Page 18 of Conner

“Sorry, I knocked on the door that must not have been latched and opened. You're certainly in a good mood, which is a novelty around here currently.”

“I know, but I just had a meeting, and I was able to show a direct correlation between my posts and ticket sales and I'm now helping with the gala and outreach. Even you can't get me down today, Conner McPhee. Me and my 'little videos' are on fire!”

The look on Conner's face was one she hadn't seen before. He was usually serious, calm and polite. Well to most people, he was a grumpy Gus when it came to her, but here looking at her his eyes were lit up. He had a smile, and she could even see teeth. Something about that look made her want to go over there and kiss him. Gah! Why was he so handsomely infuriating?

“I’m glad. You’re an asset to this organization.”

“Me and my little videos.”

His smile vanished, and his brow crinkled, but she couldn't be bothered with that right now. She was too busy being proud of what she had accomplished doing something many people didn't take seriously.

“Well, I just stopped by to see when you wanted to film the videos we talked about on the plane,” he said.

“Oh yeah, let me look.” She sat down and pulled up the schedule. “It looks like there is another family skate next Saturday. Do you want to meet on the ice before or after that?”

“Yeah, I can suit up and do it before,” he said with a hint of a smile.

“Yeah, I thought we could do a puck handling video and maybe a hockey stop one,” Sasha said looking down at her laptop wishing Conner McPhee didn’t affect her as much as he did.

“That sounds perfect.” He just stood there looking at her like there was something he wanted to say.

“Well, I better get ready for practice,” he said finally.

“Okay, thank you for stopping by,” she said, still grinning from the day she's been having.

He just patted the doorway with a small smile before he turned and left.

That may have been the most pleasant interaction she had ever had with Conner McPhee. She did notice her heart still pounding in her chest that didn't really have anything to do with the startle he had given her.

She just remembered she didn't ask him about Wes. The team was finding out if Wes was out for the season.

“Conner,” she called, just seeing if he was still out in the hallway talking to some of the players who were milling about before practice.

She could just check in with Hillary. After that meeting, she was on cloud nine.

She pulled up her email and she saw one that was from the website, not from anyone in the organization. Most people contacted her on the social accounts if they had any questions about the team or their social presence. She wasn't even sure how people would get her work email outside of that.

She opened it and her heart just about stopped.

Sasha Maloof, is it? You look remarkably like Sasha O'Neil.

She had used her mom’s maiden name as an influencer, O’Neil. Had he found her?

“Hey Sasha, congratulations on the meeting,” said Bill coming into the office.

She screamed and her heart continued to pound out of her chest.

“I’m sorry I startled you.”

“It’s fine, I was just focused. I guess.”

“You must be pretty happy with the way that meeting went,” he said with and uncharacteristic smile on his face.

“I am. I think things are really coming together.”

He sat at his desk and got to work. Sasha just closed her eyes and tried to breathe. She couldn't do this again.

“Hey Bill, is my picture on the website?”

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