Take the Lead: A Dance Off Novel

by Alexis Daria

  Stone was the first man in a very long time who made her wonder how they could work it out.

  Except she didn’t have an answer.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  “I’ll walk you to your car.”

  “You really don’t have to.” Gina checked herself in the bathroom mirror. Her hair was still wet, but at least she didn’t look like she’d spent the night in her dance partner’s hotel room, fucking his brains out. Thank goodness she kept a fully-stocked gym bag in her trunk. “I’ll see you soon enough at the studio.”

  He leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his broad chest. Even though she’d spent the whole night with him, she wanted more. More talking, more cuddling, more kissing. Stretching up on tiptoe, she lifted her face for a kiss. With her eyes closed, she got a good whiff of his forest scent. It clung to her, too.

  “Why do we smell like Christmas trees?”

  He jerked his chin toward the tub. “My sister makes soap with essential oils. You used it today.”

  “You used it on me,” she corrected. “I do not recall having the energy to bathe myself this morning after someone—who is supposed to be resting his knee—did me good against the shower wall.”

  His grin flashed, white against his beard. She loved when he grinned like that—sexy, playful, and a little naughty. “You liked it.”

  “Of course I did.” She looped her purse over her shoulder. “I’d let you do it again in a second if we weren’t expected at work.”

  He picked up her gym bag before she could reach for it. “Let me be old fashioned and walk my lady to her car.”

  His lady. The phrase made her stomach flip in a pleased sort of way. “Okay.”

  Gina had parked in a paid spot in the guest lot outside. Stone took her hand as they walked. She smiled up at him. They turned the corner and were met with a shout.

  “There they are!”

  Gina blinked, stomach sinking. “Oh, no.”

  The paparazzi had formed a wall on the other side of the parking lot’s fence. Cameras flashed. Skeevy-looking guys with hungry eyes shouted her name, and Stone’s.

  Stone put an arm around her, turning her away from them. Fumbling in her purse, she pulled out her sunglasses and slapped them on.

  “Shit, how did they know?” She yanked her car keys out of her bag. “They’re usually stationed around the front entrance.”

  Stone shrugged. “There were a handful there this morning. I don’t know where the rest came from.”

  She froze. “Wait, they saw you coming down to my car and getting a bag?”

  “How do they know it’s your car?”

  “Because the ones who camp out in the lot behind the rehearsal studio know my license plate.”

  “Oh.” Understanding dawned on his face. “I didn’t even think of that. We don’t have paparazzi in Alaska.”

  Ignoring the shouts, Gina forced her breathing to steady, even though her pulse was pounding like a snare drum. He hadn’t known. She had. This was her own fault.

  She never should have stayed the night.

  Raising her voice in the hopes she could spin this and keep it from being a complete disaster, she patted Stone’s shoulder and gave him a bright smile. “Glad to see your knee is feeling better. I’ll see you later.”

  She got in the car and peeled out of the lot, leaving him standing there. By some miracle, there was no traffic, and she got to the studio in record time. The first thing she did was track down Donna.

  Donna gave her a startled look when Gina slipped into the closet-sized office and flopped into a chair, breathing hard.

  “What’s wrong?” Donna jumped up and closed the door, then took a seat next to Gina. For once, she seemed truly concerned. “Are you okay? What happened?”

  Gina swallowed hard. The shock still hadn’t worn off. “I need you to spin something.”

  Donna’s brow creased further. “What do you mean?”

  “Some paparazzi caught me coming out of Stone’s hotel this morning.”

  Clamping her mouth shut, Donna grabbed her laptop from the tiny desk and flipped it open.

  “They sure did.”

  Gina pressed her fingers to her eyes. “I need you to spin it. Stone was injured yesterday. Don’t fight it too much, just laugh it off. Say I was making sure he was okay. That’s it.”

  Nodding, Donna typed something on her laptop. “On it.” She shot Gina a look from under her lashes. “Is that why you were there?”

