Holly blinked. “Who?”
Martin coughed. “NHL defenseman for the New Haven Hammerheads. Very…Danish.”
“He’s six-four, built like a tank, and is a total dreamboat,” Kendall gushed. “The viewers are going todie.”She tempered herself when Martin raised a brow at her. “In a good way,” she added.
Holly frowned. “Why the hell would an NHL player want to be on the show?”
“Well,” Martin began in a tone that told her the quid pro quo was stacked in their favor. “He’s currently suspended.”
“For?”
Kendall beamed as if all her Christmases had come at once. “On-ice violence. Viral clips. There’s ameme.”
Ofcoursethere was a fucking meme.
Martin stepped in. “The network thinks he’s… a rehabilitation opportunity.”
Holly tilted her head. “What? Like a rescue pit bull?”
Kendall snorted with amusement. “He’s a household name. We’re looking atmajorcrossover viewership.”
“Well,I’venever heard of him,” Holly muttered wryly.
Martin cleared his throat. “You’ve always been good with… difficult partners.”
Holly shot him a murderous glare. “Everyone else already turned him down, didn’t they?”
“Sofast,” Kendall nodded, not even bothering to hide it.
“Fantastic,” Holly sighed. “I’ve always wanted to train a shitstorm waiting to happen.”
Martin beamed, too relieved to notice the venom. “Knew you’d be a team player. Trust us–with all this stuff about hockey players as heroes in romance novels, the public’s gonna froth over this.”
Kendall gave her an encouraging thumbs-up, which Holly wanted to snap off and shove into a very specific orifice.
“Totally. Can’t wait to work mymagic,” she said sweetly, knowing full well this particular ‘magic’ was going to involve forcibly dragging a meat puppet of barely repressed testosterone across the dance floor while pretending not to loathe every second.
Martin and Kendall knew enough to get going while the going was good. They made their exit, but the door barely had time to swing shut before it was filled again.
Nick Marlowe leaned against the frame, arms crossed, eyebrow cocked in that annoyingly British way that made women flirt and directors flinch. He had face that made you believe in villains with redemption arcs. Sharp, smirking, a little too symmetrical to be trusted. His sleeves were rolled up, his hair artfully tousled, and he looked like he’d just strolled off the set of a cologne ad titledEmotional Damage for Men.
Rumor had it he’d once made a pop star cry mid-rehearsal. Producers called himhigh-risk, high-reward.Judges called himtechnically flawless.His last three partners called hima fucking nightmare.But Nick Marlowe moved through the world like a man who’d been born under a spotlight and never fully stepped out of it. He was dry, dangerous, and devastatingly watchable. You didn’t like him. But you’d be damned if you could tear your eyes off him when he danced.
“So,” he drawled, voice dipped in West End whiskey and warning labels, “they’ve paired you with the angry fridge.” His brows flickered. It was the only way Holly could tell he cared. “Good luck, darling.” Nick pushed off the frame to follow Martin and Kendall back to the depths of hell.
Holly counted to three. When she was sure she was alone again, she braced her palms on her knees, breathing hard. Not from exertion. Fromrage. Frompanic. From the white-hot knowing in her chest that this was it. This was herlast shot.
Her mother’s chemo schedule was intensifying. Her savings were nearly gone. The insurance had lapsed again because the network’s bullshit ‘prize bonus’ system wasn’t reliable income. And now they were pairing her with a meat stick in a jockstrap who probably thought achasséwas something you caught from an ex.
She didn't have time for this. No time for hockey fists, and bad attitude, and a redemption arc built on herfucking spine. She needed the win. The money. The rest of them were dancing for the corny trophy. For bragging rights and future career opportunities.
She was dancing for her mom’s survival.
@DanceTeaDigest on Instagram:
Holly Martinez: former World Champ. Three seasons as aTake the Floorpro, zero wins. If technique was the only thing that mattered, she’d be untouchable. But now they’ve paired her with suspended NHL enforcer Nate Eriksson and I’m just saying… this is either her redemption arc or her villain origin story.
#takethefloor #hollymartinez #justiceforholly
