Risking It All (8 page)

“Yes, I had to.

He checked
out her attire…maybe even her body. She wore a low cut blouse, black jet set knit pants, and sandal pumps.

Hi
s eyes met hers. “You look nice, as always.
”

Julissa didn’t miss the way he licked
his top lips ever so slightly. She
gestured towards her car.
“Well, shall we start driving.”

“I will drive if you like
—
”

“No, besides, I have all the listings programmed in my GPS system. From what you told me, you’ve never been to this area of Atlanta before, so we don’t need to get lost.”

“You sure? You can bring your GPS system in my truck, can’t you?”

Julissa slid her bottom in the driver seat of her car. “No need for all that
. Trust me, I’ll do the driving, and
you just jump in on the other side.”

He laughed quietly and gave her a suggestive smile. “I admire a woman that likes to take charge.”

As Quinton closed the door and walked over to the other side, she tried desperately to wipe the giddy schoolgirl
smile off her face. When he
was comfortably buckled in his seat, Julissa turned towards him. “I actually found five listings that may be of interest to you. We may not get to every listing today, but we will certainly try.”

She had no problems putting on a professional demeanor in the most uncomfortable situations. Bes
ides, this was about business, and n
othing else.

“The first property is about twenty minutes away. It’s a small duplex building with about 10 three bedroom units. There are six units already occupied.”

Julissa backed out of the parking lot and began to maneuver her car onto the highway. “The property has been on the market three months, the owner has relocated overseas,
and
the price
has been
reduced by at least twenty thousand
within the past month.” She
reached for the notepad tucked conveniently in the sun visor. “Built in the 1990s, slab foundation, all brick exterior, approximately
—
”

“Wow!” Quinton interrupted her. “All this information you’re throwing at me…I might as well have taken some aspirin.”

“What type of information do you usually gather about a property to make your purchase decision?”

“To tell you the truth…I don’t really go out and scout properties for myself. Not as often as I should, anyway. I give my agent the details and they go look for me. I get involved only after the inspection has taken place.”

“Oh. So, I take it you have people who work for you?”

“Something along those lines. I work with a company that handles the ma
nagement aspect of it
.”

“So, this is the first time that you’ve actually gone out on y
our own to look for a property?”

“Not quite. In the beginning, when I started up, I did all these things myself. I’ve made hefty returns from my investments, so
I’m thi
nking about
manag
ing most of my own operations
. I guess this will be the first step.”

“That
sounds like a good idea.”

“I’ve been procrastinating on this for about a year now. I figure that if I just get started and make things happen, then I won’t have the opportunity to procrastinate.”

“Not trying to discourage you, but what makes you believe that you can do this all on your own now. I mean, you just told me that you hire people to manage your properties in Florida, but have you experienced what it will actually take t
o make your business successful?
”

“I have a pretty good idea. Besides, I won’t be all on my own.
There will be certain aspects that I will have to contract out.”

“I see.”

“Of course I would need someone like you, a realtor, on my team.”

“Uh-huh.”

“That was supposed to be a question, Julissa.”

“Huh? I don’t have experience in commercial properties, Quinton, I told you that. I wouldn’t be of any real value to your business.”

“Yes, yo
u would. Richard said that you’
re a great realtor. He told me how many homes you close on a weekly basis.”

“My client base is from referrals. I started out with a first time homebuyer base and that base grew when first time clients contacted me again when they were ready to upgrade. Besides, I close residential, not commercial.”

“That would be perfect. Part of my business plan is to expand into the residential market. Interested?”

Julissa stole a glance at him and couldn’t stand to say no to that face. “I’ll do what I can to help.”

“Can I ask you a personal question, Julissa?”

“Yeah…” Julissa replied, slowly
.

“Are you…uh…you know, never mind, not important.”

“What? What were you going to ask me?” Julissa pulled up in front the first property on their list.

“Is this the place?”

“Yes.” Julissa parked the car and turned off the engine.

Before she knew it, Quinton had jumped out of the car and was on her side to open the door for her. At least Julissa could
say that he had proper manners
.

They both stayed close together a
s Quinton toured a couple vacant
units and spoke with some of the tenants standing outside about the co
ndition of the apartments
. After taking a few notes on his Blackberry, he nodded his head in approval and asked if she was ready to see the other property.

At the second property, she could tell that Quinton wasn’t
the least bit interested. The
townhomes were a little bit older and appeared to be unkempt compared to the previous property. He showed his disinterest by making small talk with her about her experiences as a realtor. She decided that she had t
ime to show him one more. Another multi-dwelling property
featuring townhomes and flats. The building was only thirty percent occupied and most of the units needed interior renovations. From the way, Quinton combed through ever
y
inch of some of the vacant units, Julissa could tell that he was very interested. Being a realtor for
some time
now, she knew what to look for when trying to tell if a client was mildly interested, very interested, or not
interested at all
.

