“Sure,” Becca said, her voice cheery. “First. Remove all your clothes, and then borrow my trench coat. If a hottie like Leo Trevi called me the love of his life, I wouldn’t be eating takeout on the living room floor with my roommate. At least one of us should be having sex with someone who doesn’t require batteries.”
Georgia didn’t rise to the bait. Leo was crazy to have said such a thing today. It didn’t mean anything. They didn’t even know each other anymore. More years had passed since she’d said good-bye than they’d even been together. “I just need to keep my job, Bec. How do I keep the media focused on the Bruisers without focusing them on Leo and me?”
“This story just has to wear itself out.” Becca gestured grandly with her wine glass. “In the meantime, you can send your man Leo out on the town. He can do some interviews about how much fun it is to be a rookie. Did you see that some blog wants a photo shoot with Leo?”
Georgia had spotted it on Becca’s lengthy call sheets. A widely read fan blog called Pucker Up wanted Leo for a spread entitled Hockey Hotties. “Sure, I can make Leo out to be Mr. Eligible Bachelor, even if he isn’t one. I can send out his head shots like seeds in the wind. But that won’t change the fact that news of the new coach just isn’t as interesting as a scuffle between the captain and a hot young rookie. This is going to be a Page Six shit storm. Rookie Bruiser Threatens Captain. Film at eleven.” Or worse—Arrogant Rookie Bruiser Declares His Love For Mystery Girl. That one would show up on the fan sites, with links to Leo’s Instagram feed, if he had one.
And here she’d thought she could get a lot of coverage for the team’s new direction in coaching.
“My office received Leo’s scanned HR forms this afternoon,” Becca said. “He listed his parents as his emergency contacts. No girlfriend.”
Georgia’s heart did an inappropriate twerk. Not that she’d admit it. “Tell me this story will blow over soon.”
“If by ‘soon’ you mean next month,” Becca mused, “Because nobody believed me today when I fed ’em your line about O’Doul and Trevi arguing over a pop song. They all saw you run out of there like your panty hose were on fire. You won’t be able to convince anyone that there’s no story there. But what you can do is serve up Leo on a platter. Send him to a movie premiere with an A-list date. Make him do the Pucker Up thing, and then maybe one of those beefcake calendars. And bring home a couple copies, okay?” She nudged Georgia with her toe.
“Not funny,” Georgia grumbled. “God, we need a few wins. Is it too much to ask?”
“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 are not discussing 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 she used to 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?”