Page 77 of No Rhyme or Roughing
I went to her without hesitation, dropping to my knees. “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”
Her hands shook as she passed me her phone. It took me a moment to realize why she was showing me our video.
“Shit,” I breathed.
“What?” Rowan snatched the phone from me and blew out a curse. “Seriously? This says there are a hundred thousand likes and amillion views.” He blinked, watching the screen. “Wait—it just went up again.”
Sydney nodded vigorously, looking straight at me. “You’re officially viral.”
“How?” I took the phone back, staring at it like it might hold all the answers.
Sydney lifted her glass of water and took a long drink. “I made some calls. I told you I choreographed something similar before, right? It was for a couple of baseball players who now have millions of followers. They both reposted it. Then, I called a few people from a movie I worked on.” She hesitated, her voice soft. “And… I called Jameson.”
“He reposted too?”
She nodded. “That’s not the best part.” She grabbed her phone and typed something in, tapping the screen. Our video played again, but this time it was from the official account of the LA Kings.
“What does this mean?” Rowan asked, taking Sydney’s now-empty glass to refill it.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
Sydney smiled, bright and triumphant. “Well, if it’sanything like last time, it’ll mean fans flooding into the arena, knowing your names. They’ll be rabid. They’ll want to see you do it again.”
Again. Good thing the team had a plan.
Without thinking, I reached out, my fingers drifting under her chin. She didn’t resist as I pulled her face toward mine, capturing a kiss. It was soft, almost delicate—the sweet taste of her, the quiet sigh she released against my lips.
But it didn’t last long.
Rowan stood frozen, staring at us, eyes wide. He pushed a hand through his hair. “Fuck, Ry.” He shook his head. “This is none of my business… but fuck.” And then, he walked out of the room.
Sydney leaned her forehead against mine. “I think we’re in trouble.”
I didn’t think. IknewI was.
And it had nothing to do with Rowan.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
SYDNEY
My inbox was blowing up. Not literally, though I kind of wished it was.
It hadn’t even been a full day since the video went viral, and already a flood of potential clients had contacted my agent. She knew I liked to pick jobs myself, so she passed along my email address to the ones she thought I’d be interested in.
Which, apparently, was a lot.
I clicked through the emails, deleting a few before frustration set in. One rule I had was that I didn’t work alone with men I didn’t know. They needed to have a female manager or coordinator involved in my employment, something to create a sense of security. That madeit easy to filter out most of the offers. Almost all of them, in fact.
Then, I came across an interesting one.
It was from the assistant to the only female general manager in the National Hockey League. Intrigued, I picked up my phone and tapped my manager’s name.
She answered on the first ring. “Hello?”
“Is this one for real, Angela?” I asked. We’d worked together for a few years now, so she knew exactly what I meant.
“Ah, San Jose works fast,” she said with a soft laugh. “When they called me, I knew it would catch your eye.” We’d tagged both her social media account and mine in the video of the guys dancing. “I just got off the phone with them ten minutes ago.”
