Page 61 of Hot Summer

“Hell yes!” Leo punched the air before he grabbed Femi by the shoulder. “It’s time!” Leo’s smile was so big, it consumed his entire face. “No offense, Ades.”

Ada shook her head. Her expression was still nervous, but her words were entirely genuine. “I hope you find someone.”

“Mostly she just wants her bed back,” Cas said, grinning at Leo. “One night of your giant arse hogging the duvet was enough.”

Leo barked a laugh and wrapped his arm around Ada’s shoulders. “Are you complaining about me behind my back?”

Ada shrugged, but she turned to smirk up at Leo all the same. “I would never.”

Leo snorted and nudged her, the action sending him and Ada careening to the side. She shrieked and smacked Leo in the chest, but Leo just laughed as he gripped her shoulder and pulled her back upright.

“All right, Leo,” Mila said, holding her hand out toward their spot across the garden. “No need to dump Ada onto the ground, you can just re-partner next week.”

Leo’s laugh kept rolling. “Sorry, Mila, but she’s proper clingy, this one.”

Ada nudged him in the ribs, and Leo’s breath huffed out of him.

“Okay, before these two kill each other,” Mila said, laughing, “let’s meet our bombshells! Everyone, come join me on the grass!”

Just like the first day in the villa, they were all directed to small dots in the grass, and rather than standing with their couples, the boys and girls were separated, a strict meter distance between the two lines, as if any closer they might just run back to their partners rather than pay attention to who was coming into the villa.

“Now,” Mila said, rubbing her hands together like a movie villain, “we worked really hard this year to make sure we chose people who were a hundred percent perfect for everyone in the villa. Singletons are finally going to meet their match, relationships are going to be tested, and even the most solid couples are going to be left wondering... is this the right time for my head to turn?”

Cas shifted her weight anxiously. She wasn’t ready for six new people to come into the villa. Hot Summer was notorious for its Bombshell Week, of disruption of epic proportions where the number of people suddenly doubled with new lovers. It was famed for how much chaos and confusion it brought, historically splitting up even some of the most secure couples. She figured it must have been coming soon—it was always around the midway point each season—but Cas was really looking forward to at least a few days of quiet first.

As Mila started to introduce the new bombshells, though, Cas began to feel some relief. They were hot, sure, but they were clearly intended for other people.

There was a white-blond blockhead named Ollie who looked so suspiciously like Brad that Cas would have sworn they were secretly twins. The gorgeous, tan brunette, Lucy, who made eye contact with Leo the moment she stepped onto the pool deck; he was already borderline drooling after her. A pale, freckled Ronan, who had a bright red beard like some sort of pirate, didn’t seem to match anyone’s taste that Cas could remember, but maybe the producers were trying to mix things up.

Cas almost felt bad for some of the people they’d brought in—the idea that Reece was going to turn his head, even for someone as pretty as Gemma, that Femi and Sienna were going to pay attention to anyone but each other, was absurd. But then, that was the drama of this part of the show.

Seeing what it would take to get people to break. To do the thing they said they would never do.

“Our next bombshell comes from way up north, but, if he’s to be believed, he knows what he’s doing down south, too.” Mila delivered that line with far more sincerity than it deserved. She swept her hand toward the stairs, all smiles. “Lovers, meet Freddie!”

Cas was prepared to brush him off like everyone else who had walked in so far, but the man that rounded the corner then... was a problem.

He was obviously gorgeous and he had a ridiculous amount of muscles, but the tragic part of this was that, at this point, in this house, that barely even registered anymore. Cas was so desensitized to attractive people that even these men who had pecs you could bounce a 5p coin off didn’t stand out.

Freddie was a problem for other reasons.

Freddie was clearly sent for her.

It was his smile that tipped her off more than anything else. There was a wariness to it, like he’d just woken up in the Jeep they’d arrived in, had no idea where he was, and was just hoping he could get away without getting caught out. Where most everyone else—and the other men in particular—had come in, broad smiles, assets out, Cas had always been a sucker for a bit of vulnerability in a man. It was a quality she rarely mentioned as a turn-on, but at the last minute admitted to loving on the intake form at the beginning of the summer.

Ironic, that.

His dark hair was longer on top, not quite as floppy as Leo’s but long enough that it ruffled gently in the breeze as he walked down the stairs. Freddie reached up as he stepped down onto the pool deck, his fingers sliding easily through the strands as his eyes skimmed down to the ground, and, fuck, it was endearing, stupidly endearing, the fact that he seemed almost shy, half naked as he was, about standing here in front of a villa full of people who were actively assessing him.

When his eyes moved up, a slow, easy, unhurried slide that made its way along everyone lined up opposite him, Cas saw that they were a bright, perfect forest green.

She bit the inside of her lip.

“Freddie,” Mila said, grinning at him as he came to a stop beside her. “Welcome to Bombshell Week. How’re you feeling?”

“Okay. Bit nervous, but I’m sure we’ll settle in.” Freddie’s voice was soft, his accent thick and northern and gorgeous.

Cas was sweating.

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