  Initially? Yes, that’s what had prompted her to visit him. Last night. So it wasn’t a total lie. “Yes.”

  Donna shrugged. “Whatever you say.”

  “Thank you.” Getting up, Gina paused with her hand on the doorknob. “Oh, and please don’t bring any of this up with Stone.”

  “If you spin this differently, maybe drag out the mystery, this might help your chances of getting to the finals.”

  “It might hurt them, too. And I’m not willing to risk it.” Gina let herself out.

  * * *

  “How’s your knee doing?” Jackson asked. They were hanging out backstage before filming started on Team Up Night.

  “Fine.” Stone stuck out his leg, turned it side to side. “Samba practice was difficult at first, but we got through it.”

  Jackson nodded. “I pulled something in my back during the third week. Nothing to do but keep going.”

  Juan Carlos came through, his eyes lighting up when he caught sight of Stone. “Stone! Just the man I’m looking for. Where’s Gina?”

  “I think she’s in makeup.” He hadn’t seen her all day—or most of the week, aside from rehearsals—and was starting to get the feeling she was avoiding him. “What’s up?”

  Juan Carlos beckoned him to follow and hurried away. The host was over a foot shorter than Stone, but the guy walked fast.

  “We have some good news for her about tonight’s episode,” Juan Carlos said over his shoulder. “We want to film her reaction.”

  Stone fought the urge to roll his eyes.

  They grabbed a camera crew and headed out onto the lot and into the makeup trailer. Gina looked up when they all filed in.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  Juan Carlos directed Stone to sit next to Gina in an empty chair, then slipped into host mode. “Gina, tell us about your team dance tonight.”

  Gina smiled for the camera without even sparing Stone a glance. “We’ve teamed up with Lauren and Kevin to dance to a medley of songs by my absolute favorite singer, Melissa Mendez, also known as Meli.”

  Juan Carlos grinned. “Gina, we’ve got a big surprise for you tonight. And for our viewers at home.”

  Gina’s jaw fell open. Eyes wide, she gripped the armrests of her chair. “Don’t play with me, Juan Carlos. Is it what I think it is?”

  “Depends. What do you think it is?”

  Gina’s hands flew to her face, covering her mouth. “Is she coming here?” she squeaked.

  With a nod, Juan Carlos faced the camera. “That’s right. Actress and international singing sensation Meli is joining us as a guest judge tonight.”

  Gina screamed.

  Apparently, it was the reaction they wanted. Juan Carlos rattled off some more info, and the camera crew filed out.

  When they were gone, Gina turned to Stone and grabbed his hands. Her eyes were wide as saucers, and she bared her teeth in an excited grimace.

  “Stone.” She squeezed his fingers. “This is, like, the most nervous and excited I have ever been on this show. Meli is my idol.” Her chest rose and fell sharply.

  He frowned. “Gina, are you hyperventilating?”

  She struggled to take a deep breath. Tried again. Shook her head. “I think so?”

  One of the makeup artists passed her a bottle of water.

  “You meet celebrities all the time,” Stone pointed out. “You’re a pro at this.”

  “She’s my idol, Stone! My idol. I wanted to be her when I grew up. I still do.” She nearly spil
led the water. “Wait, they always say never to meet your idols.”

  “They who?”

  “I don’t know. They.” She waved her free hand in the air. “Oh, I have to call my mom. And my sister. And Tash.”

  “Natasha is backstage, in walking distance from here.”

  “I don’t care, I’m still calling her.” She shot him a glare. “You’re not comprehending the magnitude of this news.”

  She was acting strange, but there were too many people around for him to address it, and he didn’t want to be a buzzkill. He got to his feet. “Why don’t I go get Natasha?”

  “Yes. Do that. I’m calling my mother.” She held the phone to her ear. “Ma? Ay Dios mío. No vas a creer ésto.”

  She turned her back on him, continuing to speak to her mother in Spanish. He waited a moment, then left.

