“Absolutely.”
He watched as she walked away before turning off of her block and heading toward Manhattan, the thought of seeing her in the morning urging him home.
Chapter Twelve
Wedding scavenger hunt (N)
Object 4: A signed contract from the event designer
Debrief 2 (J): How do you use different facets of your skill set in order to take advantage of new opportunities?
Monday, May 5th
It felt sostrange not being with Jason, smelling his scent, seeing his suitcase and him…not being in her apartment.Which is why Naomi was strangely thrilled that he’d not offered to stay overnight.Or offered to come up, bring down her suitcase and his to his car and his apartment…that night.
A night apart would force her to examine her own feelings.Especially and specifically the way she’d reacted to his mere presence since he’d gotten back to New York.Not to mention, the man had spent more days than anybody, except for Livvy, scraping her off the floor.
She reminded herself that she was a strong woman, capable of solving her problems and creating a new business for herself, as she’d gotten into bed, clutching the T-shirt he’d left behind.
Of course, she dreamed about Jason, his body, his smell, the way he moved around her kitchen.The smell of his favorite cologne and deodorant.The precise way he made coffee, and his refusal to spill any of his secrets.
All of this did not make her feel any better when she practically jumped into his arms when he arrived the next morning.“Would I be ridiculous if I told you it felt weird that you weren’t here?”
In the silence that followed the rush of words coming out of her mouth, she wanted to kick herself.“Anyway,” she said, shoving herself into the space where some words…any words would be.“Do you want me to get the suitcase, or do you want to?”
“Naomi.”
Jason’s hands settled on her shoulders, his fingers massaging muscles that she didn’t realize were exhausted.
She practically lost herself in the moment and the motion before she realized she had to speak.“Yes?”
“Do you realize how difficult it was to drag myself away from you last night?”he said.“But I didn’t want you to walk into my apartment for the first time…right whenIwas going into it for the first time in months.I wanted it at the very least to be not stuffy, and at most to be welcoming, somewhere you’d want to come back to.”
Suddenly, the stress left her muscles.He wanted to see her; he wanted her to come back to his place, not just that night but others too.She smiled.“No, not ridiculous.”
“Not ridiculous at all,” he said.“And I’d show you how not ridiculous it was, but aren’t we on a bit of a time crunch?”
She nodded.“Right.I need to make the call, and we need coffee and…”
“You can make the call from my place,” he said.“We’ll grab breakfast between the garage and my apartment.”
“With my bag and your suitcase?”
Jason laughed.“It’s Manhattan.They’ve probably seen everything.And,” he said with a grin, “I’ve been to this place a billion times, and so they’ll take the bags to the back room.Help out a bit.”
“Is it a far walk from the garage?”
Jason shook his head.“No.Not really.And,” he continued, the smile on his face as bright as the sun, “they’ve got great food and even better coffee.”
Which in Naomi’s mind was the best recommendation he could give.“That works for me,” she said, knowing in her gut that a new chapter was about to begin.“Lead the way.”
*
As usual, breakfastwas exactly what he’d expected, the kind of thing that would both excite and sate Naomi at the same time.
And then he led her down the street toward his apartment, through the door, the tiny hallway toward the ancient elevator that creaked when it moved.To the fifth floor of the building, and down the hall.
He could still smell the cleaning spray he’d used as they got closer to his apartment; he’d used copious amounts of cleaning products and tons of paper towel rolls, as well as a whole bottle of dusting spray and about three different vacuum bags.
