And then it was her turn to take a risk.“I like the fact that you’re trusting me with your spaces,” she said.“The ones you take comfort from.”
He smiled even brighter, as if she’d correctly answered a question she didn’t know she was being asked.
“I’m glad you picked up on that,” he said as they headed into his building.“I’m doing my best to let you in, like you let me in, you know?”
She nodded.She did.
“I want you in my apartment,” he continued as he pulled her close as they got into the elevator.“I want to know what it’s like when I smell you on my sheets, and my towels.I want to cook for you in my kitchen.”
They way he’d already done in hers, the way it felt to see him in her spaces.
He was telling that he wanted those feelings too, but more specifically, he wantedher.
And when she kissed him just in front of the doorway to his apartment, it felt like coming home in a way that wasn’t so terrifying, unlike so many times with so many others before.The feel of Jason’s lips, the feel of his hands in her hair, grounded her and brought her back down to earth in a way that made her feel she was in orbit.
What was this?
Was this love?Was this physical attraction and need?
All she knew, for right then, was that she didn’t want to leave, and she definitely didn’t want it to end.
Chapter Fifteen
Tuesday, May 6th
Early the nextmorning, Jason rolled over, kissed Naomi and said one of the most important words he could think of.“Bagels?”
“Yes please,” she said with a grin.
“I’ll take a run and grab some.Stay in bed.Stay warm and then do what you need to, and I’ll be back.”
Fueled by excitement and a desire to see Naomi eat bagels in his kitchen, Jason took a quick shower, threw on sweats, a T-shirt he’d picked up on his trip and his favorite running sneakers and headed out.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to go far; one of the benefits of his address was very easy access to his favorite bagel shop.
People looked down on the famous bagel place on the Lower East Side, complaining that it had leaned into the tourism culture.However, as someone who spent his life surrounded by the ebbing nature of Ashkenazi heritage food, the fact that this huge, historic bagel shop still existed blew his mind.
And that the flagship was still in the store’s original space?Blew it even more.
He opened the door to Baum’s heritage shop, and he was suddenly enveloped with the smell of bagels: the flavors, the dough, all of everything.
He’d also set off the very traditional bell attached to the door.
Which meant a quick run for bagels was turned into a few hours behind the counter, and a very quick text to Naomi, telling her he’d be much later than he’d planned.
I’ll wait for you and for bagels,her text read.
He laughed, but not too much when it turned out Lev’s girlfriend had been responsible for him being pulled up behind the counter as, no less, acelebrity bagel maker.
“Ixnay on the celebrity,” he’d told her with a laugh.The very last thing he wanted was more people trading on a reputation that he was trying to fix.Or at least manage.
Not to mention, the meeting with the New York family was growing ever closer.
But Lev’s girlfriend, Baum’s social media queen, grinned at him.“You’ve been in the papers.How could I not?”
He didn’t have the energy before coffee to debate with her; it had been one paper, and it wasn’t even one of the good ones.Whatever that meant these days.
Instead of a rant, or a dispute, he rolled his eyes, took a few orders and then grabbed his bagels as he was heading out of the store.Only to hear a very familiar voice.