While he was studying the units, Julissa couldn’t help but study him. Everything about the man seemed perfect, from the way he rocked the outfit he was wearing from the way his hair was lined up and well-groomed along his face. And how could she miss the bulgy arm muscles protruding from his short sleeved shirt? She had never touched any man wi
th muscles that
tight. Julissa was certain that he looked like the male strippers under all his clothes that she, Christina, and Shanice had enjoyed weeks ago at Christina’s bachelorette party.

The three buttons to his polo shirt were not fastened and she longed to get a peek at what else was under that shirt. Quinton reached one arm up, without struggle, to examine the light fixture hanging from the gall
ey kitchen
. On instinct, Julissa’s eyes went to the bulge
in his pants. H
e had a nice si
zable package
. If she didn’t know any better, she would have sworn the bulge was just dying to be f
reed from the pants that hid them. She wondered
if he wore boxers or briefs?

The sound of Quinton clearing his throat
made her snap out of thought. His
hands h
ad suddenly fallen to his sides, apparently while she’d literally drooled from ogling him. Had he realized…?

H
er face felt like it had just gotten fifty degrees hotter as she felt the blood rush to it. “I’m sorry. I
,
I just…” She was caught and she didn’t even know how to play it off.

H
er cell phone r
ang.
“Excuse me…
” She released the device from
the holster on her hip.
“
Julissa Lorenzo.” She lowered her eyes from Quinton as the caller revealed herself.

“Julissa…it’s Martha.” Martha was her boss at the office. “Are you busy?”

“I’m showing a listing to a client.”

“Okay. I didn’t see that here on your calendar. You must have forgotten to put it in. Anyway, don’t you have a closing tomorrow, Hon?”

“Yes, Martha. The Smiths
, at ten tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, that’s right. Julissa, I need to ask you a favor. I’m still in New York on a conference and training that has been extended. I have an interview for the new realtor position scheduled for tomorrow at eight in the morning. Do you think you can handle that interview and give me the details when I get back?”

“Uh…I’d have to push up another engagement to that afternoon, but that shouldn’t be a problem.” Julissa had always been Martha’s go to girl when she needed help. Julissa was flattered by it, but most of the time Martha asked for favors at the
very
last minute.

“Thanks, Hon. I appreciate it. Her name is Jenna Barnes. I left her resume and application in the top drawer of my desk. I’ll shoot you an email tonight. Adios!”

When she hung up the
phone, she looked up at Quinton, who was leaning on the kitchen counter, one leg crossed over the other, making notes in his Blackberry.

“How do you like this one?” Maybe they could both forget about the embarrassment a few moments before.

“I like this one a lot.”

“It’s bank-owned. Been on the market for thirteen days.”

“I’m sending an email to
my banker down in Florida.
I’ve also arranged for an
inspector to
come out tomorrow to take a look
at it
.
I’
ll be able to tell you pretty soon if this is a go
.”

She didn’t expect that.
“You’
re really serious
about all this
, aren’t you?”

He laughed. “Yes, I’m really serious. What did you think? That I was wasting your time. That I just made up a story to be with you.”

Julissa paused before speaking, trying to read between the line
s. “No, I should hope that you’
re not wasting my time.”

Quinton steadied himself, walking closer to her.
“The truth is...
I really did want to spend time with you.”

“You did?” Suddenly, she was uncomfortable and started walking towards the door.

“Yes, I did.”

“That’s nice of you, Quinton. I enjoyed showing you these properties.”

“Call me Q, please.”

She slammed the door to the unit shut.
“Alright, Q. Shall we move on to the next one or are we done for today?”

He opened the car door for her.
“I’m pretty exhausted. I know you are, too. Can I treat you to dinner, instead?”

Suddenly, Julissa remembered something and she looked down at the time on her cel
l phone. “Oh, shit!” It was four thirty
. She tol
d herself that she would be done
by four and back home by five, so that she could prepare dinner for Michael. “I really need to get home. I’m sorry.”

Quinton frowned. “I understand. Maybe next time.”

On the drive back to the hotel, both were really quiet.
She
could tell that he was a little disappoin
ted that she’d
turned down his invitation to dinner.

“I’ll give you a call tomorrow,” Quinton said,
as he exited
the car.

“Yes, you do that
. I’ll have some more details for you about the last property.

“Well, until n
ext time, Julissa.
Thank you for doing this for me.”

“It was no problem, Q.”

Quinton shut the door and Julissa sped off not even waiting to see him walk thru the door of the hotels. It was almost five o’ clock and there was no way that she could beat Michael home in time to make dinner.

Julissa punched a few k
eys on her GPS system
. Picking up her cell phone, she dialed the number that was displayed across
the LCD screen
.

The phone ran
g three times before someone
picked up. “Island Grill Mexican Restaurant. Are you calling for delivery or pickup?”

**

When she got home, Michael was not
sitting on the couch as usual
in front of the television. His car was in the gar
age, so Julissa knew he was there
. It had taken longer than she thought for the Mexican restaurant to prepare the food, so here she was walking in the house at six fifteen. She placed h
er bags on the kitchen counter, leaving
the bouquet of flowers that Quinton
had given her on the counter
. She’d
put
them
in the vase on the kitchen window sill
later
.