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“Get the comps and come talk to me I’ll be in my office”

Mercedes nodded, and Xander turned and left

~~~~~~

Walking away fro ht was harder than he thought But soed to make his way out of her condo, into the elevator and up to the penthouse without turning around

Barely

Once inside, he went straight to his office It was the only way he’d be able to keep his le-handedly driven him to distraction

“Hey”

The moment he dropped into his chair, Xander looked up to see his assistant, Leah, standing in his doorway

“I didn’t hear you co ok?”

As much as he liked Leah, he definitely wasn’t interested in sharing his personal business with her She was a sweet girl Too sweet actually Why she stuck with hira and cute and so damned innocent, it made Xander’s teeth hurt to talk to her so to watch what he said to her, afraid he’d offend her sensitive ears

But the woled college and work and, from what she’d told him, very little else She was never late, never asked to leave early and never, ever called in sick

Strawberry blonde hair, pale brown eyes, a china doll face that looked far younger than her twenty-five years, Leah was the picture of a sweet virgin

Xander thought she was absolutely adorable, and he genuinely liked her But sheinnocent she was

Oh, and the woht Shane’s attention and Xander knew his best friend stayed as far away froht he was scared to talk to her because he didn’t want to risk slinging a curse word and causing her to cruood What ti?”

“Eleven-thirty,” she answered instantly “You’re scheduled to call Malcol-tastic Just what he wanted to do today

Hirsh was a persistent bastard who’d been driving him batshit crazy for the last three months Xander owned a piece of property that he’d been sitting on for the last five years or so He had no intention of doing anything with it just yet, but Hirsh, the owner of the adjacent property was looking to expand his operations He wanted Xander’s land But he didn’t want to pay anywhere close to what Xander wanted for it