Risking It All (7 page)

Quinton smiled. “Even better.
”

“Are you staying in town?”

“I’m staying right here…at this hotel. Can I meet you at your home?”

“No.
” Julissa shook her head
.
“We’ll talk about the details on Monday morning. I’ll call you.”

“You don’t have my number.”

“I have the number to the h
otel,” she said
.

“I won’t be here all day. I have other business to
tend to.” He smiled back.
“I guess you’ll have to give me your number.”

“Once again, my name is Julissa Lorenzo. I work with Remington Executive Realty. You’re good at looking things up in the phone book, aren’t you?”

“I have a feeling that you don’t give in easily,
Ms.
Feisty
One.” His lips were close to her face
.

“You’re right, Q.” Julissa
couldn’t remember how their bodies came to be touching
. They were so close to eac
h other that she felt hard muscle beneath the tuxedo
he wore
.

“I like that. I like it a lot.” His last comment resound
ed in
her head throughout the rest of the dance. And when the music stopped and they announced that formal dining would begin, they were still in each other’s arms.

If Shanice hadn’t pulled her away from Quinton, she may have been in a whole heap of trouble. Julissa and Quinton exchanged no more words that night, but every time they were in sight of each other, they exchanged secret glances.

She had to admit,
she
anticipated
her meeting with Quinton on Monday.

Julissa finally made her way over to Michael after the dinner, bouquet toss, garter
toss, and cake cutting. She
knew he had been watching her every move for the last two to three hours.
Michael was like that…controlling. Or maybe he was just a bit more possessive than other men.

She leaned down and kissed Michael on the forehead.
“How are you holding up? Food okay?”

“Everything is very good.” Michael looked at
her and smiled.
“First time I’ve seen you in a white formal dress.”

Christina
had really
flipped the script by wearing a red wedding dress with all her bridesmaid in white dresses.

“Yeah. I guess it was a surprise to all the guests, huh?”

Before Michael could answer, the man sitting beside him stood up and extended his hand out to Julissa. “Your significant other, I take it?” The question was directed to Michael.

“Yes, this is Julissa, my girlfriend,” Michael responded as the man shook her hand. “Julissa, this a Ted Rows. We’ve been talking for a little while about a car dealership he’s wanted to open up for a while now. He’s looking for some financing and I told him I will see what I can do with getting a word in at the office.”

Julissa nodded. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Rows. A good business plan is always a good thing. But, I’m sure that Michael will take care of you.”

“Well, thank you. It was nice meeting you, Julissa. You have a beautiful, girlfriend, Mr. Gerard…I’ll talk to you soon.”

With that
,
the man excuse
d himself
and walked away
from
the table.

“Well he was certainly nice,
”
she said.

“I don’t know whether he was sucking up to you or me when he made that last comment.”

“Oh, he wa
s just trying to be nice to you.” She
swatted her hand at Michael
. “Why do always assume stuff?”

Julissa saw Christina and Richard going from table to table greeting guests and she excitedly waved them over. She hadn’t talked to Christina since they were getting dressed earlier this morning. She didn’t want to send her friend off on honeymoon without having telling her how happy she was for her.

“Christina! You are so beautiful.” Julissa and Christina gave each other a hug as Michael and Richard stood off to the side in conversation.

“Oh, whatever! You’re the beautiful one.” Christina kissed her on the cheek.

“Unh-uh! You have me beat, girl. Today you are the princess and got the prince to prove it.”

Julissa and Christina giggled like two little school girls, then Christina got a serious look on her face. She turned to look at Michael and Richard
, who were having their own conversation, and then looked back at Julissa
.
She
leaned even closer and whispered, “I always thought that Ed was going to be the groomsman who would be the only one to dance with you since he practically begged
us for months to pair with you. F
rom the looks of it
, Quinton
didn’t
seem to
want to let you go once he got you in his arms. And I mean…you two were
really
in
each other’s
arms.”

“I hadn’t noticed. We were just dancing.”
Julissa blushed. “It’s nothing. We were talking about his real estate…here in Georgia.”

“Whatever…you two looked as though you had known each ot
her for years
.” Christina pulled back suddenly as Richard wrapped his arms back around her waist. “Well, we
’re just making the last rounds and
th
anking everyone for coming out. I
n another hour or so, we’ll be headed to the airport.” Christina patted Richard on the chest and they both gave each other a kiss.

Julissa smiled.
“Enjoy your honeymoon, guy
s. You two deserve each other.”

What she wouldn’t give to be happy like that.

**

“What’s for dinner
tonight?”

At only nine o’ clock on a Monday morning,
Michael w
as already worried about what Julissa was cooking for dinner
.
It was going to be a long week…

He stood beside her in their huge g
ourmet style kitchen and waited
as she poured his morning coffee into his favorite mug.

“Haven’t decided. Something good, of cou
rse,” Julissa replied.

