Page 83 of Hot Summer

Ada was lying on her side in the exact same spot they’d fallen asleep last night. Her arm was draped over Cas’s waist, fingers lying on her hip and face hidden in Cas’s hair.

Ada drew in a breath and then her fingers flexed very lightly on Cas’s stomach. She burrowed her face deeper into Cas’s neck, and Cas exhaled a laugh as she reached up and brushed Ada’s hair off her shoulders.

“Good morning.”

“Morning.”

“Why are you so happy?”

Cas shrugged, though she could probably think of a few reasons. “Femi’s not jumping on me for once.”

Ada snorted. “He’s saving all his jumps up for when they kick us out of here.”

“Great. I’m dead, then. Especially now that he’s got Freddie in on it with him.”

All this past week, they’d taken turns dive-bombing Cas’s bed, apparently intent on causing so much seismic disruption on her mattress that she bounce off the thing entirely.

Ada patted Cas’s stomach. “It was nice knowing you.”

Cas frowned. Or tried to. “I’d say the same if you weren’t throwing me to the wolves.”

Ada laughed and hooked her leg over Cas’s, pulling her closer. “Oh, please. Dramageddon.”

“Not dramageddon,” Cas said. She rolled onto her side, slid her leg farther through Ada’s, pressing against her center. “I could die. This is serious.”

She was really trying for serious here, but her smile kept betraying her.

“You seem really worried.” Ada brushed a stray piece of hair off Cas’s cheek. “How can I help get your mind off it?”

“I don’t know.” Cas slid her arms around Ada’s waist, pulling her close. “I’m just so devastated.”

Ada laughed and rolled her eyes before pressing forward and quickly giving Cas a chaste kiss. “You’re so dramatic, I swear.”

Ada rolled onto her back, and Cas buried her face in her neck.

“I’m not.”

“You are.” Ada brushed her fingers through Cas’s hair. It was so soothing, this simple gesture, and Cas felt her eyes fall closed again.

“Maybe a little,” she agreed. She’d never live it down at home—she’d been evading this exact charge for years—but she supposed there was no denying it really.

Neither of them said anything for a few long minutes. Cas, eyes closed, nose in Ada’s neck, was perfectly content to stay here for as long as the production team would let them, but she knew they were probably on borrowed time. She didn’t know what hour it was, didn’t know if anyone else was already awake outside, but she could feel herself trying to catalog this moment, track as many of the details as she could and store them in her mind.

It felt fleeting. Like the moment she opened her eyes, it might cease to exist altogether.

“I was thinking about the ceremony last night,” Ada said quietly. She was still staring at the ceiling, but Cas thought she saw her peek at her out of the corner of her eye.

“What about it?”

Ada started tracing her fingers absently along the duvet. “What would we do if we got separated? Like, if they wanted to make one of us leave?”

“I’d pick you up at Heathrow,” Cas said. If it was going to be one of them, they both knew it would be her going first. It should have made her anxious—the Friday contract still there, in the back of her mind, but she felt... at peace with it.

Cas didn’t know how much longer they had in the retreat, how much longer they’d be free of the cameras, but if there was a moment to talk to Ada about her contract, it was this one. Here, away from prying eyes, she might be able to get away with it, but even as she thought it, she felt the clauses of the NDA digging into her.

Yes, she was forbidden from saying anything, but maybe they wouldn’t find out. Maybe her microphone was off, maybe Ada was really good at keeping secrets, maybe...

No matter how much she tried to think through it, though, there was no way Cas could figure out how to tell Ada without getting herself sued.

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