AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’ve given me an impossible task. You should’ve told me months ago.” He sips his drink, leaning back in the circular booth overlooking the dance floor. It’s set back enough that we can have a conversation.
“I know, but you know you’re my favorite, right?” Annie bats her eyes.
Carm stares blankly at her. “You told Blanca she was your favorite Mancini sibling,” he deadpans.
“Ah, but you’re my favorite brother.” She winks.
“Excuse me?” Enzo asks.
Annie laughs, falling into his chest. “Not including you.” She tugs on his hand. “Dance with me,” she says with an alluring smile.
He sips his Old-Fashioned and nods, then she drags him out of the booth. Carm and I watch them disappear in the throes of the crowded dance floor.
Who knew all this was happening on a Tuesday night?
“She wants to summer in the Hamptons, huh?” Carm and I can at least talk about real estate. It’s what we both know.
“Yeah. Impossible, right?”
I nod. “My friend wants to as well. I searched some rentals, but all that’s left are the bigger houses. My friend is all about sharing, but I’m not so sure.”
His eyes widen. “You’d spend your weekends in the Hamptons?”
I sip my drink, distracting myself from answering for a moment. He’ll just think what he already does—that I’m a slacker. That all I do is take people’s money and put their home up on MLS and do nothing else. That I’m not a real broker. I know that’s half the reason he doesn’t like me. He sees me as a sellout.
I shrug. “My friend made a convincing argument.”
“I always told myself I’d get big enough one day and I could do it.”
“You’re still young. There’s time.”
He takes a sip of his drink, his gaze darting to the dance floor. “It’s just—” He looks back my way, a question obviously on the tip of his tongue. He waits a moment before he asks. “Why did you get out of the game?”
My stomach sinks. The last person I’d ever want to have this discussion with is him. So I use the same excuse I tell everyone. “I didn’t enjoy it. The constant prospecting for new clients, the long hours, having to be available at a moment’s notice if an offer came in. My life was just about work.”
He nods before I can finish. He understands. I knew he would.
“I like the money too much.” His ego-filled smile shoots in my direction.
I did too. He thinks it’s easy money going FSBO, but it’s not. Sure, the clients mostly come to me, but there are no huge windfalls when a deal comes together. But it does have its benefits…
“No comeback?” he asks, pushing his half-empty glass into the middle of the table.
“Nope. I get it.”
He nods. “Do you think they’d notice if we snuck out?”
Annie and Enzo are on the edge of the dance floor, and she’s definitely feeling the alcohol.
“I didn’t see her drinking that much at the bowling alley.” I take a small sip of my drink, aware that I need to keep my wits about me with this man.
“She’s a lightweight, but I’m still not sure why she’s drunk as much as she has. She and Enzo are so focused on growing their new ad company, they work all the damn time. I don’t understand why she wanted the meet-and-greet in the first place.”
“Everyone needs to let off some steam once in a while.” I smile, watching her grind her ass into Enzo. His hands are on her hips, but he doesn’t seem too into the act—other than watching her movements.
“He fell hard for her,” Carm says more to himself than to me, I think.
“What do you mean?”
