Page 14 of Hot Summer

A wave of nerves—quite different from before—swept low in Cas’s belly.

Charlie was last down the stairs, and though Cas already knew she was going to have to step up for him, Lexi practically threw herself forward the moment Charlie stopped walking. Charlie, apparently unable to resist that kind of enthusiasm, decided to go with her, sending her former partner, Femi, over to Cas’s side to round out the final couples.

Femi smiled as he approached, his expression bright despite the incredibly brutal way Lexi had just cast him off.

“Rejects club, eh?” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cheek, and Cas laughed, her hands landing on his firm biceps.

“My usual club, to be fair.”

“Please.” Femi settled beside her, close but not so close that he was crowding her. “I bet you’re fighting people off twenty-four seven.”

Cas grinned, something a little mischievous in her smile. “Well, people don’t tend to keep me around for long.”

Or, rather, she didn’t stick around.

Mila clapped her hands together, an enormous smile on her bright red lips. “We now have five gorgeous couples. Sienna and Jayden, Maddison and Reece, Lexi and Charlie, Cas and Femi, and Ada and Brad. You’re all going to spend time as couples, getting to know one another, competing in challenges, sharing a bed...” Mila waggled her eyebrows because apparently her suggestive tone wasn’t enough to communicate her meaning.

“And as you spend the summer together, the public is going to make their judgments on your relationships and you’ll have to decide: Is true love worth more than public opinion?”

Cas tilted her head, her brows pinching together slightly as she processed Mila’s words. They were vague—probably intentionally so—but they were also new. In all her summers spent watching this show, Cas had never heard anything like it before.

Her thoughts started racing. There were always moments in past years when the public was able to influence the dumpings, or a challenge pulled in social media reactions. But the public was never acknowledged so outright before.

This... sounded like something different.

And it was going to profoundly fuck Cas’s plan if she couldn’t figure out what it was.

“In eight weeks, the public will vote for their favorite couple, and that couple stands to win a huge hundred-thousand-pound prize. But remember...” Mila let that sit heavily in the air for a moment, taking the time to look at each of them in turn. “This is Hot Summer, and the path to true love rarely goes the way you expect.”

Ada shifted beside her and Cas glanced her way. Ada’s arm was wrapped loosely around Brad’s waist, and though her expression seemed carefully blank, Ada’s smile brightened as their eyes caught and she flashed Cas a wink.

Cas straightened her shoulders, tipping her chin up just a bit before turning and meeting Femi’s eyes. Neither of them had chosen the other, but that could be exactly the recipe for success.

Two scorned lovers, united by friendship. Perpetual wing-people.

“I’m going to leave you to get to know each other, but I’ll be back very soon.”

The words were innocent, but there was something threatening about the way Mila said them.

Omer took a few close-up shots of each of the couples before he left and then, finally, they were on their own.

They all stood stock-still for a full minute, staring round at one another, before Femi clapped his hands together in a way that was scarily reminiscent of Mila.

“Well, lovers, shall we get to know each other?”

5

No sooner had Femi finished his sentence than the Voice of God rang out over the hidden speakers. “Lovers—everyone should report to the bedroom now and collect their phones. They’re on your beside tables and can only be used for photos and receiving texts from production.”

Jayden took the stairs two at a time, and Charlie and Brad jostled each other as they ran, Brad knocking into Charlie’s shoulder so hard Charlie tripped over a stray flowerpot near the kitchen. It was absurd, and absolutely the sort of thing that would make it into the show, or the weekly Missed Moments episode at the very least. These early moments were key in building out each lover’s personality, and Cas realized she should probably say something. Stand out a little.

“If I’d known we were going to be running, I’d have worn a different bikini.” She pressed her hands to her chest as she jumped over Charlie’s leg dangling out in the walkway, and Ada laughed.

“You think you’re having regrets.” She nodded down toward her own chest, her hands doing their best to press her breasts flat. “These things are no joke.”

One of the phones was beeping when they made it into the bedroom, and Femi dove across two beds to snatch it off the bedside table.

“ ‘Lovers! Welcome to Hot Summer!’ ” It was almost impossible to understand Femi through the laughter in his voice, but it was also endearing, his excitement. It softened him, made him seem real. A far cry from the chiseled model who’d walked through the door half an hour earlier. “You are free to get to know one another for the rest of the afternoon. Dinner will arrive in a few hours and will be announced by text. Until then, have fun.”

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