Nerdy Girl Nation (Nerdy Girl #1)

by Lindsey Gray

  “What is the next step?” Rob asked Aaron before he glanced to his side for a peek at Emma.

  Emma was about to speak up and tell Rob about the plan they’d worked on when Aaron stopped pacing and spoke first.

  “I want the two of you to be the next power couple of the IWA.”

  “A what?” Emma squeaked. “We never discussed this.”

  Aaron’s smile grew wide at the shock evident on Emma’s face. “Don’t worry, Emma. I think this new direction will work to our advantage.”

  Emma sat back, crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at Aaron.

  “There’s my feisty girl. Don’t worry, we won’t be going too off course at first.” Aaron laughed and sat down in the chair across from the couch.

  “Why don’t you let me in on this new plan of yours.” Rob seemed eager to hear Aaron’s new plan.

  “While I still want to pit the two of you against each other at first, after I saw Bobby’s reaction when you entered, I think the fans could tell there was an attraction there. This can work for us. Bobby’s internal struggle losing the job the fans wanted for him to a woman he’s insanely attracted to.”

  Rob smiled and nodded. “He’s not too off base there.”

  Emma shook her head at Rob’s comment, but the smile never left her face. “Fine, he’s conflicted and I’m only interested in doing my job. And?”

  “I have a few more ideas, but not much we can openly discuss until Emma’s full-time filming ends.” Aaron glanced at his watch and saw their time was almost up. “I’ll give you two a few minutes to talk alone. I’ll see you both after the main event.” Aaron went out the door and closed it behind him.

  “Oh, hell.” Emma dropped her head on the back of the couch. “I can’t believe he’s doing this. Flirt on camera? Perhaps, but I don’t think I can handle any PDA’s.” The thought of being somewhat intimate on camera terrified her more than wrestling did.

  “Emma, look at me.” Rob took her hand and pulled her closer to him.

  Emma gave him her attention, but her concentration wavered after a few seconds of staring into his brilliant blue eyes.

  “This can work for us.” He cupped her cheek and continued to gaze into her eyes.

  Emma had already made up her mind. If Rob still wanted her after the announcement was made, she would go for it. One big problem still needed to be addressed.

  “My last day of filming Hunt for Life is in three weeks in Los Angeles. The press will be going crazy after tonight. Adding a real relationship to the mix will be pandemonium. If we can keep the IWA side of us front and center until then …”

  “Yeah?” He scooted over a little closer.

  She placed her hand on his chest, slipping her fingertips across the silk tie he was wearing around his neck. “Yeah.”

  At the moment before a first kiss, a few things usually occur. Each person may experience a shortness of breath, increased heart rate, and even sweaty palms. When Emma found herself at the moment with Rob’s lips mere millimeters away from hers, none of the usual chaos surfaced. Her body was enveloped in warmth and completely at ease.

  When their lips touched for the first time, her stomach flipped at the feeling of fire flowing throughout her body. She moved her hand from where she’d gripped his tie to the back of his neck and felt the hairs at his nape stand on end. A moaned escaped her when his tongue pressed against the seam of her lips. She opened them to him for what seemed like mere seconds before the roar of the crowd in the arena alerted them time was short.

  “Fuck,” he whispered as he touched his forehead to hers. “I don’t think I can hold back with you kissing me like that.”

  “You’ve waited twelve years.”

  “Twelve years too many. I should have kissed you when I had the chance.”

  “You understand why I didn’t let you.” Emma moved away from him and stood. “Soon, I won’t stop you.” She walked over and opened the door. With another flip of her switch, she was off to make her first official night with the IWA a success.

  “Emma MacLean,” Emma answered her cell phone in the midst of the chaos of her first night on the job.

  “Well, well, if it isn’t the first lady of wrestling.”

  “Garrett Green. You watching the show?” Emma asked as she walked through the back halls of the arena.

  “Yes, ma’am. Can I get an exclusive?”

  The screen playing the broadcast told Emma she needed to get to the backstage area in time to go out for the main event.

