She cleared her throat, because apparently a 5' 7" woman carrying a laptop, briefcase, and enormously large purse filled with clanking keys and cosmetics wasn’t enough to interrupt whatever the hell was that was going on.
Jaden’s eyes lifted to meet hers. The folds of his pristine gray suit caressed his muscles as he moved. He barely touched six feet, if she remembered correctly from their first encounter. His toned frame was more sinewy than bulky. A thought flashed in her mind, and every word of it questioned what he’d look like underneath the tailored suit.
None of your damned, business, SUNNY! You are not here to drool over his dark, seductive brown eyes and insanely kissable lips.
It was hard not to think of such an unbelievably dreamy man without him leaving a sensual imprint in her mind. Still, she remembered the day they had met and the way his hands brushed against hers when he took the jumper cables from hers, and the way his lopsided grin peeked through his overstocked macho madness, long enough to make it dazzle.
Now he had the audacity to sit across from her with that same dazzling smile, tugging the last shred of control she had by teasing her about her name. Is that what he wanted? For her to lose control and lose this chance to get back her street credibility by saying something to him that would cause him to fire her? Well Mr. Slick, two can play that game. She was going to pour on so much honey that he’d need to scoop it up with a bulldozer to get out of it.
Sunny, lowered her eyes, reining in her former “Snarky Comeback Queen” days, and took a deliberate breath.
“My father expected a boy instead of a girl, and he was dead set on the name. I remember classmates teasing me about it. They’ve got jokes for everything.”
“Kids are always merciless,” Jaden agreed.
“As if you’d know. I bet you were one of the popular kids in high school.”
“Actually, that would be my older brother Drake. I was the computer geek who had good grades and, loved editing anything that I could get my hands on, and tinkering around with computers. Drake was the quarterback who dated the insanely hot cheerleading captain, and always got an invite to a party. ”
“My younger sister had the same success as your brother. She’s still the same way, actually.”
“My brother changed a lot after…” Jaden cleared his throat and grabbed his water bottle. He drank quickly and tossed the empty bottle into a nearby basket. “Sunset is definitely an unusual sounding name. You should use it, professionally.”
“Haven’t you heard a word I just said?”
“Yeah but, it’s about flipping the negative into a positive. Bring good memories and success to your name to overshadow the negative.”
Sunny considered his advice while he grabbed another bottle from his mini-fridge. She watched him as he leaned against the wall, taking slow gulps. This man could really guzzle water. He continued until the bottle was nearly half-empty when he pulled it away. After wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he did the most incredibly, earth-moving thing a man who looked like that could do.
He licked his lips.
“You know Sunny,” he said when he was able to catch his breath. “We’re going to be working closely and I want you to feel comfortable.”
His words fell on deaf ears. Sunny had been watching the muscle in Jaden’s throat undulate up and down as he drank and everything else was a blur. Suddenly her mouth went completely dry, and when he had moistened his lips, the Earth stood still. Seriously. She literally felt Earth stop spinning on its axis for just a moment.
She did. She really did.
Heat flushed her cheeks and her temples dampened. His office was not hot. In fact, if her blood hadn’t been pumping rapidly to all her taboo spots, lighting up her insides up like a Tiki torch, she probably would have needed a light sweater.
Jaden sauntered across the room and sat at the edge of his desk again. There was an awkward silence between them. His smoldering, heavy-lidded gaze blazed a scorching trail over her body. The lopsided grin plastered on his face was inviting. But inviting her to do what, when and where?
A current of excitement prickled up her spine as his eyes locked on hers.
He was every bit the cocky visionary she’d remembered after their meeting. If a historical romance could have been written with him in mind, they’d describe him as a dashing rake.
“So what do you say Ms. Carlisle.”
“Huh?”
“About the project?”
“Project?”
“Now, who isn’t listening?”
“I am. I mean, I’ll think about it. And, just call me Sunny.”
“No, Ms. Carlisle?”
“Like you said, we’ll be working closely, so we can ditch formalities.”
“Deal,” Jaden answered while extending his hand.
Sunny was afraid to touch it for fear that the sexual desire building within would be exposed through that single contact. Instead, she clasped her hands together and said, “Well, I guess we’re co-writing a screenplay.”
“I guess so,” Jaden pulled back his hand and stood. “I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting journey.
***
SUNNY’S FINGERS PUNCHED letters on her keyboard as if she were a mad typist unleashing punishment to every syllable of every word that she typed. She wanted to make certain that Jaden heard every clickety-clack of 90 words per minute, until he riddled his brain into mush.
She’d sure love to smack the smug grin off his face, just once. Sure, it was his script, his film, his production company. Nevertheless, he sought her ought, not the other way around. They had been working on the script at his house for four days, and it seemed every idea that she had, metaphorically crumbled into a tight ball and slam-dunked it into the wastebasket of oblivion.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Jaden said.
“I just don’t understand why our main character would leave her family kids and husband for a sliver of a chance to make it in the film industry,” the words came before Sunny realized they had formed.
“She was pursuing a dream Sunny,” Jaden replied.
