Page 76 of Hot Summer

Ada put her hand on top of Cas’s. “Decided.”

This, though, turned out to be the easiest part of the night. With three votes, Freddie was invited to stay in the villa, but just as he made his way over to the bench, his phone beeped.

“ ‘Freddie—congratulations on being selected to remain in the villa. Now you have a difficult decision to make.’ ”

He looked up at them, his face pale, and laughed awkwardly. “Oh fuck.”

He didn’t move, just waited opposite the fire pit, holding the phone in his hands like it was a detonator. After a few seconds, his phone beeped again.

“ ‘Freddie, you must choose one couple to leave the villa tonight. Any of the couples sitting in front of you are eligible to be eliminated. You have one minute to make your decision. Good luck.’ Good luck—are you fucking serious?” Freddie scraped his hand through his hair.

“Okay.” Freddie exhaled hard, his eyes skipping over each of the couples on the bench in turn. “This is a really tough decision. I have enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you and I wish you all the most success in your partnerships. But...” He let that linger there for a second, his gaze drifting off as he collected his thoughts.

“There are definitely some couples here who are stronger than others. And if I’m thinking about who has to stay, it has to be the people that I see have a strong connection and a lot of potential on the outside. So, that being said...” He drew in a deep breath.

“Charlie and Rita, I’d have to choose you.”

25

They’d barely finished saying goodbye to everyone when someone’s phone dinged.

The tension in Cas’s body immediately ratcheted up to eleven. This was the worst thing about this show, she decided, how it swung you from complete calm, peace, straight to the edge of a cliff and left you dangling there.

It was going to give her heart problems later in life, for sure.

“ ‘Lovers!’ ” Femi’s voice was practically vibrating with laughter. “ ‘The retreat is officially open—choose one lucky couple to spend the night together now.’ Cas and Ada!”

Femi’d barely finished reading the text before he was shouting out their names, jumping up and down, his whole face lit up with a smile. The joy Femi exuded, the love he so clearly had for them... it was a type of unquestionable friendship Cas had only ever known in Skye and Aisha, and they’d been friends for years.

“Cas and Ada!”

The entire villa rang out with shouts of their names, and Ada’s cheeks flushed the softest, most gorgeous shade of pink Cas had ever seen. Cas had barely caught sight of it, though, before Ada dipped her head forward and buried herself into Cas’s neck.

Cas had to focus every single ounce of her energy on the fact that there were about ten thousand cameras on them to keep from melting into a puddle right then and there. Even still, all she could think about was the way Ada’s hair was sliding over her shoulders and the heat of Ada’s breath against her neck.

It was a good thing they were going to the retreat then, because already Cas felt like she would climb out of her own skin if it meant she got to be closer to her.

“We have to go pick out your outfits,” Sienna said. She grabbed Ada by the forearm, pulling her backward. Ada caught Cas’s hand as she stumbled back, dragging her along with them.

“Uh, no!” Femi grabbed Cas’s hand, separating her from Ada. “You have to get ready separately.”

“It needs to be a surprise,” Sienna agreed.

“But”—Cas reached for Ada’s hand again, only to have Ada marched a few steps farther away—“all my clothes are in the change room.”

“I’ll get your clothes,” Femi said, looping his arm through Cas’s. “Tell me what you want and I’ll bring options.”

The door to the retreat was hidden along the back side of the villa, tucked away behind a wall of shrubs that was intended to keep people from being able to peek into the windows when someone was inside (and also intended to hide the dozen cameras that spied on people while they were in the back garden). It looked largely the same as in every prior season, but there were always subtle differences, especially because they were in a different house each year.

Cas felt strangely nervous as she and Ada walked down the garden path, carrying their clothes, toothbrushes, and hairbrushes in their hands for their overnight. It was almost like they were spending the night away together on holiday, rather than just going to a different area of the villa. Once they were inside, though, they were going to be locked in, and nothing, barring fire or medical disaster, was going to allow them out again until morning.

Not that Cas was complaining.

They would still have some cameras on them for about the first hour or so while they were in there, but production had explained at the start of the summer that cameras in the retreat turned off for the night. The retreat was the one place where the lovers could be genuinely, blissfully alone.

Cas couldn’t wait to spend some actual private time with Ada. And, yes, it was partially because she wanted to get Ada under the duvet and see what she looked like with absolutely nothing on, wanted to hear the way that Ada exhaled when she was close, wanted to feel Ada shaking underneath her fingers, but it was also...

Cas wanted to simply be with her. To lie in bed, tucked together, hearing nothing else but the sound of their own breath. She wanted to feel what it was like to spend time with Ada and Ada alone.

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