Chapter 2
The moment I walked into the conference room, I forced my eyes not to roll at the sight of him. I was supposed to be climbing the executive ladder, making strategic decisions, and preparing to one day take over the team when my grandfather retired. Instead, I had to be a glorified babysitter for Jimmy Hall. Fine, according to Granddad, it wasn’t exactly babysitting, but bad enough that I had to spin his antics into something positive.
Was I good at PR? No, I was great at it. But what did that matter? It still landed me in a position that I hadn’t wanted to be in. I thrived in the business world, and I loved every aspect of it. That was why I took the public relations job in Tulsa and brought the necessary attention to our farm team. Did I want to remain in PR? No, not really. It was a résumé builder. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so good at it. That thought had plagued me ever since I’d been given this assignment.
As I approached the table, Jimmy flashed that disarmingly charming smile that graced the covers of countless magazines and the latest exotic dancer’s social media post.
“Hey there, partner,” he greeted, casually leaning back in his chair.
God, why me?
“We’ll leave you two to discuss things,” Granddad said, thumping his knuckles on the table before standing.
Mason followed his lead and stood as well. You’d think the GM of the team would have something else to add, but he just nodded, gave me a smile, and followed my grandfather out, leaving me alone with Mr. Arrogant. He looked at me with those piercing blue eyes, and it would be easy to forget my annoyance, but I quickly snapped back to reality.
Regrouping, I pulled out a chair and took a seat across from Jimmy. I linked my fingers together and placed them on the top of the table. Filled with adrenaline, my knee frantically bounced, forcing me to take a cleansing yet subtle breath.
“You seem nervous.” His nonchalance had been unwarranted. If anything, he should be nervous.
“No, just wondering what public relations miracles I’m going to need to pull off, thanks to you.”
Jimmy chuckled. “I’m surprised someone like you doesn’t have a plan.”
I raised a brow. “Someone like me? I’m not sure what you think you know about me, but trust me, you know nothing. And I do have a plan.”
“But you know me, right?”
“Yes. This is what I see ... and for the record, it is what most people see. Let me start with what you want to hear. You’re a great player and an asset to the Hawks’ organization.” Predictably, his lips curled up in one corner. “I know all about your no-hitter, your 1.1 ERA, and your .280 batting average.”
“That’s when I bat lefty. It’s .370 when I bat right-handed.”
“Congratulations,” I deadpanned. “Look, Mr. Hall, your ball playing isn’t the issue here. Having pictures of you drinking and having half-naked women hanging all over you plastered all over social media isn’t a good look for our organization. Our fans and supporters expect more, and quite frankly, they deserve it.” I paused before saying, “Let me ask you a question.”
His eyes darkened as his gaze bore into mine. It reminded me of when I used to play the staring game with my childhood friend. Except Jimmy didn’t blink at all—not even a little twitch, I attributed it to the focus he needed while playing. I’d been around the game before and had studied the mannerisms of athletes. They had an unparalleled focus. The man across from me put others to shame.
When he’d first come to the team, I’d happened to be in town and had attended practices. I’d wanted to know more about this young protégé. I’d sat behind the backstop to watch him pitch. Even at his age, he could intimidate the most seasoned batter. He had a confidence, an air about him, that propelled his career to new heights. At first, I’d thought that because he was the son of one of my all-time favorite players, he would be good, but not better than his father. Yet he was. Except his father only acted like a player on the field.
“Go ahead, ask away. And you can call me Jimmy.”
Forgoing calling him anything, I asked, “Would you rather see yourself as the face of the Hawks? Maybe even one day be the first pitcher on our team to be named captain? Or would you rather see yourself sitting in the bullpen or dugout, never getting your number called? And let me also state that going to the minor leagues isn’t out of the equation.”
“I think you know the answer to that. If you need me to say it, then fine. The former. But?—”
“There are no buts.” I leaned forward and again kept my focus on him. “We will be doing this my way. I’ve devised a plan and you’re to adhere to it.”
When I didn’t elaborate, he idly drummed his fingers on the table.
“Am I supposed to guess the details, or do you plan on filling me in?”
Cocky ... just as I suspected. The problem was I didn’t have a plan. When I received this assignment, my aggravation had surpassed logic, and rather than come up with the best public relations strategy, I’d curled up with a good book instead. There would be zero chance that I’d let the man sitting across from me know that.
“I do intend on telling you. But I have another meeting.” I grabbed my tablet and scrolled through my calendar. “Tomorrow. One o’clock. We’ll meet in my office.”