  Stress, that was all it was. With his injury, two dances to learn, and extra dancers involved, rehearsals had been exhausting and they’d hardly had a moment alone.

  He missed her, though. And he didn’t know how to tell her.

  * * *

  Gina never got stage fright. Tonight, knowing Meli was a guest judge—and that she was going to dance to her songs in front of her—made her nauseous as all hell.

  She put a hand on her stomach, left bare by the lime green samba costume. “I’m going to throw up.”

  “No, you’re not.” Natasha scrolled through her phone. “Oh snap, here’s another one.”

  Gina waved her away. Natasha was looking for tabloid stories about Gina visiting Stone at the hotel. The photos were all over the Internet, attached to stories that were rampant with speculation, including one that suggested they’d had a secret wedding. Fortunately, Donna had agreed to leave it out of the behind-the-scenes package—they had enough footage with Stone’s fall and Gina freaking out over Meli—and the publicity department’s spin had dispelled most of the rumors. Had Stone not been injured, the news would have been ten times worse. For now, Natasha was the only one who knew for sure that Gina and Stone were hooking up.

  It felt weird to call it that, but “hooking up” was the extent of Gina’s romantic relationships. She didn’t want anything more than that, and with good reason.

  Getting caught made her realize she was playing with fire. Not just with her career, but with her emotional attachment to Stone. When his time on The Dance Off was over, he was going back to Alaska. If she didn’t want to get burned, she had to back off.

  This week had been easy. Between the two dances and extra dance partners, they’d barely had a second alone. In her downtime, Gina told her agent to book her more interviews and auditions. She hadn’t been alone with Stone since spending the night at his hotel.

  She missed the hell out of him. The sex, but also the companionship. And it pissed her off that he made her realize how lonely she’d been before he lumbered into her life.

  No, that wasn’t fair. He was surprisingly graceful for such a big man, as evidenced by their progress in the show.

  Natasha tapped her phone. “This one says you’re running away to Alaska together.”

  Gina scoffed. “Like that would ever happen. Me, in Alaska? That’s crazy talk.”

  “Why, too many bears?” Stone asked, coming up behind her.

  She jumped. Shit. She wouldn’t have said that if she’d know he were there. He loved Alaska, and she didn’t want to make him feel bad by dissing it.

  “Even one bear is too many.” She kept her voice light. “Come on, let’s practice that threesome samba roll one more time before we go out.”

  Dancing kept her mind off Stone, off the paparazzi, and most importantly, off her impending face to face with Meli.

  When it was their turn, they went out and did the dance. The choreography was simple—lots of ballroom samba content paired with a fun song and Stone’s improved footwork. Gina and Natasha had danced together for years, and Stone was comfortable with both women. He sold the hell out of the performance.

  The second the dance was over, Gina patted his shoulder. “I think that was the best you’ve ever danced it.”

  He shrugged. “I knew it was important to you.” Putting his arms around both women—something he never would have done two months ago—he walked them over to get their scores.

  His support—and the push toward the judges’ table—was necessary, as Gina was having trouble catching her breath. Meli was sitting there, right between regular judges Chad Silver and Mariah Valentino, looking perfect and polished in a silver gown, her brown hair hanging in loose waves, her pleasant smile camera-ready.

  “Stay cool, G,” Natasha said under her breath.

  “I’m cool.”

  No, she wasn’t cool, not at all. But she could fake it.

  Meli was everything Gina had ever aspired to be. She’d done it—gotten out of the Bronx, made a career for herself, and achieved fame and fortune, most of it on her own terms.

  Sure, she’d been divorced four times, but that had never registered for Gina before. Why was she thinking of it now?

  Juan Carlos stepped in with his microphone. He made some complimentary, family-friendly jokes about their sexy samba, but Gina couldn’t take her eyes off Meli.

  Until Juan Carlos stuck that damned mic in her face and said, “Gina, it’s no secret you’re a huge Meli fan. What’s it like for you to be face to face with your role model?”

  “Um . . .” She swallowed hard. “I’m speechless.”

