Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Monica
“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” I say wistfully to my now ex-boss, Meghan. I’ve been working at this real estate office in Colorado for a few months now, and I’ve really enjoyed working with Meghan. She’s so much better than that bitch from Oklahoma.
“Girl, I can’t do this job and do the mom thing. It just isn’t gonna work, especially with the adoption going through,” Meghan responds. She and her husband Mitchell started the adoption process for a child in Russia and then found out they were also pregnant. They had tried to get pregnant for close to ten years with no success. Now they’re about to have a baby and get a six-month-old baby from Russia. It’s essentially like having twins, and seeing what Em went through with Rose and Poppy, I can understand why she wants to step back from work. Real estate is a difficult job to have with a family anyway. Too many weekend hours.
“I know. I just really enjoyed working with you. So much better than my last boss,” I say.
“Well, the higher up’s have great things to say about the new managing broker. They say he’s a great guy and really nice to work with,” she says.
“Dang, it’s a guy? I don’t want to work for a guy,” I grumble.
Meghan chuckles.
“Why not?”
“I have yet to meet a man in real estate who doesn’t automatically think I’m an easy lay,” I tell her.
“Well, are you an easy lay?” a voice pipes up from behind me, and I suppress a groan. I turn to look at Chase Masters, another realtor in the office, and he leers at me.
“Not for you, I’m not,” I tell him. “But thanks for proving my point. This is the kind of crap that all real estate men dish out.”
“I mean, she’s not wrong,” Chase says with a smile, “but most realtors are easy lays. One day I will break you down, Mon.”
“Never gonna happen, Masters. Never gonna happen,” I tell him. Chase is attractive, and if we didn’t work together, I’d think about it. But I can take one look at him and know he’d probably be a two-pump-chump and then act like he’s God’s gift to women. Kinda like how Marcus is turning out.
Thinking about Marcus makes me reminisce about meeting that amazing older man over the weekend. Gabriel. Fucking hell, he was so damn hot. I’d never been struck speechless before, and he took me by complete surprise. Just completely delicious with salt and pepper hair, blue eyes, and the tiniest lilt of an accent to his deep and husky voice. I wanted so badly to go home with him. To see if his tongue did as well on other parts of my body as it did in my mouth. That was the best damn kiss of my entire life. In the middle of a crowded bar with a man I barely know.
“Monica.”
My eyes whip to Meghan’s as she giggles.
“What?”
“I’ve been asking you a question for a couple minutes. Where were you just now?” Meghan asks, and I shrug.
“Sorry. My mind got away from me. Just thinking about some stuff from this weekend.”
“You still dating Marcus?”
“Kind of. I guess? I don’t know. He’s getting on my nerves. I think I’m going to start tapering off from him. We had a fight at a bar, and he stomped off, then came back and got all snippy with me. Too much drama. Guys aren’t supposed to be the dramatic ones,” I tell her.
“Honestly, I didn’t get the best impression of him when you introduced me a few months ago. I thought he was just a fuck buddy, though. Does he want more?”
“I think so. He got really pissy when I was talking to another guy at the bar and fought with me about it when we got home. Fucked me super fast and then told me it was my fault I didn’t come. It was really weird. I went to sleep and was relieved he was gone when I woke up.”
“That’s messed up, Mon.”
“Yeah. I didn’t want a relationship anyway. That’s just not for me,” I tell Meghan. She cocks her head to the side and studies me.
“A relationship with Marcus isn’t for you, or a relationship in general?” she asks.
“In general. They’ve never worked out in the past. Besides, all it means is control. That’s all men want in relationships. I’m not interested in that. I control my own life,” I explain.
“I think that’s very interesting that you phrased it as ‘all’ men want control. That’s not accurate, Mon. You’ve been dealt a shitty hand with guys, but there’s someone out there that is the perfect match for you. I feel it,” Meghan tells me. I chuckle derisively.
“Yeah, I don’t think I believe you,” I respond.
“Someone is going to come along and rock your world, Mon.”
“Nah.”
Meghan chuckles and shakes her head at me. I try to keep my expression calm and indifferent, but her words rattle me. I don’t trust men. I just don’t.
