Home Is Where the Heart Is (2 page)

“
You would buy an entire house
just for one room?” He chortled.

“
Oh yeah,” she said
nodding. “If this was my room, I would never leave.”
Steven looked at her and smiled.

“
So far I am impressed but I
still have to see what the kitchen looks like,” he told Julie,
still looking at her. She raised an eyebrow and felt her cheeks
flush.

“
You cook?” she asked
surprised.

“
Every decent Davenport cooks.
Some families have law or medicine as their legacy, but ours is in
our culinary abilities,” Steven divulged as they walked out of
the bedroom. Before they went downstairs, they looked at the other
two bedrooms. Steven commented that the two other bedrooms were just
going to be guest rooms. If his guests didn’t like them then
they should probably have stayed at their own houses. Julie was
smiling as she led him downstairs to the kitchen. When they got
there, she suddenly felt as if she was looking at Chef Ramsey because
he was busy talking about the counter tops, the storage
cabinets…everything that a professional chef would be obsessed
with.

“
I would hate to ever have to
cook for you. I rarely cook, except when I make stew, or chili…or
pot roast. Those I can kill at,” she boasted.

“
You would kill?” Steven
asked, looking at her.

“
That’s American for how
great I am,” Julie answered..

“
And do you ever bake?”
he asked.

“
Sure. I make great blueberry
muffins.”

“
Maybe I should give you a few
recipes from my country. Spotted dick would be a good start,”
he said. Julie looked at him in shock..

“
Spotted
what
?”
she asked, surprised and horrified at the same time.

“
Spotted dick…It’s
not what you think. It’s just a pudding made with currants and
served with custard. Trust me, you Americans haven’t tasted
great dessert till you have some of that,” he explained.

“
Yeah, you might consider
changing the name though,” Julie suggested as she watched him
walking around the kitchen. Steven laughed at Julie's comment.

“
I love this and I want it,”
he confirmed.

“
But you haven’t seen the
pool yet,” Julie told him.

“
That’s just a plus, I’m
sure,” he replied confidently as he followed her out. The pool
was more than perfect. It had a cave-like setting, complete with a
rocky waterfall and a mid-pool bar, a bachelor’s dream. “If
I didn’t want it before, I most definitely want it now.”

Steven walked towards the pool.

“
I take it you are a party
animal?” she guessed.

“
Not really, but I have a big
family back at home and I would need something to keep them occupied
when they are here. This is perfect,” Steven told Julie will a
smile.

“
Well, the property is also in
a great school district, I must add,” Julie said as she looked
around. Steven turned to look at her and smiled.

“
I’m afraid that wouldn’t
be much of a selling point as far as I’m concerned.”

“
Oh, I’m sorry. I just
assumed…” Julie felt her cheeks flushing as her words
trailed off.
“I
just assumed that a man as fine as you would already be tied down
with a couple of kids on the way, that’s all,”
she
thought as she looked at him. “I shouldn’t have said
that,” she stammered, feeling a little bit embarrassed.

“
Don’t you worry about
it,” he said as he looked at her.

“
So, Mr. Davenport, do we have
a deal?” .

“
Definitely, Miss Parker,”
Steven said as he turned his attention to her. “So how far will
this set me back?” he asked. Julie looked at him with a grin on
her face. For a man of his stature, she was sure that a couple
hundred thousand wouldn’t be much.

“
Not that much. Two hundred and
twenty five thousand,” she revealed looking at him.

“
I’ll have my office
process the paperwork today,” he told her as they walked back
into the house. Julie couldn't hide her amusement. Normally, people
would try to bargain and get a better price, but clearly this man was
worth a whole lot more than she initially thought.

“
Great,” she said as they
walked towards the front door.

“
I didn’t notice a car
when I came in. Would you like a ride back to town?” he asked
as they walked out. Julie looked at him and nodded. He walked round
the car and opened the door for her. Julie was a bit taken aback by
his gesture. This never happened with some of the men she met. The
car looked as great on the inside as it did on the outside. She
slowly ran her fingers on the rich brown leather as Steven walked to
the driver’s side of the car. When he got in, she buckled up
and a smile played on her lips as she thought of the commission she
was going to be getting. “So, Miss Parker,” Steven
started as he pulled out of the driveway.

“
Julie,” she said looking
at him.

“
Alright, Julie. How long have
you been at Larson Properties Inc.?”

“
A while, almost three years
now,” she said. “What about you, Mr. Davenport. What do
you do?” she asked.

“
I'm like you, I deal in
properties,” he explained. “And it’s just Steven.
Mr. Davenport is my father.”

“
You are a realtor?”
Julie asked looking at him surprised.

“
Well, yes. Why do you sound
surprised?”

“
My boss told me I was showing
a house to a property mogul, but I didn’t really think she was
serious,” Julie admitted.

“
Really, it’s just a
glorified title for a realtor,” he confessed.

“
Do you have any tips for me. I
mean, I would like to drive a car like this just by selling houses,”
she joked.

“
Maybe you should stick around
then,” Steven said.

“
Oh you better believe I will,”
Julie chortled.

