Last Call
by Alice Clayton
Published by Gallery Books
Book 4.5 in the Cocktail series
Simon and Caroline are back for another round of baking, banging, and big life changes.
Settling in, but never settling down, Caroline has finally struck a balance between the professional and the personal. As one of the top interior designers in San Francisco, she travels all over Northern California between nook time with Simon.
Perpetual globetrotter Simon has cut his frequent flyer miles in half over the last year, preferring to balance his professional and personal life, as well.
The next step in their lives seems preordained—toasts, veils, and the aisle of rose petals. But when an accident on a photo shoot in Southeast Asia brings Caroline the most terrifying phone call she could ever imagine, she has to ask whether “till death do us part” is a more realistic prospect than faces most couples.
It’s been a grand adventure, and Caroline and Simon wouldn’t go out without the best surprise ending ever. One part sexy, one part laughter, a dash of exotic locales, and one pink nightie, mixed with passion, and you’ve got Last Call. Served with a side of Clive.
RATED: 18+ CATEGORY: MOOD:
Steamy Contemporary Romance Very funny & Sweet
Last Call is a novella in the Cocktail series, once again centering on our Wallbanging couple - Caroline and Simon. Both are successful - despite Simon cutting his travel time in half - and everyone is growing up. With friends getting married, and having babies, it feels right for Caroline and Simon to take the next step in their relationship - marriage. With Caroline and Simon losing control over their wedding plans, both are stressed. But when Simon is injured during a photo shoot in Vietnam, Caroline knows one thing - she wants to marriage, not the wedding. She just wants him.
I think it was a good idea to end the series with a novella featuring Simon and Caroline. It's not as if we don't see or hear about them in the other books, but it's nice to go back to the start, and see these two finally tie the knot. It's a short read, but one that had me teared up in some parts, and smiling by the end. I think one of the reasons I liked it so much, was because I related to it. Much like Simon and Caroline, I ended up with a wedding that wasn't my own. I look back, and I mean, I liked my wedding. I just didn't love it. --------------> Caroline and Simon's wedding(s) were much more my style, and what I was looking for to be honest <---------.
If you love Simon and Caroline, you will love this sweet, emotional, and of course, fun novella, that finally see's the two of them together.
Caroline and Simon eating cake while giving each other oral in the back of a limo
Neil stealing the work van to get to Sophia who is in labor
Marry me.
The guys freaking out because the baby won't stop crying
Caroline planning the private wedding after Simon's accident
Simon giving Caroline his mother's earrings
Their backyard reception
Thump. Thump Thump.
Ryan: "I love you too, sweet girl. I also can't wait for our honeymoon. I'm going to throw you down on that bed and peel that dress off of you as fast as I can. I can't wait to fuck my wife."
Mimi: "Uh, sweetie? The girls are in here."
Ryan: "Shit."
Sophia and Caroline: "Hi, Ryan."
Ryan: "Shit."
Caroline: "I can't believe you're pregnant again. Willian isn't even six months old!"
Viv: "I know, I know! But Clark's got, like superman sperm or something. I can't explain it. I just enjoy it."
Clark: "Vivian!"
Clark admonished, his cheeks turning pink as he shook his head at her.
Clark: "One can share news without sharing everything."
Viv: "One can share anything she likes, when she's the one with bun in her very pretty oven."
Simon: "Marry me."
A statement. Not a question. It came again.
Simon: "Marry. Me."
His eyes burned into mine.
I breathed in, my ears ringing. My pulse sped up, my heart raced, I was trying to remember exactly what breathing meant. I was wet, and I was gasping.
Simon: "I want you. I want that, what they had today. I want it all, and I want it with you. I want you, want you to be my wife. I've got a ring, I'll give it to you right now if you'll say yes.
I had this all planned out, so much smoother and romantic and everything you deserve. But my head's been spinning since yesterday, when I saw my best friend steal a van to go meet his new family. And all I want, all I've every wanted, is exactly that. Exactly you. And when I walked up those stairs, and heard the shower go on, and knew you were in here all naked and wet and waiting for me, I knew I couldn't wait another day, another hour, another minute, without asking you to be my wife. So. Marry. Me."
Caroline: "I can't believe ... you asked me ... to marry you ..."
I panted as he thrust hard.
Simon: "Believe it, babe."
he murmured, rolling us both so that I was perched on top of him.
Caroline: "I can't believe ... how lucky ... I am ..."
I panted once more, getting into my rhythm.
Simon: "Wrong."
He sat up underneath me, driving deeper into my body.
Simon: "I'm the lucky one."
I gasped, he groaned, and my hips went wild.
Caroline: "I can't believe ... you're going to be ... Simon ... Reynolds ..."
Yeah, I got rolled over for that one.
Caroline: "I can't stop looking at my ring."
Simon: "I can't stop looking at it either."
Caroline: "That's sweet, babe."
Simon: "Of course, I'm usually looking at your tits, so this ring stuff is kind of cutting into that time."
Caroline: "That's weird, babe."
Simon: "Have you told anyone yet?"
Caroline: "Hasn't really been time. I've been too busy fucking my fiancé since it happened."
Simon: "That's literally the sexiest thing you've ever said to me."
