Page 89 of Committed to You

“There is nothing special about that woman. She has you fooled.”

After that message is when I blocked her.

When Vivian and I leave the final penthouse, we hop into an Uber and head back to her place. Vivian’s phone buzzes. She looks at the text. “Great.”

“What’s wrong?”

“My mama has a new article to show around.” She holds out her phone. Vivian’s picture, along with the mayor, while accepting her award, is on the screen. An article follows.

I chuckle.

“It’s not funny. It isn’t the only one, either.” She taps her fingers on her phone and hands it back to me. A picture of her and I, in front of the media banner, pops up.

I grin at her. “I’m okay with your mom showing those around.”

She rolls her eyes. We pull up to her building and get out. Once we get inside her apartment, she writes everything up for me to put an offer on the first penthouse we saw.

“I need to get this over to the agent. I just got an offer on one of my properties I need to deal with as well.”

I stand up, bend over, and kiss her. “Do your thing. I’ve got a few things I need to do as well. Can I see you again tonight?”

Vivian smiles. “Sure. Can we keep it low-key though?”

“Yes. Why don’t I make a reservation at the restaurant in my hotel?”

“That sounds perfect.”

I pull up the restaurant on my phone and quickly reserve a table. Vivian stands up to walk me to the door. Pulling her into my arms, I press my lips against hers. “Don’t forget your overnight bag. I’ll pick you up at eight.”

She laughs. “Aren’t you presumptuous.”

I cockily lick my lips.

She pushes my chest. “Go.”

I kiss her and leave. I’m walking out of her building, thinking about Vivian and how happy I am, the new penthouse, and the two locations I wrote offers on. My Uber quickly arrives, and I pull up the phone to call Jamison, not paying attention to my surroundings or anyone who may be lurking.

I fill Jamison in on the locations and scroll through my other voice messages and texts. I skip past Meredith’s messages to one from Dawn.

“Chase, it’s Dawn Golding. The mayor’s assistant called. All permits have been approved, and the purchase agreement can be signed today if you get there before five o’clock.”

I redirect the Uber driver and quickly hit Dawn’s number.

“Chase, did you get my message?”

“I did,” I enthuse. “I’m on my way now.”

“Great. The mayor wants a ten-day close. Are you able to get everything set up and funds moved by then?”

“Yes. That won’t be a problem.”

“Including the funds for the cleanup?

“Yes.”

“Perfect. Vivian is going to be so excited.”

“I hope so. Thanks for all your help.”

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