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After the last diatribe on cankles, she was cautious. “Oh God, I don’t know. Do I?”
Sofia nodded with a grin. “I had a copy of theTiger Beatthat had J.R. Hudson on the cover. Kept it for years.”
“What are you talking about?” Frankie's mental whiplash had her brain scrambling to catch up.
“Hello? Hudson House? He played the son? And that role inFull On 3? Don’t tell me you don’t remember him.”
“When on earth have you ever seen me watch a teen rom-com? I'm sure I was watching the baseball game with Dad and the boys.”
It was Sofia’s turn to goggle. “Are you telling me you had no idea he was a child star? My God, the man had a full career before you were out of kindergarten!”
“Who the hell cares that you had a crush on this J.R. Hudson dude?”
Sofia turned back to her computer and pulled up the images of this actor, and it finally clicked. She was looking at a younger, impossibly cuter version of her showrunner.
Sofia spoke slowly so Frankie could catch up. “Jake. Ryland. Hudson. I didn't just moon over the pictures. I read the articles too. He dropped his last name when the show went off the air, trying to distance himself from the role. I had such a thing for him. That’s why I was so angry when he showed up and turned out to be an asshole.”
“I had no idea.”
Frankie sat back in her chair, shell-shocked by the explosion of information. She couldn’t quite picture Jake Ryland taking direction from anyone else, but he certainly had the kind of male beauty that belonged on camera. Why had he walked away from the limelight? The cut of his jaw, his high cheekbones, the dark hair and eyes that contrasted with his naturally bronzed skin, and his perpetually perfect beard made him star material. He’d been an adorable child, but as a grown man he was dangerous. He carried his power and his sensuality with a casual confidence that flipped all of Frankie’s lady switches.
Working around big and burly meatheads her entire life had inured her to their charms. The guys on her crew were like brothers to her, and when they were on-site she was just one of the guys. She’d worked damn hard to earn that privilege. Jake Ryland was a different kind of man, sexy and refined and confusing. Frankie didn't like things she couldn't take apart and figure out. It might be fun to figure out what made him tick…
But that was all hypothetical. She wouldn’t be messing with him, not with her career on the line. He was a distraction she couldn’t afford, no matter how pretty.
Sofia snapped her fingers in front of Frankie’s face. “Didn’t mean to blow your mind, Pip. So, do you think you can get him to approve more money for these changes?”
“I’ll do my best, Fi. You can count on me.”
CHAPTER5
Jake pinchedthe bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, dropping his head heavily onto the headrest of the driver’s seat of his car. A sigh would have transmitted his frustration through the phone, so he bit it back. His development executive and current executive producers were going back and forth, hashing out the implications of what he’d promised Dom and Frankie, while he sat parked outside the Valenti Brothers offices.
Jake didn’t doubt he’d bring them around eventually, but the two suits seemed determined to talk through every single point of the contract in depth, as if they hadn’t just done this two weeks ago. He didn’t have time to listen to them verbally process what he already knew to be a good deal. The extra hour of dickering was cutting into his already packed schedule. He had a million details to see to for the show he was currently producing. This was a waste of time.
But no matter how much he wanted to tell them to call him back when they’d pulled their heads out of their asses, he couldn’t do that.
“Jake, my biggest concern is Frankie Valenti.”
“Brian, I told you. I’m confident she can handle it.”
“I respect your opinion.”Bullshit.“But the world knows her as the crazy little sister who chucks crowbars through windows. That is the character they tune in to see.”
“That’s not the only reason they tune in.” He made a well-balanced show that appealed to a broad audience. Even if they shifted Frankie’s role, he was sure he could maintain the comedic beats that broke up the tension of the dramatic segments.
“Fair, but changing established roles midstream is risky.” Alexander Prikov, the other exec, chimed in.
“Keeping everything exactly the same is boring.”
Alex kept talking as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “If her leadership role falls short, we need to be able to recut her scenes back to her humor role and backfill with supplemental footage of Adrian or even Dom.”
“I can manage that. It shouldn’t be too hard to get some insurance rolls, especially since we won't release any shows before the entire project is complete.”
"And I want to meet her at the wrap party next week."
His producers had griped about having to travel up for the day, but Jake held firm. The party would be up here so the pregnant women wouldn't have to travel. These guys could tough it out for one day. "I'd be happy to introduce you."
“Any woman who can hold her own in a negotiation with you is a woman I want to meet." Jake bristled at Brian's tone, but bit his tongue. "Okay, between the backup and the buy-back clause you negotiated, I can fund this. That was some smooth wrangling. Of course, I expect you to do your best to trigger that clause.”
