Lizzy Goes Brains Over Braun - Jasinda Wilder Page 0,1
so am I.”
I glared at her. “You’re not getting any listings over two, now, I hope you realize.” I moved to the mirror and attempted to return my blond hair to the artful waves and loose curls. “Do you have any idea how long it took me to get my hair to look like that?”
Kat stuck her tongue out at me. “That’s because you have no volume, boo. You have to fake it.”
“I have to write up this offer,” I said, waltzing to my desk, sitting with what I hoped was elegant grace.
The desks of the other five girls were arranged around the room, all facing the center, and mine was against the storefront in the focus of the space, since I was the broker and I’d started the firm. Everyone had two chairs in front of their desks so clients could come and discuss options and sign paperwork as necessary, but my desk was just that much bigger and nicer, and the chairs in front of my desk were replica Louis XV chairs.
By this point, with the show over, the other girls had gotten back to work. In short order, I had the offer written up and sent off to the Crenshaws to sign so I could then send it to Gerry and Leanne; I’d had the offer drawn up for days, having had an inkling that the Crenshaws would want this one. I just had to fill in the numbers. I was getting paid two ways on this deal, to boot—I was the buyer’s agent for the Crenshaws and the seller’s agent for Gerry and Leanne.
Laurel breezed in, dressed to the nines as she always was, her naturally platinum blond hair in a tight chignon, Chanel purse hanging off her elbow, Louboutins clicking down the steps from the back entrance, her cell phone to her ear as she worked on closing a deal.
“Murph, listen—no, Murph, it’s worth it. It is. I know it needs some reno, but that’s exactly what you said you wanted, not a fixer-upper, but something you could put your thumbprint on. The bones are there, you know they are. It’s exactly what you said you wanted—in the neighborhood you specified, in your price range—at the top, albeit—with good bones, a great view, and potential for upgrade…you’re waffling, Murphy…okay, well, you’re not going to find anything else in that specific area for anything less than six, trust me, I know. There are precisely three other properties for sale in a ten-mile radius of the house I just showed you, and of them, only one is listed for under six million. And that one is a total gut-job. Like, complete gut, down to studs and subfloor, knocking out walls, replumbing, rewiring, new roof. It’s nearly a knock-down and rebuild, you’re just paying for the land, location, and view. If you want that neighborhood, Murph, that’s your house. I have another showing there tomorrow at noon, so you have until, say, ten tomorrow morning to put in an offer. I won’t cancel with those clients at the last minute, so get your shit in gear and give me a number.”
Ballbuster, man. Granted, this guy Murphy was one of her oldest friends, and someone she’s sold at least one other property to that I know of. But still, she was a ballbuster.
She was in the center of the room, listening, eyes closed, silently chewing on her lower lip. And then, her eyes flew open and she clenched her empty fist in victory, dancing in a circle.
“Okay,” she said, her voice level and cool as a cucumber. “They’re asking five-point-two-five, but they haven’t had any offers yet, so you could go in at…five even, if you’re willing to go up closer to full asking. Okay, I’ll send it over. Give me five minutes. Okay, talk soon.” She ended the call, demurely placed her phone into her bag, and then began dancing a gleeful little jig, as well as she could in three-inch heels and a crazy tight miniskirt. “Boom, bitches. Top that.” She swept her pointer finger around the room.
“Boss lady already did top it,” Zoe said without looking up from her computer. “Eight-point-two.”
“Goddammit!” Laurel huffed, rolled her eyes. “You are such a chronic overachiever, you know that, Lizzy? Buzzkill.”
We were often mistaken for sisters, though were weren’t—of a height, both with naturally platinum hair, similar bone structure, similar builds, and even our eyes were close in shade, hers grayish-blue while mine were a swirl of blue and green.