Page 28 of Playing to Win
Maybe I shouldn’t lump all men together. More like athletes.
Though my dad isn’t awful. Neither is my uncle or my cousins or the guys my cousins married…
“Trust me, she was pretty weird,” Ace tells me, reaching for his beer mug and draining the last of it. As if I would ever trust him. I’m not a complete idiot. “Tell me how you got on the social media team.”
“Oh.” I sit up straighter, surprised he’d ask something about me. From my experience with football players—even my brother sometimes—all they want to do is talk about themselves. “Well, my major is sports management and marketing and a paid intern spot opened up. My advisor let me know, I interviewed and now I’m on the team.”
“Nice.” Ace nods, drumming his fingers on the table. I stare at those fingers. They’re long and almost elegant and they can throw a ball like no other.
I wonder what else they can do?
My body goes warm, thinking nothing but dirty thoughts. His fingers undressing me. Sliding around my neck. Pinning me in place…
“You like it so far?” he asks, pulling me from my wayward thoughts.
“I do. Eric is nice.” I wrinkle my nose, not sure what to say about Gwyneth.
“Gwen is kind of a bitch,” Ace adds.
“She’s not that bad,” I say in her defense.
“She’s mean.”
“She’s a little mean,” I agree and we both laugh and damn it, he has a nice laugh. “I think I just need to get on her good side.”
“Does she have a good side?”
“I’m going to find out.” I glance around the bar, wondering where our server is with our drink order. I need alcohol, stat, if I’m going to continue this conversation with Ace. “I think it’s going to be fun. We have a lot of ideas we want to implement for you guys.”
Ace groans, tipping his head back against the booth to stare at the ceiling for a moment before he glances over at me. “Were you serious about the dancing thing?”
“Maybe,” I hedge, pausing for only a moment. “Definitely.”
Another groan escapes him and I can’t help but think the sound is kind of sexy. “Are we going to have to like, mouth along to songs and shit?”
“Um…yeah?” My voice is hesitant because his reaction isn’t the best. “Dancing, singing, making fun of yourselves in general. We want you guys to have a sense of humor. Girls love that stuff.”
“They do?”
I nod.
“What does Eric think of all this?”
I’m impressed he remembers Eric’s name. “He claims he’s cool with it, but I don’t think he likes Gwen’s ideas much. He’d rather showcase the team at their best, rattle off stats, share highlights from games and get the fans hyped every weekend.”
“That sounds perfect.” Ace nods his approval.
“Of course, you agree with him. If we did it that way, we’d only shine you guys in a perfect light. But Gwen thinks we need to show off how hot you guys are and get all the girls swooning. She’s hoping you’ll all eventually go viral and the team in general will become a social media sensation.”
“This is all Gwen’s idea?” He looks surprised and I can’t blame him.
“Yep.” I nod, smiling. “She says this kind of thing happens a lot, especially with college hockey teams. Get ready. She’s going to put you all through it by creating a bunch of beefcake content.”
“Beefcake?” Ace sounds amused as he runs a hand through his hair, the muscles in his arms rippling with the movement. My gaze lingers on his arms, my mouth going dry, my thoughts kicking into creative mode. He’s in a black T-shirt, but I’m thinking we should make content with some of the team in tank tops, flexing their muscles, but not showing their faces.
Arm porn, if you will.
The server shows up with a tray filled with drinks, doling them out to everyone at the table before she moves onto the booth next to us. I pull my watermelon margarita closer to me and take a sip, glancing over at Ace to find him watching me, his lips parted.
