Free Romance: The CEO by Emily Cooper Page A

wasn't the kind of place she had grown accustomed to living on the Upper East Side where people took care of their lawns and children played in their yards and everyone looked out for each other.
    She wasn't even sure who her neighbors were here.
    Nobody had introduced themselves and it seemed like most of them never left their apartments. Harper wondered if any of them even worked. Not that she was contributing much to society at this point.
    As for having a lot of free time, she only had free time because she had lost her job shortly after moving into the new apartment.
    The company she had worked for since moving to the city had needed to enforce cutbacks to keep their doors open and one of the positions they eliminated was hers.
    She thought a few years of paper pushing and number crunching were going to give her an exemption from the cuts but that wasn't the way the cards fell.
    Harper could have sulked about the whole situation but she decided it wasn't worth it to be negative. It wouldn't get her anywhere and it would only upset her more.
    Things could only get better from here.
    Mostly because that was the only option left.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter Two
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Harper had landed an interview with the Warrior's soccer team as a financial advisor and accountant. She hadn't done accounting beyond her internship when she left Ohio State University but she was sure the team accounts wouldn't be difficult to follow when she was used to handling dozens of accounts on a daily basis. 
    She hoped when they interviewed her they wouldn't ask if she liked the team.
    Harper had never been much of a sports fan and she honestly couldn't remember the last time she had ever watched a soccer game or even a partial game for that matter and she wasn't confident that she could fake her way through it with someone who actually knew what they were talking about.
    She pulled up in the parking lot and drove down the aisle looking for a spot that didn't have a reserved sign on it.
    Harper parked her car next to a spot reserved for Beau Donovan.
    The name sounded halfway familiar, like she may have seen something about him at some point.
    Thinking about it she remembered that he was the party boy of the team, fantastic player with a long history of bringing the team to victory but he had been in trouble over the years with drinking and women.
    Harper gave serious thought about moving her car but one glance at her watch told her she was running close to late as usual and didn’t have time to be worried about which of the pretty party boys she was parked next to.
    When she entered the building, there was an attractive young blonde woman at the front desk who asked if she had an appointment with someone.
    She looked friendly and smiled at her.
    “Yes, I have an appointment with a Mr. Edwards,” Harper told her, smiling back.
    “Thank you. You can have a seat and I'll let him know that you're here,” the receptionist said and picked up the phone.
    Harper looked around the building.
    It was obvious that it had once been a very nice place but that years of hard use and the lack of money to fix it up had let it drift into a state of minor disrepair.
    The carpets had stains and were getting threadbare in the high traffic areas.
    It might have been blue a decade or so ago.
    Everything was clean even though it wasn't in the best shape. The place looked comfortably well worn in and it smelled like a combination of cologne and industrial floor cleaning solution.
    “Miss? Mr. Edwards will see you now,” the receptionist smiled with beautiful teeth. She led Harper down the hallway to a room where an old man with balding hair was waiting for her.
    “Welcome, Miss Clark. I'm Roger Edwards, owner of the Warriors. It's a pleasure to meet you.” The man offered her a seat in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk.
    “Thank you, sir,” Harper sat down on the overstuffed chair and pulled her