“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said with a laugh.
“Next time we’re near here,” he said as she felt his arm go around her, “we’ll stay at my place.”
She tried to act like it wasn’t the bombshell it felt like; she knew Jason had to have some kind of apartment, but she’d never heard him talk about it; his brother’s place in Briarwood, sure.But his?
“I mean…” he continued, pulling her close as if he felt he’d done something weird or wrong.“You know.If that’s a thing you want.”
“Really?”she said, trying to act nonchalant.“I mean that would be cool.”
“Thought you’d think so,” he said.“Especially if we’re doing something down here and, you know, we just want to relax.”
“I like it.”
And she did.She liked the idea that he’d begun the process of bringing her into his life, into his spaces and boundaries since he’d so thoroughly made himself at home in hers.
She was excited to see what the future would bring.
*
I like it.
Jason hadn’t meant to include his apartment in conversations with Naomi at that point, but when he impulsively said it, she didn’t object.Even more, it boggled him that he hadn’t mentioned it before.
Naomi’s reaction was perfect, though; the way she fell into the idea of spending more time with him in his spaces as well as hers.He liked hearing the words as much as the feeling of what those words did to him.
But there were some things he needed to know, and he figured he wasn’t going to learn them if he didn’t ask.“It’s just us having brunch with your cousin and Samuel, who she fake-dated?”
The sound of her laugh made him smile.
“Yes,” she said.“They’ve been dating for a bit less than a year, I think.However much of it was fake, who knows, but they’re dating for real now.”
She was a bit more relaxed.Which was good.That had been his goal, after all.Now he got to the question he really wanted to know the answer to.“So…your sister isn’t going to be there?”
“No,” she said.“She’s not.She and her boyfriend aren’t coming.”
“Too bad,” he said.“It would have been cool to see his take on the situation.”
Naomi shook her head, her eyes dancing in a way that made him smile.“Again.The whole idea of this is tokeepinformation from people, not share it.”
“Which is true, although…”
“Yes?”she asked, sounding a little too skeptical for his taste.
“If you want to avert a crisis, the best person to have on your side is a crisis PR guy.That dude is scary.”
She laughed.“You’re right.You’re absolutely right.A good guy but wow.”
Jason understood exactly what Naomi was getting at.Artur could be intimidating; heck, he’d played poker with the man and managed to tell the tale.“Where does Leah live?”
“Upper midtown.Do you want to take the subway or drive?”
“My car’s actually—” He stopped and looked around, because the timing was too perfect.He pointed.“There.”It was a random parking lot, but he liked it.The added benefit being the main attendants all liked his knishes, and he made sure he brought them some at least once a month when his car was there.“It’s why I thought about it.”
“You think you can get a parking spot by my cousin’s place?”
“Upper midtown?”He thought about it, then shook his head.“Not worth it,” he said.“It’s not far enough to risk it.Let’s take the subway.”
“Better choice,” she said.“You’ll drive me somewhere fun later.”
