When Mr. Berry spoke, Adam had to stifle a laugh. His voice sounded like a prepubescent boy. Kate was unfazed and clearly had her game face on.
“Hello, Mr. Berry. I’m Kate Parker with Parker Realty, and this is my client, Adam King.” She offered a handshake. “It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve been studying your organization, and I think the properties Mr. King has to offer will fit in nicely.”
“Thanks for coming out to meet me. Much as I hate to admit it, I don’t like flying. We could have done a teleconference, but I like to do business face-to-face. Get a feel for the people. You know what I mean?”
“Indeed. I feel the same way.”
Thirty minutes later, they were all the best of friends. What Norman lacked in stature, he made up for in personality.
“Are you staying in Dallas long?” Norman asked.
“Just the night,” Adam said. “You recommend anywhere good for dinner?”
“The Spicy Sombrero if you like Mexican food—best TexMex in Dallas. For barbecue, go to Berry’s Beef Barn. It’s right up the street. Tell ’em y’all are friends of mine, and they’ll take good care of you.”
“You must go there often,” Kate said.
“Oh, I own the place,” Norman said, winking.
“Sounds good. Well, thanks for meeting with us. We look forward to hearing from you soon,” Kate said formally, sticking out a hand to shake goodbye.
“Nonsense. We’re friends now. Get in here for a hug.” He hugged Kate, not seeming to notice or mind that her breasts muffled his goodbye. Adam did the man-hug thing while trying not to laugh at Kate’s stunned reaction to Norman having just had his face in her cleavage. She recovered before Norman noticed, and they left the office with promises to be in touch soon.
In the elevator, Kate turned to Adam. “I think that went well.”
“Yeah. No skirt ripping, no poor grammar, and no small paper clips. Best one yet.”
“Everything in Texas is so big, I bet they don’t evenhavesmall paper clips.”
Adam laughed. “Seriously, though, you were amazing. I don’t know how you kept a straight face through all that. His voice had me wanting to run for the door the second I heard it. You had brilliant answers for all his questions, and you handled all his objections like a pro. I think you really wowed him.”
“Well, thatiswhat you’re paying me for,” she said. He moved in to put his arm around her, and she stiffened. “Not here. They probably have cameras.”
He put his hands up and took a step back.
“But, yeah, that was our best one so far, for sure. He said he’d take one last look at everything and make an offer. Unless he tries to screw us with a lowball bid, he might be our guy. That means you’ve got to make a decision on the properties you want to declare more solidly now.”
“Okay. We can talk about that when we get back to New Bern. Tonight, I want to go out and have a nice dinner with a beautiful woman. You want to try Norman’s barbecue place?”
“I am getting hungry. Sure, that sounds good.” They exited the building to a wall of heat and humidity. It was almost hard to breathe. “I can see it from here. You wanna walk?”
He did a double-take, figuring she would demand a cab ride for the few blocks. Was she loosening up a little?
“You don’t mind getting sweaty? It’s probably a hundred degrees out here. And what about your heels?”
“Pft. I could run a marathon in these shoes.”
“I’ll assume you mean that metaphorically, since we both know you can’t run a quarter of a mile without keeling over.”
“Touché.” She chuckled. “The heat I can handle. It’s the humidity that’s the killer. I’ve already sweated through my jacket, though, so it doesn’t make a difference to me.” She slid out of said jacket and folded it over her arm. The white blouse she wore fluttered in the light breeze. “We can walk slow to not work up a sweat or walk fast to get to the AC quicker.”
He walked to the curb and flagged down a taxi. “Why suffer?” While impressed she was willing to walk four long blocks in the heat, he was hot and hungry and just wanted to get there.
“I can’t argue with that,” she said, slipping into the back seat of the taxi.
When Adam pointed to where they wanted to go, the driver gave him a sideways glance. “We’re from out of town and not accustomed to the heat,” Adam explained.
“I get that a lot,” the driver said. “Texas in the summer can be quite a shock if you’re not used to it.”