Page 14 of Hot SEAL, Under Pressure

“Yeah, but what if it gets picked up and we have to start production while she’s huge?” Shelly shook her head. “Clay’s having nothing of it anyway. He told me in no uncertain terms he is not letting her run the obstacle course, or do any of the other challenges we have planned, while she’s pregnant.”

“So what do you want to do?” Jerry asked.

“I don’t know yet.” She needed time to think.

Unfortunately, with all the crew standing around while on the clock, she couldn’t take long. She figured she had the amount of time it took the guys who were currently on the obstacle course to gather her thoughts, then they needed to get to work.

She glanced over at them now. One was already running the course while the others cheered him on.

“We can shoot the sizzle reel without them and worry about finding a replacement team if the show gets picked up,” Jerry suggested.

If. That little two letter word seemed very big and frightening in relation to the future ofUnder Pressure.

Her show, like countless others, might never get the green light. That was the reality of this business.

“It’s not ideal, and not what Joanne wanted, but we might have to do just that,” she agreed, her gaze still on the team running the course.

They should probably all be watching these SEALs run the obstacles—the crew especially—so they could plan how best to shoot the teams when it was their time on the course.

“Hey. You okay?” Dani asked as she walked up to Shelly.

“As good as can be expected.” Shelly sighed and turned to fully face Dani. She glanced over at Clay, then back to Dani. “I assume you heard.”

“The good news?” Dani smiled knowingly.

Shelly let out a short laugh. “I am happy for them.”

“But now you have to replace them and Joanne wanted a high profile team,” Dani completed Shelly’s unspoken thought.

“Yup.” She drew in a breath, her lips pressed tight.

Her whole body felt tight. Like a rubber band about to snap.

Dani cringed. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” she answered without feeling.

“I’m going to head back over,” Dani hooked a thumb toward the group. “Maybe, together, we can come up with a solution for you.”

“That would be great. Thank you.”

As Dani moved away, Shelly was having trouble holding on to much hope.

The crew, obviously looking for instructions, had already started to gather around her as she’d been speaking to Dani.

The sound guy said, “If you’re looking for some high profile people to be a team, what about Sierra Cox and her fiancé? I mean you showed us the video of that SEAL running the course that gave you the idea for the show in the first place.”

The guy manning camera two shook his head. “I read Sierra is in Australia filming a movie.”

Shelly frowned. “I thought she was in New Zealand.”

The cameraman shrugged. “Same thing.”

It really wasn’t, but it didn’t matter as far as this situation anyway. They couldn’t afford Sierra Cox, even if she were in the country and available and willing to do the show. Shelly doubted the Academy Award winner would be interested in this projectorwork for scale when she was pulling in multi-millions for every film.

“What about one of these guys?” Jerry asked, the camera on his shoulder again as he watched the action on the course through the lens.

“They do look pretty good out there,” the sound guy agreed.

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