Chapter 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.

Ada smiled back at Cas over her shoulder as they approached the door, and even though the entire villa was behind them, laughing and cheering them on to what they were probably convinced was going to be a night of raucous sex, in that moment, it was only Ada. Only her smile and the way the fairy lights were reflecting in her gorgeous brown eyes.

"Ready?" Ada pressed her palm to the door, her fingers flexing just the slightest bit, like she was having to stop herself from pushing it open immediately.

Cas nodded, her own smile taking over her face, before she grinned back at everyone following them.

"All right, bye, guys!"

"Bye!"

Femi ran up and grabbed Cas in a hug, squeezing her hard enough that Cas could nearly feel the air pressing out of her lungs.

"Have fun. You deserve it," he whispered.

When Femi stepped away, a few others stepped forward in turns—Sienna pulled them both into quick hugs, Freddie grabbed Cas and Ada both round the shoulders at once and pulled them in together. It was like they were disappearing from the villa forever, and it made Cas want to laugh and, god, cry all at once.

"You guys act like we're going off to war," Ada said, rolling her eyes lightly at them as Freddie released them both, their bodies springing apart.

"Well, I don't know what you're going to get up to in there," Freddie said.

Sienna immediately slapped his chest. "Don't be gross."

"Oh no." The apples of Freddie's cheeks flushed pink. "I didn't mean— I meant that, like, they could sneak you out onto a date or something once you're in there. You could be gone for hours!"

Cas laughed and gestured down at her outfit. "I doubt they'd send us anywhere looking like this."

It was barely more than the bikinis that she wore on a day-to-day basis, but the outfit she had Femi grab for her tonight felt even more revealing somehow. It was a simple two-piece set, a camisole top with scalloped lace around her breasts and a pair of tiny shorts with lace trim that, as she walked, tended to ride up so her arse cheeks poked out underneath. It wasn't exactly conservative, especially when compared to some of her bikinis, but it felt daring, wearing this in front of everyone, knowing full well that she'd chosen it with the intention of having Ada find her attractive.

That she'd been putting it on thinking about Ada taking it off her.

She had a few other things tucked away inside the clothes she was holding in her arms, and she was very, very glad that she'd kept those things to herself. She wanted to keep this just for herself. Wanted to keep this just between them.

With a few final goodbyes, Ada finally turned back and pushed the door open. Everyone cheered as they closed the door, and Cas grinned as she heard Sienna start admonishing them all.

"All right, leave them alone." Leo kept cheering, but then there was a muffled grunt and a scuffling outside the door, and, eventually, everything went silent.

"Wow. It's so quiet... I never realized how loud they all are."

Cas turned to find Ada, her arms folded across her middle, cradling her clothes. Her expression was wide with curiosity, her lips parted just slightly as she stared round at the pink and red explosion of a room they were currently standing in.

The walls themselves were white like the rest of the villa, but nearly every inch of wall space was taken up by some piece of furniture or art in shades of red. The wardrobes along the back wall were painted a dark shade of red, the armchair in the corner was red with a light pink accent pillow, the neon sign above it—this one, a pair of lips with a heart-shaped lollipop hanging off the tongue—was red. Every single thing was red.

It was like Christian Grey's red room, come to life.

The focal point of the room, though, was of course the enormous round bed. It had a plush fabric headboard in the shape of a heart and was covered in a crisp white duvet that was a brilliant shock against the red headboard, the throw pillows, and the matching throw along the edge. There was a bucket of champagne sitting beside it and, surrounded by rose petals, an envelope with a massive heart sticker on the back.

Ada turned to Cas, her eyes wide. "I think they bought every piece of red furniture in Europe and put it in this room."

Cas laughed. "Without question."

There was a thick tension in the air, something physical that Cas felt pressing against her chest. She had spent hours, days, weeks with Ada, but this, now...

Cas had been in situations like this dozens of times. In bedrooms with people, the moment rife with potential. In every single one of those scenarios, Cas had known exactly how to behave. Had only felt excitement or anticipation. The thrill of the moment, of having someone's body on hers, more than enough to satisfy.

Here, though.

Despite how similar this situation felt, there was something very different about it this time. Something real that she hadn't felt in too many years.

It was vulnerability. That's what Aisha would have called it.

It was scary, feeling that potential when you were with someone who mattered. But it was also probably what was making Cas's heart squeeze in her chest, and her legs press together in a desperate attempt to relieve the tension.

Cas sat down on the end of the bed and grabbed the envelope, her finger slicing open the seal as Ada started making her way around the room, opening every drawer and door she could get her hands on.

"?‘Cas and Ada,'?" Cas read. "?‘Welcome to the retreat. Cameras will go off approximately thirty minutes after you've entered the room. The neon light will switch off as your signal that filming has ended. You are welcome to use anything in the space, including the hot tub on the back patio. Enjoy your time, xoxo Hot Summer Production.'?" She set the note down on the bed. "I didn't bring a bikini. Did you know there was a hot tub?"

Ada hummed absently, her fingers trailing along the edge of the chest of drawers opposite the bed. She was clearly too preoccupied to care about a hot tub.

"What are you looking for?"

"I don't know." Ada tilted her entire body to the side so she could peer into the wardrobe. "What if there's something really cool hidden in here?"

