“I beg your pardon?”
Mike Vaughan nodded. “For as long as I’ve known the man he’s been allergic to anything that has any degree of romance. Then you come along and boom, he’s a changed man.”
“Kissing her on national TV!” Ryan high-fived Mike, as Franklin laughed.
Sylvie smiled. “If you two are a couple then brace yourself. This crew is wild.”
“And she doesn’t know the half of it.” Another guy, she half-recognized from the video call from ages ago, shook her hand. “I’m Chris, remember? Thanks for putting a smile on Luc’s dial. The whole crew thanks you.”
“You’re, um, welcome?”
He laughed, and slapped Luc on the back, as she was swallowed up by the “crew”.
This crew. His Bible study friends. But did Luc’s kiss mean they really were a couple publicly now? She’d love to get a chance to ask him privately, instead of wondering herself as others wondered aloud.
“Hey, congratulations, honey.” Her mom again. “You were amazing. And Luc—where is he?” She peered around, then waved as Luc drew near. “Oh, Luc, congratulations. I was just saying how you did so well.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Donovan.” He nodded to her dad. “Sir.”
Her father’s smile was small, and she had a horrible suspicion he hadn’t liked the dances she’d done. Or Luc’s kiss. But there was no time to wonder further, as they were forced to attend interviews, with more reporters shoving microphones in their faces.
“Luc and Bailey. Congratulations.” The reporter from ET again. “What a wonderful couple of dances to end your time on the show. Ooh la la! Now Luc, the question everyone at home is dying to know, can you tell us more about that final moment—that kiss!—was it planned?”
An excellent question. Bailey turned to face him.
Luc shrugged, smiled. “Let’s just say that I’m an artist. I was in the moment, so I kissed her.”
So he hadn’t planned it. Okay.
“From everything we’ve seen in those packages and in those dances, you two share an incredible chemistry, and can’t seem to keep your hands off each other. Is there truth to the rumors you two are a couple now?”
“We, ah,” he glanced at her. “Maybe. You’ll have to see.”
“You two would make such a cute couple.”
“Thanks.”
“Bailey, did you have anything you’d like to say? You’ve certainly had a memorable first season. Are you hoping for more?”
“That depends on so many factors. It would be nice to have the opportunity to do something like this again, but I don’t know if I could have a better partner.”
“Oh, you two are so cute! Now Luc, now the show has finished, how would you sum up your experience?”
Luc turned to Bailey. “So much fun. I’m so incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity, to have met this woman. She’s the best, and after spending the last six weeks together, I don’t know how I’ll cope not being with her every day.”
“Well, you’re both from Winnipeg, so I’m sure you can make that work out. A little easier than if one of you was based here in Toronto, right?”
So true. But what would that mean if she was asked to do a second season?
The wrap party went on for longer than some Cup winner celebrations, or so Chris and Diana Thomas said. There might be a lot in this dance world Luc still didn’t know about, but dancers sure could throw good parties. But maybe that was because of the company with his friends and family around.
“You were robbed, man.” Chris slung an arm around his shoulders. “Robbed. You were the best couple out there tonight. Even the judges agreed.”
Half a point. Not that it mattered. He felt like a winner even if the public had voted for the actor.
“They were on fire,” Ryan said. “But you were on fire more.”
Luc shrugged. “It was all Bailey.”
He glanced around, but couldn’t see her, the space too full of heaving bodies.
“She’s pretty cute.” Ryan wrapped an arm around Sylvie.
“Like a peppy cheerleader,” Sylvie added. “But a sexy one.”
Yeah, that. “It wasn’t too much, was it? Everyone keeps going on about it, but I didn’t think the routines were too spicy compared to the other couples.”
“Look, I think most people understand it’s an entertainment show, that what you’re doing is not necessarily who you are. Like, you’re not strutting around thinking you’re James Bond, are you?”
“You clearly don’t know the man very well, Sylvie,” Ryan said. “He does that all the time.”
Luc sighed and shook his head. “I think I liked you more when you had less to say.”
Ryan laughed. “See? It’s obviously getting under his skin.”
He needed to steer this conversation back to where he’d get answers. “So that’s a no, then?”