Jimmy shook his head. “Sorry, can’t do that. I have a prior commitment.” When my eyes lifted to his, he added, “I have a dental appointment.”
“Can’t you reschedule?”
“And neglect good oral hygiene? Sorry, no can do. How about dinner? I’ll even cook.”
I glanced at my calendar before saying, “I have Thursday at two available. We’ll meet here.” I pushed my chair back and stood. “Try not to get into any trouble between now and then.”
His jaw tensed, and when he stood, I had to force my eyes not to peruse his body. He placed his hands on the table and leaned forward. In spite of his arms being covered, I could still see the outlines of his muscles. The way the fabric of his shirt strained against his physique. Trying to remain unfazed, my gaze met his striking one.
“You seem to think that all I do is go out and party. Do I like to have fun? Yes. Do I like the company of a woman or two? Yes.”
Two?
“Do I go out and purposefully look for trouble? No, I don’t. I’m not a bad guy, Miss Bennett. And I’ll prove that to you.”
“Here’s the thing, Mr. Hall, whether or not you look for it, it will find you. You’re a good-looking, major-league baseball player. In your case, women will want a piece of you. They’ll want their fifteen seconds of fame by taking a picture with you. They want clicks and likes to get attention ... and they’ll use you to get it. I’m not saying that people are with you just for your name and what you do for a living?—”
“That’s exactly what you’re saying,” he shot back.
“Because there are people like that.”
“Do you think this is news to me?”
“Then you’ll work with me without complaint. What I intend to do is clean up your account and get some of your tagged posts removed, but we both know that screenshots live forever. Then, we’ll clean up your image. The rest we will discuss on Thursday.”
“Fine. Is that it?”
On my nod, he walked around the table, stopping in front of me. He extended his large hand, which I took. Our eyes locked and he gently shook my hand. “I’ll see you on Thursday, Miss Bennett.”
“Yes, see you then.”
He walked out, and I slumped back down in my chair. As much as I hated this assignment, I needed to knock it out of the park. And I’d be damned if Jimmy Hall would be the reason I didn’t.
* * *
For the life of me, I could never understand how someone could be so blasé about having their life plastered on the internet for everyone to see. Since my meeting with Jimmy, I did a deep-dive search into his past. Although I knew the story between his parents, and why Cash didn’t know he had a son, I did feel bad for him—for all of them.
That was the one thing we had in common, except he still had his parents. Shaking my head, I refocused on the paperwork in front of me. It had been a couple of days since my meeting with Jimmy, and he was due to be in my office in a few hours. Hopefully he’d be on time. I knew he had a morning workout scheduled with the team, which was why I picked two o’clock.
A knock sounded on my door before it swung open. Glancing up, I saw my grandfather peeking in.
“Good morning,” he said, sounding chipper. “Am I interrupting anything?”
I smiled at him as I normally do. My grandfather and I had a special relationship thanks to him raising me for most of my life. We were more than family and coworkers; we were friends. That was another reason I’d been so irked about this assignment.
“Sommer, you know that I and the other executives value your work. You’ve grown up with this team ... our team. You’re the best person for this job. I have faith in you. And once everyone knows what I do, there won’t be any pushback. Trust me, this is in your best interest.”
“But Jimmy Hall? He’s a PR nightmare. It’s a full-time job. I have other tasks to complete.”
“Going forward, he is your only concern. If anyone can make him shine in the public eye, it’s you, sweetheart.” Sweetheart. Calling me sweetheart at the office wasn’t what he did. We were professionals. I understood, but everyone knew I was his granddaughter. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes—but ...”
That was when he wrapped me up in his arms. “Then it’s settled; the job is yours.”
I blinked a few times, bringing myself back to the present. I shook my head. “I’m going over my plan for Jimmy Hall. We’re meeting this afternoon.”
He sat in the club chair across from my desk. “Fantastic. How is it going?”
“Fine. Good for now. I’ve been able to remove the videos, but that isn’t saying that they won’t pop up again since they were shared—and downloaded, I’m sure. Meaning they can appear at any time. I’m moving forward and will be discussing everything with him this afternoon.”
Granddad gave me a wide smile. “I knew I picked the right person for the job. Want to tell me about it?”
“I’d rather discuss it with Jimmy first.”
He gave me a nod and stood. “You’ve got this, Sommer. I’m proud of you.”
I’m not sure why that four-word sentence always triggered the pressure of tears, but it did. Swallowing a ball of emotions, I said, “Thank you, Granddad. I won’t let you down.”
