Standing in Jason’sapartment for the first time made Naomi glow.Being trusted to enter a space that had been so important to him and seeing the things he valued was a feeling she didn’t take lightly.
He looked adorably nervous in a way she wasn’t used to seeing.She wanted to comfort him, but that was just this side of ridiculous.Instead, she smiled.“Thank you for letting me in,” she said.“To this space of yours.”
“The pleasure is mine,” he replied.
And she could see where this was going: off the rails, off the track and back into that bedroom with the bed that looked ridiculously comfortable.“I don’t mean to halt things immediately, but…”
“Yes,” Jason said, taking a step back, shoving his hands in his pockets.“We have business to do.”
“Yep.”Naomi paused, taking her bearings, reaching for the ever-running mental to-do list.
Focus, Naomi.
Focus.
What was next on that famous checklist?
What did she have to do?
They had a meeting, but when?
And that’s what was missing.“I need to call Max Parker-Roth and figure out timing,” she said, following him to the couch, sitting down next to him.
Jason nodded.“Go ahead,” he said.
She smiled and pulled her phone from her purse, pressing the speaker button on her phone before dialing the number she’d gotten from Tom the night before.
One…
Two…
“Hello?”
Instantly, she grabbed onto her business mode; she was the owner of NN Events, not just Naomi Nachman.“Is this Max Parker-Roth?”
There was a pause.“Yes?”
“This is Naomi Nachman,” she said, pushing forward, keeping focused on the endgame, “and I’ve got Jason Greenblatt with me.Tom Walker said to call you?”
“Yes,” Parker-Roth said, the sudden realization racing through his voice, before a slight laugh.“You saved his butt last night by filling the hole that I not so casually left behind.I’m in your debt.What can I do?”
Naomi grinned.“You can help stage a wedding.”
“Oooh,” Parker-Roth said excitedly.“Excellent.That sounds like so much fun.”
Jason raised an eyebrow, and Naomi desperately tried not to laugh at Jason’s sudden infusion of skepticism before pulling herself back together.“Have you done this before?”
“I’ve done a book signing; how hard can this be?”
Now it was Jason who was desperately trying not to laugh; Naomi herself had to hold her tongue to keep from saying something that would give her away.
“Clearly I’m kidding,” Parker-Roth said into the silence.“Of course I’ll help.Do you have photos of the venue?And by venue, I mean where everything is taking place.I don’t mean a building if you’re not using one.”
Personalities.Meeting new people required learning new personalities and how to interact with them.Max Parker-Roth clearly had a singular one.
She needed to take a breath.
“We have photos,” she said, taking his words at face value.“Can I bring the photos and a contract to you this afternoon?”
