“That’s me,” he said, giving her a sexy smile and walking closer with his hand extended. “And you are…?”
She hadn’t even realized she had spoken his name out loud. It made her laugh at herself as she reached out to accept his handshake.
“I’m Roxy. Sorry, it’s just crazy meeting you like this. My parents are on their way to the stadium for this afternoon’s game.”
“What a coincidence,” he said with a wink. “That’s where I’m headed, too.”
She laughed again.
He finally released her hand and lifted his chin in the direction of Callan’s door. “Are you visiting Murph?”
As she started to reply, the door opened. Callan stepped out and looked between the two of them.
“I thought I heard voices out here,” he said. “You flirting with Roxy, Jav?”
His tone was friendly and he wore a smile, but Roxy sensed an undercurrent to the words that had her tilting her head and narrowing her eyes. Evidently Javy did, too. He lifted his hands and took a step back.
“Nah, man,” he said. “Just introducin’ myself.”
“Ah. You heading to the game?”
“Yep.”
“Cool. You free after? Beer’s on me.”
“Sounds good.”
Roxy watched the exchange between the two athletes, unsure if she should be irritated that Callan had interrupted her conversation or thrilled to have this rare opportunity to see two such ideal male specimens both within touching distance.
“It was nice meetin’ you, Roxy,” Javy said.
“It was really nice meeting you, too. Oh, wait,” she said, digging into the bag that doubled as her purse and work bag when she was with a client. “My family would kill me if they found out I met you and didn’t get an autograph.” She pulled out a pen and a blank piece of notebook paper. “Would you mind?”
“Oh, for the love of—hold on,” Callan said with a roll of his eyes.
Roxy watched him disappear inside his condo, thoroughly baffled. Javy just grinned and stepped closer to take the paper and pen from her. Callan returned just as Javy finished signing the paper and handing it back to her.
“Here,” Callan said, grabbing Roxy’s free hand and pressing a baseball into it. “It’s signed by the entire team.”
“Wow!”
She was too excited to be annoyed by his behavior. She didn’t even resist him as he started ushering her bodily into his condo before she could say thanks to Javy.
“Uh, you know that was a gift for you, right?” Javy was saying to Callan behind her.
“Yeah, yeah,” Callan said. “You’re late for your game. Bye.”
There was a shout of laughter from Javy that finally tore Roxy’s gaze from the ball in her hand. She glanced towards the front door as Callan started closing it. Just before it closed all the way, he yanked it back open.
“You’ll bring me another one, right?” he called out, telling Roxy that Javy had progressed down the hall towards the elevator.
“Yeah, yeah,” was Javy’s amused reply. She heard the faint ding of the elevator. “See you later.”
Callan sent his friend a wave before finally closing the door and turning to face her. She hadn’t moved from the spot he’d all but shoved her to in an effort to get her away from Javy. She was too busy puzzling over his odd behavior. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought he was jealous.
Which would add a whole other uncomfortable layer to everything she was already feeling about this meeting.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
He ran a hand through his hair and looked back at the door as though envisioning the scene through her eyes. “Sorry. That must have come off weird. I just haven’t shared the news about moving with Javy yet. We’ve become good friends. It felt wrong for him to learn about it this way instead of me mentioning it to him. I’ll talk to him when I see him later.”
Deciding she had no reason to doubt him, she nodded and held up the baseball. “You sure you want to give this to me?”
“Absolutely. Javy will bring me another one.”
He would get no further protest from her.
She smiled and gave the ball another scan. “Thanks, Callan. I can’t wait to see my family’s reaction when I bring this to my parents’ house for our next family dinner. Do you have a baggie or something I can put it in? I don’t want to smudge any of the signatures.”
“I’m sure I’ve got something. Come on in.”
He reached over to place his hand at the small of her back to urge her ahead of him, a gesture she was sure was instinctive but nevertheless elicited a familiar thrill in her. It was a completely inappropriate reaction considering their new professional relationship, but she couldn’t exactly control her body’s natural responses, now could she?
It was something she’d been thinking a lot about over the past few days. It wasn’t exactly against her agent code of ethics to have sex with Callan now that they were working together. Their sexual relationship, such as it was, had started before he’d hired her. It wasn’t like she slept with him to get a sale.
There would be people who might assume as much if they found out, however, including her peers. Her fledgling career wouldn’t likely withstand an ethical scandal, no matter how unfounded it was.
Which meant having sex with Callan again was a very bad idea.
That realization had been unexpectedly disappointing. So what if she couldn’t sleep with this one guy? There were more out there, right? Besides, her slip-up with Callan aside, she was supposed to be forgoing sex right now.
But, damn.
The sex with Callan had been next level. She hadn’t ever been with someone who knew exactly what to do to get her engines revving. Sure, things between them had been fast paced, but he’d gotten her off three times. That was three more than a couple of her past partners ever accomplished. And knowing how powerfully she affected him had been an aphrodisiac she hadn’t ever experienced before. She just loved experiencing new things.
Eyes on the prize, she told herself as she moved ahead of him into the heart of his condo. This commission will get you through at least the next year even if you sell nothing else.
When she had gotten Callan’s signed agreement, she replied with a few questions to give her some direction in hunting for listings to show him. Among those was how much he wanted to spend.
His response?
However much I need to spend to get the house I want.
As much as Roxy hadn’t wanted to get her hopes up, that response told her there was every possibility they could be looking at listings in the millions, especially in the areas of the city he’d mentioned wanting to live. That much commission would be life-changing for her.
So even though she wanted Callan’s hand to rise along the back of her dress and start lowering the zipper, she forced herself to concentrate on the condo’s style and décor to learn a little more about what he liked.
She was his real estate agent, she told herself for the fifteenth time that day. Time to act like it.
They walked down a wide entrance hall with a pair of closed double doors on the left and a single closed door on the right until they reached the open concept main living area. To the right after the hallway ended was a gourmet kitchen with a large island. On the other side of the island was a dining table with chairs. The family room took up the rest of the space.