He is clearly only after one thing. My brain. Just then Cam’s phone bursts to life. He presses the button on the dashboard to Bluetooth the call. It’s Porscha. Cam slides his gaze to me and raises a finger to his lips.
‘Cam, honey. Thanks for dropping my walkie talkie off. If I’d known, I would’ve made sure I was in the office to receive it personally. How did it go at the main villa? All sorted?’
Honey?
‘Yes. All sorted. Just on my way back to the holding villa now.’
‘Shame. I thought we could get together tonight. To go over the… schedules. Give them a thorough going over to make sure we haven’t missed anything.’
She is making it sound filthy.
‘That’s okay,’ Cam says quickly. He has obviously detected an ulterior motive. ‘They’re all done and checked.’ He gives me a grateful look.
‘Are they?’ She sounds dissatisfied. ‘Okay. Well, how about you head back to base for a debriefing? It’s a while since anyone debriefed me.’
This too sounds like pure filth. I wonder again about that mountain of condoms she gave him. Is she hoping to test them all individually? That’s quite the quality check.
‘I would but I’m chaperoning our British contestant. Chap 3 went down with a stomach bug, remember? So, I’m standing in until we find a replacement.’
‘Not a problem. I’ll send Jake over to keep her company. He’s losing three of his contestants tomorrow anyway when they go in the villa. I’ll text him now. Which villa are you staying in? Is it Yucatan twelve?’
I gulp, suddenly feeling distraught at losing Cam so soon. Just as we are starting to get to know each other.
He shoots me a look. ‘Er no, Porscha. Thanks, but it’s fine. I have all my equipment set up ready to do the music soundbites. I’m gonna be working all night. So, no need to send Jake. We’ll work something out tomorrow.’
There’s a silence before she tuts loudly down the phone. Porscha does not sound happy.
‘Fine,’ she says tightly. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow then.’
Cam clicks off the call and exhales. ‘Looks like I’ve escaped for another night at least.’
My heart does a little flip. I’m sure he only wants to stay with me to escape Porscha, but a tiny part of me hopes otherwise…
Three hours later we have feasted on goats’ cheese and crispy bacon salad and have sung our way through most of tomorrow’s playlist.
‘Top up?’ I ask, wandering over to the table to pour more wine into Cam’s glass. I’m a terrible influence on him. I lean over him, making sure not to knock any of the screens, cables and mini mixing desk laid out. He has been working away diligently while I’ve been singing along from the sofa.
‘I love that you have all these famous songs slowed down or speeded up just to fit each scenario. The being dumped clip is a howler!’ I giggle.
‘What do you mean?’ Cam says looking up.
‘Oh, come on,’ I put my drink down so that it doesn’t slosh over the sides. ‘Go on now go! Walk out the door,’ I sing at the top of my lungs. ‘While the poor sod does the walk of shame out of the actual villa door.’ I’m laughing hard at the very thought of it. ‘Imagine? If it’s not humiliating enough, you’ve got throwing out music to see you on your way.’
‘I know. We’re awful people.’
We lock eyes.
‘Would you feel emotionally able to handle the show? Given your motivations for flying all the way over here just to make some guy jealous?’
‘And to give my sister and her fiancée some space,’ I reason. ‘I’m not completely insane. Today has been the best day of my entire life but I’d hate to get you into any trouble.’
‘Wow. You’d give up the chance to win one hundred thousand dollars just so I don’t get into trouble?’
I nod slowly. ‘Well, when you put it like that… I do sound insane.’
Suddenly I’m aware of the music changing to a slow romantic tune. I sip my wine to keep me from staring into those soulful eyes of his. Each sip feels laced with a frisson of something illicit. The atmosphere crackles between us. He picks his wineglass up and necks it.
‘You are a terrible corrupting influence,’ he says.