The fact was she hadn’t the slightest clue
what they were having
. She usually did shopping on Saturday, but that task was put on Sunday’s to do list, because of Christina’s wedding. Somehow, she’d forgotten on Sunday that she hadn’t gone shopping the previous day for the week.

“Something Mexican sounds good. Ma
ybe your delicious Enchiladas?”

She stirred one half a teaspoon of
sugar and
two tablespoons of half-and-half in the coffee mug. Michael liked the measurements to be exact. He would know if they weren’t.

Julissa handed him the mg. “Then Mexican it is.” She
made a mental note to take a break from work to run to the grocery store to pick up the items for Mexican food. Then she remembered that she had promised Quinton to show him a couple properties that afternoon. “What time will you be home tonight?”

Michael had his back to her on the way out the door.

“Five,” he called
over her should
er and left
.

She could do this. She could do last week’s laundry, wash and change the old bed sheets, mop and sweep the first floor, prepare for listing several new properties for posting at midnight tonight, answer many emails and a dozen phone calls, research properties that would be of interest to Quinton, go to the grocery to grab the ingredients for tonight’s dinner, go meet and show Quinton a few properties on his list, and then come back home before five and have dinner ready on the table f
or Michael before six. She’d run
around like a chicken with its head cut-off before to get
things accomplished and she would
again.

**

It was about eleven when her business cell rang. She placed the digital camera she had
been
fumbling with on her desk. Without looking at the caller id, she took the call. “Julissa Lorenzo.”

“Hi, Beautiful.”

Her heart jumped and the phone almost fell from her hand when she heard Quinton’s voice. Even though, she was expecting his call, she was so caught up in getting the new properties listed that she ha
d almost forgotten about her plans with him
. It appeared that he had no problems researching her company in the phone book and obtaining the number to her direct office line.

“You still there?”

“Uh…yes…”

“If I caught you at a bad time, let me know. I can call you back or give you my cell number and you can call me when you’re less occupied.”

Quinton’s voice sounded so refreshing. She only wished that she could see his face right now.

“No…now’s a good time. Actually, I need to know what you’re interested in, so I can check the properties and contact the owners, if necessary.”

“How’s the housing market here in Atlanta? I was thinking about starting out with a duplex or small apartment building or something like that. Possibly a property with tenants already on site.”

“Any particular side of town?”

“An up and coming, growing area.”

“Great! I’ll make a couple phone calls and make it happen. I have a few friends that close on properties like these all the time, so I’ll call them about some listings.” Julissa jotted some notes down on the pad in front of her. “Can you me
et me at the same hotel
at about two?”

“Yes, I’m there.”

“Alri
ght, see you then.” Julissa
prepared to hang up.

“Wait a minute, baby.
Are you t
rying to run me off the phone?”

“No…I didn’t know you had something else to say.”

“How has your morning been going? Are you doing alright?”

“It’s been a busy morning, but I’m getting things done. Thanks for asking. And yours?”

“Okay
so far
. Got some work done earlier this morning at the hotel, beli
eve it or not. It’s good to hear
your voice again. You left out kind of early on Saturday.”

“Oh. I was a little exhausted.”

“Me, too. Well, guess I’ll see you here around two.”

“See you, then.” When Julissa hung up, she held the cell phone in her hand for a long time staring into space. She ceased daydreaming when the sound of her computer ringing informed her that she had a new email message.

Smiling, she started with her next task—searching property listings
for the afternoon ahead.

**

Feeling surprisingly nervous, she pulled into the parking lot of the hotel where Christina had just had her wedding on Saturday. Julissa hadn’t felt this nervous in a long time. In fact, she could only remember feeling this way when she showed her very first client a property. Now, she was feeling the same way over again. Not only was it the excitement of working with a new client for the first time, but she felt something extra. Something she couldn’t really explain at the moment.

She picked up her cell phone and dialed Quinton’s phone number. He answered after the first ring. “Hello?”

“Hi, it’s Julissa. I’m parked out front.”

“I’ll be right down.”

Julissa took the few minutes to straighten out her hair with her fingers and reapply her shiny lip gloss. When Quinton appeared through the revolving doors of the hotel, she paused for a few seconds to admire him. He was the tallest and fine
st man standing under the
ent
ry way. H
e stood at least six feet four inches tall.

He stopped in his tracks and looked from left to right, obviously trying to spot her in her car.

Julissa opened the door, got out, and waved him over. Even though, he was far away, she noted the big smile that spread across his face.

He st
arted walking towards her car, and t
he way he moved
with each step was like watching a movie star or a famous music artist step acros
s the red carpet. What was it called?
S
wagger.
And Quinton had it
. His look was casual today with black dress pants and gray knit Polo shirt.

“Hi.” He was so close
to her, that she could smell his intoxicating
cologne. “These are for you.” He held out a flower arrangement to her.
“I appreciate you doing this for me despite my impromptu request.”

“Thank you.
” Julissa blushed, and lowered her eyes to the
yellow and white
arrangement of lilies, roses, and daisy.
“They smell nice. But
you didn’t have
to since this is about business.
”