She leaned her forehead to his, letting out a shaky breath of laughter as she slowly shook her head. His grin looked good from this angle, as he stole another quick kiss.
“VIP pickup complete,” the pilot murmured into his radio, reminding them they weren’t truly alone just yet. “Transfer in progress.”
Ahead, the city unspooled in reflections. The little boat cut through them all, swift and silent, while the Matzo Baller sailed on behind them, carrying its noise and glitter into the dark,
It already felt like another world.
Her feet were freezing. The lost Louboutin – the one with Kara’s carefully-drawn map on its red sole – bobbed somewhere behind them. Maybe sinking, maybe not…its absence felt like a mark of no return.
The other shoe sat cradled in Jonah’s lap.
The last bursts of the drone show shimmered against the underside of the bridges.
“Eli, that genius.” Jonah gave a low laugh. “He told me to watch for signs from above.”
“Gold?” She remembered his name from earlier. When she’d first tried the chocolate.
She had, miraculously, found her flame.
And, as Jonah had reminded her – her own flashlight in the dark.
The city seemed to rise to meet them within minutes, its reflection now flickering like candlelight on the water. The pilot nosed them past a bright ferry terminal toward a dimmer, smaller pier next to it.
“Service slip,” he advised. “Landing’s clear, but you’ll have to jump that last foot or so. Tide’s low.”
Jonah thanked him, palming the man what Tzipi could only imagine was a tip for the impromptu charter. Then climbed out first, his shoes thudding softly on the wet planks. He turned, reached for her. The boat dipped her into his arms, and he lifted her lightly until her bare feet met the dock.
The sound of car horns and a distant siren drifted from the road; carried on a much gentler wind. Land ho.
Tzipi smiled up at him, the kind of smile that started small and became unstoppable. His grin back was quick and bright. “Welcome to the East Side.”
Chapter Twenty
Rob - so sorry. My bodyguard, Ham, fell ill.
Not a lie.
I’ll be first off the boat.
Not a lie.
Can’t make the terminal. Will be in touch. - K
Chapter Twenty-One
If ever there was a time Jonah was grateful to live in Murray Hill, it was now. His apartment was just a hop, skip and a jump from the Midtown ferry landing at East 34th Street. Although he wasn’t hopping, skipping or jumping, because he was carrying a shoeless Tzipi.
She didn’t protest. In fact, he wondered if she had fallen asleep for the short ride. He could feel her cheek resting on his shoulder as his weary feet took them the five blocks south.
In the nine years of Matzo Baller tradition, he had never once brought a woman home after. Partied into the wee hours at a bar like Asher’s, or hit a club for a downtown afterparty, sure. And he had definitely never brought a girl home by piggyback. First time for everything.
“Is it called a walk of shame if you’re carrying me?”
Her drowsy voice roused a smile out of him.
“Getting a little ahead of yourself there, tiger.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t have game. He just didn’t have a game plan beyond getting a two-hour head start on Rob and the media. And getting her inside somewhere safe.
