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14
Jase
A night spent having the best, hottest sex of my life and even now, hours later, I was still weak in the legs. I’d have to push through, though, because I was on the way to the catalogue wrap party.
Kelly and I had spent the morning having breakfast in bed, and then having each other. Whatever lingering reservations she had about crossing some imaginary line disappeared somewhere around her third or fourth orgasm. Something had shifted, then. She opened up more, deepening our connection…and not just the physical one.
My Uber arrived at Benton’s Restaurant, the venue where the party was being held, and I hurried inside. Secretly, I was nervous. Not because I was about to see Kelly again after leaving her just a few hours ago, but because I planned on asking her out on an official date and there was always a possibility that she would say no.
The wrap party was taking place in a ballroom at the back of the restaurant. It was a spacious room, bigger than I thought we needed for the twelve authors in the boxed set, plus Lani, Leonard, me and Kelly.
A half dozen round tables were situated on the far right side of the room. The tablecloths draped over them were black with a red runner down the center, which matched the red chair covers. Multi-colored balloons were positioned all over the place and music was playing from somewhere in the room. There was a long, rectangular table in the corner with a buffet spread out on it.
Wow. The authors had really gone all out for this thing. Speaking of the authors, a handful of them were standing on the left side of the room, near the punch table, filling their glasses and carrying on an animated conversation.
I spotted Leonard as he entered the ballroom and got up to meet him. We were the only two dudes here, so far.
“Jase!” he exclaimed in his usual bubbly manner. “It has been such a pleasure working with you and Kelly.” He stopped and searched the room for her.
“She’s not here yet,” I said, trying to keep the nervousness out of my voice. I couldn’t wait to ask her out on an official date.
“Ah. Well, I’d better go say hello to Lani and the rest of the gang. Catch you in a bit!”
Leonard walked off and I made my way to the food table. I was trying to decide what to eat when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I glanced behind me, finding just the person I wanted to see: Kelendria.
Turning around, I stepped into her personal space. She was wearing some strappy red heels that put us almost eye to eye for once.
“Kelendria.”
“Jase.”
We grinned stupidly at each other for a second, neither of us saying anything.
Casting a furtive glance around the room, Kelly said, “Last night was…amazing.”
“It was the best,” I countered, holding her eyes so that she would know I really meant it. She ducked her head shyly and I knew that under her beautiful dark skin, she was blushing.
“There you are! The woman and man of the hour!”
Paloma walked up and hugged Kelly, then me. She had a drink in her hand that was filled to the brim.
“Here we are,” Kelly replied happily. She loved hanging with authors, especially being an avid reader herself. She’d confessed it to me during one of the fifteen-minute breaks we’d taken last night, so I could recover enough to go another round. “Thank you so much for throwing us this wrap party!”
Paloma slurped her drink down and waved a hand in the air, signaling that it was nothing.
“No, thank you both for being such good sports about everything and taking all our suggestions and implementing them. I can’t wait to show you the complete catalogue later on tonight. Leonard did a remarkable job!”
“The catalogue is finished already?” I asked, excited about seeing the final product.
Paloma nodded.
“Yes. Leonard’s going to hook up a projector in a bit and display it as a slideshow.”
I grinned. “Nice! I can’t wait.”
Paloma returned my smile. “Anyway, I just wanted to come say hello. When you guys have a second, there are a few authors that I want to introduce you to—the ones you didn’t get to meet over the past few weeks—as well as an author who just joined the set, last minute.”
Kelly, the book lover that she was, looked like she wanted to run off with Paloma right this second, but I needed to talk to her first.