  It was one of her agent’s tricks. In a difficult interview, claim to be speechless or shocked until you could collect your thoughts.

  Juan Carlos laughed and turned to the judges. “Meli, since you’re our special guest judge, let’s hear from you.”

  A fine trembling took over Gina’s body as Meli turned to her with a kind smile. Stone held her close against his side. They were sweaty and overheated, but his strength and familiar scent calmed her. Behind Stone’s back, Tash took Gina’s hand and dug her nails into the palm. The sharp pain snapped Gina out of her thoughts and helped her focus.

  “First of all,” Meli began, “as a fellow Nuyorican, I’m so proud of you both for making it this far in your careers.”

  Gina bit down on her bottom lip and tried not to cry.

  “I loved the dance. You balanced the content and the third partner masterfully. Stone, I never would have thought you’d be able to pull off a samba, but you killed it.”

  “I had great teachers,” Stone said into Juan Carlos’ mic.

  Juan Carlos said something, but Gina didn’t hear it.

  Meli was proud of her.

  In the Sparkle Parlor, Reggie pressed her to say more about meeting Meli, but Gina trotted out “I’m still in shock” and Reggie let it drop. They got their score—ninety-five percent average, including perfect scores from Meli and Dimitri—and praised Natasha for her help during the week, then ran off to change for the team dance.

  Gina was flying so high, she didn’t even interfere when Lauren felt Stone up outside the wardrobe room. Kevin stepped in and made an easy joke, which allowed Stone the opportunity to get away.

  “The woman has hands like an octopus,” Stone complained once a stage manager had ferried Lauren and Kevin away. “They’re everywhere.”

  “I met Meli.” Gina couldn’t shift gears enough to be jealous. “I feel like I’m dreaming.”

  “Gina!” Jordy came running over, baseball cap askew. He sounded frantic. “Head’s up. Donna included the tabloid shots of you two at the hotel in the behind-the-scenes package.”

  “What?” Gina froze, mouth hanging open. “She said she wouldn’t.”

  He shrugged. “You know Donna.”

  Fucking. Donna.

  Gina sucked in a breath, but couldn’t seem to let it out again except in short gasps. Stone patted her back, and she coughed.

  “Um, thanks for letting me know, Jordy.”

  “Why weren’t either of us asked to comment on it?” Stone narrowed his eyes at Jordy, who shrugged.r />
  “My guess is it was a last-minute decision to add it in, maybe once she knew Meli would be here.” He threw up his hands. “I don’t know. It’s not the kind of thing we usually include. I tried to fight her on it, but she pulled rank. I figured I should let you know so you don’t blow the dance.”

  “Thanks, Jordy.” When he ran off, she turned to Stone. “Fuck.”

  He rubbed her arms through the stretchy black fabric of her costume. “Is it that bad? All they have are some photos of us in a parking lot.”

  “I don’t need everyone thinking we’re sleeping together.”

  He blinked. “We are.”

  “My family doesn’t know that,” she snapped, getting riled up. “My coworkers don’t need to know. Neither do the millions of people who watch this show. Plenty of them don’t follow the online gossip rags, but plenty do, and some of them might look down on me for it and not vote.”

  Stone pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is so complicated.”

  “I know. It’s why I don’t fuck my coworkers.”

  He reared back like she’d slapped him. Her stomach plummeted at the look of shocked hurt on his face.

  “Oh god. I’m sorry.” She threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tight, not surprised that he remained stiff. “I didn’t—I’m not mad at you. And you don’t deserve to have me snapping at you. I’m sorry, Stone.”

  After what seemed like an eternity, his arms came up and he returned the hug.

  “If anything, they’re going to show it after the clip of us falling,” Stone said in a quiet voice. “They’ve got lots of footage of me saying how scared I was that I had dropped you. When Reggie and Juan Carlos ask us about it later, we’ll say you were checking on me.”

  “That’s how I told Donna to spin it after it happened.”