“Yeah, but she’s a mother now, and married,” Sunny pushed away from the large desk they shared. Her chair creaked as it rolled over the plush carpet. “The dream is dead.”
“You don’t really believe that do you?”
“It’s just not realistic,” she answered.
“But it’s believable for a woman to shift into a werewolf and prowl Deep Ellum for a stolen medallion?”
“Uh…so what you’re saying is, you read my book?”
“Jared asked me what I thought about it.”
“I’m not keen on urban fantasy,” Sunny confessed.
“Obviously.”
“It was something I did because Jared said it was the hot genre right now.”
“Frankly, I think that your story, ‘Dandelions Have Beauty Too’ had great prose and a better plot.”
“You read that too?”
“We’re going to work long hours together on a project that’s very dear to me Sunny,” he said as he stood. “It’s my job to research my writing partner, from every angle.” He added as his eyes raked over her body.
Sunny felt a sudden chill and then tugged on the neckline of her shirt to make sure it covered her assets.
“No problem. I, unlike someone I know. Can take constructive feedback.”
“And you’re implying that I can’t?”
“Jaden, I may not know much about zombies and werewolves, but I do know how to plot. In your script, ‘A Storm to be Weathered’, Esmeralda isn’t likable.”
“That’s absurd,” he chuckled. “She’s smart, funny, and beautiful.”
“And she left her children to pursue a crapshoot of a dream,” Sunny interjected. “Honestly,” she scooted the chair over the carpet and then pointed turned her laptop to face him. “It’s fine to chase waterfalls, but at some point you have to face reality. She was past her twenties, no college educatio
n, or a demo. She barely had a hundred bucks in her pocket and she ups and leaves her family for a New York?” Sunny scoffed. “Watching MacGyver escape a maximum security prison with a paperclip would be a more believable plot.”
“I see somebody has jokes,” Jaden said.
“Also, we want the audience to care about the protagonist. Who’s going to feel sorry for Esmeralda? She had a great life and botched it for nothing.”
“She didn’t botch anything,” he barked, brown eyes darkening.
Sunny’s chin trembled as she clutched her chest in response. When Jaden saw her face slacken dropped his hands and stepped forward. Sunny blocked his path with her hand in the hair and wheeled back in the chair.
“I think we should work via correspondence,” She closed the laptop lid and grabbed her tote.
“Sunny I apologize for snapping at you but…did you read the script?”
“Of course I did.”
“Then how can you believe her journey was for nothing.”
“Look Jaden. I can’t read minds. Apparently, there’s more to this story than you’ve put on paper. All I have to go by is what you’ve written, the summary, the treatment and my imagination.”
He blocked her path to the door. “Let’s calm down and…”
“I’m tired of you telling me to calm down,” she said, pushing past him.
“Then stop acting like a spoiled brat.”
“You don’t know me. I had to work hard for what I have.”
“And I didn’t?”
“Why do you always twist everything I say as if I’m attacking your character?”
“Because you are,” Jaden followed her to the front door.
“This was just a bad idea. Everyday, that I have come here, you’ve shot down my ideas or had me rewrite lines. You don’t want a co-writer Jaden, you want a ghostwriter, and in case Jared didn’t bring you up to speed on that, I no longer provide those services.”
“I just don’t think you’re connecting to the story, that’s all.”
“Well it’s hard to connect the dots Jaden, when you don’t have the whole story.” Sunny pulled her purse strap over her shoulder and opened the door. “Either we write by correspondence, or I’ll have to quit.”
She slammed the door and the wind couldn’t carry her fast enough to her car. What was she thinking working with the likes of Jaden Wright? Clearly, he thought he was a one-man team who didn’t need anyone’s help.
She revved her engine, hoping that its rumble shook the windows of his house. She squeezed the steering wheel, imagining that it was his neck until her heartbeat slowed. If she hadn’t spent the advance she would have quit the moment she walked in and saw him with that actress. She reminded herself that she needed the money and pulled out of his driveway.
“Fine Mr. Wright, you’ll get a literary robot from here on out.”
-EIGHT-
One week later…
“SUNNY,” LAUREN SANTIAGO, her friend yelled, pounding on the door. She peeked through the peephole of Sunny’s front door. “I know you’re in there. I see those big doe eyes of yours. Open up!” She pounded again.
Sunny bit her lower lip and closed the circular peephole cover. She frowned already knowing what Lauren wanted.
“Girl, you better open this door,” Lauren shouted.
Sunny huffed as she unfastened the deadbolt and then the regular lock, barely standing back in time to avoid being knocked over when Lauren stampeded past her.
“Details.”
“Can we talk about this later Lauren? I spent all night co-writing with a very impossible man and all I want to do is sleep.”
“You can sleep when you’re dead,” Lauren replied. Grabbing the remote, she turned off the TV and then flopped on the sofa.
“Lauren don’t do this right now. I’m tired.”
“I did not drive all the way over here for you to withhold information,” Lauren kicked off her black stilettos and settled into Sunny’s deep cushioned sofa.
“Lauren!” Sunny grumbled.
