The Property Brokers by Sandi Lynn
Chapter 9
Grant
I couldn’t believe I was speaking to her again after all these years. She was going to want an explanation and I wasn’t willing to give one, for tonight was finding out all about her.
“The last time we spoke you had plans to go to college to become a teacher. How did you get into real estate?” I asked as I took a slice of pizza from the box.
“A friend of mine talked me into taking real estate classes with her the summer we graduated high school. She didn’t have any plans on going to college and I wasn’t sure anymore that I wanted to be a teacher, so I put off college for a year and we took the classes together.
“Did you end up going to college?” I asked.
“No. I found I loved selling real estate, and I was making decent money in New Jersey. My friend and I decided if we could do as well as we were in New Jersey, we could do even better in New York. At that time, my dad accepted a job offer in L.A. So, my friend and I got an apartment together in New York, took the NYS exam and got our license. It was tougher than we thought, and the market was going downhill quickly at the time. Our living expenses were way too high, and we couldn’t keep up. So, she moved back to New Jersey and in with her parents, and I went out to California where my dad and stepmom were. I got licensed out there and ended up working for Glassman & Ellis Real Estate. Walt Glassman was the realtor my father dealt with when they were looking for houses. After working for him for two years, he suggested I go for my broker’s license.”
“You did and the rest is history?” The corners of my mouth curved upward.
“The rest is history.” Her lips gave way to a small smile.
“Why did you come back to New York?”
She picked up her wine glass, finished it off and poured some more.
“My parents were killed in a car accident a year ago, and I recently broke up with the guy I was seeing. I felt like I needed a fresh start.”
“Wow, Bella. I’m sorry about your parents. And your relationship of course.”
“Thanks, Grant.”
I felt bad about her parents. I’d met them in Hawaii and they were nice people. They certainly didn’t deserve to die so soon. But hearing her say she was with a guy really irritated me. I had no right to feel that way, but I did.
“How long were you with the guy?” I asked.
“A little over a year. I had just met him a couple months before my parents died.” She took a sip of her wine. “How about you? Is there special someone in your life?”
“No.” I let out a chuckle.
“Say what?” She set her glass down. “You still a love em and leave em type of guy?”
I narrowed my eye at her as a smirk crossed my lips.
“I guess I am.”
Suddenly, Duchess jumped on my lap.
“Whoa.” I picked her up and set her back on the floor, then proceeded to brush my pants with my hand. “Last thing I need is cat hair all over this expensive suit.”
“I take it you don’t like cats?” She cocked her head.
“It’s not that I don’t like them. Duchess is rather — furry. Now, I think we should get down to business.” I leaned back in my chair. “I want you to come work for me.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because you’re good.”
“You basically ripped my head off via text and accused me of sabotaging your listing.”
“I did, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I just thought—”
“You thought I was trying to get revenge because you broke your promise to me.” Her brow raised.
“Well. Yeah. I did. I would never treat a client the way you did. But it closed the deal and—”
“You’re a happy little real estate mogul again.” She smirked.
“Yeah. Something like that.” I gave her a small smile. “So, what do you say?”
She went silent for a few moments while she stared at me from across the table.
“I want an assistant,” she said. “I plan on being very busy and I need someone who will have my back and get things done when I can’t.”
“You’ll have access to the rest of my team.”
“Nope. They have their own shit to do. I want someone to exclusively work for me. I want a Tom.”
I sat there and slowly nodded my head as I listened to her demands.
“If I get you one, you’ll take the job?”
“That is to be determined. I also want a car and a driver at the company’s expense.”
“Nobody on my team has that. Nor do they have assistants.”
“I think I’ve proved my worth, Mr. Roman. I just closed an $11.5 million dollar deal that neither you nor your team could in the last year. You were on the verge of getting fired from the listing, and I save you from that.”
“And I upped the commission from three percent to four. Have you forgotten that?”
“No—” She tilted her head as if she was going to say something else but stopped. “I appreciate your offer to come work for you, but I’m going to have to decline.” She got up from the table and grabbed both our paper plates and tossed them in the garbage.
“Now wait a minute.” I stood up from my chair. “You need me, Bella.”
She let out a frightening laugh. “I don’t need you or anyone else. And if you think I’m that shy, timid, young, naïve sixteen-year-old girl you met in Hawaii, I suggest you think again.”
I stared at her as I placed my hands in my pants pocket. Fuck, she was turning me on.
“Fine. The assistant, the car, and the driver are yours. Be at the office tomorrow morning at eight a.m. In fact, since you’re right around the corner from me, I’ll pick you up at seven thirty,” I spoke as I headed towards the door to leave.
“Don’t forget to say goodbye to Duchess!” she shouted as I stepped out of her apartment and shut the door.
I pushed the button to the elevator and stood there as I ran my hand over my face. I wasn’t so sure how all of this was going to go over with my team, not to mention my father. It was late, but I was willing to take my chances. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I called him.
“Hello,” he answered.
“Are you home?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I need to come over and talk to you.”
“Don’t you think it’s kind of late. I thought you were seeing Bella.”
“I just left her place.”
“Alright. Come on over, but you need to make it quick.”
My father lived in the penthouse one floor up from me. He built it, so it was only right he took ownership of the top floor. When the doors opened, I stepped into the foyer. Walking to the kitchen, I saw a young woman standing there in one of my father’s t-shirts. Shit.
“Hey, handsome. You must be Grant. “I’m Karina.” She smiled.
“Um, hi. How old are you, Karina?”
“Twenty-seven.”
“That’s what I thought. Where is my father?”
“He’s in the bedroom.”
“I’m right here,” my father spoke as he walked down the stairs in a pair of black silk pajama bottoms.
He walked over to the bar in the living room and poured us each a scotch.
“What’s going on?” He handed me a glass. “Karina, darling, give us some privacy. I’ll be up in a few minutes.”
“Okay, tiger.” She blew him a kiss.
“Really, Dad? She’s twenty-seven.”
“Age is just a number, Grant. Now what’s so important that couldn’t wait until the morning?”
“Bella accepted my offer to work for us.”
“Okay. I didn’t think she was dumb enough to turn you down.”
“She only accepted with certain conditions.”
“Which are?”
“An assistant of her own, a car and a driver. All at the company’s expense.”
“And you told her yes?” He finished off his drink.
“I didn’t have a choice. She wasn’t going to accept if I didn’t meet her terms. If I would have let her turn us down, the competition would snatch her up and give her what she wants. She’ll be an asset to us.”
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe her selling that penthouse was just a fluke?”
“Trust me. It’s not. I pulled up her stats. She sold two billion dollars last year just on her own.”
“Impressive. You made the right decision then. But if she fails to prove her worth, then cuts will have to be made.” He patted my shoulder. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to Karina.” A smirk crossed his lips.
I shook my head as he walked up the stairs.
