She started to relax, assuming Roger and Benny were simply here to rehash the podcast.
“Roger and I were interested in Tank’s comments about you.”
McKenna felt her face flush. Not because Tank had said anything inappropriate but because she couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss and the fact he trusted her. “I knew when I went to the gala as his date, people would start wondering who I was. I suppose we should have anticipated that and come up with a canned response. Not that Tank didn’t handle it well,” she added.
“He handled it very well,” Roger agreed.
“And you’re right. We should have anticipated questions. I think we assumed you going to all the promo ops and to the gala with him would have been viewed as ‘other duties as assigned,’” Benny said, grinning as he finger-quoted one of his favorite phrases. There was a standing joke in the PR department about Benny’s love of assigning random tasks that weren’t exactly part of a person’s job description. Her presence on the road taking photographs fell into that category.
“Tank did a good job clearing that up in the podcast,” McKenna said. “He let them know I work here, so?—”
“I’m not entirely sure he did clear it up,” Benny interjected.
McKenna frowned, mentally replaying what Tank had said. Obviously she missed something, and she would have to listen to that part of the interview again.
Roger leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’ve spent the last couple of hours combing through the comments attached to the photos and videos of you and Tank online.”
McKenna picked up a pen from her desk, tapping it nervously. She’d read most of those comments as well. “Okay,” she said, uncertain where Benny and Roger were going with this conversation.
She’d seen some of the comments from fans about her and Tank making a cute couple, as well as those from women who’d been somewhat cruel about her not being hot enough to keep a guy like Tank interested. McKenna had to admit some of those hurt, but she’d shaken them off and moved on because it wasn’t like she was trying to keep Tank interested anyway.
Or at least, that’s what she was desperately telling herself.
“James was impressed with the two of you at the gala.”
McKenna glanced from Roger to Benny, confused by her boss’s abrupt change of subject.
“I’m glad.” McKenna and Tank had spent a good twenty minutes in conversation with the president of the team and the Stingrays Foundation Director Gigi Romero, the night of the fundraiser. Tank had been his most charming, and she’d been pleased by how well the two of them had managed to work together to entertain sponsors and fans alike.
Benny had assigned her to make sure Tank didn’t say anything wrong, so she’d done her best to set him up with safe topics. And the clever man caught every pass she fired at him, taking the puck and slamming it into the net. On top of that, their sense of humors seemed to work in tandem, so they were able to weave funny stories or lob cute one-liners back and forth.
At one point, Gigi had been laughing so hard, she had to grab a napkin from a passing server to wipe tears from her eyes.
“Do you remember when we first started making our plans to salvage Tank’s reputation?” Roger asked, once again switching topics.
She was going to get whiplash if they kept this up.
“Yes.” It had only been five weeks ago.
“I think it was you who said it would be easier to repair Tank’s reputation if he was in a relationship,” Roger said.
She thought back. “Yeah. I did say that. But Tank still isn’t interested in dating either one of the women in the video. And as far as I know, he’s not seeing anyone at the moment.”
“What if he was in a relationship?” Roger asked.
“Tank doesn’t date. He told me that point-blank. He has zero interest in a serious relationship.” McKenna had been slightly disappointed—yet unsurprised—when he said he didn’t have any plans to change his single playboy status until after he hung up his skates. Of course, she’d wanted to kick her own ass for that feeling. Because she shouldn’t give two shits about Tank’s relationship status.
“He said he wasn’t interested in dating either of the women from the video, and we all agreed that was for the best, but Benny and I were just talking, and we think maybe we should revisit that idea.”
She frowned.
Benny leaned back and crossed his arms. “We think Tank should be in a committed relationship.”
“With who?” she asked.
Benny leaned back, not answering, while Roger fidgeted with the cuff of his shirt.
“With me?”
