The Property Brokers by Sandi Lynn
Chapter 17
Myles
Picking up my phone, I sent Grant a text message.
“Are you in the building?”
“Yeah.”
“Come on up. I need to talk to you.”
A few minutes later, Grant walked into the office.
“What’s up, Dad?” he asked as he took the seat across from my desk.
“How is Bella doing? Anymore sales?”
“She’s only been here a few days. Right now she’s meeting Pete.”
“For what? I thought she already sold his penthouse.”
“Apparently, he has three apartments his company is trying to sell. They had used them as rentals for when their international personnel came here. Why?”
“I want you to start working in the development division here.”
“What?” His brows furrowed.
“I want to focus more on developing properties here in New York and Chicago.”
“We have properties around the country already.”
“Only a few. I want to expand to hotels and for me to focus on that, I need you working on the development for New York City.”
“Hotels? Really? We’ve talked about that before, and you didn’t seem interested.”
“I want to expand, Grant. I think it’s time.” I leaned back in my chair. “If Bella can pull off the dollars in sales I think she can, then I’d want her to take the team over and be our lead broker. You’ll develop the properties and she’ll sell them. I want to start with the building on West 21st Street. There’s a total of 104 apartments, and I want you to split it in half with her.”
“You want her to sell fifty-two apartments herself?”
“Yep. You don’t think she can do it?”
“I don’t know, Dad. She just started here, and you already want to overwhelm her. Have you forgotten she just came from L.A. where she sold houses, not buildings?”
“It’s all the same real estate, son. I want those apartments sold quickly so you need to get working on it right away.”
“What timeframe are we talking, Dad?”
“Six months.”
“Impossible.” He shook his head.
“Nothing’s impossible, Grant. I need that money for a new project. Take her to the building, show her around and split up the apartments. And just so you know, I’ll be unavailable tonight. I’m taking Cassandra to dinner.”
“So, you finally called her, eh? Good for you, Dad. Enjoy your evening,” he said as he stood up from his seat.
“I will. Let me know what Bella says.”
“I will.”
* * *
Grant
I was out of the building most of the morning at a couple showings I had lined up, and when I got back to the office, Bella was sitting at her desk on the computer.
“How did it go with Pete?” I asked as I set my briefcase down.
“It went good. He hired me to sell all three of his apartments on Mercier Street.”
“How much are they listed for?”
“$7.550 each.”
“Good job.” The corners of my mouth curved upward. If you get asking price, that will be one hell of a commission check.”
“I’ll get asking price.” She smirked.
“Can you have dinner—”
Before I could finish my sentence, Tom escorted the first interviewee into the office. After completing the first interview, the second one stepped inside. I could tell Bella wasn’t thrilled with either of them. She was going to be very hard to please and I wouldn’t put it past her if she was doing it on purpose.
* * *
Bella
If I was going to spend a lot of time with a person, I needed to feel a connection. As nice as the two girls were Grant and I interviewed, I just wasn’t feeling either of them. Then Tom sent in Cody Baxter.
“Hi, Cody, I’m Bella Marcus.” I extended my hand.
“Oh my gosh, you are simply gorgeous.” He grinned as he placed his hand in mine.
“Why thank you, Mr. Baxter.” I smiled. “This is Grant Roman. He’ll be sitting in on the interview as well.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Roman.”
“You as well. Please have a seat.” Grant gestured.
“So, Cody, tell me why you think you would be the best fit to be my assistant?”
“I have extreme organizational skills, and I’m very detail-oriented. I’m not going to lie, Miss Marcus. I googled you and from what I can tell, you’re a very busy woman who doesn’t have time to deal with the other daily tasks besides putting on your game face and selling luxury apartments. You can’t be at two places at once and I can help with that. I can keep you on track so you won’t miss appointments, I can schedule all your calls, help you find new clients, take care of all the marketing reports, research, etc. I believe together, we could take the real estate industry by storm.”
I sat there with a smile on my face as I listened to him. He had a great personality, and I was enthralled by him.
“How do you feel about personal errands?” I asked.
“Anything you need. Coffee runs, dry cleaning pick-ups. I’m at your service.”
“How do you feel about cats?”
“They are my favorite animal. In fact, my partner, Luke, and I have a Persian at home named Snow White. She’s our baby and our pride and joy.” He grinned. “Would you like to see a picture?”
“Oh my God, I’d love too.” I smiled.
He pulled out his phone, brought up a picture of Snow White and showed me.
“She’s beautiful. Let me show you Duchess.”
Grant sat there staring at me with a look of disbelief splayed across his face.
“Oh wow. She’s gorgeous,” Cody said. “She and Snow White could be twins.”
“Right?” The smile never left my face. “I like you, Cody, and I think we’d make a great team. The job is yours.”
“Really?” he asked with excitement as he stood up from his seat.
“Can you start tomorrow?”
“Yes. Of course!” He gave me a hug. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
We exchanged phone numbers and he left the office.
“You didn’t even ask him why he left his last job,” Grant said.
“Who cares. I love him and he likes Duchess.” I arched my brow.
“I like Duchess.”
“Do you, Grant? Do you really?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Yes. I just don’t like how her fur gets all over my expensive suits.”
Rolling my eyes, I went back to my desk.
“You never answered my question about dinner tonight. There’s something else I need to talk to you about.”
“Can’t we talk about it now?”
“No. We can talk about it over dinner. It’s strictly professional. I promise.”
“Fine. What time?”
“I have a showing at four-thirty. In fact, why don’t you come with me. After, I’ll take you to the building I need to show you and then we’ll go grab some dinner and talk.”
“Building?”
“I’ll explain it to you later.”
“Okay.” I turned my chair around.