  “Call me about nine tomorrow morning and I can give you a phone interview. I’m sorry, my schedule is booked until the end of the week.” She hustled her way, her heels clicking as she sped up.

  “No problem, Gorgeous.”

  She ended the call and got to her spot in time to hear Rob’s voice as he began a pre-match rant.

  Rob had changed from his suit to his fighting gear, a pair of dark blue grappling shorts with matching kneepads and boots with no shirt.

  He took the microphone and began what would become the start of his fake feud with Emma.

  “I’ve heard all night long how the new direction Miss MacLean has us going in is going to change the face of the IWA. What you haven’t seen is the direction I can take us, starting with canceling this ridiculous tag team match.” The crowd begins to boo and shout their disapproval. “There is a reason I have not competed in a tag team match for over a year. No offense, Chance.” He smacked Chance on the chest. “I am a singles competitor and should be competing in a number one contender match for the heavyweight title.”

  As planned, Emma’s music began to play and she sauntered toward the ring.

  Rob struggled to keep his mask in place. The sight of her long, tanned legs brought images of them wrapped around his waist. The sway of her hips made him think of running his fingertips across the soft skin there. The bounce of her ponytail had his fingers itching to wrap the silky strands around his hand while he …

  Rocked back into the moment, Rob composed himself when Emma dipped between the ropes and entered the ring. With her own microphone in hand, Emma straightened and began her retaliation speech.

  “Mr. Breyer.” She sized him up with an authoritative air. “I watched you over the last year in match after match. Some you’ve won and others you lost. The one thing I noticed specifically is your confidence. Some might call you overconfident. I would call you arrogant.” Emma smiled while she got hoots and hollers of approval from the crowd. “This match tonight is to remind you this organization is not based on one member’s success, but on the team of talented individuals. Therefore, your match will begin with Chance in the ring so you can’t attempt to dominate this match. Give your partner a chance and work together if you want to succeed tonight.”

  With a turn of her head and the swish of her hips, she exited the ring and walked over to the commentator’s table to take a seat. With a flick of her wrist, Emma signaled the bell to begin the match.

  “Bobby, get your head in the game and get the hell out of the ring,” Chance whisper yelled and pushed Rob into the corner.

  “Right.” He leered at the advancing Vertolli brother. “Good luck.” Rob ducked between the ropes before Chance took on their opponent.

  Chance danced around ring for a few seconds before one of the brothers attacked. A bounce off the ropes, a shove into the corner, and a well-placed kick to the chest and Chance dominated the match. An attempted pin by Chance was thwarted and Rob was tagged in. Switched into fight mode, Rob went after the bigger Vertolli.

  Getting the edge over the brothers wasn’t as easy as Rob had thought. He eventually had to tag Chance back in and was surprised when Chance got the pin within a minute, winning them the match.

  The referee lifted Chance and Rob’s arms while the announcer declared their victory.

  Rob peeked over to the commentator’s table and saw the smile on Emma’s face. He let a smirk of his own cross his lips before he played up the victory with Chance for the
ir fans.

  “Right on time,” Rob mumbled at his ringing cell phone. Exactly one hour after winning his first tag team match in over a year, his father called to give his opinion of the night’s events. “Hello, Dad.”

  “Bobby.”

  Rob cringed. He had gotten used to the fans calling him Bobby over the years, but his friends and family had always called him Rob, except his father. To Robert Breyer Senior, he would always be little Bobby.

  “What did you think of the match tonight?”

  “Horseshit!”

  Rob rolled his eyes and sat down on a bench beside the bus transporting the wrestlers to the airport. “Tell me how you really feel, Dad.”

  “You should be in a heavyweight contender match, not Cosmo. You’ve won twelve more matches than he has in the past year.”

  “Dad, this is the direction Aaron wants to go. On camera, I might not be happy, but I think Chance and I are a good team. We can earn those tag team belts.”

