Chapter 17
All the attention has gone straight to Giovanni’s head.
He looks me slowly up and down with an appreciative look on his face, which makes me immediately uncomfortable.
While Porscha is instructing the crew to change camera angles, he leans over to whisper, ‘I like a funny woman. And you’re not bad to look at.
I don’t usually go for brunettes, but for you, I’d make an exception.
You get me?’ He looks very pleased with himself and stands with his legs apart, facing the firepit, hands clasped at his groin.
Oh my God. This empty-headed muscle-mountain is trying to hit on me, even though his lips are still wet from slobbering over Mimi.
He winks at me, making it very clear that if I try really hard, I may be in with a slim chance. What a time to be alive!
‘That’s quite all right,’ I whisper quickly. ‘You’re really not my type.’
Giovanni seems to take this as an opportunity to prove me wrong. While we are told to take five, so that Destiny can get some powder on her too-glowy face, he turns to me.
‘Seriously,’ he says, leaning in. ‘Look at me, bro.’ He flexes his biceps. ‘I’m every woman’s type. I’m God’s young dream.’
I can’t help laughing.
‘I appreciate that you have an ego the size of Japan, but I hate to break it to you, some of us have deeper core values than shiny biceps. But I’m happy to play along until you are recoupled with the love of your life.’
‘Who?’ he says, looking genuinely baffled.
I can’t decide if he has attachment issues or just a really bad memory.
‘Mimi. The frozen-foreheaded girl who is staring right at us, looking like someone just drowned her newborn kitten.’
Giovanni bursts out laughing again and looks over his shoulder at Mimi, who has gone from smiling adoringly at him to stalker vibes in under six seconds. She is not loving watching the two of us do ‘banter’.
Giovanni strokes his man-stubble. ‘Oh yeah. She looks like she’s about to scream her hair out, man. That’s sick. She’s a real live wire.’ He blows her a kiss and Mimi instantly softens. ‘I have that effect on women.’
‘Oh, my God.’ I’m almost choking with laughter now. ‘What’s with the horrendous mixed metaphors and non sequiturs? Are they forcing you to speak like that? Have they given you a script?’
Giovanni looks momentarily panicked but keeps smiling at me. ‘Are you speaking English right now, bro? I have no idea what you just said to me. Are you, like, from Britain?’
My words have flown straight over his head.
‘England, yes. And it’s Libby.’
‘Man, that accent is so sexy. Are you, like, from London?’
‘No.’
‘No?’ He looks taken aback.
‘There are… other cities,’ I say.
He glazes over. He has lost interest. He looks me up and down again and then casts his gaze over to Mimi, who still has her eyes trained like a sniper’s rifle on both of us.
‘Man. You are both smoking hot. If only there was a way the three of us could… you know.’ He waggles his eyebrows at me.
I blink rapidly. ‘Okay. That’s enough for me. I’ll leave you and Mimi to it.’
I don’t care that I’ve been told not to move, I start walking towards the outside kitchen when Porscha barks, ‘Cut!’
She storms over to us and demands that Giovanni takes me to the terrace to ‘talk’.
‘But it’s wet,’ he complains, looking down at his chino-style shorts. Then he backtracks immediately when Porscha’s eyes grow wide with disbelief and she looks at him as though he has suggested that he take charge of filming and directing. ‘But that’s okay. Can Mimi come with us too?’
Giovanni turns to wink at his forceful blonde, standing a few metres from us, hands on hips, head tilted, eyes like a psychotic prowler.
‘Certainly not.’ We watch Porscha stomp over to Mimi and whisper in her ear. To my surprise, Mimi’s face lights up. She nods her head and immediately flies off in the direction of the main villa.
‘I need a drink,’ Giovanni says. ‘It’s pretty tense in here, huh?’
‘Yep. It certainly is.’
‘Want one?’ he asks me. ‘I’ll bring it up to the terrace.’
That’s the first nice thing he has managed.
‘Thank you, Giovanni. That’s very kind of you. I’ll have…’ I lean down towards my tiny microphone head. ‘Can you get me a pineapple juice, please?’
Giovanni heads for the outdoor kitchen.
‘I’ll just go to the Beach Hut first. I need to get some things off my chest,’ I lie. ‘I’ll meet you up on the terrace.’
Once he is out of sight, I make for the blind spot via the Beach Hut, under the pretence I am going to confide my deepest thoughts to the nation. But when I get there, Mimi is coming out with a huge grin on her face. ‘After you,’ she says, pointing to the entrance. She waits for me to go in.
Crap.
‘No hard feelings?’ I say to her.
