Page 193 of Diego

“No.”

I stare at him.

He keeps his expression neutral, which only irritates me more. “You asked.”

“Look, I’m not trying to spend hours walking a three-story house with clients. I just want to do something that requires my brain.”

“You can read.”

I groan, long and loud. “Something else.”

“You have a laptop.”

“That I am apparently only allowed to use for online shopping and entertainment.”

“Nobody said that.”

“So that very disapproving look you gave me when you caught me answering an email from Rafe? What was that?”

“You were trying to arrange his next showing.”

“I was arranging for someone else to handle his next showing.”

“Yes, after you realized you couldn't attend it yourself.”

I fold my arms.

So maybe that’s true. Still…

“I gave the showing to Carter.”

“Eventually.”

“Which demonstrates excellent judgment.”

Diego studies me for a moment, considering. He closes his laptop halfway and rests his forearms on the desk. “All right. I might have something you can do.”

Every trace of irritation disappears, and I perk up. “What?”

He notices. “You are not allowed to get excited until I explain the rules.”

“Rules? I hate it already.”

“You're going to follow them, or you don't get anything,” he warns.

I sit back with a sigh. “Fine. I'm desperate.”

He opens his laptop back up fully and types for a moment.

“Since the Meridian acquisition, we’ve been consolidating old records and looking at opportunities the company never pursued. Failed listings, deals that died during diligence, properties Meridian valued but never represented.”

That already sounds better than anything I have done for days.

Diego continues. “Some of them are useless. Some were probably good opportunities that died because the timing was wrong or some other superficial factor. We were eventually planning on going through them again to identify anything worth another look.”

I stare at him. “You have an entire archive of abandoned real-estate deals sitting somewhere?”

“Yes.”