Page 17 of Conner

“What about me makes you think I want that stuff posted? That's not me.”

“I know! I was surprised, but I thought you did it on purpose, you were right behind Cash I thought you guys talked about it or something.” When she had found the footage of that face he made, it had done things to her, things she didn't like to admit, and things that many fans seemed to share.

“Well, I didn’t.”

“I’m sorry. I would never have posted it if I thought it would make you uncomfortable. Believe it or not, my job is to make you look good. I want to help you curate the image you want. It was a misunderstanding.”

He just looked at her and if she had to look at his infuriating and ridiculously handsome face for another minute she was going to scream. She did not need this while she was trapped on a plane with him and the whole team and staff.

“I have to go sit down, Conner.” She turned and headed back to her seat.

Why was he the most infuriating man on the planet? Although she did feel a little bad about the post, she really hadn't meant to make him uncomfortable. Conner McPhee got under her skin like no one before. Yet, by the time she got back to her seat, she did find herself smiling. She was a glutton for punishment, unavailable guys had always had such a pull on her, and he was unavailable for many reasons. He infuriated her, but underneath all that fury was a hunger like she had never felt.

She got out her laptop and got to work. She had a meeting coming up with the PR team once they got back from this road trip about whether the social media push was working to boost ticket sales. Sasha would be surprised if they weren't. If her time as an influencer had taught her anything, it was numbers don't lie. If even a fraction of the new followers they’d gotten across all their accounts came to a game, it would show a massive boost in ticket sales. And the way people were engaging with the posts told her she was on the right track. She would like to be able to tell them about some upcoming videos and have some with Conner in the bag for that meeting, so she would need to try again later.

She pulled up the post he was upset about. That look on his face and the way he bit his lip…damn. It was doing things for her. She started to scroll through some of the comments. He was right, some of these comments would make her feel uncomfortable as well. She put the post on private and would check with Conner later tonight to see if he wanted it taken down entirely. She would have to remember to double check before posting stuff like this, she had the green light from Cash and Sven, and she shouldn’t have assumed about Conner. Making any of the players feel uncomfortable wasn’t her goal.

After the game in Texas, they were loading back onto the plane, and Sasha made a point to find Conner.

“Hey Conner,” Sasha said as she made her way back to her seat. He was alone in the row right now, which was good. “I just wanted you to know I turned the video private after we talked. Do you want me to take it down? I will, I just wanted to check.”

He sighed and chewed on his bottom lip. Dear god help her, he had the perfect amount of stubble and chewing on his lips like that had her squirming. She could even smell him. It was fresh and cool, and she just wanted to wrap herself up in it.

“No, it's fine. And I'm sorry I was so harsh with you yesterday. Keep it up and when we get back, I’ll stop by your office, and we can schedule some time to film a few more videos,” he said softly with a warm smile.

She pulled back and just looked at him. “Wow, yeah, that sounds perfect. We can get together and figure something out when we get back. And like I said, I won't post that stuff about you, I never meant anything.”

“I know. I apologize, you caught me on a bad day.”

“Okay, well, I better get back to my seat.”

She walked away from Conner smiling. There was a first time for everything.

10

Sasha

The past week had been crazy at work. On the road trip Wes Darling had taken a hard hit and had to be taken off the ice and rushed to the hospital. It had put everyone in the organization on edge because Wes was an integral part of the team and the top scorer. He and Conner had amazing chemistry on the ice and him being out was going to be tough, especially for Conner. He had been in even more of a foul mood than usual.

But for Sasha, all things considered, it was still going well. She had a few posts that were doing well. The team had started to loosen up around her and have fun, which had been her goal all along. There was just one hold out. One handsome red-headed hold out. But even he seemed to be slowly coming around.

They had been a shoe in for playoffs and while they still were, that looked a lot different if Wes Darling was out for the season. There were some teams that pushed their players to compete on injuries, but the Magic was not one of those organizations. And things were not looking good.

But right now, Sasha had to focus. The entire PR division was meeting for updates and for the gala that was coming up next month. While Sasha wasn't part of the gala planning, she was an important part of getting the word out and helping the community to understand what an amazing organization the Magic was. So, she was busy getting her final numbers and upcoming release schedule finalized for the meeting.

Once she felt organized it was time to head up for the meeting. So far everything was business as normal, but it was Sasha's turn to present. She pulled up her PowerPoint and went over all the numbers and the campaigns that had started.

“But here is the part I find the most interesting,” she said, moving to the next slide. This was the one she had been waiting on. It was a graph with this year's ticket sales, last year's ticket sales, and when she had started posting and had some of the big posts hit. The ticket sales were on a steady incline and the days when she had a video go viral there was a spike in ticket sales too.

“Wow, that is impressive,” said the head of the department. “Carol, you should bring her in on the gala planning and some of the other outreach.”

Hillary looked over at her with a big smile. Sasha had been nervous for this meeting, but it had really gone way better than she had expected. As she made her way back to her office, she felt like she was floating. She had been made to feel by so many people who didn't understand what she did that she was just playing on the internet all day, but to be able to show how that directly correlated with ticket sales. Being taken seriously for once felt amazing.

When she got back into her office, she looked for Bill, but he was out. She was still on a high, so she closed the door and cranked up some music. She was going to email her dad that graph with the ticket sales and call him tonight, but right now she had the Chiffon's cranked up, dancing her joy to One Fine Day. She had done it. She had turned her 'little videos' into a financial contribution for the organization and people had valued her for it.

As she spun around, she caught sight of a tall looming figure standing in her doorway and she screamed. As her heart thumped in her chest and her body came down from the burst of adrenaline, she recognized Conner leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest smiling at her.

“Conner!” she said her hand over her heart. “You scared me!”

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