NYC Artists 1 - In a Heartbeat

by Decker, Ally

  Now, she was too old to spend this much time thinking about a guy.

  When she got to Lion's Den, only Ed was there, in the staff room, running his hands over his head as he stared down some papers lying on his stretched legs as he sat hunched in his chair.

  "Hey," she greeted him. "You mind if I work here for a bit? I'll be quiet."

  It was mostly a courtesy ask, since Ed had told them time and time again they were free to hang out there off hours as long as they didn't touch his personal coffee blend he kept stashed in the little nook by his chair. Still, she had some manners.

  "Okay," he muttered, not even looking up at her.

  Okay then. Naomi wasn't looking for a conversation either, so she just settled on the couch with her tablet and opened up the latest poster. This time, it was a close-up of a man's neck, the jaw line adorning the top as if it was a crown, its blank, unmarked space almost shining in contrast to the dark designs on the skin below. At the bottom, the stark lines of the collarbones mirrored it, creating a frame for the art in between.

  If the jaw line and the collarbones looked like Elliot's, well… Nobody needed to know.

  She focused on the neck design, lines molding into the ones set by the body only to be interrupted a moment later with another leaf, another vine. It was a living, breathing jungle, full of darkness occasionally broken by the light.

  Just like a man.

  She barely noticed Ed getting up for another coffee, but she glanced up to nod her thanks when he put a mug in front of her.

  "You look awful," she blurted out before thinking and grimaced right after. "Sorry."

  He hesitated for a moment before shrugging and dropping next to her on the couch.

  "That's okay. I feel like it, anyway."

  "Anything I can help with?"

  "Do you have a few million lying around you want to invest?"

  "I wish."

  Ed sighed. "Yeah."

  "The negotiations aren't going well, I take it?"

  "They're not going to extend the lease." He sat forward and rested his forearms on his thighs. "Fuck. It's the first time I've said it out loud."

  Naomi put down her tablet and pulled up her knees to her chest. She'd been working here for ten months. It wasn't much for some people, but it was a lot for her. She hadn't planned on moving on so soon.

  You never learn, do you?

  "I don't want to lose any of you," Ed said, turning his head and catching her gaze. "I'm trying to figure things out. I'm looking for other venues, I've been talking to a realtor and a few banks. But as things stand, you have a right to know—I'm not sure what will happen come the end of April."

  Naomi didn't know what to say. She wanted to reassure Ed, tell him things would work out, but there was this alarm going off at the back of her head now, telling her to run.

  In the end, she did nothing. A moment later, Fiona came in and, after taking a look at the both of them, she took a deep breath, dragged the chair from the corner desk to face the couch and dropped down on it.

  "Okay. Talk to me."

  Naomi stared at Ed. It wasn't her news to share. Not to mention she still wasn't sure what to say to all of that, other than telling Ed she was quitting.

  "The owner of the building isn't going to extend our lease past April," Ed said, words coming out slowly, as if he had to drag them out by sheer force of will. "I just told Naomi that while I'm researching other options, I can't make any promises past April."

  Fiona looked at him for a long moment, glanced at Naomi, then back at him. "Okay. So we have until then to come up with a new place."

  "It's not that easy," Ed told her, regret lurking in his voice, making Naomi feel bad about focusing on herself in all this. Lion's Den was more than Ed's business. It was his dream coming true, his second home. She was a drifter who might be losing a current stop on her journey. He was a man who might face losing his everything. "But yes, that's the plan."

  Fiona nodded sharply, sitting straight. "Good." She raised her eyebrows at Ed. "I'm free tonight, I can check out the listings you have so far, if you want."

  "It's Saturday night," he pointed out, frowning, and Naomi groaned internally. These two were their own worst enemies, she could swear.

  But Fiona wasn't having it. She narrowed her eyes at Ed and repeated herself. "I'm free tonight and I can help, if you want."

  They stared at each other for another few seconds and then Ed nodded. "Sure, that would be great."

  "Great. It's settled, then." Fiona got up and moved the chair back to the desk. "Now come on, you have clients waiting."

  Naomi watched her go, unmoving, and then turned her head to see Ed staring after Fiona as well.

  "What the fuck am I doing?" he muttered, and Naomi wasn't sure if she was even supposed to hear it, but, tough shit. She heard it.

  "You could finally make a move, you know," she said, tilting her head towards where Fiona just disappeared to. "That would be something."

  Ed snorted, getting up. "I'm in enough mess already, I don't need more." Naomi opened her mouth to argue, but he shook his head. "This is possibly the worst time to do anything. If there was even something to be done."

  "Why is it never the right time?" she asked. As she said it out loud, she suddenly wasn't even sure she was still talking about him anymore.

  "Because life sucks, that's why."

  She didn't feel like arguing the point. She nodded.

  ***

  Naomi allowed herself to spend Saturday night feeling sorry for herself and then on Sunday, she sat down to brainstorm her options. Since it was almost the end of January, that left her three months of job security and a big question mark after that.