“
Maybe that way I could
introduce you to some of our best desserts too,” Steven teased.
Julie smiled and shook her head. She wasn’t sure whether she
was blushing at his attempt at flirtation or at his accent. She
looked at him as he pulled out of the driveway with the smile still
firmly on her face.

“
So long as the dessert doesn’t
have the same name as a human anatomy, I’m game,” she
jested, surprising even herself that she would say something like
that. He smiled at her as he drove out into the open road. Julie
found herself fantasizing about living in such an area. It was
perfect. All the privacy you could ever need. Even though the
prospect of kids was not on his mind, she was most definitely
thinking about it. The area was perfect for long bike rides on
Saturday afternoons. And the schools in the area…in her
opinion, they were the Harvard of education from kindergarten all the
way to high school.

When they got to the office, Steven looked at Julie and
smiled.

“
I will be sure to tell Dana
that you were of great help today,” he promised.

“
I will appreciate it,”
Julie responded looking into his intensely warm brown eyes. “It
was nice meeting you.”

“
The pleasure was all mine,
Julie Parker,” Steven said before she exited the car. She gave
him a smile before she walked into her building, fully aware that he
was watching her all the way. By the time she walked into the office,
she felt like she was walking on a cloud.

“
Judging by that smile, I’m
assuming that everything went well?” Dana said when Julie
walked into the office.

“
It was perfect,” Julie
mused as she took a seat at her work station.

“
So you closed the deal?”
.

Julie looked up at her and nodded.

“
The paperwork will be
processed today,” she bragged. .

“
Up top,” Dana exclaimed
as she gave her a high five. “You know what, you can leave
early today. You deserve it,” she added. Julie looked at the
time. It was a few minutes past one, way too early to leave. “You
could use the time to take your car to the shop and get it checked
out” she said with a smile on her face.

“
That sounds really great,”
Julie said gratefully.. “I think that’s exactly what I’ll
do.”

She picked up her bag and got ready to leave.

“
Oh and Julie,”

“
Uh huh?” Julie said
looking at her.

“
Get yourself a louder alarm
clock for Pete’s sake,” Dana demanded before walking
away. Julie laughed and shook her head before she walked out of the
office. Dana was right. She did deserve to leave early. As she walked
out into the street, she almost felt guilty that all she could think
about was Steven.

“
Get a hold of yourself,
Julie. You just met him,”
she
scolded herself as she waved down a cab.

1. Chapter
   2
   

When she left the mechanic shop on Thursday morning,
Julie was feeling a little cheated. Whatever the deal was with her
car, it had just cost her six hundred dollars. She hated the idea
that she had paid this much just months after she paid almost two
grand to have it fixed a second time. But she was happy that she had
her car back. Subways and cabs were just not her cup of tea.
Something always seemed to go wrong when she was supposed to be using
public transport. When she arrived at the office, Dana had a few
properties she wanted Julie to handle.

“
I’m guessing the deal
with Steven opened a lot of doors,” Julie questioned Dana as
she looked at the listings. They were all high end properties, almost
the same as the one she had shown to Steven earlier that week.

“
You could say that or you
could say that I have a little more faith in you than I did a few
months ago,” Dana said smiling.“Speaking of Steven, he
called me and he would like to see some other houses. Two of the
three I have handed to you are actually houses that he would be
interested in,” she added.

“
Okay,” Julie said
puzzled, unsure of where Dana was going with this.

“
So, you are showing them to
him at midday. You've got to hustle,” Dana concluded and walked
away. For some reason, Julie found herself wondering if she was
appropriately dressed. She didn’t know why her appearance was
suddenly a big deal. She was sure that the royal blue sleeveless
pencil dress was just fine. She looked under her desk and pulled out
the nude shoes she had left there the night before and changed out of
the strapped high heeled sandals she had on. She did not know why she
felt like she had to look perfect now that she was going to meet
Steven. God knows she had never felt this way with any other client.
She felt a little silly as she walked to the elevator, but the
feeling quickly disappeared when she caught a glimpse of herself in
the elevator’s reflective doors. She looked stunning. The fact
that she had chosen not to straighten her hair that morning only made
her look even more attractive, exotic even. The first house she was
supposed to show Steven was almost near her own house.

“
This is going to be a long
day,”
she
thought as she drove to her first appointment. Getting to the other
side of town was going to take her almost an entire hour. It was
going to be a close shave, but she wanted more than anything to
ensure that the day went smoothly. Two hours later, after she was
finished with the first property which she thought was just divine,
she set out back to the suburbs where she was to meet Steven. She got
to the first property just minutes before Steven arrived. It was a
beautiful condo which had a perfect view of the city in all its
glory. By the time Steven got there, she had already taken a tour of
the house and familiarized herself with every room in the property.
She was looking out of the window when she heard the elevator bell.
She turned around and walked towards the entrance and looked at
Steven as he walked in.
“You
look perfect as usual,”
she
thought as she looked at him.

“
Miss Parker,” Steven
greeted as he walked towards her.

“
I thought we were on first
name basis by now,” Julie argued. She smiled and switched her
tablet to her left hand so that they could shake hands.