Christenson nodded, opening his mouth to say something before deciding against it and shaking his head.
“Okay,” I grumbled, looking around like I’d be able to find an answer on the field. But then my eyes landed back on Kodi and my mind was set.
A few months ago, before Kodi was back in my life, I would’ve dug my feet in. I would’ve insisted that my record would speak for itself. And while I still believed that to some extent, I also saw the value in what Kodi said.
And this could be a chance to get to know her better. Know who Kodi was know without my failed attempts at small talk.
“So … can you make me trend, too?”
An Alternate Plan
Kodi
Ididn’t pay attention to the second half of the game; my brain was firing on all cylinders on thinking about how to make Kean more marketablefast.
Logically, I knew they weren’t gonna trade Kean in the middle of the season — we weren’t even halfway through and such a big change would be a pain in the ass to manage from an admin perspective. But if I was building a campaign for Kean that could see exponential growth over a few months, the kind of growth that would equate to immediate ticket sales, then I’d need to act with more intention than I have so far.
My original plan for Kean’s socials was more focused on connecting with the audience, giving fans a chance to learn about who Keanactuallywas. That type of plan would make money for the team eventually. But if the owners were willing tocall the coach in the middle of a game to make a change based on a social media trend, then they weren’t looking to invest.
So I spent the second half of the game researching opportunities to make Kean shine and came up with a fine-tuned plan to get the owners to favor him.
The only probably was gettingKeanon board, which was arguably going to be harder than getting his jerseys to sell out.
“So Kean,” I started as we stepped off the hotel elevator and started down the hall to our rooms. “Would you mind coming to my room so I can show you some … options?”
The things I wanted to show him weren’t really options, so much as a list of things heshoulddo, no options involved.
“Your room,” he said, stopping in the middle of the hallway. I immediately rolled my eyes and grabbed his arm to drag him along.
“I don’t have cooties.” It should probably set off alarm bells that I was getting so comfortable around Kean that I could just grab him. But deep down, I think he liked it when I was unprofessional with him. He was the one who acted childish first, after all.
“I know you don’t have cooties,” he grumbled, not fighting or pulling away as I moved us along.
“Oh yeah? Then why don’t you wanna go to my room, huh?” I teased.
“Youhaveto be doing that on purpose, right?” he mumbled under his breath.
“Oh, sorry.” I dropped his arm and took a step to the side to give him space. He might prefer a less formal relationship, but that didn’t mean he wanted me to flirt with him.
Just as I moved to grab my key card from my bag, Kean’s hand wrapped around my elbow, pulling just enough that my body turned towards him.
“I didn’t say stop.” His voice was low, sultry even, but he didn’t look me in the eyes as he spoke. His focus was on his hand. He gently stroked his thumb over my inner bicep and goose bumps fanned over my skin.
Well, that feeling was sure as fuck going into the spank bank I shouldn’t be investing so heavily in.
“Yeah, okay,” I said with a rumble as I tried to clear the lump in my throat. His hand still on my arm, I pulled out my card and opened the door. But as I stepped into the room, I set a hand over his to keep it in place.
Except as the door closed behind us, I realized that was completely impractical and gave him a little pat before moving away to grab my laptop.
“Why’d you leave the lights on?” Kean asked, letting his arm flop down to his side as he looked around the room.
“Well, you know, in case a murderer gets in, it’ll be easier to see them.”
“A murderer?” He laughed.
“Yes, a murderer. You never know what could happen when you’re away from home.”
“I feel like the likelihood of a murderer sneaking into your room is higher at your home than in a hotel,” he said with a furrowed brow. “At your home, someone could track your movements and know when to sneak in.”
