s thrilled to be with us,” Bailey cut in. “Who else can she count on to have her back during all the wedding planning?”
“Wedding planning?” Karli fairly shrieked. “He hasn’t even proposed yet!”
“Oh, not yet?” Mary Rose smirked. “So it’s just a matter of what—weeks? And then we’ll have to shoulder the burden of putting together a completely epic bachelorette party.” Her gaze drifted to the distance as she began to envision what exactly that party would look like.
“Oh, Mary Rose,” Bailey said. “Cupcakes with penis candles and everything?”
“No penis anythings!” Karli said. “When my college friends had those parties, they’d get all boozed up and penis-obsessed and then do stuff they don’t want to remember.” She shivered at the memories. “And the guys they hire for those parties—I wish I could laser those helicopter moves they do completely out of my memory!”
“Helicopters with piercings!” Mary Rose cheered, draining her beer and gesturing for another round. “C’mon, you two! That stuff is so hilarious. And you need to get your blood flowing a little for the glorious wedding night when you lose your virginity to your new husband.” She paused momentarily, then looked at Karli with feigned concern. “You are a virgin, aren’t you?”
“It can be fun to have men completely focused on you having a good time,” Bailey mused. “We just need to figure out a way to make it not collegiate-trashy.”
“Guys,” Karli sighed. “I’m not even engaged. Jake and I haven’t talked about anything more than living together.”
“How are you going to stay a virgin if you’re living in the same house all alone with your future husband?” Mary Rose asked.
“We could have a nice house-warming party,” Karli offered. “Just like an actual party with men and women eating and drinking and talking and stuff.”
“Oh my freaking lordy!” Mary Rose cried when she saw Bailey nodding. “You two are so dull! What’s the good in having Karli come back if we’re going to have crappy parties and no pierced helicopters?”
Bailey tilted her head very slightly to the side, considering. “You know,” she said, “we could do a really sexy triple-date thing. You know, dress killer and hit a fancy restaurant and catch live music and stuff.”
“Do we all get naked together at the end?” Mary Rose asked, her eyes opening wide.
Karli and Bailey together said, “No!”
“And who is my date, anyway?” Mary Rose went on. “And who is your date, Bailey?”
Now it was Karli’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you bring Mr. Dark and Handsome himself, Scott Winstead, the wildly sexy weekend anchor you’ve been secretly pining after at least since my very first day at Three NewsFirst?”
“Karli, you’ve done what I thought was impossible,” Bailey said, looking carefully at Mary Rose’s face. “You’ve made our girl actually blush!”
“Jake is amazing in a tux,” Karli said. “And I’ll bet Mary Rose would knock Scott right on his ass in a real dress and jewelry and make-up.”
Karli and Mary Rose turned together to face Bailey. “Who is you
r date?” they asked together.
“Oh,” Bailey shrugged. “A sort of long-distance on-again off-again boyfriend is going to be coming to Des Moines this month. You’ll have to meet him.”
Thank you for reading Love. Local. Latebreaking. If you enjoyed it, we would be deeply grateful if you would take a moment to leave a review at your favorite retailer.
Love. Local. Latebreaking. is to be available in e-book format and audiobook format through Amazon, Audible, Apple, and other online retailers.
The Three NewsFirst team will be back soon in Traffick Report. You can find updates at my website: hlaurencelareau.com.
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About the Author
H. Laurence Lareau met his wife 30 years ago in a midwestern television newsroom. He lives with her and varying numbers of their four (some more or less adult) children in downstate Illinois. In addition to his day job and writing, he has spent the last several decades trying to become good at martial arts and singing.
Love. Local. Latebreaking.: Book 1 in the newsroom romance series Page 31