I gulped. “How am I going to get through those now?”
“Hopefully, with grace and confidence, as always. I’ll be waiting for you after. Like this.” She stared down at me. “Now kiss me like you mean it.”
“Not hard to do.” I kissed her mouth, her breasts, her thighs, and her center until her back arched and she lifted off the bed with pleasure, her body still the most gorgeous I’d ever seen.
“Back to you, Caroline,” I said, falling exhausted onto the bed with her laughter not far behind.
* * *
It felt like a sexy little oasis from the world, Carrie’s place. We met there late each night after stealing moments together throughout the day in the form of quiet, flirty conversations, stolen glances, and veiled emails. There was no policy against intra-office dating, but we decided to take our time before making any kind of obvious gestures.
Ty was onto us. But he was probably the most observant person I’d ever met, something I’d discovered over time. “Did you notice when you were interviewing that woman who bought the winning ticket that she was checking in with her husband about every fourth sentence?” Ty asked as we walked away from the home. “Gave me the willies.” Two weeks later and the same guy was jailed for domestic battery, and we were covering that story. Not only that, but when we were out in the field together, I noticed him offering subtle suggestions or nudges in directions I might take the story, never overbearing or overt. His suggestions were good ones.
I hopped back in the SUV after following up on another suspicion of his, this time about our current subject. “You were right. The doctor we interviewed is the same guy from the nightclub. He DJs on the weekends, and it’s totally going in the story.” We fist-bumped, and I once again owed my buddy, Ty.
“You can pay me in green Slurpees. Better be extra-large, too. I don’t want you showing up with miniature Slurpees, trying to get the same kinda credit.”
“Your requests are specific. Do you lie in bed thinking of these things, adamantly swearing off small Slurpees as you drift off? Does your wife know?”
“I know what I like.” He bopped my head as we drove back to the station to record my voice-over. “You in love with her?” he asked a few minutes later. Nope. He didn’t miss much.
I decided there was no use trying to hide or deny that I’d been seeing Carrie. “Um…I don’t know that we’re there. Yet.”
“Damn. You just said yet. This is serious.”
I shook my head slowly, pondering. “I think it could be.”
“Damn again.”
“It’s entirely new territory for me.” I turned to him. “You’re long-term married. What’s the secret to doing it right?”
“Don’t ask me. Pretty much just hurled myself onto Sandra’s front porch each morning and begged her to notice me. Still do that, only it’s my front porch now, too.”
“So I should not only figuratively throw myself at Carrie, but literally. Good tip.”
He paused, scratched the back of his head, and turned in total shock. “Did you say Carrie? Wait. We’re talking about our Carrie? McNamara. From the station?”
“Shut up. You know we were.” A feeling of dread hit. Had I just let the cat out of its extremely comfortable bag unnecessarily? “Didn’t you?”
He grinned. “I one hundred did. You’re just too easy.”
Relief struck. “Ty, one of these days I’m going to see you coming.”
“No, you won’t. My charm prevents it.” He did a shoulder dance, and I calmed the hell down.
In the meantime, my viral video continued to blow up. The clip recycled itself on Instagram and Twitter, and TikTok now had a reenactment duet happening, where the user could go back and forth with a clip of Lisette, playing the role of me. My horror had slowly shifted to acceptance and, finally, mild amusement. Let them have their fun. I could laugh along with them. And when I was recognized these days? It was by name. A very odd way to arrive on the map, via punching, but I was certainly there now, posing for selfies all over town, and still fielding interview requests at the national level.
“Hey, Skyler,” Kristin said, falling in step with me as I walked down the hall. “We’re trying to arrange a one-on-one with the mayor’s office about the new beach regulations. Get his responses to all the criticism on the record. His people have requested you, and we’re on board.”
I quirked an eyebrow and let that information settle. “Me? You just said they requested me?”
She laughed. “Do you think you’re up for it? It would be a big score. We can talk through strategy first.”
“Um, yeah. Of course I am, and I welcome all strategic talk.” This would be the most high-profile story of my career, and I didn’t want to screw it up. My head began to swim with not only questions, but the order in which to ask them, which I’d learned was just as important.
“Great,” Kristin said. “Come by my office in an hour, and we can have a work session. I’ll set the interview time for just after lunch. We’re hoping to have it for the ten, so a tight turnaround. I don’t want Channel Five scooping us. I’ll let Ty know.”
“Perfect.” I stared at her, wanting to spin down the hallway like Maria von Trapp on a mountain, but held on to my professionalism and instead nodded curtly at Rory, who I passed in the hallway. We were conservative colleagues, dammit, who were very serious. Not mountain-spinners. I slid into my desk chair with perhaps some extra energy, which pulled Carrie’s focus.
“Okay, what’s going on over there?” she asked, dragging the last word out.
I batted a strand of hair off my shoulder with a flourish. “Oh, nothing, except a sit-down with our very own mayor is teed up for air at ten. Today.”
“Get out. You’re on it?”
I nodded in exaggerated fashion. “They requested me. Face-Punch McGee over here. Why didn’t I get punched sooner? I really dropped the ball.”
“No one calls you that.”
“I do. In the mirror.”
She laughed. “This is amazing, though. Congratulations on the score.” She was beaming, which made this all the better. “I look forward to getting to toss to the piece. Your piece. I will try not to exude overt pride and scream and stomp like a cheerleader.”
“Definitely don’t applaud.”
“I’m considering it. I might need to.” She went back to her keyboard, paused, and turned back. “Yeah, I’m gonna.” Her blue eyes sparkled with amusement, and my heart filled with intense emotion from having her in my corner, the person who was quickly coming to mean more to me than anyone I’d ever been with, dated, or been attracted to. And yet, it was early. That was the scary part, trying to imagine what my feelings would be as time went on. Was there even room? I trembled a little through my smiling. Everything would be just fine, I told myself. Enjoy the journey and today’s victory.