Chapter 9
Sasha
Sasha had managed to steer clear of Conner for the past couple days, but she needed to get him to film a few more videos for her. They would be quick. She just needed to schedule a few minutes before practice one day. She had emailed him, but once again received nothing but silence. And she hadn”t seen him to schedule anything, but to be fair she wasn”t exactly looking for him, quite the opposite in fact.
She was loading the plane. Luckily Conner happened to be walking by her. ”Conner, just the man I was looking for,” she said as she stood to talk to him.
“Oh yeah, why”s that?” he asked, and damn it if he wasn”t the most handsome man she had ever been around. He”s a jerk, Sasha, She told herself. Don”t be pulled in by that strong jawline and those deceptively kind eyes. Although those eyes didn’t look as kind as they normally did. She didn’t have time to think about it, she needed to get these scheduled.
“I was hoping to make some more captain tips videos,” she said.
“I actually have a bone to pick with you,” he said with furrowed brows.
She gave him a careful look.
“I’m here to play hockey. I don’t want to make those thirst trap videos,” he said louder than she liked. Her eyes darted around, this was a small plane, and her boss was on it along with other members of the PR team of which she was the newest member.
“I only post videos like that with Cash because we have discussed it and he doesn”t mind. I haven”t posted anything like that about you,” she whispered to him harshly.
“Sasha, I saw the video.”
She got out of her seat and pulled him to the area between the staff and the players area. She didn”t want everyone hearing this. “What are you talking about?”
Just then Wes and Ethan squeezed past them, and Wes shot her a smile, she tried to smile back but kept her attention firmly on Conner.
“That video with the suit cam, it has so many views. Someone even brought it up to me at a bar, I had three girls hit on me that night. Have you read those comments? Some of them are intense.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“The suit cam. You posted a video of me making…a face.”
Oh, she knew what he was talking about. She had asked him to smile at the camera once, but when he did that face at the suit cam, it had surprised her, but it was great, and it was blowing up.
“I thought you made that face on purpose.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“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.