Page 15 of How Jenna Became My Dilemma

Tawny pauses. “Is that a question?”

“Maybe.” The skin on my nose crinkles.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think the acting will carry us. Denzel, Will, McConaughey…none of them could pull off that level of acting. A key component of chemistry is vulnerability, and for some reason, neither you nor Cody feels safe enough to be vulnerable in front of the other. You both shut down, leaving no chance for a genuine relationship.”

Tawny’s right. Nothing about Cody Banner makes me feel safe. I could never trust him with my vulnerability. I’d rather gain one hundred pounds than let him see my uncertainty.

“It’s not just the show,” Tawny keeps going. “People are talking about how stiff the two of you looked on the red carpet last night, how you wouldn’t pose together for pictures, and how, when you did talk, it appeared tense. There’s speculation that things aren’t going well behind the scenes.”

“That’s because they aren’t going well behind the scenes.”

“Well, now everyone knows.”

“So? Plenty of actors haven’t gotten along during filming. This is nothing new.”

“Yes, but in this case, everyone’s expectations were high because this is a best-selling book with beloved characters, and now that they’ve been let down, it’s bleeding into their opinion of the show.”

“How is this happening?” I fall forward, dropping my head into my hands. “How did I end up working with the one man in the world I can’t stand?”

“Don’t panic. I can devise some kind of spin to counteract the bad reviews. Maybe we could pin it all on Cody. Say he was drunk or something.”

I lift my head, giving her a pointed stare.

“What?” She flips her hair back. “I thought that was a good plan.”

“I’m not trying to ruin anyone’s career. For the show to do well, both of us need to be likable.”

“Fine. I’ll think about it and come up with something else. Maybe Dallas Mikesell and his team will have some ideas. We can ask them tomorrow. Make it a group effort between our two camps.”

“I don’t even want to show up for filming tomorrow.” I slump into the couch cushions. “How am I supposed to work when everyone hates the show?”

“No one hates the show. They just hate you and Cody together.”

After working with Tawny for the last ten years, you’d think I’d be used to her bluntness, but it still takes me by surprise.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” she scoffs. “Nobody feels sorry for you. Even if The Promised Prince is a bust, you’re still a supermodel. And you have a great butt.”

“What?” My brows lower into a V. “That doesn’t solve anything.”

“It solves everything! If I had your butt, I’d walk around naked every day.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. You wouldn’t walk around naked.”

“I would. All day. Every day.” Her expression remains serious. “Do you know what the rear end of a fifty-two-year-old woman looks like when her only cardio is walking to the refrigerator?” She leans to the side, raising her thigh and half her behind in the air. “Well, I do, and it isn’t pretty. It’s flabby and flat—droopy like it had some kind of stroke. A butt stroke. That’s what it looks like.”

A crack of a smile threatens to break open across my mouth. “I didn’t know butt strokes were possible.”

“Oh, they’re possible. I’m living proof.” She shifts her body back to her normal sitting position. “So, like I said, nobody’s going to feel sorry for you. But don’t worry. Somehow, I’ll fix this whole no-chemistry thing.”

No chemistry with the playboy.

I can’t believe that’s what I’m getting nailed for, especially when you look at my dating track record. My history includes a lineup of men exactly like Cody Banner.

Take my last boyfriend, for example. Ben Jackson. He was a walking red flag of uncommitted relationships, a never-ending bachelor who couldn’t commit, while also being deliciously irresistible. I broke up with him because he wasn’t all in—at least not with me—and at that moment, I vowed never to be interested in a man like that again.

But one vow doesn’t erase the fact that I’m a sucker for the serial-dating flirt, and everyone knows it. That’s probably why news outlets have shipped Cody and me ever since it was announced we’d be working together.

But I refuse to be another Hollywood cliche´. I swore to myself months ago that Cody Banner would not get the best of me.

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