Page 8 of Count Down

Right then, a tall man in a finely cut suit walks up to the check-in table. His dirty blond hair is swept back on top of his head and short on the sides. He has a certain grace to his walk. He looks like he knows how to move his body, unlike a lot of people. Maybe he’s an athlete or a martial artist. Our eyes meet, and I freeze momentarily. It’s the same guy I saw in the lobby afterLa Bayadére, watching me.

I look to Lexi for support. She raises her eyebrows and gives me a little push toward him. Nothing scares her. She just thinks he’s hot and that it’s exciting he wants a tour from me. I glance at Tori who’s looking this man up and down with more than a hint of jealousy. Goddamn both of them. They’re no help.

“Luca.” He holds out his hand to shake mine. His voice is soft, deep, and calm. I would have expected something more terrifying, but it’s almost soothing.

I hold my hand out to his, trying not to stutter. “Gina.”

He grips my hand, almost covering mine with his and briefly shakes it.

“Ready for the tour?” I ask. I know this is going to be awkward. I just want to get it done as quickly as I can and get back to my seat at the check-in desk.

He nods, gesturing me to lead the way.

I’m not exactly sure how we’re supposed to do this tour. I lead to the door going backstage since it’s the closest. I might as well start with the dressing rooms.

“This is the green room,” I explain when we walk backstage. It looks like a smaller version of a rehearsal studio, with mirrors along one wall and a freestanding barre pushed up close to it. Opposite that, there’s a long table covered with props, each in its own labeled spot. We go through toward a hallway with a series of doors on one side and I lead him into the first one, which is propped open. “This is where we get ready.”

“Hm.” Luca nods and grins at the obviousness of what I point out, as he can clearly see the costume rack along one wall and makeup stations and lockers lining the others.

“These are some costumes from previous shows.” I point out the costumes that have been set up on display on dress forms for the tour. Luca follows me to look at them as I point out what they’re from. “Odette and Odile, White Swan and Black Swan fromSwan Lake. The Prince and the Sugar Plum Fairy fromThe Nutcracker. And—“

“Carabosse.Sleeping Beauty,” Luca says.

I’m shocked he recognized it. Maybe he actually knows about ballet. I figured he was just another rich jerk who likes to donate to the ballet to look cultured and comes to the events to be around the dancers. Maybe he’s a rich jerk who also knows about ballet.

“You’ve seenSleeping Beauty?”

“It was a long time ago. When I was a kid. But it’s hard to forget Carabosse. Gave me nightmares for weeks.” He grins at me.

Huh. Self-deprecation. I thought this guy would be too “alpha” for that.

9

LUCA

I seethe faintest smile form on Gina’s face. It’s the first time I’ve seen anything close to it on her before. She probably thinks I picked her to give me a tour because I wanted to be near her. That’s fine. She can think that. It’s a good enough cover. Really, I’m at this event to try and scope out more of the theater. The backstage tour is perfect. Any chance I can get to learn more about her and her father is a bonus.

She leads me to the last costume. “This is Nikiya. FromLa Bayadére,” she explains.

“I saw you in that,” I tell her. I almost want to compliment her on her performance. I want her to know how great I thought she was. But I can’t find a way to explain it. I want her to know that I saw something in her performance. But I don’t want to come off like a creep. Requesting her to give me a tour is pushing it just far enough.

“Oh, yeah. In the lobby…”

“No. I saw you inTheKingdom of the Shades.”

She looks surprised.

“You were the first dancer.”

“You noticed?” She asks. Again, I see just a hint of a smile in her question.

“Yes. You stood out,” I say. “In a good way.”

The hint of a smile turns into what I think is a real one. There’s a hint of blush in her cheeks.

“Should we go look at the stage?” She asks. I nod and follow her out a door and up the stairs. We walk out from the wings onto the stage at the same time another tour is just leaving to head down to the dressing rooms. The dancer leading the tour shoots Gina a puzzled look as we walk by. “I think we are doing the tour in reverse,” she whispers to me.

The house lights are up, and I can see hundreds of empty seats from the stage all the way up to the highest balcony and the ornate ceilings above.