Page 77 of Wild Love
“There. Sent,” she says after clicking a few buttons on her laptop. “I’m going to do a coffee run. Want anything?”
“I’ll go.” I stand and wave her off. I promised Maverick I’d stop by and let Charli out, since he will be at camp all day.
I do that first, spending a few extra minutes petting Charli. She’s a great midday boost. Then I stop at the coffee shop next door to the arena. I look through the photos Quinn sent while I wait for my order. I open the favorites folder first. She might think she doesn’t have a good eye for design, but so far, all the ones she selected are great options. They show off another side of Johnny that the professional photos don’t.
In one, he’s smiling while talking to the photographer as they both stare down at the display on the camera. In another, he’s high-fiving Reese. He’s good with people, and these photos show that. It humanizes him in a way the posed images don’t.
Next, I look through the folder with images that didn’t make the cut into the favorites. My body warms, and I don’t need a mirror to know I’m blushing as I click on a photo of Johnny and me. My hands work over his stomach, spreading the oil. He looks up at the ceiling with a pained look. My face isn’t visible, but I bet it matches his.
“Dakota?” the barista calls, and I can tell by her expression it isn’t the first time she’s tried to get my attention.
“Sorry.” I put away my phone and thank her for the coffees.
I spend all afternoon selecting images for the endorsement. I’ll be sending them everything we took, but I still take extra care to highlight my favorites and even recommend some behind-the-scenes ideas for their social media, which is not very exciting from what I’ve seen. Johnny has more followers on nearly all platforms than they do.
I take everything to Blythe’s office late after camp is over, and most everyone else is gone.
“Do you have a minute?”
“Yes.” She waves me in. “I was just looking over the photos from the Maverick campaign. You got some great content.”
“I know. I’m really excited about how it turned out. I put together a whole plan. Can I show you?”
She laughs lightly and indicates I should sit.
I walk her through all my ideas, talking a mile a minute. She listens, nodding along.
At the end, I take a breath. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s great, honestly. You made the most out of the limited time and resources available. The behind-the-scenes photos and videos alone should capture a lot of buzz. Send it over as is.”
“Really? It isn’t too much?” It’s way more than they asked for, but I couldn’t help myself. I want Johnny’s first endorsement to be amazing.
“Yeah, Dakota. Really. The worst they can do is not use some of it. More is better than not enough. Do you have the contact in their marketing department?”
“Yes.” I’ve already composed a dozen messages in my head to Linda Maine and played out her response back, which will hopefully include lots of exclamation marks and wild praise.
“Where are you scheduled tomorrow for camp?”
“I’m on concession duty.”
“I’m pulling you to work with me tomorrow. We’ve booked Lindsey and will be grabbing content all day long for the Wildcats’ social media pages.”
“Oh my gosh. That would be amazing.”
“Don’t thank me yet. It’s going to be a long day. Tomorrow afternoon they are going to the local library for story time. It’s a way for us to give back, and the guys get a small dose of the required community service.”
“That’s great.” My head is already spinning with the images of Johnny reading to small children. Swoon.
“Be here at seven,” she says. Her gaze drops to my shoes. “I guess I don’t have to tell you to wear comfortable shoes.”
I click my heels together. “Forever a Kansas girl in my ruby slippers.”
Before I head home, I send everything to Linda and cross my fingers and toes that she loves it.
I see Reese on my way out.
“Hey, how’s working with Coach?” I ask him.
