Troy ordered two glasses of scotch, handing one to Elle. They toasted the evening and the success of the show before linking arms and strolling through the expansive first floor of the home. Cast, crew, and executives from all of the network’s shows were walking through the elegant estate. Elle and Troy made their way to the empty foyer to escape the loud music at the back of the house, where most of the partygoers were drinking, eating, and celebrating. Marble floors and two winding staircases led to the second floor.
“God, this place,” Troy began, taking a sip of his scotch. “I can’t even imagine. I thought your place was huge, but this is . . . well, it’s like a compound.”
Elle giggled, nodding. “I think I’d get lost here.”
“Should we go back outside? They have a dance floor, ya know.”
One thing Troy and Elle were good at was dancing. Back in college, they actually took swing dance lessons with a few of their friends and learned several routines. In each one, Troy would flip Elle’s entire body over, until she landed back on her feet. Swing dancing led to salsa, which led to ballroom dance. The one place they never argued was on the dance floor.
“Ahh, do they now, Mr. Saladino?” Elle placed one hand on her hip. “Do you still have your moves?”
“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” Troy offered Elle his arm, a flirtatious grin on his face. Playfully, Elle puckered her lips and narrowed her eyes, looping her arm through his and allowing him to lead her back outside. The warm breeze of the evening swept through her hair and down her back. The evening was turning out just lovely.
“Kingston!” a voice shrieked from inside the house. “Where is he? Where is that rat bastard?”
Gina.
Tearing through the crowd of partygoers, Gina searched wildly for Luke, who was talking with a small group of men near the pool. Elle watched as he craned his neck, making eye contact with Gina. And then he rolled his eyes as she stormed toward him.
“The E! network? How could you do that?”
“Calm down, Gina,” Luke responded, his voice low, so as not to draw more attention to them. But Gina was having none of it.
“Calm down? I will not calm down! You screwed me! Now the whole world thinks I’m a liar!”
“Knows,” Luke corrected her. “The whole world knows you’re a liar.”
“Screw you, Luke.”
Elle watched in awe, not having any understanding of what they were talking about. But she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t curious. In fact, curious didn’t do her emotions justice. She was dying to know. Without even realizing it, her feet inched toward them until her toes reached the concrete around the pool. Across the glistening water, she watched as their argument continued.
“You need to sleep this off.” Luke touched Gina’s elbow, but she pulled away.
“I don’t need to do anything! My publicist just spent the better half of this party screaming at me, you asshole!”
Whitney approached Luke and Gina, looking embarrassed at Gina’s ridiculous display. “What the hell is going on?”
“Him. He told E! News I lied.”
Whitney crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You did, didn’t you?”
Gina looked exasperated, flailing her arms and throwing her head back and screaming into the air, “Of course I did! And if this idiot were smart, he would’ve just gone along with it! Now I’m the laughingstock of Hollywood!”
Luke shrugged, his words stern and unwavering. “I told you I wasn’t interested, Gina, but you did it anyway. What the hell did you expect? I’m not your puppet.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Gina threw her head wildly from side to side before locking eyes with Elle across the pool. “You’re her puppet! Isn’t that right, Elle?”
Luke grabbed Gina’s elbow. “Do not bring her into this.”
Elle’s heart raced as she watched everything transpire, doing her best to process what, in her heart, she already knew to be true. Luke had nothing to do with the Us Weekly article or a showmance of any kind. It was Gina. All Gina.
“Or what?” Gina pulled away from his grasp, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Whitney took a few steps to stand beside the actress. “Oh for God’s sake, shut up!” With one swift nudge from Whitney, Gina’s heels wobbled over the edge of the pool until she plunged into the water. She screeched as her arms splashed about. Most of the attendees watched as Gina popped back to the surface. Once