Page 144 of Fierce-Matt

If that was what it took to be one of the top sellers in the area, she’d take her sales record over being a horrible person.

“Anya.”

She turned when her mother came in. “Hi, Mom. This is Calvin Peters, the buyer’s realtor.”

“Nice to meet you,” her mother said.

“The same,” Calvin said. He had his head buried in his phone, dismissing her mother. “Sally and Paula are on their way. Their attorney is too. I’ll go up front and wait for them.”

When he was out of the room, her mother said, “Why did you curl your lip at his back?”

“He’s such a dick,” she whispered.

“What did he say this time?”

Her mother knew how she felt about her coworker. “More of the same. Then Matt came in and gave me a kiss. The staff had already been talking to me as Matt’s girlfriend and he was confused and asked what was going on.”

“You wouldn’t have told him.”

“Nope. I don’t owe him anything. But then Matt came in with a smirk, kissed me, and said he’d be back.”

She knew her boyfriend did that on purpose.

Part of her was slightly annoyed that he was the gorilla coming in pounding his chest to show his dominance.

The other part of her had to admit it felt nice to have a man in her corner.

Someone to stand up for her and with her.

Twice now Matt had done that.

If she had to pick the perfect boyfriend trait, that wasn’t one she would have zoomed in on.

But it’s one she was thrilled he had.

“You don’t look upset over that,” her mother said.

“You can wipe that smirk from your face. I’m not.”

“In the past you would have been.”

“I know. That’s testimony to how far I’ve come. The old Matt doing that would have annoyed me. The new one that I love made me realize he can still have parts of himself inside, but I’m looking at them in a different light.”

“Good for you, Anya. You’ve both shown such growth.”

An hour later, the closing was complete and her mother had almost a million dollars wired to her.

It was nice to see her mother so happy over the breathing room.

The debt was cleared from her parents’ name.

Looking down at the check in front of her for her commission, she knew that feeling well.

It was almost what she’d earned last year alone.

“You can’t stop smiling,” Matt said. He’d left to get another file and returned to meet with her mother and her.

“It’s awful, isn’t it? I’m looking at this check and am so excited over it.”