A Margin of Lust (The Seven Deadly Sins #1)(46)



"It's just me and Ron, but I need a room for each of the kids when they visit. And my daughter is having her first baby. I wanted to turn one room into a nursery. I saw the cutest jungle theme crib set at Petite Tresor."

They walked down the hall toward the place Gwen had almost clocked Arnold Paul over the head. The place she'd thought she was about to meet her maker. She smiled at the memory. So many apparently threatening things had happened since the murder on Cliff Drive. Apparently being the operative word.

Some of them were the product of an overactive imagination fueled by a smidgen of post-traumatic stress. The rest, she now believed, were the acts of someone counting on the fact she was running scared. That person had fooled her for a time, but no more. She wasn't going anywhere.

"The front bedroom is big enough for a queen and a crib," Gwen said, allowing Susan to enter before her. She hovered in the doorway leaving as much open space inside as possible.

"It could work." Susan spun in a slow circle. "I'd just have to give up the stuffed giraffes. Nowhere to put them."

They looked at the other guest room, discussed furniture and giraffe placement, then walked down the hall. Susan had been enamored with the view off the balcony of the master bedroom. Gwen wanted her to see it one more time before they left the property—let it be her last impression. Gwen couldn't get enough of the view herself. She loved Dana Point, loved the neighborhood, loved the house.

Sailor's Haven came as close to Gwen's dream home as any place she'd seen since she'd been a Realtor. She fantasized about investing her commission from the Laguna Beach house into this one, but that's all it was—a fantasy. She and Art wouldn't qualify even with a big down payment. They'd incurred too much debt. A house at the beach would remain a dream for a long while.

On the way down the stairs, her phone rang. She glanced at the screen. It was Lance. She'd been waiting for his call all day. He'd sent a counteroffer to the drug lords—her nickname for the couple who'd made the offer on Cliff Drive. Their agent was supposed to respond this morning.

"You can take that. I want to measure the office," Susan said.

"You sure?" Gwen said to Susan's retreating back. Susan twiddled her fingers over her shoulder and disappeared through the doorway. Gwen answered the call on the fourth ring. "What's the news?"

"It's good. They accepted the counter." The excitement in Lance's voice crackled through her phone. "Ten million, twenty-five thousand."

"Fantastic. When are we going to sign the papers?"

"They'll be in town tomorrow morning. We can sign then and put it in escrow on Monday."

"I can do that." Gwen would have to meet Art and the kids in Big Bear later in the day, or go up Saturday morning. This was too important to miss. He'd have to understand.

"Oh, more good news. You remember Betty from-three-doors-down? Her cousin called. She wants to look at property in the ten to thirteen million range. I'm taking her out in about an hour. Want to come?"

Gwen hesitated. They had never discussed continuing their partnership past the Laguna Beach property. It wasn't unusual for agents to join forces. The most common were husband and wife teams, but plenty had a purely business arrangement. There were advantages, shared workload, shared expenses, and so on.

In Gwen's experience, the only disadvantages arose when work ethics weren't a match. No problem there. Lance worked harder than she did. But she hadn't discussed the idea with Art. She wondered how he'd feel about her teaming up with a young, attractive male. Not positively, she thought. But she didn't feel too positively about his relationship, working or otherwise, with Lorelei.

"I can't make it. But keep me in the loop," she said. Whether they established an official arrangement moving forward or not, she wanted a piece of any deals that came because of the Cliff Drive property. It was originally her listing after all.

"I hope you're not too busy to celebrate going into escrow."

"Definitely not too busy for that."

"Friday night?"

"Sure. Dinner, somewhere expensive." She rang off, happiness and relief mingling inside her. She'd head up to Big Bear on Saturday morning. She deserved a night out. She was about to get the largest commission check of her life and at the same time offload a nightmare.





CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE


Coffee sloshed around in Art's stomach. He set his cup down. He'd skipped breakfast and come in early. It was Thursday. If he wanted to take tomorrow off, he had to clean his slate today. The kids were too excited about leaving the next morning to disappoint.

Only one more task to go before lunch. He picked up the phone and dialed Mission Hospital. He was anxious to see how both Olivia and Brian were doing. He'd heard Brian was talking and walking, and the prognosis was good.

Olivia wasn't there. The nurse on duty, who also happened to be the mother of a St. Barnabas student or he'd never have gotten the information, told him she thought Olivia had gone to work. She'd been in earlier wearing her Enzo's uniform.

A good sign. If things weren't going well with Brian, Olivia would never have left his side. Art pushed away from his desk. He'd celebrate with pizza for lunch and get the news directly from her.

When he got to Enzo's, he peered through the front window into the dim interior of the sport's bar. He saw Olivia's blond head flitting between tables in the back. He entered, stood by the "Please wait to be seated" sign, and watched her efficient movements.

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