My morning flew by, and before I knew it, I’d missed lunch. Great. I opened my desk drawer, pulled out a protein bar box, and sighed when I found it empty.
“Good afternoon, Miss Bennett.” Jimmy stood in my doorway. Damn, why did he have to be so good-looking? His dark-blond hair was damp, yet for some reason, still looked stylish. The soft white T-shirt he wore clung to him like a second skin. I couldn’t help but notice the scent of fresh soap that lingered around him. That and whatever was in the brown paper bag in his arms.
“Sorry, I hope I’m not late,” he said, a charming smile playing on his lips. His blue eyes met mine, and for a moment, time seemed to slow. “I had to stop to grab something to eat. I hope you don’t mind. This is when I’m usually having lunch.” He angled his head toward the small table in my office. “Do you mind if we sit there? You’re more than welcome to join me. I brought enough for two. Unless you’ve already eaten.”
I could lie and say I wasn’t hungry, but the aroma of his delicious food wafted through the air, making my stomach growl in response. Embarrassed and with red cheeks, I didn’t say anything in defense.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” As though he’d been in my office numerous times before, which he hadn’t, he moved toward the table and began unpacking containers of food and a couple of smaller bags. He sat down and glanced over at me since I hadn’t moved from behind my desk.
My leather chair creaked as I stood and walked toward him. His lips curled up in a smirk when I sat down across from him. By the time he was finished emptying the bag, I could barely see the wooded tabletop.
“Are you feeding an army?”
“No, just us. I wasn’t sure what you liked. I have two Greek salads, turkey wraps, some chips ...” He stopped to pull out a drink holder. “Two protein shakes. Again, I didn’t know your preference or even if you enjoyed protein shakes. I have one that tastes like a Creamsicle, and the other is strawberry banana.”
“Thank you, I’ll take whichever is your least favorite.”
“How about you take my favorite? I like both, but the Creamsicle is the bomb.” He slid the pale-orange drink in my direction.
Interesting move on his part. I could feel his eyes on me as I took a sip of the shake. “This is delicious. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. So what’s on the agenda, Miss Bennett?”
I almost told him to call me Sommer but then decided against it. We each took a bite of our wraps. Although he practically ate half of it in one go.
After wiping my mouth with a napkin, I began explaining my plans to him. Thanks to drug testing, I knew that he didn’t party in that respect, but the drinking and hanging out with scantily clad women for all to see wasn’t the best look.
“We want our fans happy, and the way we go about that is to have a great season that keeps them coming back for more. Our fans and the community are our backbone. Without them, we crumble. Your teammates count on you too.”
“Hold on, I’d never do anything to harm my teammates. They’re my brothers. Trust me on that.”
“You don’t think that your negative media presence harms them?”
“No, I don’t. And for your information—although since you know everything about me, I shouldn’t need to tell you that—I do give back to the community. In the offseason, I donate my time and resources.” I did know that, and I planned on discussing that with him too. Then he raked his fingers through his thick hair. “As far as social media, I don’t post the shit that’s out there. Trust me, if people want to fuck with you, they will. Half of the images look worse than they are. It’s typical tabloid shit, but these days, everyone with a phone is part of the paparazzi.”
I arched my brow. “So you didn’t have a threesome in Vegas?”
God, why did I even ask that? I was about to say, never mind, don’t tell me, when he offered his answer. “Oh no, I had one. What can I say? I’m a good multitasker. Do you want to hear about the rest of my encounters, or are you going to tell me more about what you plan on doing to improve my image? Which again, I see no issue with.”
“What about a girlfriend? Do you have any exes with incriminating pictures?”
“Nope. No girlfriend. Past or present.”
“You’ve never had a girlfriend?”
“I’ve dated, yes. I had one girl in high school that I liked, but we went to different colleges. Aside from that, no, I haven’t. Why? Are you offering?”
So many things ran through my mind. But rather than take his bait, I got up, walked over to my desk, and grabbed two invitations. “You are to attend at least one of these events. One is to benefit the children’s hospital, and the other is for the local animal shelter.”
“You think getting dressed up and going to one of these things will put me in a good light?”
“As a start, yes. Both are having a silent auction. You can donate something to each of them, even if you only go to one. The team will be doing the same.”
“It says here to let them know if I’m bringing someone. So I can bring a date?”
Those damn eyes that were prettier than the summer sky found mine. “If you’d like. Just make sure she isn’t in it for herself and the amount of clicks she can get.”
“I have a better idea.”
“What’s that?”
“You.”
“What about me?”
“You be my plus-one.”