Page 7 of Scandalous Lover

She’s perceptive and insightful, offering her views on the world in the kindest ways. I hate to say it, but she’s nothing like I would have imagined when I thought of little Naomi all grown up. She seems to have avoided a lot of the spoiled rich girl entitlement attitude that I see every day at The Sands.

She’s…great.

Too great.

I should probably get out of here.

“Wanna get out of here?” she asks, reading my mind.

“I was just thinking that. I’ve had a really good time tonight, Naomi, I hope?—”

“I mean, like, with me.”

I just stare.

She laughs at what must be an incredibly stupid look on my face. “Do you want to come back to my place? It’s pretty nice. Could be nicer than your hotel room. Definitely less lonely.”

Oh, dang. Here it is. The moment of truth. “I…”

She waits.

“I’m not sure that’s?—”

“I’ll never tell anyone.”

And there it is.

Once those words leave her lips, I have no choice but to face the hard truth. The only thing preventing me from jumping on this opportunity like a kid at Christmas is the idea that someone might find out.

I can’t risk it.

“Naomi,” I start, but the woman’s already ten steps ahead of me.

“I get it. It would be weird if anyone found out. Maybe it’s kind of weird anyway. You probably remember when I was born…not that anyone could ever forget that.” She glances down at the back of her phone again as if considering checking it before bringing her piercing gaze back to mine. “But that’s ancient history. We’re adults. We’re single. We’re in a city where no one who knows anything about our past is going to barge in. It’s totally safe.”

I must not look convinced because she blazes on. “I’m not even suggesting that anything is going to happen. I’m just inviting you back to see my place. As friends. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

I want to hold out a bit longer, just so I can tell myself later that I did, but part of me is concerned she’s going to bail if I don’t agree soon.

And, while that would be preferable, it’s not what I want.

“Okay.”

Her face lights up. “Okay.” She does check her phone then, tapping quickly, before placing it face down on the table. “I just called an Uber. They’ll be here in,” another quick peek at the screen, “three minutes.”

I nod, impressed with the efficiency of the transportation system here in the real world. It’s easy to forget how normal people live when you spend all your time in la-la land.

When a silver Prius pulls up, I take a deep breath and follow her into the backseat.

ChapterFour

Sam

The car drops us off in front of a tall, white building surprisingly close to where we were just eating.

“We could have walked.”

Naomi shrugs. “I didn’t want you to have enough time to talk yourself out of coming over.”

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