Page 4 of Home to Me

Rather than charming her, as he was clearly attempting to do, the greeting only amped up her irritation with the man, who clearly felt that the rules of professionalism and decorum applied to him about as much as the rules of punctuality.

Ben turned his gaze momentarily to the cavernous living room. His attention was captivated by the crown jewel element of the house—an entire wall of unbroken floor-to-ceiling glass windows with a spectacular view of the pine-covered valley that was home to the town of Hope Falls. The view beyond that window was so picturesque, so perfect, that at times it didn't seem real.

The backdrop of pine trees was dotted here and there by brilliantly colored aspens. Running through the valley below, from one end to the other, was a twisting, meandering stream. At the very center of the valley lay the town of Hope Falls, which from Karina's window, looked like a toy town that would come with a toy train set.

Lauren never tired of that view, no matter how many times she saw it. She actually envied Ben for a moment because he was lucky enough to be laying eyes on it for the first time.

He turned his attention back to Lauren and Karina. “This is a beautiful home. But I have to say—the thing that makes it the most unique, in my experience, is that, with homes of this caliber, it's exceedingly rare to find one that comes with an agent whose beauty actually exceeds that of the property.”

He flashed them his brilliant, movie-star smile and turned to move farther into the living room.

Even though he didn't stay around to witness it, Lauren was supremely aggravated that he—again—rendered her speechless. What was it with this guy? She’d read his bio online. He wasn't just some “pretty face” they brought in to host—he was an actual real estate agent. She didn't see how it would be possible that he didn't understand how unprofessional his behavior was. The only explanation was that he didn't care.

2

Ben wandered over to the gigantic wall of windows to take in the view and attempt to slow his breathing. His entire body was alive with awareness. He’d found women attractive before, but damn, that blonde was a knockout—in the truest sense of the word. She’d knocked the wind right out of his lungs—and apparently knocked the sense right out of his head.

She was elegant, sophisticated, and beautiful beyond belief. When he was a boy, growing up in circumstances that could in the kindest possible terms be described as “humble,” he looked at women like her—high class, graceful—and they represented to him a life that he knew he would have to claw and fight his way into.

So he fought his way up the ladder of success. At eighteen years old, he’d taken a hard, realistic look at what his assets were. What did he have to offer? He settled fairly quickly on two things: one, he was not bad to look at, and two, he had always possessed a formidable power of persuasion.

He quickly realized what career would make the best use of those assets—sales. He started out selling vacuum cleaners door to door. It was a miserable experience, but it taught him valuable lessons about human nature that have served him well in his career to this day. He learned the single most valuable skill that any sales person must possess, whether the product was a three hundred-dollar vacuum cleaner or a million-dollar home—the ability to read a person and instinctively know what approach would get them to close the deal.

Some people wanted just the facts and figures and stats—hard numbers made them feel safe and secure when making a buying decision. Some people were all about emotion—they needed to feel right about making the purchase. Some people needed to be charmed. Some people needed to be sympathized with. Some people needed a hard sell.

It wasn't about what approach the person liked. That was the mistake made by unsuccessful sales people. They went with the approach that their prospect felt comfortable with. No. A sale was never about the person's comfort. It was about pushing them out of their comfort zone and getting the “yes”. It was all about closing the deal.

It was a delicate balance. You make them feel too comfortable with you and then they feel comfortable telling you ‘no’. You make them feel too uncomfortable with you and they abandon the transaction. When it came to walking that tightrope, there was no one better. Ben Stevens was the master.

So why was he screwing it up so royally with Lauren Harrison?

He could see that the 'over-the-top charming' approach was falling completely flat with her. It wasn’t premeditated. He just opened his mouth and the words flew out. Instinctively, Ben sensed that Lauren would respond best to no “approach” at all. He could feel that she was an excellent judge of sincerity and bullshit, and that if he had even the smallest shot with her, he should stop trying to sell himself and just be himself.

He knew that in his head. Yet he’d been powerless to stop putting on the act with her. He watched himself fail at his most basic skill—human connection. It was like he was standing outside himself, not able to control his own words and actions.

Why was he behaving this way around this woman?

The better question was...why the hell couldn't he stop?

--- ~ ---

Lauren just wanted to get this portion of her day over with. She wasn’t sure what Ben’s game was, but she was sure she was over it.

With determination, she marched over to where Ben stood gazing out the windows and said briskly, “Mr. Stevens, I only have a limited amount of time to discuss the details of the property with you before filming begins. Shall we get started?”

Ben turned to her, flashing that too-brilliant smile again. It put Lauren's teeth on edge.

Ben dialed down his over-the-top smile as he said with a casually friendly tone, “Please call me Ben. Would it be all right if I call you Lauren?”

“If you’d like,” Lauren replied, careful to keep all traces of the irritation she felt towards him out of her voice. “Now, shall we get started?”

“Actually,” he said, maintaining his new down-to-earth persona, “I got the breakdown on all the pertinent details of the home last night and I’ve been studying them. Plus, they’ll be written on cue cards.”

“I'm sorry, then why am I even here, if you can just read the details of the property off of cue cards?” Lauren said in the chill, distant tone that only her closest friends knew signaled the fact that she was absolutely livid. “Can someone please explain that to me?”

Ben winked at her. “Maybe someone thought you would have fun.”

Lauren raised one eyebrow. This guy could not be for real. She really wanted to lose it but would never give him the satisfaction of screaming or yelling at him. That was not in her character.

---