AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Everyone, and I mean everyone on set, except for Wilson, was snickering. He looked ready to offer me a hug.
I replayed my words and slowly, with hideously painful clarity, got the joke, and it was on me. Viking Range, not Barbarian. An epic next-level career-ending brain fart.
I covered my mouth with my hand. “No, no, no... I didn’t.”
If God could have granted me one wish, it would have been for the Brazilian cherry hardwood floors to split open and swallow me whole. I stood stiff as a board, hoping for my prayer to be answered.
No such luck.
Wilson grabbed my sweaty hand and dragged me from the kitchen. I stumbled behind him, my other hand still clasped over my lips, the word Barbarian pillaging my frontal cortex. Our escape ended at the half bathroom in the front hall. He jerked the door shut behind us, closing us in the spacious bathroom. If only he’d opted for the wine cellar.
The gilt-framed mirrors reflected my dejected expression back at me a thousand times over. I couldn’t bear to look and shifted my gaze to the cute red pumps Stephen had given me to wear. The only thing left to complete this shit day would be twisting an ankle on the way out the door.
“Look at me.” Wilson tipped my chin up with a knuckle.
I reluctantly slid my eyes to meet his gaze. It hurt to maintain eye contact; his compassion cut me to the bone. I’d rather Kate came in and yelled at me. That I could take. But puppy dog eyes from Wilson were painful.
I wanted to go home, crawl under the blankets on my bed, and never come out except to hug Bailey and drink commiseration wine.
“How long have you been selling houses?”
“Since I was twenty-two.”
“Are you good at it?”
I considered his question. The Millers were the first couple that came to mind. Last month, I’d run into the newlywed Andrea Miller at the grocery store. She was so excited to show me pictures of the nursery they had designed for their new baby. She had gushed about how I’d found them the perfect home to raise a family in. And that was only one family. Tons of people in Elmer had found their dream homes because of me.
“I am,” I answered with confidence. “But this place is so fancy; it’s not like the houses I sell. Look at this list.” I dug the seven sweaty, crinkled pages out of my bra and held them up to him so he could understand my panic.
He snatched the pages from my hand and ripped them in half without reading a single word. I gulped like a fish out of water.
OMG! He killed the list. Thank the real estate gods.
Watching those fourteen half-sheets of paper flutter into the wastebin lifted a weight from my chest. I hated that list. I hated it being thrust at me with no chance to prepare. It morphed into a stumbling block I couldn’t overcome. There was no chance at success with that list weighing me down.
“Fuck the list. You sashayed naked across a pool deck and flipped me the bird. A few cameras are nothing.”
The twinkle in his eye and the way his gaze lingered on all the right places told me he was picturing me naked. Gone was that lame-ass compassion I’d hated seeing on his face. A wonderful surge of power, the same as when I’d bent over and flashed him my derriere, welled up inside me. It was a raw confidence, and it incinerated my self-doubts. Or at least seventy-two percent of them.
“But Kate wants me to tell the viewers all that.” I pointed at the gold-plated wastepaper bin where he dropped the dreaded list.
“Is Kate paying your commission?” His eyebrow raised, he waited for my answer.
“No.”
“Well, then, what’s the problem?” He took my hand and squeezed it. “Sell me a house, Cameron,” he taunted.
The twinkle in his eyes and the dashing smirk that curled his lips called to my inner competitor. He had issued a challenge. I had to accept it, just like that day by the pool. No backing down. I’d do my f-ing job.
“I can do that. I can sell you a house.” Leaning forward, I clasped both his cheeks in my palms and kissed him full on the mouth. It was a gobsmacker of a kiss, not romantic or sexy. It was an upwelling of relief and gratefulness that had to be expressed.
He rocked back on his heels, obviously shocked by my big smooch. He wasn’t the only one. I didn’t go around kissing almost strangers. Not in a town like Elmer. That was how a lady got a bad reputation.
Before I lost my rediscovered confidence, I dragged him from the bathroom. Our fingers still threaded together, I marched directly up to Kate, towing Wilson behind me.
“Let’s start over. Do this my way. I promise it will be better.”
Kate looked from me to Wilson and then down at our linked hands. I let go, but not before he gave my fingers another reassuring squeeze.
