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"What do you think of how Frankie handled it?"
"She's always been smart about fixing things. Much easier to move the damn thing over than to rebuild it. Less wasted time and minimal supply loss. Smart."
“Got it,” Trina whispered in his ear.
Boy, did they ever. That one clip gave him three different sound bites he could weave in as needed. “That was great, Dom. Why don’t we go see what goodies they have at craft services today? I need some coffee.”
No sense in pushing Dom too far, too fast. Besides, he’d gotten what he needed out of this little snag. A few audio clips he could play with, some great shots of Frankie and Rico working together to move the wall, and they weren't too far off schedule. In fact, he might just have time to throw another hurdle in their way. His mind was already spinning to the next day's filming schedule, plotting possibilities and mapping out the episode in his head.
This was what he loved—the energy and excitement of running a show, the camaraderie with his crew, the challenge of getting enough raw material so that he could create something entertaining…he thrived on it. This was his passion. But this was also a business, and he had a million other details to see to now.
He glanced at Frankie again, now dripping with sweat. The unseasonably warm inland California spring and her unexpected exertion made her shirt cling to her in interesting ways. He’d love to stick around and watch her work, but he had a job to do. Guilt perched on his shoulder, chastising him for making her job harder. But Frankie was tough. She could handle it.
He shook off his discomfort and nodded to Trina that she should go get shots of sweaty Frankie before he turned away, texting his assistant director to cover. Lorena could supervise the rest of the scene. He had to stay focused. Eyes on the prize.
Despite his pep talk, Jake stole one more glance at Frankie on his way out the door, and she stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed and followed Dom toward coffee and sanity.
CHAPTER7
Frankie rolledher shoulders and winced. She walked gingerly toward her truck, so tired that she registered the rosy sunset happening over the hills, but couldn't stop to appreciate nature's light show or she wouldn't get moving again.
Gravel crunched beneath her work boots and compounded her headache. The day had been a minefield. She could hardly take a step without a new problem exploding in her face. And Trina had been there to catch each one on film.Damn it.
She still couldn’t understand how the schematic had changed from what showed on the blueprint. She sure as hell hadn’t expected to be the one fixing it, but she’d let Jake get the better of her temper and now she was paying for it. One small blessing was that the crew had already gone, so no one was around to see her pain.
Stretching her arms toward the sky, Frankie folded one arm behind her head and leaned into the stretch. She was regretting her upper body day at the gym yesterday. Switching arms, she groaned as her shoulders protested as she rounded the back of the house.
This was all Jake’s fault, she groused. He’d gotten her into this mess by pushing her buttons. He should follow up with a massage to make up for it. The image of him putting his hands on her made her cheeks flush, and she stopped beside her truck and folded forward to hide her reaction and stretch her upper back. She took a deep breath and grimaced as a pair of shiny leather shoes stepped up into her inverted field of view.
She straightened and turned to face Jake Ryland head-on, and if she wasn’t hallucinating, he pulled his gaze from her ass to her face a second too late.
No one looked at her that way. Certainly no one scoped out her ass. She’d accepted long ago that her body was built like a boy’s. No ass, no hips, no boobs. Sofia had gotten the full family quota for those desirable parts. So Frankie had tried to look at the bright side: her body made it easier for her to fit in with the guys. But it was not so great for attracting men.
What was he playing at? At the party the other night she'd caught him looking too, but she'd written that off as the surprise of seeing her dressed up. Ripped jeans and a dusty T-shirt did not justify a second glance, let alone a hard look at her rear.
Frustrated, she pushed him away with her words. “I’m off the clock, Ryland, and the wall is fixed. What do you need?”
To his credit, Jake kept his expression neutral in the face of her anger, but that pissed her off even more. Why did her emotions always go haywire around this man?
“A word. We are due to start working in the event space next week. The timing is going to be tight because we have to be filming in three different areas simultaneously, and today put us behind in the living room. Is there anyone you can call to beef up the crews? I don’t want them looking too sparse.”
Frankie sighed and turned her mind to work. She ran through her mental list of backups, but calling these guys would all add expense. She refused to bug Adrian since he was carrying Valenti Brothers' regular building contracts, and she'd already stolen Rico. Enzo’s crew was hopping right now between their regular yard maintenance gigs and working on the landscaping here. Maybe she could ask Seth and his business partner Nick to help out. They were custom woodworkers, and she was already counting on their help for the tasting room bar. They were also former servicemen, so they might have some veteran buddies who wouldn’t mind being extras. She hated burning all of her matches this early in the show, but she couldn’t afford to look weak either.
“Sure, I’ll have it covered.” She could juggle with the best of them.
“Make sure that you do.” He turned to walk away.
“Are you always such a hard-ass?”
"Thinking about my ass, Valenti?"
Her gaze involuntarily dropped before she yanked it back up to meet his. "No more than you were thinking about mine a second ago."
He chuckled at that, and Frankie buzzed with pleasure over making him loosen up and laugh.
"So youwerechecking me out, then," he teased back.
It took her a second to catch on to what he was saying, but when she did she flushed hot and ruddy.
