Page 84 of Take the Lead
“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 out here 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.”
Gina got in the car and peeled out of the lot, leaving him standing there. By some miracle, there was no traffic, and she got tothe 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. “Don’t fight it too much, just laugh it off. Stone was injured yesterday. 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. “Isthat why you were there?”
Initially? Yes, that was what had prompted her to visit him. Last night. So it wasn’t a total lie. “Yes.”
Donna raised her eyebrows. “Whatever you say.”
“Thank you.” Gina got up to leave, then paused with her hand on the doorknob. “Please don’t bring any of this up with Stone.”
Donna’s expression was calculating. “If you spin this differently, maybe drag out the mystery, it 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. He and Stone 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 over, 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 he 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.”
