The Ace by Rhonda Shaw Read Free Book Online Page B

were painted beige and there wasn’t anything of character anywhere—no artwork, no photos, no anything. The furniture was plain and simple, could be described as nothing other than functional and gave no life to the rooms. There weren’t even any throw pillows to add color or texture. All the ceilings were low and the doorways small, and if she felt claustrophobic, then Jerry was definitely going to.
    “Snore,” she murmured as she walked through the place, turning on lights, hoping to show its best side, whatever that was.
    She stepped into the dreary living room and stopped at the sliding glass door overlooking the backyard. It was big, and surrounded by a nice wood fence, but there was no landscaping, no trees, no hedges or shrubs. Just grass and that was only a nondescript square.
    Hearing the low rumble of a car engine before it shut off, Karen made her way back toward the front of the house and stood at the screen door trying not to stare as Jerry pulled his tall, powerful frame from the small confines of a silver Porsche 911 Carrera. He slowly removed his dark aviator sunglasses as he surveyed the outside of the place, standing casually with his hands propped on his hips. Dressed in jeans and an untucked navy button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled to just below his elbows, he was a nice combination of the boy-next-door with a little bit of Hollywood mixed in. He wasn’t simple, but he wasn’t outrageous with his celebrity-ness either.
    Nope , definitely not the place for him , she concluded.
    Jerry spotted her in the doorway and that big, toothy kid-at-Christmas grin of his spread across his face as he made his way toward her. She tried not to notice how her heart skidded at the sight of him and how her palms dampened, chiding herself that a stupid crush on a professional ballplayer wasn’t for people her age. She needed to ignore any attraction she felt toward him and concentrate on the job at hand. She had to get him to buy a frickin’ house and she couldn’t do that if she was drooling all over him the whole time.
    She opened the door for him as he came up the steps. “Hey there.”
    “Sorry I’m late.”
    “No problem,” Karen said, trying to step into professional mode. “Feel free to walk around, take a look and let me know what you think.”
    He walked in and stopped next to her, enticing her senses with the light scent of his cologne as he shoved his hands in his jean pockets. He glanced to his left and then to his right before he turned and arched his brows. “You’re kidding, right?”
    “You didn’t even move from the front door.”
    “Come on, Karen. Look at this place,” Jerry said as he waved one hand. “Am I a senior citizen or something?”
    Her mouth gaped as he expressed her exact sentiments, but she quickly recovered and gave him a sheepish grin. “Okay, that was what I was thinking, but you never know. You could have loved it.”
    “If I had no taste whatsoever. What’s next?”
    “Uh, okay. Let’s see. It’s about a mile or so away from here. Let me turn off the lights and you can follow me over there.”
    He put on his sunglasses and walked toward the front door. “I’ll drive.”
    “I can’t leave my car here.”
    “You should. It would add some color to this place,” he said with a smirk. “There’s a store at the corner where we can leave your car. I’ll follow you there.” He stepped out the door, not waiting for her response.
    “Huh. Okay,” she said watching his back through the screen as he strolled down the driveway before stepping onto the road and into his car.
    She wasn’t used to someone else calling the shots and she wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about him taking the control out of her hands. She was the professional, not him, and this was her show, not his. But she did want to get inside that Porsche, so she would let it slide for now.
    Closing and locking the front door behind her, Karen got into her car and backed out, catching him