by Jillian Dodd
Dallas smiles and raises his hand. “Jake Worth. I golfed with him last week. He’s got offers on the table but he’s tired of playing the good guy. And he’s free now.”
“Oh, he’d be perfect! I don’t know why I didn’t think of him in the first place. I’ll call him right now. Dallas, will you stay in here while I do? I want to discuss something else with you.”
“Sure,” he says, taking a seat as Vanessa and Tyler rush off.
I grab my cell phone and press Jake’s number.
“Hey, Monroe,” he says, calling me by my fake last name from boarding school. Jake was the first boy I met when I arrived at Eastbrooke and we became fast friends. He played my love interest in our high school drama production, was Dawson’s best friend, and made his big screen debut playing my boyfriend in A Day at the Lake 2. He’s done numerous romantic comedies since then, where he always gets the girl.
“Sorry for such an early call, but I’m sitting here with Dallas and he tells me you’re looking to play the bad boy.”
“Do you have something for me?”
“We do. But due to some extenuating circumstances, we’d have to ask you to come in today, sign the contract, and be in a photo shoot. We’ll also need you available most of the week for some other stuff I can’t talk about yet.”
“Tell me about the role. Have you cast anyone else?”
“The project is called Daddy’s Angel. It’s about a young woman whose father is a minister at the local church. He believes his daughter, Angel, is still a virgin and is looking for a young man to court then marry her.”
“Court her?”
“Yeah, like the old-fashioned way, sort of. There are lots of rules. Like no holding hands until you are engaged. No kissing until your wedding day. Chaperones when you are together. You would play Jackson, the town’s bad boy. What Daddy doesn’t know is that Angel lives a very promiscuous double life and Jackson is her favorite plaything. Jennifer Edwards will be playing Angel and Knox Daniels will be playing Nathan, the guy who Daddy brings in to court Angel. Of course, Nathan believes Angel is a good girl virgin and while Daddy thinks Nathan’s a church going man, he’s a bad boy too. He only wants to marry Angel to get control of some land Daddy owns that has lots of oil under it. And he thinks he can do that by getting Angel to fall in love with him.”
“Two bad boys. That sounds like every woman’s dream.”
“Based on the gross from your last film, I think you’re every woman’s dream, Jake.”
“Do I get the girl in the end?”
“No.”
“Ha! Even better. Did you write the script?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m in.”
I give Dallas a thumbs-up.
“Can you be at our office, like now?”
“Sure thing.”
“Awesome. You’ll meet with Dallas first, talk contract, and then you’ll go straight to a photo shoot with Knox and Jennifer.”
“She’s a cutie. I’m excited to work with her. She kissed me at the Oscars.”
I laugh. “I think she kissed everyone. She’ll be excited to work with you. And thanks, Jake.”
“Anytime, Monroe. See you soon.”
I hang up and look down at my cell. More missed calls. More texts from board members.
“We need to talk about Riley,” I say with a sigh to Dallas. “The board wants me to fire him.”
“Ariela has him all messed up.”
“I know. I feel bad.”
“Don’t. I think it’s about time he dealt with it.”
“Thanks, Dallas. That makes me feel better.”
“Keatyn, Vegas and how Riley has been behaving is on him. So are you going to fire him?”
“I do want to make some changes,” I say.
Then I tell him what I plan to do.
“How do you think Riley will take it?” I ask Dallas, nervously.
“You kinda have him by the balls right now.”
“I don’t want that though. Grandpa is right. Working with friends can be tricky.”
“It will be interesting to see Riley’s reaction.”
“You’re going to make me cry, Dallas.”
“Better than making you puke,” he says with a laugh, getting up. “I’m gonna go get Jake’s contract ready. Do you need me to make some calls to the board members? Buy you some time?”
“No, they can wait with everyone else. I mean, what’s the worst thing they can do? Even if they all get pissed and sell their stock, I own the majority. I did a hostile takeover once,” I say, remembering how I bought out the company that became Captive Films from my stalker. “No way I’d ever let our investment become vulnerable. They’ll just have to trust I’ll do what’s best for Captive.”
“True. They just want their egos stroked.”
“I should have a dirty comeback for that, Dallas, but I’m too tired.”
“You look tired. Have you eaten this morning? You’re growing a baby. It takes a lot of calories. Have Tyler order in some food. We’re going to be here all day. Wait, aren’t you supposed to be on set?”
“I was, but they cancelled my call time because, well, because Knox was in jail.”
Get Book #6
ALSO BY JILLIAN DODD
The USA TODAY bestselling series, The Keatyn Chronicles®
Young adult contemporary romance set in an East coast boarding school.
Stalk Me
Kiss Me
Date Me
Love Me
Adore Me
Hate Me
Get Me
Keatyn Unscripted
Aiden
That Boy Series
Small town contemporary romance series about falling in love with the boy next door.
That Boy
That Wedding
That Baby
That Divorce
The Love Series
Contemporary, standalone romances following the very sexy Crawford family.
Vegas Love
Broken Love
Fake Love
Spy Girl Series
Young adult romance series about a young spy who just might save the world.
The Prince
The Eagle
The Society
The Valiant
Jillian Dodd and Kenzie Harp
Young adult travel romance.
Girl off the Grid
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jillian is a USA TODAY bestselling author who writes fun romances with characters her readers fall in love with, from the boy next door in the That Boy trilogy to the daughter of a famous actress in The Keatyn Chronicles to a kick-ass young assassin in the Spy Girl series.
She lives in a small Florida beach town, is married to her college sweetheart, has two grown children, and two Labrador Retrievers named Cali and Camber. When she's not working, she likes to travel, paint, shop for shoes, watch football, and go to the beach.
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