  “You told her tonight, you are a singles competitor. The woman needs to get a few facts straight. First she takes your job, now she is making you compete with Chance,” Robert Senior huffed. “He has a long way to go before he can even come close to your skill.”

  “Dad, I’ve got to get going. We’re loading up to go to the airport.”

  “Buffalo tomorrow, right?”

  Rob shook his head once again. His dad knew Rob’s schedule almost better than he did. “Yes. I’ll be back in Boston on Wednesday.”

  “Your mother’s birthday is coming up. She would love for you to make a visit.”

  A visit to Baltimore was not on his top ten list of things to do anytime soon. The trip would be for his mother, though. Despite her poor taste in men, Rob loved his mother dearly. The thought brought Emma to his mind. How was she handling her own loss?

  “I’ll see what I can do. Tell her I’ll call her soon.”

  “Safe trip, Son.” The call disconnected.

  “Your dad pissed?” Chance asked as he plopped down next to Rob on the bench.

  “Yeah.”

  “Fuck him. He can’t control you anymore and it’s killing him. We were on fire tonight. Don’t think I didn’t see you giving the side eye to our new GM. What’s going to happen there?”

  One side of Rob’s mouth curled upward. “Time will tell.”

  The flight to Buffalo was only a little under two hours, but for Emma every moment counted. She had so much she needed to do before her head hit the pillow at one of Buffalo’s finest hotels.

  “Here are tonight’s numbers from the broadcast. The arena numbers aren’t in, but they usually take a day or so to get the information.” Emma’s new assistant, Kelly Merchant, rattled off and handed her a tablet programmed with the schedule of her new life.

  “Thank you, Kelly. These first few weeks will be an adjustment, but I think working together will help me get the hang of everything pretty fast.”

  Kelly let out a sigh of relief and sunk back into her seat. “I’m glad I still have a job. When Mr. Sharp was fired, I was sure I’d be next.”

  Emma had been given glowing reviews on Kelly’s work since Kelly had joined the company two years earlier. “Why would you think that?”

  “Sharp was always making threats. It was implied more than once, if he went down, I’d be going with him.”

  Emma sensed there was more to the story, but decided not to push. Her own experience with Curtis Sharp made her realize he was as much of a prick to Kelly as he was to everyone else.

  “If you can help me get through this before we land, there is no way I’ll be able to go on without you.”

  Kelly released a short laugh and went through the Monday night ritual with her new boss.

  After the pilot announced they needed to fasten their seatbelts in preparation for descent, Kelly and Emma had their report finalized and ready to send.

  “What a crash course. Last time I crammed like that was when I worked on my Master’s.” Emma pinched the bridge of her nose after she removed her glasses.

  “You’ll have the IWA turned around in no time.” Kelly took Emma’s hand and squeezed.

  Emma’s heart flipped a bit at Kelly’s kind words. It had been so long since any female colleague had offered her any good words. Irene never gave her an ounce of praise. In Emma’s mind, Irene’s actions were out of jealousy. It didn’t mean the lack of acknowledgment didn’t sting.

  “Thanks, Kelly. I don’t have the best record with female co-workers.”

  “Ha. Irene Hunt was a bitch. She treated you like trash for no reason except you were doing your job better than she did hers.”

  The cameras were off at the moment, but Emma still didn’t want to say anything to condemn Irene. “She has her faults. I’m sure with me gone, things will get better. She needs to realize Terrance loves her.”

  “Wow, I would never stand up for someone who fired me. You’re too nice.”

  “Not nice, just … I know her game and I played with her for a long time. She needs to move on and so do I. Hopefully after a good eight hours of sleep.”

  They both laughed right before the plane touched down on the runway.

  After the plane taxied to the terminal, Kelly and Emma gathered their things. Emma felt a hand on her shoulder as she slipped her new tablet into her messenger bag.

  She turned to find Rob in the aisle. “Hey.”

  “I was wondering if you had a second before the cameras come back on?”

  “Sure.” She excused herself from Kelly and made her way to a deserted galley area where they would be able to talk in private for a moment.

