Page 13 of Rookie Move
“Ask Daddy for it as a birthday present,” Becca teased.
“Sure. Coach Karl can change the narrative for me. He can rescue his foolish daughter from the gossip columns’ clutches.” At least she hoped he could. “But even if he does, I’m drowning in work. The team missed out on two publicity opportunities last week because I couldn’t be in three places at once. I need help, but I’m not willing to ask for it. If they’d just confirm me as the permanent PR director, I wouldn’t have to tiptoe around the issue.”
Becca clicked her tongue sympathetically. “I know you don’t want them hiring anyone new. Can you shift any of it onto the interns? Can you get a temp?”
She shook her head. “Writing press releases and setting up interviews isn’t something I can delegate. Even when I ask them to blast out a bunch of stuff on social media, I have to spend an hour on it first, so the message is right. And then there’s the charity stuff. It’s actually my favorite part of the job, but I don’t have enough time to plan for it now.”
“You mean like the benefit next week?”
Georgia rolled her head, trying to get the knots out of her neck. “Yeah. Thank god for party planners. I’d like to do more with charities but I don’t know how to stop spinning my wheels. It’s hard to think big when you’re always putting out fires.”
“Poor baby.” Above her, Becca leaned over the coffee table, gathering the empty cartons. She put the last dumplings on Georgia’s plate, because her appetite was legendary. “You need anything?”
“I’m good,” Georgia insisted, sitting up. “And you don’t have to clean up. You’ve already done enough of my work for one day.”
“So I answered a few extra phone calls. Big effing deal.” Becca disappeared into the kitchen, returning with a new bottle of wine. “I’m topping up our glasses,” she announced.
“Why? Tomorrow is open practice.” And goddamn, what lousy timing. She didn’t want to face fans on a Saturday morning.
“I need to get you drunk so you’ll tell me whether the new rookie is any good in the sack.”
“We arenotdiscussing that.” Reminiscing was exactly what she did not need right now. A girl could get really distracted remembering those hot nights in the back of Leo’s car. And it was startling to remember just how reckless she’d once been. When she and Leo were teenagers, things had escalated in a big hot hurry. He’d been eager to please her and she’d been eager to let him try.
Nnnngh. They’d had so, so much sex. And it had been glorious.
Becca giggled. “He was, wasn’t he? Hell. Teenage boys aren’t known for their sexual prowess. But you should see your face right now.”
Georgia bit her lip and fought for a more neutral expression. “I really don’t need to be thinking about that tonight.”
“Pity.” Becca twisted off the top of the bottle and angled it toward Georgia’s glass. “Whether you want to think about you and Leo together or not, both your faces are going to be on all the puck bunny blogs tomorrow.”
“God, I hope not. And I hope the top brass won’t notice how much thunder it’s stolen from their big announcement. Crap. Nate probably has some kind of ninja web alarm that sends every mention of the team straight to his Katt Phone.”
“You’re not going to lose your job,” Becca murmured.“But maybe we should hold off another month on buying the new sofa.”
“The universe does not want to show us any job security, Bec. Why is that?”
“I wish I knew.” Becca had a good job running the Bruisers C-suite. But sheusedto be Nate’s personal assistant at his skyscraper in midtown. When he bought the team, he shipped her out of the thirtieth floor office tower to work in Brooklyn. That’s how she and Georgia had met, almost two years ago. Even now, Becca still wasn’t sure why Nate made the switch. He said he needed a trusted employee in Brooklyn, because he didn’t make it to the Bruisers’ office every day. But Georgia knew she often fretted that he’d been dissatisfied with her work.
“That movie you wanted to see tonight starts at nine,” Georgia said from her position on the floor. “But we’re not really in the mood to go out, are we?”
“Nope,” Becca agreed. “Why spend the money when we can drink wine and watch Netflix?”
“Truth.”
“So get over here. The world’s ugliest couch is calling your name.”
***
Two hours and one chick flick later, Georgia climbed into her bed and shut off the light. She tucked the comforter around herself to keep out the chill. Theirs was a small, drafty apartment in an old building which had changed purposes so many times that it was difficult to say whether her little bedroom had once been someone’s office or their servants’ quarters. Her double bed barely fit into the space. But she wouldn’t trade it for a high-rise in a less interesting neighborhood. Dumbo was pricey but scenic. And the short walking commute to work was something every New Yorker dreamed of.
She lay there in the dark, waiting for sleep to come. But the difficult day still held her in its stressful clutches. Leo’s handsome face drifted through her consciousness for thefirst time in years. There was an ocean of time between them now—four years of college plus two more afterward.
Georgia never let herself think about him—it was too painful. She’d lost so much during her senior year of high school. Her peace of mind. Her fearlessness. And the love of the boy she’d always cherished. In order to bury those bad memories, she’d had to pack away the fun times with Leo, too. But today it had all come rushing at her like an avalanching closet. All the good, the bad, and the handsome, chiseled chin. The warm brown eyes...
Yikes.
Leo was going to be difficult to ignore—all two hundred glorious muscular pounds of him. Just the idea that he could pass by her office door at any moment was distracting. If she saw him almost every day, that tide of memories would not be held back.
