"Reese, I thought we agreed that Josh was out of the picture," Naomi said crossing her arms.
"I don't remember that conversation," she chuckled.
"I do," Naomi snapped, "You said it was getting pretty old with him constantly being out of town and being emotionally unavailable. This isn't even a real relationship!"
"Maybe I don't want a real relationship," she said sipping her tea.
"Right," Naomi raised her brow, "You don't want a real relationship?"
"I just—"
"You're just dick drunk at the moment," she interrupted, "as soon as you come to your senses, you're going to start hating yourself."
"That's not true," she snapped, "we are actually going to talk about us when he comes back to town."
"Did he say that, or did you initiate it?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Oh yes it does. He's not interested in having a relationship, not anymore," she said sitting on the edge of Reese's desk.
"I can get him back to that point."
"I don't think so. When he was ready to be in a relationship with you, you weren't interested because you kept saying it was "too soon" to move on from Collin—"
"It was too soon," Reese snapped harshly.
"Okay," Naomi replied softly, "All I'm saying is, that ship may have sailed with Josh, so you need to stop hooking up with him because it's never going to happen."
"Whatever," Reese rolled her eyes, "so what did Vincent want yesterday?"
"Oh, he just wanted to know what was going on with the place in Hollywood hills. It's not selling," she said disappointed.
"Well have you tried remarketing?"
"Yes. The seller has even dropped the price...I've restaged, had several open houses... I'm just not sure what to do and he's riding my ass."
"Well you know that's because he still has a thing for you," Reese smirked.
Knock! Knock!
"Sorry to interrupt," Amy said pushing open the office door, "Mr. Grey is on the phone for you."
"Oh perfect," she said spinning in her armchair towards her phone, "Can you transfer him?"
"Sure," Amy said turning to leave the office.
"How's that going," Naomi said closing the door.
"Eh it's going. We're supposed to have lunch to discuss some last minute details before it goes on the market."
"Oh so—"
Ring! Ring!
"Do you want me to leave?" Naomi asked.
"No, you're fine. Just be quiet," Reese said answering the phone on speaker.
"This is Reese Sutherlin."
"Ms. Sutherlin, thanks for taking my call," he said roughly through the phone.
"Absolutely, Mr. Grey. You're my client."
"Right," he chuckled, "I was wondering if you were available for our lunch meeting now. I actually have a very busy afternoon and—"
"Mr. Grey, I understand that you are very busy but unfortunately I don't have room in my schedule to move this appointment with you."
"I see," he paused briefly, "I'm sorry, I'm not used to being dictated to."
"I don't mean to come across as a dictator," she teased, "I'm only saying that I am busy as well. If you would like to reschedule for a later date, I'm more than happy to do so but the longer we delay this meeting the longer it will take to get the house on the market and I'm only trying to honor your request of selling it asap."
There was silence for a moment; Reese could hear his low husky breath through the speaker of the phone. She looked at Naomi, who was just as confused by the deafening silence on the other end.
"Mr. Grey, I have next Monday available if—"
"That won't be necessary," he said firmly, "your office address is 1100 South Main Street in Los Angeles correct?"
"Yes," Reese said hesitantly.
"Great, I'll be there in a few minutes. I'll see you soon." Click
"Whoa, that was intense," Naomi said.
"Yep, so that's what I'm dealing with," Reese said shaking her head.
"Are you going to let him barge in here?"
"I don't really have a choice," Reese said standing, "he's already on his way. I better go get the conference room ready," she continued grabbing her marketing kit she had put together for the Melrose listing.
Reese grabbed her purse and headed to the nearby bathroom to freshen up; she had planned on going home for lunch before meeting Mr. Grey but now he had taken it upon himself to come to her. Reese looked at herself in the mirror and sighed as she began to finger comb her long thick chocolate curls into a high bun exposing the beauty of her youthful and flawless heart-shaped face; her cheekbones sat high on her face. She lightly powdered her slender nose and reapplied her make-up to her smooth olive-tone skin. Her mascara enhanced her naturally long dark lashes that protected her chocolate almond-shaped eyes.
She grabbed her red peek-toed heels from her purse and changed out of her flats; she had learned early to always bring an extra pair of shoes. She straightened her blouse and black high-waisted pencil skirt and headed to the conference room. Reese's heels echoed as she walked down the hallway. She could hear laughter coming from the conference room. She pushed the door opened and found Victor, Vincent, and Mr. Grey having a drink.
"Ahem," Reese cleared her throat, "Am I interrupting something?"
"Reese," Victor said walking over to her, "nice of you to join us."
"Yea," she said raising her brow, "it's a little early for drinks don't you think," she said motioning to the open whisky bottle.
"Lighten up Reese," Victor smiled, "We're celebrating."
"Oh, I didn't realize. What are we celebrating," she said placing her marketing package on the conference table.
"You of course," Mr. Grey interrupted, with a smug smirk on his lips, "I was just telling these gentlemen about the marketing strategy you came up with."
"But I—"
"Now I know that's not what we originally discussed Reese, but it does makes sense," Victor beamed.
"What are you talking about?" Reese asked raising her brow.
"I know you wanted to wait until we worked out the details but honestly hosting a masquerade party at my mansion is a genius idea," Mr. Grey smirked, "and the addition of the auction will definitely help sell this place in no time, because as you know I'm very busy and have a tight schedule."
"Right," her voice trailed, "Victor...Vincent can you let us have the room for a moment," she said keeping her eyes on Mr. Grey.
"Absolutely," Vincent exclaimed, "We're both so proud of you."
"Thanks," she said as the door closed behind them, "so you just high-jacked my marketing plan?" she said turning towards Mr. Grey.
"I didn't high-jack it. I just made it better," he said taking a sip of his whisky, "I heard about the twilight event. That's good but I thought we could spice it up a bit."
"Well now you're coming across as a dictator Mr. Grey," she said as she took the seat across from him.
"How so?"
"Well," she cleared her throat, "You changed our meeting time by showing up here unannounced—"
"I told you on the phone I was coming," he interrupted.
"Last minute," she said firmly, "And now you have completely changed my—"
"Are you saying that you can't work with this?" he asked raising a brow, "maybe I should tell Victor and Vincent that our celebration was premature."
"Maybe," she snapped.
"Ms. Sutherlin, are you always this tightly wound?"
"Excuse me?"
"I just think you need to relax," he chuckled, "If you don't want to go with the masquerade-auction event, then we don't have to. It was only a suggestion."
"I appreciate it," she said forcing a smile, "Now before we talk about what event I'm going to throw to sell your mansion, we need to talk about some of the contemporary pieces you have in the home."
"Like?"
"The furniture," she said opening her folder," Now do you plan to sell them with the home or—"
"Can I take you to dinner Ms. Sutherlin," he interrupted.
"Excuse me?" she said looking up, her eyes meeting his intense gaze.
"Can I take you to dinner," he repeated firmly.
"Mr. Grey, we really need to get through this."
"And we will," he said standing, "I just would really like to take you to dinner where we could speak freely."
"We can speak freely here."
"I don't have that much time," he said glancing at his watch.
"It's only a few—"
"Where should I pick you up?"
"You can pick me up here," she sighed reluctantly, "I get off at five."
"Good," he said firmly exiting the conference room.