“Tell me this, Lucas. Why do you purposely do shit to piss me off? And why do you call me Red? I don’t have red hair, so it doesn’t really fit.”
“Well, Carmen.” He says my name, letting the R roll off his tongue in a way that has my panties going wet. Damn him and the havoc he has on my hormones. They need to get with the program that he isn’t an option. I sit down in my chair, allowing me to rub my thighs together discreetly under my desk as I search for a tiny bit of relief. “When you get pissed or excited about something, your cheeks go red,” he says, biting his bottom lip as he lets his words sink in. I can feel my cheeks redden even more at his words and the way he’s looking at me. He shifts forward in the chair he’s sitting in across from me, closing some of the distance between the two of us. “If your cheeks go that red when you’re pissed, I can only imagine how red the rest of your body turns, especially when you let loose and come.”
“Get out,” I growl, pointing at my door as I stand and walk over to it. I can’t believe he has the audacity to say something like that to me.
“But I thought you wanted to discuss how you’re going to clean up my image?” he retorts, standing and meeting me in the doorway to my office. His eyes rake up my body until they finally make contact with my own. His are full of fire. A fire that will burn me, if I’m not careful.
“I’ll do what I can to clean up the current news,” I say as professionally as I can, with my blood boiling the way it is. “If you continue to be a dumbass and get yourself into these sticky situations, it’s your own doing. If you can’t keep yourself out of the press in a bad way, then it is your livelihood it will affect. Sponsors don’t want the playboy of the MLB to be the face of their products. The ownership of this team has also invested a lot of money into you, don’t make them regret that decision.” I remind him, “I can only help you so much; in the end, you’ve got to help yourself if you really want to change and make a good impression on the ownership. If management isn’t happy, they’re not going to keep you around; just remember that. Everyone on the team is replaceable.”
“I think my play on the field speaks for itself. A few pictures of me out at a strip club every now and again isn’t going to have them sending me to another city,” he volleys back.
“You’re pretty confident for a rookie. I’ve been around here for a few seasons now. I’ve seen guys come and go; I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you.”
He leans down and whispers into my ear, “I can show you cocky; you just name the time and place.” And once again, my blood pressure is up, and my cheeks are flaming hot. What is it about this man that infuriates me while also turning me on to the point I’m about to ruin another pair of panties because of him?
“Go. Now,” I grit out, doing my best to keep my cool. I take a step back, so I’m entirely in my office and not in my doorway. He gives me one more once over before turning on his heel and heading for the door that will take him from the front offices and into the practice facility.
I shut my office door a little harder than probably necessary, or that’s appropriate for an office. But when you put up with the kind of shit like I do with some of the diva players, my patience sometimes quickly runs out.
I take a seat at my desk and quickly type up a press release. After looking it over twice, making some minor edits to it, I send it out to all the appropriate places. While nights out at strip clubs aren’t uncommon and really shouldn’t be a big deal, they can sometimes spiral out of control. Or, if guys make it a habit, it can create a bad reputation that later comes back to bite them in the ass.
With the headache of Lucas taken care of, I get caught up in an upcoming project management brought to me and asked me to help coordinate. They want to up our community outreach, get involved more with some youth programs and giving back to our great city. While multiple guys work directly with charities that are important to them, the ownership wants something that is specific to the organization as a whole, and that is where I come in.
With my staff’s help, we hired an outside planning company to help us pull off this first event.
“Carly, can you come in here, please?” I call out over the intercom to one of my assistants.
“I’ll be right there,” she says over the speaker.
I move from my desk to the table set up in my office. I love having multiple spaces within my own office to spread out as we’re brainstorming ideas. PR isn’t always covering up the bad and spinning it to make our clients look good. Sometimes we get to do the fun things and spotlight all the good the team is doing, and that’s just what this is going to be.
“Did you get everything with Lucas taken care of?” Carly asks as she enters my office.
“Yes, now if he can keep his nose clean, that will be another thing,” I tell her, motioning for her to join me at the table. “I’ve got some things
