Winning Moves (Stepping Up 3)

This was their last chance, she thought, sliding into her car. Right now, despite the media drama, it felt like their best chance, too.

* * *

NEAR NOON, KAT stood on the stage next to Ellie and watched a group of dancers perform. She’d spoken to her mother during a short break, just long enough to hear that her father was too sick to head home yet, and to tell them that Jason had taken care of the room for them for the day and even the rest of the night if they wanted. Both she and Kat had expected her father wouldn’t want to move too quickly. Drinking tequila like a fish when you didn’t regularly swim equaled drowning in pain.

She hadn’t mentioned the investment loss that had brought on the drinking binge. She wanted to give them time to talk that out on their own and she wasn’t sure her father would be up for that yet.

Kat’s gaze slid to the distant doors of the auditorium, willing Jason to walk through them. She hadn’t heard from him and no one had seen him all day, which only made people more curious about what was going on. The buzz about the night before was loud and steady, but the connection between Kat and Jason had yet to be made. It wouldn’t take long. Kat had been around the tabloid mess more than a few times, most recently with Marcus, who was a total media magnet.

Another half hour passed, and another set of dancers were running through a routine when Kat’s skin tingled with the awareness she always felt when Jason was watching her. Her gaze lifted to find him sauntering down the center aisle with a loose-legged sexy swagger that had her conjuring up images of the night before: of him naked, of her naked and in his arms. No man but Jason had ever affected her so easily, so completely, though she’d tried to find one. She’d tried to forget Jason and always failed.

He held a thumb up to Kat, silently telling her everything was okay, and relief washed over her. Whatever had tied him up today, the results were good, and ultimately that was all that mattered.

“Bossman sure stirred up trouble last night,” Ellie commented quietly. “Any idea what happened?”

Kat wasn’t a fool. Ellie had seen her thumbs-up exchange with Jason, and she was digging to find out just how close Kat and Jason really were.

“My father had a retirement crisis and dragged Jason along for the ride,” Kat explained.

“What?” Ellie asked, shock hissing through her whisper. “Your father knows Jason?”

Kat glanced at her. “Well, he was at our wedding.”

“What?” she asked again, facing Kat now, and ignoring the dancers. “Whose wedding?”

“Jason and I were married a very long time ago,” Kat said. “It’s not a secret.”

“You said you were old friends. You didn’t say you were married.”

Kat shrugged. “Now I am.”

“I knew something was up with you two,” Ellie replied. “I knew it.”

Kat’s gaze veered over Ellie’s shoulder, her attention caught on the opposite side of the stage. There, Carrie and Tabitha were clearly arguing. Kat could see Carrie’s face pinched in anger before she turned away, exiting behind the curtain. Tabitha immediately followed her.

“Are you and Jason—”

“Hold that question,” Kat said. “I think we have trouble with that situation I told you about this morning. Tabitha and Carrie just headed off stage in the midst of an argument. Call for lunch if I’m not back in fifteen minutes.”

Kat darted behind the curtain and rushed toward the other side of the stage, arriving just in time to see Tabitha disappear out of a door leading to the dressing rooms.

Kat hurried after her, covering the distance in a near run. She really didn’t need this turning nasty and she’d seen the way Tabitha and Carrie had interacted on the DVD the night before. It wasn’t pretty. Right now, Kat and Jason had enough trouble brewing without a fight on set.

Kat shoved open the door Tabitha had used and quickly headed down a long, narrow hallway. She was almost to the end, where there was a section of twelve dressing rooms, when she heard Tabitha’s raised voice.

“I put up with you in the contestant house,” Tabitha said, “because I knew you weren’t good enough to stay around long. If you think I’m going to tolerate you here, you’d better think again.”

Kat stopped at the end of the hall, listening to get a true picture of what was happening.

“Are you threatening me?” Carrie asked, her voice soft but surprisingly confrontational for what Kat had observed of her personality.

“No,” Tabitha said. “I’m making you a promise. If you interfere with my work, which includes how I handle my understudy, I’ll make sure you get fired and we’ll be better off as a show for it. You weren’t good enough for the competition, you weren’t good enough for Jensen and you aren’t good enough for Vegas.”