Page 24 of Hot SEAL, Under Pressure

He drew in and let out a breath, finally looking as if he believed her.

During that big breath, she managed to let her gaze drop to the muscles beneath his tight NAVY T-shirt for only a few seconds, so she considered that a win on her part.

“Okay. So what now?” he asked.

She wrestled her mind away from the awe and fantasies his hard body inspired and back to her bleak reality. “Now you wait for us to contact you once we start shooting the episodes.”

“When will that be?” he asked.

She scoffed at the insanely unreasonable timeline this show was on. “Very soon.”

If they didn’t start within the next couple of days, she’d be up shit’s creek without a paddle.

She’d heard that expression before and had never thought much about it. Now that she was neck deep in the proverbial shit, she understood it so much better.

“Soon? You can’t be a little more precise than that?”

“At the moment, no. I still have to come up with the episodes. Eight of them, all featuring riveting, ratings grabbing, camera worthy action.”

“You don’t have all that planned out already?” He frowned. His judgement was clear in his scowl.

“No,” she spat out.

“I don’t go into any op without extensive prior planning and preparation,” he proclaimed haughtily.

La-de-da. Good for him. He had the whole Navy helping him with his planning and preparation. She had Jonas and his one week of experience in this business.

Unable to leave his judgement and passive aggressive insult go unchallenged, she narrowed her eyes and prepared to let it rip.

“Hey. I had a concept that was supposed to go from sizzle reel to green light to completed episodes over the course of months. I intended this to be a summer filler show for some network. And I would have been completely prepared if that had remained the timeline. Instead, I suddenly have a week to start delivering finished episodes to the network to be aired immediately.”

He lifted one shoulder. “Shit happens sometimes. Good luck with it.”

As he turned to leave, she blew out a breath. “Yeah. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.”

She wasn’t able to control the sarcasm in her tone and didn’t really care if he’d heard it until he pivoted back and glared at her with fire in his eyes.

“Hey, you can curb the attitude. You can’t blame your problems on me. Not my circus. Not my monkeys.Notmy fault.”

There he was wrong. This kind of was his fault. At least part of it. The part where Shelly got to produce and also be a cast member in this damn show with the impossible timeline.

If Stefan hadn’t been such a spectacularly cocky asshole on that tape, Joanne would have never chosen him, and also her, to be the eighth team. The woman’s love of SEALs was only surpassed by her craving for extreme drama on set in front of the cameras. The more the better.

But the rest, the tight deadline,B&Bgoing down the toilet because Brandon couldn’t keep his toolbelt buckled, that was not Stefan Kowalski’s fault.

Shelly blew out a hard breath and controlled her anger and her frustration. As much as she hated to admit it, she was wrong to take things out on him.

Besides that, she didn’t want to risk alienating this man. Like it or not, she needed him.

“I know it’s not your fault. I’m sorry.” She let out a sigh. “It’ll be fine. I just have to get on Google and YouTube, search Navy SEALs and pick a bunch of training thingies you guys go through that we can adapt for the show fast and cheap.”

His eyes widened for a second. “So, uh, that’s what you’re doing? Choosing the actual challenges for the show?”

She nodded. “Yup. It’s going to be an all-nighter, but it won’t be my first in this job. And my assistant said he would help me—"

“I could, uh, maybe help. You know since I did go through the training myself and all.” He shrugged.

For the first time since she’d met him he seemed… humble. Helpful.

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