An urgency I have no intention of saying no to consumes me, as I pull Henry back inside my villa, the door shutting softly behind us, sealing us in our own private bubble. Neither of us is in the position to promise each other much of anything, but we have tonight.
The next morning, I wake up in a half-made bed with a pink hibiscus on the pillow next to me and a note written on a scrap of paper in scraggly handwriting that definitely does not match all the various notes we received from Henry at the château.
Couldn’t bear to wake you. See you soon. xH.
Last night, I fell asleep to the sight of his chest rising and falling as he slept soundly beside me with his arm pulling me to his side. I was scared to fall asleep, because I knew in the morning, he would be gone. Unless we wanted our secret hookup on national television.
Today is my villa date. One last chance for Henry and me to have “alone” time before I leave for home the moment our date is through. I’ll be sent back to LA to wait and find out if I’m in the final three. If so, I’ll be invited back to the château for the season finale.
I’m thankful to be going on the second date night, because even though this place is a slice of heaven, I don’t think I’d survive watching Henry go out with a new girl every night. I walk outside to find the cleaning crew descending on Sara Claire’s room, and my chest twinges with regret as I realize she’s gone and I didn’t even get to say bye.
After a late lunch, Ash, Irina, and Gretchen get to work, and for the first time I don’t micromanage Irina to death as she attempts to dress me. I let them primp and buff and moisturize me until my hair is tossed into loose beach waves and Irina is buckling the strap of my wedge, an espadrille with baby-blue bows over the toe. The dress she’s picked out is a sleeveless swiss-dot white sundress. It’s the exact thing you’d wear after lounging on the beach all day.
The only thing I semifought them on was the spray tan, but Ash insisted. “You haven’t been here long enough to get a glowy tan, and the sun will kill you anyway.”
So by the time Mallory arrives at my door in a little golf cart, I look like I’m in full-on vacation mode even if I don’t entirely feel it.
As Zeke drives, Mallory sits on the backward-facing second row and looks over her clipboard. “We’re looking for lots of moony shots tonight. Lots of staring into each other’s eyes and maybe some kisses.”
“Wow,” I deadpan. “That sounds so romantic.”
She waves me off just as we hit a massive bump, the three of us popping up into the air.
“Sorry!” Zeke says, even though he doesn’t sound like it and I’m pretty sure he’s having a little too much fun manning the golf cart.
“It’ll be like we’re not even there,” Mallory tells me.
“Oh, you mean I’ve been filming a TV show this whole time? I hardly noticed.”
Zeke makes a hard left, and Mallory slides across her bench seat. “This is notThe Fast and the Furious. You are not Vin Diesel.”
Zeke chortles into his fist.
We wind around the property until we pull up to a small private dock where a massive sailboat full of camera crew is waiting. There are actual boat crew too in white shorts and white polos, but my eyes immediately search out Henry, who is watching me despite Beck talking directly to him.
I give him a little wave, and he winks.
“Was that some off-camera action I spied?” asks Zeke.
Immediately, my brain goes into middle-school mode, and I’m scared I’m in trouble. “What? No. I mean, maybe. We’re supposed to like each other, aren’t we? Isn’t that the whole point?”
“Chill,” says Zeke with a laugh.
“Maybe don’t tell women to chill,” Mallory says as she storms off down the ramp.
“You think she likes me?” he asks once the coast is clear.
I look at him with utter disgust. “Did you really just ask me that?”
“It was a joke,” he calls after me, but I’ve already filed it away in my sister vault. “Don’t tell Anna!”
Beck runs up to meet me and takes a quick look at Ash, Irina, and Gretchen’s work. “In the immortal words of Jim Carrey,smoking!”
I heave in a deep breath. “Thanks, I think.”
“You ready for this?” she asks. “You’ll be miked up, but it’s going to be pretty loud out there, so really we just want some—”
“Moony shots,” I finish for her. “Mallory already told me.”