"There isn't." Cas leaned back onto her hands, her eyes skimming the long line of Ada's legs, the curve of her bum. "The best you've got in here is the drawer under the bed."

She tapped said drawer with her heel, and something rolled over inside. And, oh god, she knew exactly what that was.

"That's a drawer?!"

Ada practically ran over to the bed and tugged the drawer open. Cas lifted her legs just in time, swinging them off to the side so that she didn't get thrown off the bed with Ada's enthusiasm.

Ada started cackling as soon as she looked inside.

"Holy shit, it's, like, a sex shop in here."

She wasn't lying.

There were handcuffs, feathers, riding crops, blindfolds, and different sexy outfits. Ada dropped to her knees and reached into the drawer, pulling more things toward her.

Edible underwear.

Candy bikini.

Body paint.

There weren't any vibrators or anything that Cas would have actually found interesting—it was probably too much of an expense, and after all, it was easier to replace or sanitize a set of handcuffs than it was a whole fucking vibrator—but the sight of everything else Ada had found laid out in a neat row inside the drawer was still enough to make Cas's cheeks heat.

Yes, she knew what was expected of them the moment they walked through the door of the retreat, but it didn't make the reality of this moment any less, well...

"That's quite the collection," Cas said. She had never sounded more middle class than she did in that moment, and she wanted to go stick her head into the hot tub on the back patio and drown herself.

Ada laughed softly, though she sounded less amused and more like she was lost in thought. "It is. Though, I can think of a few things that I'd add."

"Can you?"

Ada hummed and slid her hand up along the outside of Cas's calf.

"I've been thinking about you all day," Ada said softly.

Cas felt like she was going to pass out. She needed to remember that they were on television right now.

And that as much as she wanted to slide off this bed onto the floor and tear Ada's shorts off and—

Cas reached out, her fingers nearly trembling, and threaded her hands through the ends of Ada's hair. It was so soft, the way it flowed over Cas's fingers like water. Everything about Ada was velvet smooth—her hair, her curves, her smile, her laugh. It was hard to be sharp, to be the most pointed version of herself when Cas was around someone like that. Someone who made her want to go easy.

"We don't have to do anything, you know," Cas said. She was twirling the end of Ada's hair between her fingers, trying to stay focused despite the fact that Ada was sliding her hand up along the outside of Cas's thigh. "Just because we're in this room—"

"I know." Ada pressed up onto her knees, sliding forward so that they were practically chest to chest now. If Cas took a deep enough breath, her breasts would brush up against the side of Ada's arm.

And, suddenly, Cas was met with an urgent need to take the deepest breath of her life.

"No, I know." Cas sounded hoarse. "I just wanted to say because, like"—she gestured around at the room—"I feel like there's a lot of pressure to, you know, do stuff," god, she was twelve, "because we're in this room."

Ada either didn't notice or didn't care about the fact that Cas was actively regressing in front of her. She just smirked, the right corner of her mouth raising ever so slightly. "You mean because everyone's going to be asking us what we did first thing tomorrow morning?"

Cas let out a shaky laugh. "Yeah."

She had never been this uncool in her entire life.

She would have turned and run right now if she wasn't so desperately turned on. If she wasn't waiting, waiting, for Ada to touch her.

"I don't mind that people are going to ask tomorrow," Ada said. Her tone was casual, but there was something searing about her eyes when they found Cas's. Something that burned right through Cas's skin and shot straight to her core. "I still want to have a good time tonight."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mm-hmm." Ada shifted forward, and there was absolutely no mistaking her intentions now. She trailed her finger up along Cas's biceps, tracing the threads of ink along her skin, almost like she was sketching out the designs, though Cas knew better. The look in Ada's eyes made it clear that this was all a calculated step toward what she was really after.

"I've been thinking about this for a long time," Ada admitted. She said it casually, like she wasn't lighting fires up and down Cas's body. "What it would be like."

"Have you?"

She was desperate. So fucking weak for this woman.

Ada nodded. "I know we're going to have to wait until they switch these cameras off, but..." She brushed a few strands of Cas's hair off her shoulder, leaned forward, and pressed a kiss right at the start of her collarbone. Everything she wasn't saying lingered in the air between them and though Cas was desperate to know exactly what Ada had in mind, she understood the need for subtlety.

Cas hummed in acknowledgment, her hand sliding to the outside of Ada's thigh. Her tiny shorts had ridden up over her hips, exposing every single inch of her thighs, and that, already, was enough to make Cas combust.

Cas slid forward, her hand slipping along the outside of Ada's thigh, and finally, finally, kissed her.

The spark was immediate. They'd been here before, but the fact that they were alone, that there was no one to interrupt, made everything feel instantly intense. Ada drew in a deep breath as Cas swept her tongue along her lower lip, and Cas couldn't help her smile, couldn't help but graze her teeth along Ada's lip.

Ada groaned and her hair tumbled over her shoulders as she tipped her head back. Cas followed the strands with her gaze, her fingers moving automatically toward the nape of Ada's neck, gathering in the hair there. She would never get enough of this feeling, the way that Ada's hair felt in her hands. The tick of Ada's pulse against Cas's forearm. The curve of Ada's thigh under her hand.

Ada pulled back just far enough to press her forehead to Cas's. "Do you want to drink some of that champagne and stare at that light until it goes out?"

Cas barked a laugh and, in one smooth motion, leaned over to grab the bottle from the ice bucket.