Page 9 of Zimyra

“What?”

“Did you send someone—”

“I heard the question, Myra. I’m just appalled by it. The answer is, no. I’ve been sleeping—well,tryingto sleep. Who supposedly did I send over there?”

“Some guy came here acting like he wanted an apartment. I gave him a tour and everything, Zan, only for him to tell me he was looking for a maintenance position.”

“Then give the man a maintenance position. Didn’t you just tell me the last crew dipped?”

“They did, but I can’t just give any ol’ Tom, Dick, and Harry a job. Processes are in place for a reason. Procedures have to be followed.”

“Followingproceduresgon’ have you getting rained on while you’re trying to pee.”

He cackles, riling me up even more than I’m already…riled.

“Ugh!”

He laughs more at my grunts. “That’s what you get for disturbing my rest. Why don’t you call Zavier with your early morning trials and tribulations?”

“Because he’s seeing patients right now.”

“Oh, so his job is more important than mine.”

“Did I say that?”

“It’s implied.”

“It’s not. You’re more accessible than he is. Plus, you’re off today, Bozo.”

“Right, I’m off. I need to be well-rested so I can fight fires and save lives tomorrow. Bye, Myra.”

“Zander, don’t you…”

He hung up before I could sayhang up on me. I place my phone on my desk, thinking he does have a point – I do need a maintenance worker, but I don’t need one so bad that I’ll let some handsome loner, fresh off the city streets of Bridgeport coerce me into handing him a job like he doesn’t have to go through the normal process like everybody else.

And that’sifhe really wanted the job in the first place. It could’ve been another waste of my time. Probably was.

At any rate, I get myself together and prepare for a long workday. I usually have two to three showings a day and on top of that, I have to send out emails, reminding people to pay their rent. Then there’s the landscaping. The outside of the buildings reflect what’s on the inside, so I’ll need to schedule maintenance of the grounds. An outside landscaping company takes care of that, for which I am grateful because if I had to rely on in-house maintenance, there would be weeds growing all around this place.

CHAPTER 2

Zimyra St. Claire.

I knew her name before I saw it so neatly displayed on her desk nameplate. I’ve familiarized myself with her and her movements from afar. What I didn’t know and wasn’t expecting is how detrimentally beautiful she is. It was a shock to my system to finally lay eyes on her – the woman Leverage Realty Group – the parent company of Atlantic Properties, credited with having the lowest move-out rate this year of all of our properties in North Carolina. The percentage was so low, it couldn’t be ignored. The big boss, AKA, my stepfather, Peter Bayne, wanted to figure out what Zimyra was doing to keep the tenants happy, and honestly, I wanted to know, too. Once I paid her old maintenance crew to walk away, I found my way in. I’m the COO – Chief Operating Officer of Leverage – but she doesn’t need to know that, does she?

No, she doesn’t.

Nor does she need to know that I’m a millionaire as I have successfully worked my way to the top. All she needs to do is hire me for the maintenance position, and I won’t stop until I get it. It’s how I got where I am. My stepfather didn’t hand me anything. Years of schooling, studying and interning is how I earned my spot in the company. It wasn’t easy, but again, I don’t stop until I get what I want.

But the woman drives a hard bargain. In addition to the four-page application, she wants me to submit a resume. Who asks for a resume for a maintenance position? Did she require one for the last group of men who I paid off, or is she just messing with me because she’s already suspicious of my intentions?

Admittedly, I shouldn’t have done the tour, but I couldn’t resist. I was so mesmerized by her, I had to stay a bit longer just to be in her presence. It’s her voice, the scent of peaches, her light, creamy skin tone and that thick, black curly hair that she had pulled into a ponytail. Or it could be her sass, the way she’s attentive to detail as she analyzed me and the way she knows the ins and outs of her position. I get the impression she’s not just here for a check. She loves what she does. That’s what I need to harness – the power of Zimyra and how it plays into running this complex.

The power of Zimyra.

I chuckle to myself and then look over this application. I’m staying at another one of our properties in the area – downtown to be exact. It’s calledLuxe on Lady. The place is on Lady Street, hence the name. Luxury apartments reside here as well but unlike Atlantic, these units come with a concierge and valet parking. Even with the extras, the move-out rate is awful. I suppose while I’m here, I can find out what management is doing around here as well, but my focus is Zimyra’s location.

I leave my temporary home to go downstairs. The bottom level of the adjacent building has a ramen restaurant, a convenience store, and a bar. I’m in the mood for food while I figure out how to forge a maintenance resume and fill out a job application – things I’ve never had to do before. I was born with a silver spoon, and I’m not ashamed of it. Peter wouldn’t allow me to have the typical teenage life of getting a first job at a fast food joint because he had bigger and better things lined up for me. My job as a teen and young adult was to bury my head in books and study business. So, that’s what I did. I’ve never been the type to sit back and wait for someone to hand me anything. Nor would I ever. I worked hard and got it on my own merits. I took that spoon and made my own silverware.

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