Read Online Bidding War by Julia P. Lynde - Free Book Online Page A

opportunity will roll your way."
    "Maybe." Then I asked her what she liked most about her job, and while she was talking, I stole a piece of chicken from her plate.
    "Every piece of food you steal from my plate is one kiss I get later," she told me, smiling.
    I made a point of thinking about it. She watched me. "Going to steal another one?"
    "I'm wondering how many truffles I'm going to try to steal later," I admitted.
    "Truffles are two kisses each. With tongue."
    I laughed and stole another piece of chicken from her.
    Her eyes grew wide at that. "Are you really going to pay for those later?"
    "If you don't get cocky, I might." I paused, smiled, then said, "And if my arms get more of that lovely attention."
    After that I got her to tell work stories about some of her clients. I asked her what her favorite house was.
    "When I first became an agent, I helped this young couple buy a small house in South Minneapolis," she said. "I really had to go to bat to get them into the house, including a cut in my commission to help with the price. Three years ago, Debbie won the dot com lottery when the company she was working for was sold. Two years ago, they came to me and asked me to help them find a house on Lake Minnetonka. It took us nine months, but they ended up buying an absolutely fabulous home." She described the house.
    "It sounds amazing."
    "Debbie's mother joined us for some of the house viewings we did. After the third day out with us, right in front of me, she told Debbie flat out she was making a big mistake using me as an agent."
    "Oh wow, how rude!"
    "She had one point. I didn't know the Lake Minnetonka market as well as another agent might, but we sell hours all over town all the time."
    "What happened?"
    "Also in front of me, Debbie pointed out everything I had done the first time around. Then she clearly stated that as far as she was concerned, she would never buy or sell a home in Minnesota without me."
    "Wow! Customer satisfaction."
    She nodded. "I almost started crying. Debbie walked over, gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek. It took another six months, but we found the perfect house. Debbie invited me to the housewarming. Her mother was there and cornered me."
    "Oh no."
    "No, it was okay. She asked me how long the house had been on the market. I told her I had shown it to Debbie and Ryan three hours after the initial paperwork had been signed, and it wasn't even in the system when we stepped inside. Dear Old Mom nodded and apologized to me."
    At that point, Moira smiled then stole a piece of chicken back off my plate. I laughed. "What do I get for that?"
    "More stroking."
    "Have more chicken." I slid my plate slightly closer to her.
    She laughed and took one more small piece.
    By then we were both done eating, but we had time before our class. We sat at the table and drank our tea. Moira began casually stroking my arm again, and I moved slightly closer to her, closing my eyes.
    "I am having a lovely time," she said a few minutes later.
    "So am I," I admitted. "Thank you."
    "Would you like to wander through the store before our class?"
    I opened my eyes and looked at her. "Getting bored touching me?"
    She smiled. "I want to move to the other arm."
    "Let's go!"
    She led the way out of the restaurant. As soon as we were back in the mall, she took my right hand in her left and began slowly stroking my arm with her right as we walked slowly through the mall.
    I looked down at my arm and over at her.
    "This is still all right?" she asked quietly.
    "Yes. I'm feeling selfish though."
    She smiled. "You're giving me a huge ego trip. Please just enjoy this."
    Kitchen Window was a short walk through the mall. We presented ourselves at the front desk. "The class room will be open in about twenty minutes," the woman said. "But we have a shopping list if you were thinking about buying what you might need to make truffles at home."
    She held out a sheet of paper. Moira took it from her, and we looked at it together.
    I had