He found himself asking for her opinion more than once and taking it into account, something he wouldn’t typically do with someone he didn’t know all that well. He tried telling himself that it was because she was his real estate agent, but deep inside, he knew that wasn’t true.
Somehow, some way, this woman he had met all of seven weeks ago had come to matter to him.
A lot.
When they returned to his condo’s parking garage, she stopped her car in front of the door leading into the complex rather than parking.
“I don’t suppose you’d be interested in coming up for a drink?” he asked.
“As much as I’d like that, I can’t.”
“Ah. Busy night ahead?”
“Not really. The thing is, if I go up to your condo, we’re going to have sex. I can’t get distracted by sex right now no matter how much I might want that.”
His disappointment eased into pleasure. Apparently, he hadn’t made as bad a first impression with her as he’d feared.
Good to know.
“Guess I can’t argue with that,” he said. “How about a goodbye kiss?”
She shook her head and waved him out of the car. “Stop trying to get me to break my no-sex pact.”
He paused with his hand on the door’s handle. “What’s that now?”
“Tell you what,” she said, leaning over him, pulling the handle, and shoving the door open. “You never ask about that again and I’ll call you for some phone sex at some point this week.”
“Bye.”
He climbed out and closed the door on her laughter. She tore out of the parking lot like she was escaping a chainsaw-wielding serial killer.
Luckily, he thought to step back first and spared his foot from her tires.
Since the timing was right, he shot a text off to Javy to see if he was home from the ballgame yet. When he got a positive response, he headed straight to his neighbor’s condo. Javy had cracked the door for him after he texted, so he headed right in.
“Hey, man,” Javy said. “Where’s the beer?”
“Shit. Hang on. I’ll run next door and get it.”
“Nah. I’ve got some. Take a load off and start talkin’ about that smokin’ hot mamacita I found standing outside your door earlier.”
Although the words shouldn’t have bothered Callan, there was no denying they did. He didn’t want his notorious flirt of a friend thinking of Roxy that way.
And he really hadn’t liked how Roxy was looking at Javy earlier.
He had been waiting by his front door for her arrival and heard her laugh out in the hallway. When he’d peeked through the peephole, he’d found her talking to Javy and giving him her sexy smile. It produced an instant response…one Callan had never experienced before regarding a woman.
Jealousy.
It made him overreact when he opened the door and greeted Roxy. He hadn’t been able to wait to get her into his condo and away from Javy, something Javy seemed to pick up on.
Thank God he’d thought up a reasonable excuse for his behavior when Roxy called him out on it. He hadn’t been lying that he hadn’t yet told Javy about the whole “buying a house” thing, even if that hadn’t been the motivation for his ridiculous reaction earlier.
He took the opportunity to do so now. He told Javy about meeting Roxy at Nightscape, about the connection that developed between them, and about their one-night stand, ending with his newfound house hunt intended to help her out with some money.
“Damn, man,” Javy said when he finished. “Sounds like your Gypsy woman’s got you tied up in knots.”
Callan smiled. Even though he hadn’t ever mentioned the word Gypsy in his conversation about Roxy, his friend used that exact descriptor.
“Apparently ‘Gypsy’ is considered a derogatory word by some of the Romani people,” Callan said, remembering Roxy’s comment.
“Really? Huh. I thought it meant mysterious and sexy.”
“Yeah. Anyway, I’m not the only one tied up in knots these days,” Callan pointed out. “You were holed up here in this condo for three days with Gemma Bradford over your birthday weekend a couple weeks ago. And don’t think I haven’t noticed all the excuses you’ve been handing me to get out of clubbing with me lately.”
Javy took a pull from his beer and gave Callan a slow nod. “You’re not wrong, man. We’ve been keepin’ things on the down-low. An actress at Gemma’s level can’t afford to be seen with a guy without it endin’ up all over the tabloids.”
Gemma was one of the stars of the hit medical drama, Sacred Grace. She lived out in L.A. and had met Javy at a charity softball game they’d participated in the previous November.
“Are things getting serious between you two?” Callan asked.
“They are for me.”
Sensing Javy didn’t want to get into it any more than that, Callan lifted his beer in an informal salute. “Cheers then. She’s good for you.”
“Thanks.”
“Anyway, it might be a good thing that you’re not as into socializing right now,” Callan said. He had already told Javy about his new goal to honor G-Man with a phenomenal season, as well as what Grizzly suggested he do to prepare for it. “You’re helping me stay focused on my conditioning and laying off the ladies.”
“Or maybe,” Javy suggested, “you should just focus on one lady. There’s somethin’ to be said about having a beautiful woman waitin’ for you after a long road trip.”
He was hinting at Roxy. It was certainly food for thought.
Very interesting food for thought.
“For now,” Callan said, “why don’t we focus on conditioning? Meet me in the gym in the morning?”
“You got it, amigo.”
Chapter Sixteen
It was rather astonishing, Roxy thought, how similar real estate networking was to winging for a friend.
Much like when playing the part of a wingwoman, she needed to use her powers of observation and her conversation skills to make the right connections at a networking event. She had to ask excellent questions that conveyed genuine interest in the other person. Giving sincere compliments never hurt and, in fact, served as another launch point for conversation topics. And keeping her attention on the person with whom she was conversing was absolutely essential.
She was putting all of her wingwoman skills to the test at the Midtown Marketing Mixer. She had gotten the invite from Allison, whose marketing firm was hosting the event. Allison had gotten wind that several real estate developers were going to be in attendance. Where there were real estate developers, there were often investment property owners, which were among the top prospects in the business.
On top of that, one of the first things Roxy had learned about her new career was the importance of developing a list of contacts outside the world of real estate. Events like this one were invaluable for broadening her leads list.
“How’s it going?” Allison asked, catching up with Roxy as she stepped away from the group she had been talking to.
“Great, thanks. I actually just got finished chatting with your co-worker’s husband, Jim.”
“The divorce lawyer?”