‘Why would there be hard feelings? It’s just a game, girl. You do what you’ve got to do.’
‘Okay, but just to be clear. I’m not interested in Giovanni. You can have him back as soon as we get a chance to swap,’ I tell Mimi.
‘I like that you think he’s interested in you. But let me tell you, it won’t be your choice. He is into me, and I will steal him off you.’
‘Okay, whatever. I’m just saying there’s no need. I will give him to you.’
‘And I am saying I will steal him off you.’
‘But you don’t have to, because I am giving him to you.’
We are squabbling over him like he’s a piece of meat. It’s exhausting.
‘He is into me. Not you,’ she says huffily, stomping away.
Pointless. Such a pointless conversation.
I go into the Beach Hut and sit down wearily.
Some people just have to have the last word.
Luckily, I’m one of them too. I’ll have to make this quick.
I am hoping that Cam is making his way to the blind spot, and I am anxious to see him.
I’d like to know what Porscha has planned for me and Giovanni because whatever it is, it’s not happening.
She wants to paint me as a villain, a homewrecker, that I’m not one of the girls. Well, we’ll see about that.
‘Erm, hi there.’ I gulp nervously as I stare into a camera lens fixed into a wall.
It is surrounded by an elaborate pink picture frame.
‘I, erm, just wanted to say that I can see Giovanni is totally into Mimi, who is a lovely, lovely girl. And I would definitely not want to stand in the way of true love. Which she seems to think it is.’ I am babbling because I have not thought this through.
‘But to be honest he’s just asked me if I’d be interested in a threesome so I’m not sure he’s feeling it as much as her.
That might be the Italians for you. Or maybe he’s polyamorous.
He loves a mixed metaphor, I know that much.
’ I shrug nonchalantly, run my hands down my super soft, figure-hugging dress that Cam gave me, to straighten it out.
‘Anyway, we’ll see what happens, but I’m sure it’ll all work out for them. ’
I smile sweetly to camera and slide out of there. Instead of turning right to go back to the main villa, I turn left and flatten my back to the wall, inching along to the blind spot. Cam pulls me in close behind the bin and disables my microphone.
‘Did you see the look Mimi was giving me?’ I whisper.
‘Oh man. You are going to light up our screens, Libby. Just keep being yourself and you’ll be fine.’
I give him a look of relief.
‘I put the fire extinguisher back, by the way. Good to know you’ve had training.’ He can barely speak for giggling.
I roll my eyes. ‘Please don’t air that to the world. God, everyone is going to think I’m such an idiot.’
We start giggling quietly into each other’s shoulders.
‘I’ll try and find out what Porscha’s up to, but from what I have seen, you can more than hold your own out there. You’ve been brilliant so far.’
It’s exactly what I need to hear. Our bodies are pressed up against the wall. I can feel the firmness of his body against mine. My breasts are almost popping out of my dress. He hesitates and moves back slightly to give me more room. Our faces are an inch apart. I want to kiss him so badly.
‘You better go before someone notices you’re missing,’ he says, breaking the spell. ‘By the way, you look beautiful in that dress.’
I warm at the compliment and bite my lip seductively, lost in his kind eyes, his gentle tone and his overall niceness. He feels like home. Like fun. Like nights lying on a fur rug in front of a roaring fire. Like a whole lifetime of joy just waiting for us to realise it.
‘Don’t look at me like that,’ he whispers in my ear, before pulling away to give me a look that suggests the exact opposite. He opens his mouth to say something but thinks better of it.
There’s an energy between us. He can feel it. His eyes search my face.
‘Christ, Libby,’ he pleads in a low voice. He steps closer and runs a hand lightly down my arm. ‘We shouldn’t.’
Yes, we fudging should. It’s the blind spot.
The seconds tick desperately by as my heart thumps in my chest.
Here we go again. Kissing moment take three.
I reach up and pull him to me.
He smiles and blinks slowly. ‘Are you sure about this?’
I can barely get the words out. ‘Never been surer.’
His warm lips touch mine, tentatively at first, gently caressing, then in the next breath, he surprises me by really going for it. I match his passion and arch into him.
This is everything I imagined and more. It’s like fire surging through me, liquid gold powering through my veins. He breaks off panting to give me a bewildered look.
He can feel it too.
He smiles at me before deftly switching on the microphone and disappearing into the darkness.
My heart is pounding. My lips are tingling. My head is in a complete spin. I lean back against the wall to recover. After a few seconds, I clear my throat and make my way to the terrace all flustered.
I. AM. FALLING. FOR. HIM.