‘Yum,’ Naomi said. ‘But first I need to head to Macy’s for my coat.’
‘There are stores other than Macy’s.’
‘No, it has to be that one.’
‘Why?’
‘So that when I’m asked where I got my gorgeous coat, I won’t sound pretentious by saying New York. I’ll just say Macy’s, but they’ll know.’
‘I see.’ He didn’t. ‘If you can wait five minutes, I’m leaving. I can have my driver drop you there.’
‘But I want to walk.’
She had no idea the size of the place, Abe thought. ‘Walk once you have a coat.’
Naomi knew she should say no to his offer, just as she had with Barb.
And that she should keep as much distance as possible between them and remind herself to shield her heart, because this crush on Abe was blowing up in her chest like a bouncy castle inflating. And, yes, away from him she was wary, but when they spoke, when he looked right at her all the warnings tumbled away and she just fell into conversation with him, forgot that she was usually awkward around men, and she forgot too to feel big and clumsy.
The rules Naomi generally lived by did not seem to apply when she waswithAbe.
‘Okay,’ she conceded with a smile. ‘While you’re there, you could get something for Ava.’
‘I’ve already given the baby a present and...’ He halted. Abe had been about to point out that his driver would be taking her to Macy’safterhe’d been dropped off at work, but now that he thought about it a couple of hours off sounded appealing. Khalid was expecting him to call and, Abe decided, a well-timed unexplained absence might be in order to remind the Sheikh who was boss!
He drained his coffee. ‘Come on, then.’
* * *
As they were driven, it was nice to take a familiar route with someone who was so excited byeverything. Even tiny things like overhead traffic lights got a mention. ‘It looks just like I’d imagined it but better,’ Naomi said.
‘It looks just like it always does,’ Abe said, but he did pull his eyes away from his tablet and stopped scrolling through the mountain of emails that had accumulated overnight and stared out at the city he loved.
The horses and carriages were all lined up, and the streets were bustling.
‘I fell asleep on the way from the airport,’ Naomi explained, ‘so I didn’t see anything yesterday.’
And now he regretted not going yesterday to meet her and sending a car instead.
Abe didn’t do regret, yet for a second there he did. Not that she let him linger in it—Naomi had far too many questions.
‘Have you done your Christmas shopping?’ she asked.
‘I don’t do all that.’
‘What, you do it online?’
‘No, I don’t do it online. I just don’t do Christmas. Well, there’s the Christmas Eve ball and I give Jessica, my PA, a weekend away, but that’s about it.’
She was appalled. ‘What about your father? Surely you get him a present?’
‘What could he possibly need?’ Abe asked, but as she opened her mouth he got there first. ‘I’ll think of something.’
‘Good.’
‘What do you want for Christmas?’ Naomi asked.
‘Peace and quiet,’ Abe said, and, to her credit, she laughed. ‘We’re here.’