  Her current best option was staying at Lion's Den, but whether Ed would find a new place for them was outside of her control.

  Plan B was finding a new local parlor, perhaps temporarily if the Den would re-open at the later date. The advantage of that was staying in New York and continuing her life here. She wasn't ready to leave this city behind yet. She'd made friends, she'd met Elliot… And sure, she couldn't predict what was going to happen between them and she definitely wasn't going to turn into her mother whose whole purpose in life seemed to be following her husband around the country and the globe. But Naomi also shouldn't just ignore Elliot in her various plans. Not a priority, just a variable. She thought that was reasonable.

  Another option was looking into other cities around the country. She could reach out to some of her old contacts, the parlors she'd used to work at, people she'd connected with at expos or conventions. This was a plan that was the most familiar of them all, as she'd done it every year or two since she'd turned eighteen and left the military housing behind. But although the most familiar, it was also the one she didn't want to have to turn to this time around. In the past, she'd always known when the time was right and it had always been her decision to leave. Now, she felt forced into it. The dread in the pit of her stomach she hadn't felt in well over a decade was now back. The only difference was, she actually had a say in things now.

  A text from Elliot came in the early afternoon, as she was done with a list of her contacts here in the city and moved onto the similar list of people outside New York.

  If someone ever warned us when we were pre-med about the amount of paperwork we'll have to do as doctors, I'm pretty sure half of us wouldn't be here. Myself included.

  Then, a moment later:

  I hope your Sunday is going better than mine.;)

  Naomi stared at the texts for the longest time. There was a part of her that was telling her to end it now, before it reached its inevitable conclusion, whether because she'd leave or because of something else. They'd only been on one date—two, if she considered Rebecca's wedding—so ending things now should be relatively painless.

  The dread in the pit of her stomach rose, making her shiver at the mere thought.

  Okay, so maybe not painless at all.

  Besides, she… She didn't
want to end things with him. They'd had just one kiss and she wanted much more than that. She didn't want to break it off too soon for something that might not happen anyway.

  She would always have time to do it later.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Thanks to their packed schedules, Elliot's emergency double shift and Naomi's weekend away for the tattoo artists expo, it took them two weeks to schedule another date. They texted regularly and talked over the phone once, but Elliot was definitely glad they were finally able to meet in person again. He suggested a gallery of Naomi's choosing—he knew nothing about art aside from knowing what he liked or didn't like at a glance—and she picked one in East Brooklyn. Elliot decided to take the car, since it was early afternoon on Saturday and the traffic wasn't bad.

  He picked her up from her place, but didn't come up. From the outside it looked like a typical townhouse, tucked at the end of the street next to a park. He figured she might have a nice view if her windows faced that way.

  Maybe I'll find out at some point. Heat flashed through him as he pictured all the things they could get up to in her apartment.

  Then the doors to her building opened and Naomi walked out. Elliot got out of the car right away. Yes, he might be a bit impatient but they hadn't seen each other in two weeks and their last kiss had definitely made an impression.

  She seemed to be in agreement, because she walked to him straight up and rose up on her toes, leaning in to kiss him. When she put her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down, he was more than happy to comply. He curled his arms around her waist and brought her closer without breaking the kiss, and she hummed as their bodies pressed flush against each other.

  It went on and on, until Naomi put both hands over his chest and pushed him away gently. He took a step back, bumping into his car, making her laugh.

  "Hi." He brushed his thumb over her hip where he rested his hand, unwilling yet to break the contact completely.

  "Hey, Doc."

  He snorted. She'd called him that a few times already and it kind of became an endearment.

  Or so he hoped.

  "Ready to show me some art?" he asked, watching as her cheeks got more and more pink.

  "I hope you are ready," she told him, stepping back and circling the car to get to the passenger door. "You unleashed a beast when you suggested a gallery."

  He bit down a smile. "How do you know it wasn't my plan all along?"

  The spark of heat cracked between them as they stared at each other over the hood of the car. Elliot would bet money he saw her glancing down at his lips.

  "Well then," she started, voice lower than before. "I'd just tell you I have a newfound appreciation for your planning abilities."

  Oh, you don't even know the half of it, he thought, but from the teasing smile she gave him right before she got in the car, maybe she did know.

  Maybe she knew very well.

  ***

  "So," Naomi said as they parked near the gallery. "I picked this place because I like the underdogs and they show mostly young, undiscovered artists here. They're either still in art school or recent graduates, and you very rarely get to see them in major galleries, but their stuff can be extremely powerful, you know?"

  He nodded. "Trust me, I wouldn't know the difference between a good student work and a million dollar painting, anyway."

  "You may after today." She grinned at him, showing teeth. "But not necessarily in favor of the million dollar ones."

  And while that prediction didn't turn out to be true, exactly, Naomi was right that some of the art was very powerful. There were sculptures and metal installations he kept getting back to as they wandered around the gallery.

  "Please don't ask me what I think it means," he whispered when she paused next to him as he was staring at a ball made out of wire and small pieces of wood.

