Page 106 of Hot Summer

“So the agreement was that you get to the finale?” Ada asked.

Cas nodded. “Finalists always have their pick of brand endorsements. My boss wasn’t naïve enough to think I could win, but making it that far would open a lot of doors we could then leverage for the new division he was setting up.”

“Hmm, okay.” Ada took a slow, considered sip of her tea before leaning forward and setting the mug on the coffee table. “So you up there tonight,” Ada said thoughtfully. “Was that some sort of... grand gesture?”

“More or less.”

They were quiet for a beat, and then, slowly, Ada slid a few inches across the sofa. She wasn’t anywhere near to touching Cas, but she was almost as close as they had been in the back of the car.

“I think it was really brave of you, you know. Coming on to the reunion when you knew the audience would probably be against you.”

“I just needed to tell you the truth. I didn’t want you to feel like I was trying to pressure you into saying anything to me because we were on camera, but I didn’t think there was another opportunity I would get to tell you.”

“I didn’t feel like that. I was glad that you said something,” Ada said. She stared down at her lap for a long beat. “I’d been thinking about reaching out to you, actually.”

“Were you?”

Ada nodded. “I don’t know if they ended up putting it on air, but Femi talked to me.”

“Did he?”

“I don’t know if I was in the place to hear it at the time. I just said that you could have been honest with me, no matter what, was still stomping my foot, frustrated, you know.” She waved her hand. “But it really settled over me as the week wore on. I was barely sleeping by the time we got to the end.”

Cas almost wished she had watched the rest of the show now. If only because she’d driven herself mad thinking that Ada hadn’t been missing her at all.

“Really?”

“I should have left with you,” Ada said quietly. “I hate that I let you walk out that door alone.”

“I thought you’d given up on me,” Cas admitted. She was staring at her distorted reflection in the mirrorball, begging the tears in the corners of her eyes not to fall. “You’re... you’re the first person I’ve let in in a really long time. I wasn’t lying when I said that you made me feel safe being vulnerable again. I know why you didn’t leave with me, but it was really awful, walking out of there on my own.”

Ada reached over then and threaded her fingers through Cas’s. It was a simple gesture, nothing they hadn’t done a thousand times before, but it felt like everything was finally clicking into place.

“I’m sorry,” Ada said quietly, and Cas squeezed her hand.

“I’m sorry, too.”

They sat there for a long minute, just holding hands, listening to the muffled sounds of the cars on the road outside.

“Do you think we’ll be able to move on?” Cas asked finally. She was still staring at the mirrorball, as though it would make the words any easier to say. “I’ll be nothing but honest. If we can forgive each other and want to start again or pick up where we left off. Or even just figure out what our relationship looks like now. No more keeping anything from each other, I promise.”

“I can forgive you,” Ada whispered. “I already had, really.”

Cas looked up and met Ada’s gaze. The pink light softened her features, but the intensity in her eyes still felt dark. Tantalizing.

“I really, really like you,” Cas said. She was laying her heart bare, setting it out there, ready for the taking, and just crossing her fingers that Ada didn’t leave her out to dry.

Tentatively, Ada moved one hand to Cas’s thigh, and the heat of her palm seemed to sear through the fabric of Cas’s dress. “I really, really like you, too.”

And without a moment’s hesitation, Cas leaned forward and kissed her.

Ada’s response was immediate. Her free hand slid to the back of Cas’s neck, crushing her closer, and it was heady, the way that Ada wanted her. How she wore it so plainly on her sleeve, didn’t try to hide it or disguise it or pretend it was anything other than the raw, intense feeling that it was.

It felt like no time had passed at all, like nothing had ever come between them. It was as easy as it always was kissing Ada, but now, without a dozen cameras watching them?

It was going to be way too easy for Cas to lose herself here.

“Do you...” Ada’s breath caught as Cas pressed a kiss to her jaw, her throat. “Do you want to go to my room?”

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