Page 18 of Take the Lead
“Who?”Celi’s outrage and disbelief blasted through the speaker.
“My partner.” Gina rubbed her eyes under the glasses.
There was a long pause. “You mean, they want you topretendto be involved with your partner?”
“What’s the difference? I’m not doing it, and I’m not going to act like I am, either.”
“You got this. Don’t let those Hollywood bigwigs push you into anything you don’t want to do.”
Gina felt her big sister’s unwavering support coming through the phone, and it made her grin. If the grin wobbled a little bit, who cared? She was allowed to miss her family. “Thanks. I’ve worked too hard to screw it up now.”
“Today was your first day?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ll have to call Ma. She’s going to want to hear about it. How did it go?”
“Pretty well. He’s not a bad dancer, just reluctant.” Gina paused, then voiced the hope that had been steadily growing all day. “I think… I think if I can get him to take this seriously—ignite his competitive spirit, so to speak—we can go far.”
Celi snickered. “Lucky for him, you have more than enough competitive spirit to spare.”
“Nothing wrong with being ambitious. This is just one step of many.”
“You’ll get there. No rush.”
But therewasa rush. Dancers didn’t have long careers. They were hard on their bodies, and injuries were an ever-present concern. In show business, age and looks mattered, too. Gina wantedto build a career that would stand the test of time, one that would allow her to continue growing her skill set and wasn’t completely reliant on the smoothness of her skin or how she managed her weight.
“I don’t want to be a dancer on TV forever. Even if I did, I can’t. I’m already twenty-seven.”
Celi scoffed. “Damn, you say that like it’s old. I’ve got five years on you,andthree kids.” A crash in the background punctuated her words, followed by an indignant claim of “Youruinedit!”
Gina snorted as her sister let out a long-suffering sigh. “You better go see what that is.”
“Yeah, but I really don’t want to.” Araceli rustled around, probably on her way to check on the children. “Don’t worry. You’ll get through this the way you always have, by being an amazing, hard-working dancer. Keep it up.”
“Thanks, Celi.”
When Araceli gasped and yelled, “Look at this mess!” Gina hung up.
The call had done the trick. Her big sister believed in her. What else did she need? Gina started the car and headed home.
Six
Stone showed up to the wardrobe department the next day for his promo outfit with images of sequins and fringe flashing through his mind, so it was a relief to be handed black slacks—stretchier than they looked—and a black button-down shirt. Of course, they instructed him to leave the top buttons undone to his sternum. The costume crew hovered around him, checking fit and drape, and someone hustled him into a black vest, darker than his shirt. As he turned in the mirror, hidden sparkles flared to life all over his outfit. Tiny black rhinestones trailed down the outer seam of his trousers and tastefully lined the lapels of his vest, if such a thing could be considered tasteful.
One of the PAs led him to the photoshoot backdrop. “Gina should be out soon,” they said, and Stone sat in a folding chair to wait. Even though he’d already been through hair and makeup, a woman with brushes tucked into her plastic half-apron applied another layer of powder to his face. He’d done enough promo shoots forLiving Wildto be comfortable with this part, at least.
A few minutes later, Gina skipped over to him, wearing a spangly silver bathing suit and nothing else. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. On her feet were strappy dance heels.
Stone stood, taking her in. The silver outfit covered her important bits, but her arms, legs, and back were bare, as were the sides of her trim, deeply tanned torso, giving a good view of the indents at her waist. The silver fabric glittered, and tiny dangling sparkles shivered and caught the light as she moved. Longer sparkles dripped from the hem of the costume, doing a poor job of covering the tops of her thighs.
“Ready to pose?” She tugged him over to the white backdrop set up nearby.
Ready? Boy, was he ever.
Shit, he really had to quit this line of thinking. Was he interested in Gina? Of course he was. Was he going to act on that interest? Nope. All of this was fake—hell, they were covered in sparkles to present an image of beauty and excitement, while surrounded by scaffolding, camera equipment, and people dashing around in jeans and T-shirts. It was everything he hated aboutLiving Wild,but worse, because he was stuck in LA. Yes, Gina was sexy, sweet, and funny, but they were from different worlds. He didn’t fit in hers, and her trip to Nielson HQ made it abundantly clear she’d never want to fit in his. And if she knew the bear had been a PA crashing around in the underbrush just to get a reaction out of her, she’d never forgive him.
Oblivious to his inner turmoil, Gina discussed potential poses with Jordy. When she turned to Stone, her tone was all business, just as it was during rehearsal. “We’re going to film our intro first, since they have an opening at the other set.” She dropped her voice. “Sounds like one of the celebs threw a fit about her costume.”
