But, as this weekend has shown me, sometimes you just need to expect the unexpected.
The End
Other Titles by Elle Kennedy
Elle’s international bestselling book, THE DEAL, is currently FREE.
Download your copy today!
Have you read Elle’s bestselling Off-Campus series and its spinoff, Briar U? Try it out today!
The Deal (Garrett’s book)
The Mistake (Logan’s book)
The Score (Dean’s book)
The Goal (Tucker’s book)
The Legacy (Novella collection)
The Chase (Summer and Fitz’s book)
The Risk (Brenna and Jake’s book)
The Play (Hunter and Demi’s book)
The Dare (Conor and Taylor’s book)
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For all the m/m fans out there, check out HIM and US, Elle’s New Adult hockey romances co-written with the fabulous Sarina Bowen.
* * *
If you’re interested in Elle’s erotic romance and/or romantic suspense titles, check out these bestselling series:
Killer Instincts
Outlaws
Out of Uniform
After Hours
More titles also available on Elle’s website.
About the Author
A New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Elle Kennedy grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, and holds a BA in English from York University. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be a writer and actively began pursuing that dream when she was a teenager. She loves strong heroines and sexy alpha heroes, and just enough heat and danger to keep things interesting!
Elle loves to hear from her readers. Visit her website www.ellekennedy.com or sign up for her newsletter to receive updates about upcoming books and exclusive excerpts. You can also find her on Facebook (ElleKennedyAuthor), Twitter (@ElleKennedy), Instagram (@ElleKennedy33), or TikTok (@ElleKennedyAuthor).
Copyright © 2021 Sarina Bowen
All rights reserved
Published by Sarina Bowen
Training Camp is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author’s twisted imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
1
My hands are sweating as I approach Brooklyn’s star winger—Jason Castro—on his beach chair. “Hi, I’m s-sorry,” I sputter.
“That’s an unusual name,” the muscular player says, looking up from his book. He’s wearing mirror shades and a hat, so I can’t even tell if he’s rolling his eyes or not.
Holy cow. It’s already going poorly. Why did I just apologize for doing my job?
Oh right. Because my job is annoying and pointless.
“Uh, my name is Stacey. I was just, um, apologizing for the interruption.” I’d probably come off as a starstruck stalker right now, except I’m wearing a team polo shirt to identify me as a member of the organization.
It’s a lie, though. I’m just a summer intern. I’ve spent the last few weeks in the business office, happily working on expense reports. I liked that job so much better than mingling with hockey players at training camp.
And, yes, I know that’s weird. But so am I. This wasn’t even my first choice internship. I was gunning for Goldman Sachs, where introverted nerds are the norm.
“Well, go on,” Castro says, closing the book. “How can I help you?”
It all comes out at a stammer. “Georgia, the, um, p-publicist, asked me to make a video. Just, um, a speedy reaction thing. I ask questions. You answer them. It goes on Tic Tac.”
His eyebrows pop up above his sunglasses. “TikTok?”
My face is on fire now, and I begin to speak very fast. “Right. That’s what I said. It will only take two minutes of your time.”
“Okay.” He tosses the book aside and folds his hands across his tanned abs. “Let’s do this.”
I scramble to unlock my phone and carefully clean the camera lenses off with a microfiber cloth that Georgia had given me when she assigned me this stupid task. “You're Gen Z. Just ask the boys some questions. Have fun with it,” she’d said. “The Rangers have thirty percent more followers than we do, and that’s a travesty. So let’s see what you can do with it in the next seven days.”
Not much is the likely outcome. Sure, my birthday makes me Generation Z. But not all twenty-one-year-olds understand the appeal of viral video apps. I didn’t even have TikTok on my phone until five minutes ago.
And now a certain hockey star is waiting for me to ask him fun, lighthearted questions and edit them together into something snappy.
Okay, deep breaths. I touch the video button and aim it at him. “First question. Who’s your favorite poet?”
He opens his mouth and then closes it again. “Um, pass? Unless dirty limericks count.”
“Um… What’s your favorite color?” I try.
“Silver. Like the Stanley Cup.” He grins.
“Awesome. What’s your favorite number?”
“Sixteen,” he says with an easy shrug of his bare shoulders. “My jersey number.”
“Right. Sure. What’s your favorite thing about hockey?”
“Winning.”
“Great! Thanks.” I quickly hit the stop button. I’m sweating, and it’s not because we’re on a sunny beach in the Hamptons. It’s because this much verbal interaction with a stranger is about as much as I can take. “Thanks,” I say again, uselessly.
And then I wander off to embarrass myself in front of another hockey player.
* * *
“And what’s your favorite thing about hockey?” I ask yet another player. He’s a young guy, but enormous. It’s like interviewing a mountain. I have to raise my arms up high just to frame the shot.
“Winning,” he says.
“Cool. Thanks for your time, Mr. Wilson.” I hit the stop button. Then I look away quickly. Wilson is such a hunk. And his smile is more friendly than the others. It’s like staring at the sun. It melts me.
“Be careful of the sun,” he says suddenly.
I let out a squeak of surprise. Did I speak that though aloud?
“That camera angle,” he clarifies. “I musta been backlit just now. Do you take a lot of videos?”
“Well, no,” I admit as another bead of sweat rolls down my back. “I never take videos. I’ve never used TikTok. If I convince even one person to follow the channel, it will be a miracle. NYU is more likely to win the Frozen Four than I am to gain followers.”