  “Tonight went well,” Rob stated. He took her hand in his and backed her into the corner of the galley.

  A jolt of adrenaline shot through her veins with his touch. “All as planned, I guess. How do you feel about you and Chance?”

  “We’ve always worked well together. I don’t think there will be a problem there.” His fingertips caressed up and down her arm bringing goose bumps to the surface of her skin.

  “But?” she whispered. She had a feeling he wouldn’t pull her aside to talk about his performance in the ring.

  “My father called me.”

  Images of Robert Breyer Senior flooded her mind. He was one of the greatest wrestlers of his time. He was also the biggest SOB in the business. She had seen his attitude toward Rob first hand when he won the national tournament back in high school. While Emma and Derek’s own parents praised him on how well he did despite his loss, Robert Senior dressed down Rob on all the mistakes he made. The scene was difficult to view and even more disheartening to see one of her idols fall.

  “I guess he’s not too happy.”

  “My dad is never, what I would call, happy.” Rob’s eyes closed and his fingers threaded through hers.

  She squeezed his hand to get his attention and he opened his brilliant blue eyes. “This isn’t about him. This is your life and your career. You are an amazing athlete and, as far as I can tell, a pretty wonderful guy. You’ve been out of his shadow for a long time, maybe he doesn’t want you to be.”

  Rob seemed dazed by her words. A look of complete awe crossed his face. Emma began to return his smile when his lips were suddenly on hers. Her base instincts took over and she moved her fingers to grip the hair at the nape of his neck.

  He pushed her further into the corner while her tongue slipped into his mouth. His length hardened against her stomach and a low moan escaped her lips.

  His hand on her cheek triggered her to slow her kisses down. A few more soft pecks were traded while his thumb rubbed underneath her eye.

  “Three weeks and you are mine for a whole two days.”

  “What?” She pushed him back a bit to get a look at him.

  “You promised me a date and we have years of catching up to do. Once the cameras are off, you and I are going to disappear for a few days to get reacquainted.”

  She gulped. Sex. He meant sex and lots of it. No man had tended
to her in over a year. With what Rob pressed against her pelvis, she imagined him to have a lot of skill. The way his muscles moved while he stocked around the ring would be nothing compared to how they would feel beneath her fingertips as he moved inside of her.

  “It’s a date.” God help her, the experience would probably be the best date of her life.

  Four hours of sleep wasn’t enough for Emma. After a large yawn, she gulped down her room service coffee. Time to switch on the public persona and get her interview with Garrett Green out of the way.

  After she downed half of another cup and felt human again, her phone rang with Garrett’s ringtone.

  “Morning, Garrett,” Emma answered with a chipper tone.

  “Hello, Miss Boo. You ready to give me the dirty?”

  Emma let out a genuine laugh. One thing Garrett was always good for.

  “I’m ready, Mr. Green, whenever you are.”

  A few more formalities and they were ready to go live.

  “The biggest surprise in IWA history has been the bomb Aaron Russell dropped last night on Monday Night Mayhem. No one expected America’s favorite huntress to become the new general manager, especially not the apparent heir apparent Bobby Breyer. I, for one, want to get the scoop from my favorite nerdy girl, Emma MacLean. Morning, Emma.”

  “Good morning, Garrett,” Emma replied in her best sing-song voice.

  “You’ve had an interesting night. Why all the secrecy? Who knew you were joining the IWA?”

  “Only three people in the organization. The secrecy was Aaron’s idea.”

  “The announcement came as quite a shock to a lot of people. No one more than the Baltimore Bruiser, Bobby Breyer. There are rumors flying around about Bobby’s reaction. Did the Baltimore Bruiser know he was losing out on the job to a woman?”

  “Mr. Breyer was informed of my position with the IWA when I walked out into the arena last night.”

  “Strange how Breyer’s initial reaction was more shock than anger. You would think the moment he realized he lost the job to you, he would have been stomping around the ring.”