Page 110 of Hot Summer

“Your heart on your sleeve,” Ada said.

“I—” Cas felt her cheeks heat. “Yeah. I thought it was fitting given... recent events.” She squeezed Ada’s arm, and Ada’s eyes brightened.

“That’s the gayest thing you’ve ever said.”

Cas laughed and nudged Ada’s side. “Shut up.”

“It’s cute, though,” Ada said. “When are you getting it done?”

“Appointment’s in a couple of weeks.”

She’d scheduled it a few days before the reunion, determined, no matter what, to commemorate her time in the villa. Her time with Ada. Even if things hadn’t worked out, she knew that Ada had changed her irrevocably.

It was a little scary, even now, but she knew it was for the best. And it was worth remembering that.

“Do you think your artist would be willing to pencil me in, too? I want one.”

“Now this is the gayest thing you’ve ever said,” Cas said, grinning.

“Shut up,” Ada said, but Cas couldn’t stop smiling.

“And here, I thought your perfume would be enough. Now you need a matching tattoo with your villa girlfriend.”

Ada turned to look at Cas, their faces a few inches apart. “If you were my villa girlfriend, you’d take me on that tarot card, pasta-making, walking date.”

Cas laughed and tightened her hold on Ada’s shoulders, rolling onto her side so she could press their bodies together.

“We can go tomorrow if you want. I’m very, very free from now until the end of time.”

Ada buried her face into Cas’s neck, pressed a kiss to her pulse point. “Perfect.”

Epilogue

One Year Later

“Do you think I could spend the rest of the ride on my knees?” Cas was already shifting up in her seat as she asked. “My arse is going to be so red and sweaty if I don’t stop sitting on this leather.”

The media company driver, Jeremi, laughed and rolled his eyes at her in the rearview.

“You’re more than welcome, but if I have to hit the brakes suddenly and you go flying, that’s your problem.”

Cas snorted. “I’m sure they’ll eventually find someone to replace me.”

Jeremi grinned at her in the mirror. “Bold of you to assume they don’t have a queue of replacements already lined up. There’s a whole new Hot Summer cast that’ll be out of the villa in a week. You’re not the only one that can chat shit about reality TV.”

Cas held her middle finger up at him. “Fuck off.”

Cas’s phone pinged from the seat—a sound that still gave her flashbacks to her time in the villa—and she looked down. She expected to see her producer’s name since they’d been in near constant touch after she and Ada had signed the collaboration deal with Boom Media last month, but was delighted to see Ada’s name there instead.

Ada: here yet?

Cas couldn’t stop the smile that filled her face as she replied.

Cas: no not yet

Cas: we’re on the way

Cas: I’m going to have a red arse in the pictures because this leather is literally a million degrees

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