Chapter 13 Elio #3
“Six thousand dollars a month feels like a steal,” I said. “What’s the catch?” I nodded at the agent.
“Well, the catch is that this is a rent-controlled area, but the landlord insists on a five-year lease,” the agent said.
She was a small woman with a clipboard and her hair done in a tight bun.
She wore modest clothes for a New York estate agent.
A long skirt and a white shirt. She reminded me of my high school English teacher, Mrs. Clarence.
“And what’s the price of this property, for sale?
” I asked. I could turn one of the rooms into a work-from-home office.
That could be something. The garage situation downstairs had really impressed me.
If I got the loft, I got a special garage with room for two cars and a private elevator leading up to the loft itself.
“You wanna buy it?” the agent asked, raising an eyebrow. “It’s a two-million-dollar purchase.”
“Elio, we should look at other places,” Maria said, glaring at me warningly. “There’s more than one apartment.”
“Yeah, but this is your favorite, isn’t it? This was the surprise. You must have spent some time browsing Zillow. You must have shortlisted the best ones. Am I wrong?”
“No,” she said. “This is the best one. And for this price. But I’m not expecting you to buy it.”
“Why not? I’m gonna be living in New York for the foreseeable future. This place is discreet enough that no one’s gonna know that I live here. And it’s in my budget.”
“Elio,” she whispered, taking me by the arm and guiding me to the next room. “You’ve got four million. If you pay for this place with two million, there’s gonna be taxes, and you’ll be out two million dollars. That’s a lot of money.”
I patted her arm gently. “I wanna tell you something. Next week, we have another meeting with potential buyers. This time in Seattle. My buddies are setting it up. I’m going to be the guy who closes the deal.
It’s a bigger deal than the previous one.
If I do it, that’s seven more million dollars in my account. You still think that it’s a bad idea?”
“And what if you don’t make the sale?”
“I still have a lot of runway money to think about my next move, don’t I?”
“There’s another buyer,” the agent said, appearing behind us. “Someone very interested in looking at this place.”
“You can save the sales spiel,” I said, shaking my hand. “I’m a salesman myself. I know what luxury goes for. This place isn’t two million dollars. Our best offer, our final offer, is going to be a million and twenty. Take it or leave it.”
Her face grew stern.
“One point five.”
“I’m not budging,” I said.
“I can’t go lower than one point five!” she protested. “This is a five thousand square foot loft!”
“And there’s plenty more in the city. This place is kind of far away from Manhattan,” I said, feigning. This was fun. I loved being on the receiving end of the sales pitch for a change.
“One point three is my final offer,” she said.
“I’ll do one point three,” I said, grinning. Then, looking at Maria, I said, “See? We still got runway money.”
“In that case, I guess congratulations are in order!” she said, slapping me gently on the shoulder. “Elio Romano, coming up in the world!”
I looked around the place with all its furnishings. I’d have to change some of that. Well, I’d change a lot of that.
“Let’s go pop some champagne!” I said, taking her arm, leaving the agent standing there perplexed. “And then we’ll buy a car!”
I felt good, no longer weighed by the weight of my father. I wanted to celebrate this day. Not just the day when I bought a loft, but the day when Maria said she’d be my girlfriend. That was more important. All else was secondary.
The next week came and went by faster than I could imagine.
Maria and I spent our free time furnishing my new loft, figuring out how to make the best of the three rooms. We ended up furnishing one as my game room.
I dropped a hundred thousand dollars on that room, populating it with my favorite arcade games, a billiards table, gaming systems, and a killer sound system.
Then, of course, the main bedroom I took for myself.
And by the end of the fifth day, just one day before I had to leave for my party in Seattle, I popped the question as soon as we’d put the sheets on my new bed, a wider California King-sized bed, a big upgrade on the old Queen-sized one that was in this room. That one had gone in the spare bedroom.
“Move in with me,” I said. We’d just finished eating takeout.
“Not permanently. A girl’s gotta have a place of her own.
But you could move in with me. Take the spare room.
Put your toiletries in there. Some clothes.
I’d love for you to be with me here. Otherwise, it’s just going to get super depressing with me being here all by myself. ”
“We can do that. This place is closer to my work than my own!” She laughed.
“Maria Thurman, you sly minx,” I said, clinking my beer bottle with hers.
“You got played, I’m sorry,” she said, still giggling.
“It’s fine. Money ain’t no thang,” I said.
The low-hanging lamps made this place look warm, the fresh bricks a welcome sight to my eyes.
Earlier that day, Maria and I had gone down to a bookstore and bought no less than a hundred books for me to populate the empty shelves in the living room.
I finally got to buy all my favorite classics, the ones that I had at home.
I even bought several new authors. There was something about being twenty-eight and my prefrontal cortex being fully developed for three whole years that made me cringe at the thought of doomscrolling on my phone.
Books, now, were a source of joy. I could see myself reading for hours in this loft.
I could see myself lying next to Maria, her reading her own book, me reading my own, just a couple of old souls very much in love with each other.
I was still lost in my happy thoughts when my phone rang. I checked to see who it was. It was my father. I declined the call and tossed my phone away.
“You should talk to him at least,” she said. “He may be worrying.”
“Or he may have cooked up some new game that he wants me to play. I’m done,” I said, sighing, rubbing my face.
“This whole thing—buying this place, furnishing it, it was supposed to be a distraction from my father. And now he’s calling me.
I don’t want to know what he wants. I don’t want nothing from him. I’m not a kid anymore.”
“You know what’s a good distraction we haven’t done in this place?” she asked, thankfully changing the topic.
“What?” I asked.
“We haven’t christened it yet.”
“Now that’s something I can get behind,” I said, scooting over to where she sat and wrapping my arms around her.
This past week was so hectic that sex had been the last thing on our minds.
When I was not busy furnishing this place and finalizing its purchase, I was busy with my meetings and arranging everything for our Seattle deal.
We’d barely seen each other for more than a few hours every day.
And I hadn’t touched her like a lover in over a week.
I very much wanted to do that now.
I kissed her cheek, and then placed my hand upon her neck. She was wearing a nice sundress, a floral thing that went up to her knees. It was the perfect thing to wear in this blistering heat, not to mention entirely seductive to look at.
She kissed me as I touched her breasts, moaning softly in my ear as I lay her down on the plush carpet in the living room that had been her choice. I could see now why she had chosen it. It was soft to the touch, but not softer than her skin.
Her sundress came off her shoulders easily. I kissed her shoulders, and then lowered her bra straps so her tits were out. I lay beside her, gently sucking on her nipples, my fingers traveling up her naked thighs, and toward her wet pussy.
I did not know what waited for me tomorrow.
Tonight, I wanted to give this woman all the pleasure in the world.