“I know that, but…” Searching the unfamiliar crew’s clothing for logos revealed nothing. Gina pulled out her phone. No service. Of course not. Why would there be service in the middle of fucking nowhere?
Better not to think about how far away they were from the rest of the world. Except now it was all she could think about. What if there was an emergency?
Eyeing the trees warily, she inched toward the boat. Growing up in New York City had given her a healthy distrust of forests. Forests had animals and serial killers hiding behind every tree. Didn’t these people watch movies?
Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “You know I’m from the Bronx, right? I don’t do nature. I’ve never even been camping.”
Damn it. Gina bit her tongue as one of the cameras swung her way. It was the perfect sound bite and would without a doubt be aired during the premiere. This was exactly what they’d hoped for—drag her out to the wilderness, film her freaking out, then toss her at her partner before she could get her bearings. The producers would do everything they could to throw her off-balance in the name of good TV.
Gina took a deep breath, then another. The air chilled her lungs. It was colder here than it had been in Juneau, but so fresh she couldn’t stop swallowing it in deep, cold pulls. It helped focus her, but also made her giddy.
“You all right?” Jordy actually looked concerned.
“I’m fine.”Just having an existential crisis over the complete and utter remoteness of this location. No big deal.She shoved her hands in her coat pockets and balled them into fists. “Let’s go meet him.”
The crew checked her lavalier mic and gave her a minute to touch up her hair and makeup. After she fed a few more lines to the camera about how excited she was to meet her partner, they started the trek through the trees.
“Don’t break an ankle,” Jordy warned.
Gina pressed her lips together and didn’t reply. If she’d known where they were going, she would have worn different shoes. The soles of her shiny black boots were better suited to sidewalks than wet docks or dirt trails. They were already caked in mud and sand, which crunched under her feet with every step.
Jordy was right, though. It would be awful to get injured right before the new season started. With her eyes on the trail, curiosity about the man she was about to meet consumed her thoughts. What kind of a celebrity would he be? Would he be able to dance? And more importantly, was he popular enough to get lots of votes?
On Gina’s first season, her celebrity partner was a young singer who’d started his music career on social media. While he’d been a great dancer—if a little too energetic—with a vocal fan base, he didn’t have the recognition factor needed to win overThe Dance Off’s older audience. They’d only made it halfway through the season. Nostalgia could help, too, but Gina’s partnership with an aging actor from a popular action movie franchise had ended after three episodes due to his arthritis.
Despite entering her fifth season, Gina didn’t have the fan following some of the other pro dancers did. Kevin Ray had been on the show since season one, andThe Dance Offwas now approaching season fourteen. Kevin had won four times. With his easy charm and incredible choreography skills, people voted for Kevin no matter who his celebrity partner was.
It made Gina want to pull her hair out. Kevin had reached the finals in season thirteen with a sixteen-year-old Internet makeup artist, while Gina and her partner—a popular football player who’d shown marked improvement—had been cut in the semifinals.
At least she wasn’t the newbie anymore—that spot went to Joel Clarke, a Jamaican dancer who’d joined the cast a month ago.
Since it couldn’t hurt, she sent up another prayer that her new partner would be up to the challenge. If he had even a modicum of dance skill and audience appeal, she’d do whatever it took to reach the finals and get a shot atThe Dance Off’s gaudy golden trophy.
The trail ended in a large clearing with a two-story house made from planks of yellow lumber. A smaller house of dark, weathered wood sat to one side, and a hut made of… branches, maybe… sat on the other. A treehouse painted with a camouflage pattern perched in one of the tall trees.
Gina stared, taking it all in.What… the… fu…
This was… well, she didn’t knowwhatthis was exactly, but there was no way this collection of makeshift homes was the training camp of a Winter Olympian.
As her plans for an Olympics-themed first dance turned to dust, anger kindled in the ashes.
Damn her producers. They could have warned her. When Jordy said they were going to Alaska, Gina had dressed for a meeting at a ski lodge or an ice rink, or at least somewhereindoors.And they’d told her to do full hair and makeup. She was going to look ridiculous wearing false eyelashes to a rough Alaskan homestead.
Bye-bye, trophy.
“Reaction, Gina,” Jordy said.
There was no way she could say how disappointed she was. Instead, she took a deep breath and was assaulted by a medley of rich, earthy scents she couldn’t even begin to classify. Somehow, the natural aroma soothed her, and she found her voice.
“Wow.” It was the first word that popped into her mind. “This is like stepping into another time. I mean, look at these structures. And is that a treehouse?”
There. The editors could splice her words with shots of the buildings, if they chose. It was the best she could do under the circumstances.
A loud, rhythmic thudding came from behind the biggest house. Gina didn’t bother to ask what it was, as the other crew’s producer was now guiding her toward the noise.
Years of stage training kicked in, washing away her irritation. She grinned at the camera, infusing her voice with excitement. “I hear something over there. I think it’s him.”
As she turned the corner around the back porch and got her first look at her new partner, her pulse pounded in her throat and stole her breath. She blinked and spoke without thinking. “Is he… is he mine?”