“I have to take this box out to my car, then meet me in the conference room, okay? The new manager will be here with lunch,” Meghan says over her shoulder as she walks out of her office with the last of her things.
Dang. I don’t want to meet him today. Meghan was the first broker I actually enjoyed working for. It’s a real shame I only got to have her as my boss for a few months. Realtors are generally lone wolves, but Meghan instilled a team atmosphere where we all wanted to be together. It was a refreshing change.
I loiter in the hallway before finally trudging into the conference room. I intend to go to the back and remain out of sight. I don’t want to interact with this new douche at all today. I’m rattled about Meghan leaving, and I don’t know why it’s affecting me so much.
As I walk toward the back of the room, I hear a deep voice clear his throat.
“Don’t know how to knock?” the voice asks.
“It’s a conference room, not an office. And I’m here for a meeting,” I retort as I slink down in the furthest chair, suddenly aware I’m the only other person in the room.
“The meeting doesn’t start for twenty more minutes. You can come back then,” the voice says again, and I see someone hunched over a laptop at the front of the room. His voice sounds oddly familiar.
“Seriously?” I ask.
“Seriously.”
I huff as I flounce dramatically out of the room. The new manager is already rubbing me the wrong way. Clearly, my gut instinct to call him a douche was completely correct. I walk out to the parking lot to get a little sunshine and look at the mountains. I can totally understand why Emily was thrilled to move here. The view of the front range of the Rockies never disappoints.
My phone rings, jarring me. Speak of the devil.
“Hey, Em,” I say once I accept the call.
“Hey, Mon. Nathan is working late on a project tonight. Want to come to hang with the girls and me? I’d love to see you,” she says. Her voice sounds odd.
“You’re pregnant again.”
“Holy fuck, how did you know that?” she shouts.
“Because there’s something in the damn water here. Never met so many stupid pregnant people in my damn life,” I mumble. But, secretly, I’m thrilled for her. Em was made to be a mom. She’s in her element.
“Well, now that you’ve ruined my surprise, come for dinner anyway,” she says.
“Of course, I will. I’m happy for you, Em. Really.”
“I know you are. Any chance you can bring dinner?”
I chuckle. There’s the real reason.
“What weird craving are you having now?” Her first pregnancy was ridiculous. I only heard about the cravings because I was still in Oklahoma for most of it.
“None … yet. They’re coming, though. But I just really want a salad from that place with the good ranch over by your office,” Em tells me.
“Done. You want me to pick up anything for the girls?”
“No. They’re big into grilled cheese right now. I can swing that.”
Poppy and Rose are three-years-old and different as night and day. Rose is loud, brash, and right in your face. She does her namesake proud with her shenanigans. My grandmother would have gotten the biggest kick out of her. And Poppy is Nathan’s little mini-me. Observant, quiet, introverted, and empathetic. They’re both complete joys. Their little sister Daisy is a hybrid of Poppy and Rose. Very observant, but also very extroverted and full of sass.
“Oh! The new broker started today, I guess,” I tell Emily.
“What’s she like?”
“He.”
“He?”
“Yep. Already an asshole from what I can tell.”
“How have you come to that conclusion already?” Emily asks. I tell her about the scheduled meeting and how he made me leave the conference room. “Well, maybe he was setting up. Or maybe he’s nervous? Give him a chance, Mon.”
“I don’t want to,” I admit.
“Obviously.”
“I’m just really going to miss Meghan. She’s the first boss I’ve had that I actually liked.”
“You don’t know that you won’t like this guy. If you go in there with a chip on your shoulder, you probably won’t change your mind. This is all in your head, girlie,” Emily tells me. I sigh. She’s right. I look down at my watch and realize the meeting has already started.
“Shit, Em, I have to go. The meeting started, and I’m still outside.”
“Alright, I’ll see you at dinner. Get me extra ranch!” she shouts as I end the call. I jog into the building and bust right into the conference room to see everyone already seated.
“Twenty minutes early, and now you’re late? Not a good first or second impression, Miss …” the man says, bent over his laptop again.
“Um, Monica. Monica Valducci,” I answer sheepishly. His head whips up, and he stares incredulously at me.
Holy shit.
It’s Gabriel.