Read Online The Change Up by Elley Arden - Free Book Online Page A

pair of teetering tan heels to pull open the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet. Her skirt revealed acres of legs. Miles really. And he had no doubt those legs felt as good as they looked.
Damn.
Why couldn’t she have gone back to Philadelphia? It would’ve saved him a hell of a lot of aggravation.
    “Listen,” he said, sounding gruffer than usual. “I have the proposal you asked for, but I’d really like your father to see it, too. He owns the team, after all.”
    She glared up at him from her seductive crouch. “My father is busy. This baseball team is one of a dozen business dealings for Reed Commercial Real Estate Services. And while he’s busy, I’m his eyes and ears. If you have a problem with that, then I can always find another grounds crew.” She stood and kicked the drawer shut. “Believe me, I’m a personnel pro these days.”
    She was plenty pissed, but he got another vibe from her, too. Frustration, maybe? He didn’t know. He shouldn’t care. She’d basically threatened to fire Sutter & Sons. Without any of the flirty tension that had simmered between them the other day, he imagined she was capable of following through, especially in her current mood.
    “Is everything okay?” he asked, trying to strike the right chord, one that wouldn’t piss her off even more.
    “Everything is fine.” She sounded annoyed, but when she looked at him she actually smiled. “Now, I can only give you twenty minutes, because I have a conference call.” She sat and didn’t bother to roll her chair closer to the desk. Instead, she crossed her bare legs and stared at him expectantly.
    He dropped his gaze to her knees, let it travel momentarily to the shadow between her thighs, and then fought a rush of heat to make eye contact. “The details are all in here,” he said, losing his head for a moment and offering her the folder.
    She hit him with a melodramatic frown. “You mean there’s no presentation? What a disappointment. I was expecting to sit back and watch someone else do all the work for a change.”
    Again, his gaze dropped to her legs, and for a minute, he imagined sinking to his knees right there, so she could sit back and really watch him work … But then, she cleared her throat, bringing his attention back to her face and an expression that was laced with superiority on top of amusement.
    “Just give me the gist of what’s in that folder, and I’ll take a closer look later,” she said. “Although, I’m sure we both know what you’re ultimately trying to achieve here.”
    Why did it feel like she was always one step ahead of him?
    “I wouldn’t be doing the job you hired me for if I didn’t give you the most cost-effective options to make these grounds beautiful. Keeping those trees is by far the best way to save money and preserve the visual integrity of the land.”
    She stood, walked over to the windows lining the exterior wall of the stadium, and with the flip of a switch, opened the blinds. Sunlight poured in, washing out everything in its path, leaving him with a view of his trees that would make a photographer weep. Ethereal branches mixed with lush pines. The shadow of buds hinted at spring. The gradient of colors, greens and browns, were bright where the sun could reach, but too dark to be differentiated near the ground.
    “They are definitely pretty,” she said.
    It felt like a fastball, even looked like one coming off the grip, but his gut told him
changeup
, and he tensed.
    “Why are those trees so important to you?” she asked. The sincerity on her face surprised him more than the words did.
    “Balsam poplar trees are—”
    “Not the reason you’re going through all this trouble. I’ve Googled you, Sam. I haven’t come across a single picture of you chained to balsam poplar trees anywhere else in the state. So does that mean you only care about the ones in your backyard?”
    “I care about all trees everywhere.”
    “Good. Then this should be easy to resolve. I’ll