“I so get why you fall asleep on this thing, night after night after night…”
“Stop exaggerating,” Sunny grabbed a cushion from the matching love seat and tossed it at her friend.
“So,” Lauren blocked the pillow, laughing. “What’s he like?”
“Who?”
“Do not play with me,” Lauren reached behind her and grabbed another pillow.
“Okay, cease fire,” Sunny replied. “He’s like any other guy you’d meet in the industry.”
“That’s it? That’s all you got?”
“Fine, you dragged it out of me. I was trying to be nice. Jaden “Boss”,” she carried a air quote when she said his nickname, “Wright is the most incorrigible man I’ve ever met. “
“Sookie, sookie now. That bad?”
“It’s only been a few days, and it’s a nightmare. Late nights, he’s got an ego the size of Texas, and he rarely likes any of my ideas. I don’t think we’ll get this script written in time if we keep on this going like this.”
“Why don’t you talk to him?”
“I can’t stand being in the same room with him,” Sunny replied. “Thankfully he’s open to collaborating online through Skype. At least now when I get tired of his sarcasm, I can just end the session and go to bed.”
“Well, at least you got paid in advance.”
“Half,” Sunny pouted. “When the script has a final draft, I get the rest. If they use it, then we renegotiate points. Most likely, if a studio or production company likes it the final script they will have one of their staff writers, rewrite it again, to avoid losing points.”
“I thought you said that they were going to produce it as an indie,” Lauren asked.
“They’re still trying to find distribution while we’re working on the script. Jaden is Crowd Funding through some online community, while his brother Drake is making other connections.”
“And Cineplay is the distributor that backed out?”
“Yeah,” Sunny said through a yawn, “Supposedly Jaden messed around with the owner’s daughter and screwed up that deal,”
“Ouch!”
“He’s a walking nightmare with good hair.”
Lauren’s laughter bounced off the walls.
“What’s so funny,” Sunny asked, her head coming up.
“Nothing,” Lauren answered. She stopped long enough to see Sunny gaping at her. When her giggles subsided she said, “It’s just, that’s the same thing you said about Ramone. In the end, you two ended up together, pawing all over each other everywhere you went, and he cheated.”
“But that’s my point. He reminds me so much of Ramone that I’m not walking down that path again. He’s really exasperating.”
“Just give it time Sunny. I’m sure, it will all work out.”
***
And another week…
“SO…WHAT YOU’RE saying…is…” Demi wheeze, gasped, shuddered, and inhaled deeply… “you’re…ready…,” then she took a deep breath and kicked the bag, “…to…quit?”
Sunny held the bag steady, withstanding every punch and kick her sister drilled at it. They worked out at the gym twice a week, rotating between intense circuit training and kickboxing.
“I just don’t know how much more of him I can take. It’s gotten worse.” Sunny said. “Now he wants to breakdown the plot again, which means rewriting several scenes.”
“Isn’t that…,” Sierra started before taking a breath, “…normal procedure?”
“Well, sure. I mean rewrites are necessary in any literary project. But he’s rewriting for the sake of it.”
“Maybe it’s something else.”
“He’s a jack--“
“Watch your mouth,” Demi said. “I’m spent. I’ve got spaghetti arms over here. ”
“You just now noticed that?” Sunny teased.
“Ha, ha. I’m going for a shower. You?”
“Swim.”
“I’l
l wait for you. Meet you at the elevators in half an hour.”
In all honesty, Sunny didn’t want to see a single weight, resistance band, or cycling machine for the next two weeks but she knew strength training had been an important part of her weight loss over the years. It was a difficult journey, as she loved pasta, but the day she wasn’t able to squeeze into a size fourteen—a size she already dreaded—she’d had to make a change.
Changing her portion sizes, increasing cardio, learning to love water, and walking half a mile, then a mile, until eventually she was able to run three miles slowly melt the pounds away. Then she added hiking and spinning to her workout regimen, before advancing to circuit training and kickboxing with her sister.
The night that she had slipped into size four jeans, marked the end of the weight loss journey. She, Demi and Lauren celebrated at a nightclub, and that’s when she had first seen the sexy, high-profile NFL player, Ramone Harrison. Days later, he had walked into her office at the pr agency and hired her as his publicist.
That was many moons ago, and she’d kept the weight off.
Once she entered the pool area, she changed into her swimsuit and rinsed off the salty perspiration that still dotted her warm skin. Then she fashioned her hair into a loose braid before dipping into the pool.
She stretched her hands wide across the ripples as she glided through the water to the far end of the pool. She pushed against the wall and darted under the water. Breaking the surface, she brought her hands overhead, one after the other, stroking the water until she reached the other end. On her return lap, she noticed that she had an audience of one.
Jaden leaned against the doorframe, drinking water—again—with his windbreaker draped over his shoulder, knee-length workout shorts, and jersey. His tilted his had to the side and smiled. His taut, lean, caramel body glistened from his workout and his one…two…five…six…eight pack contracted, and twisted, reflecting every movement.
His smile beamed brighter than the sun and small black waves ripped from the crown of his head to his hairline. He simply oozed sex and he knew it.
Rescuing Mr. Wright (Texas Treasures) Page 6