  She chuckled and bumped her shoulder against his arm. "It means what you think it means," she told him.

  He liked that. It made art more approachable to him—not a test, but an invitation. When he told her that, she stared at him for a long moment and shook her head.

  "Where did you come from?" she muttered, walking away, and he wasn't sure he was supposed to hear it or not, but he still couldn't help himself.

  "Upper East Side!" he said after her, earning frowns from the couple in the back and the woman looking at the same installation from the other side.

  "It's obviously a critique of today's consumerism and the prison we all put ourselves in," she said, voice filled with contempt.

  Elliot resisted rolling his eyes. He'd spent enough time with people like that over the years at his family's parties to develop quite a skill in keeping a straight face. "If you say so, Ma'am. Excuse me."

  He wandered into the last room and found Naomi watching what looked to him like a few Rubik cubes broken down and stacked on top of each other. So instead of the sculpture—or installation, he wasn't really sure—Elliot watched her. She observed that thing from every possible angle, gaze catching on one detail only to move on to the next when she was satisfied. He wished he could get inside her mind for a moment, to see what she was seeing.

  He might not know a lot about art, but he wanted to know as much as possible about Naomi.

  When she turned and saw him, she smiled again and it felt like maybe he did learn something here, today.

  "You're done?" she asked, and he shrugged, coming closer until their arms were brushing against each other.

  "Ready when you are," he said. "We're not in a hurry."

  She nodded and faced the cubes again. Then he felt her fingers brushing over his and he turned his hand to catch them in his grip.

  He wasn't in a hurry at all.

  ***

  They stopped at a small burger joint Naomi swore by on their way back, so by the time Elliot parked outside her place, it was long after dark. The park looked charming, the street lamps shining warm light onto the trees and benches covered in snow, and he had a sudden idea they could take a walk there, to prolong the night. But before he could ask, she tightened her fingers around his where their joined hands were resting between their seats.

  "Would you like to come up?"

  All the thoughts of a walk flew out of his head. "Yes." Yes. Yes.

  Naomi nodded and lowered her gaze to his lips. He thought she was going to kiss him and started to lean in, but then she turned and opened the passenger door, letting in the freezing cold of late February night.

  "Come on, then. Let's go."

  He followed her quickly, catching up on the steps to the front door and she laughed out loud when he circled his arms around her from behind and lifted her a bit before putting her back down. She turned in his embrace and with her like this, standing two steps above him, they were the same height. She grinned, tossing her arms around his neck, and pulled him into a kiss that warmed him up better than anything else could.

  "Come on," she repeated, stepping back and turning to get to the door, but Elliot couldn't keep his hands off of her now, so they stumbled their way onto her third floor apartment amidst plenty of laughter and pausing to kiss every couple of steps.

  "The sooner we get inside, the sooner we get to the bed, you know," she muttered against his skin even as she was pressing kisses against his jaw.

  He might have been distracting her by pushing his hands under her coat, though. He would admit to that.

  "We don't necessarily need a bed," he told her, but she bit him for it.

  While his body didn't consider it a punishment at all, he did see her point when his pants became uncomfortably tight.

  "We do need something more than a dirty hallway," Naomi said, even as he pushed back, giving her space to turn and let them in.

  Once they were behind closed doors, it felt like they were racing who undressed first. Elliot promised himself that at some point, he'd take every piece off of Naomi slowly, but right now, they were both in a hurry.

  When they got to the bed, he pull
ed her in for a kiss as he unhooked her bra and tossed it aside. She gasped straight into his mouth when he ran his thumbs over the underside of her breasts and he swallowed the sound as he teased her again and again.

  Naomi pushed him onto the mattress and followed him, but he rolled them over so he could trace the path of his fingers with his lips. Then he moved up to kiss her nipples, sucking harder when she responded to it.

  "Come on, come on," she whispered, but it turned into a moan when he reached down to brush over the front of her panties, letting his middle finger press harder between her folds to put a little pressure over her clit.

  "That's what you want?" he asked, lips against her hot cheek.

  She lifted her hips to push back against his touch and grabbed his ass to pull him closer, making his erection slid over her hot skin. "Among other things."

  Fuck.

  He needed a second to catch what she was saying, then he pulled himself up on his forearm and looked down at her. His other hand was still between her legs but inside her panties now, fingers slipping more insistently over the slickness he found there. "What do you want first, then?" he asked, pressing harder when he said 'first'. "My mouth? My cock? Or maybe you want to come like this now?"

  She tightened her legs, trapping his hand. "I want your cock and your fingers at the same time."

  Elliot groaned, kissing her hard and fast. "Perfect."

  Pushing into her a short time later made his breath catch somewhere in his lungs and it wasn't until he was all the way in that he managed to let out a slow, shaky exhale. Naomi was a vision underneath him. Blushing all over, mouth wet and open, eyes bright and hungry as her body responded to him beautifully. His fingers were slippery against her clit, but she definitely didn't mind, not if the sounds coming out of her mouth were anything to go by.