NEAR THE CLOSE of the event, Jacari had a purse full of business cards along with aching feet. She told Ivan, “You are very, very good at talking about your business.”

Ivan said, “I have to be.” Then he asked her, “Are you all right?”

She was walking slowly and gingerly.

She gritted her teeth and told him, “I have to get out of these shoes.”

Ivan nodded to her. He had done enough pitching for one night anyway. But was she going back home or staying with him at the hotel? That was the big question. So Ivan asked her.

“Are you staying with me tonight, or…do you need another taxi?”

His pause left the question wide open. He had become a man who used words masterfully.

Jacari responded hesitantly, “I…I don’t know. I mean, I know you’re tired and everything by now.”

Ivan held her hand again and gave her his undivided attention in the room. He looked into her eyes and asked her more intently, “Do you want to stay here with me tonight?”

He knew that she wanted to. He just had to ask her better. He had been speaking to so many people in the room that night about business that he failed to address the needs of a woman properly. And when he did, all of Jacari’s emotions from the night before resurfaced. She had thought about him the previous night and daydreamed all day about being in his presence again. Now he was asking her if she wanted to stay.

And of course she did. So she nodded and gave him the only answer that she could live with. “Yes.” She couldn’t imagine saying no and never having that opportunity again. They were still together in New York, and it would still be special there, so far away from home.

Ivan told her, “Well, take off those shoes for the elevator ride. Then I’ll carry you down the hallway to my room.”

Jacari smiled and chuckled at him. “Okay.”

AFTER IVAN had carried her to the room, he had no more confusions about his intentions with her. He had worked it all out in his mind already. So he held her hands out in front of him while he sat on the edge of his bed and told her the truth.

“Jacari…Kaya…or whatever I need to call you,” he joked.

She grinned and said, “Either one. It doesn’t really matter for you. You can call me whichever one you feel more comfortable with. My family still calls me Kaya,” she told him.

Ivan heard that and thought, Damn. I got it good with her.

He continued, “Well…J…”

She chuckled there, waiting patiently for him to explain himself.

“…what I want to say is, you’re a very beautiful girl. Everybody can see that.”

She smiled and said, “Thank you.” Coming from him it meant much more.