59
I sit with the other girls on the sun lounges and wait for the make-up woman to finish touching up our faces, and the director to decide where and how we should be situated.
It’s ridiculous to be wearing bathing suits at night. But then, everything about this show is ridiculous.
I know that soon the bachelor will step out of the resort and announce who he enjoyed kissing enough to take on a one-on-one date. That woman will win a coveted evening with him and have the advantage of flying to our new destination alone with him on a private jet.
The rest of us will follow tomorrow.
Having an overnight date is a first this season, and the winner will have a huge target on her back in the coming days and, if she lasts that long, weeks.
‘At least I don’t have to worry about it being me.’
The women around me are all gushing and planning, anticipating they’re the one. All except Valérie, who’s been told she won’t get her date with the bachelor until we reach our new destination.
“I’m furious, it’s ridiculous,” she whines. “If there was to be an overnight it should be with me, not with someone who just kisses him. I won the challenge. I fought monsters to win a date. It’s just too much, too much.”
“I think the kissing contest was a good test,” Sona shrugs, “physical compatibility is the most important thing in a marriage.”
Several contestants nod their agreement.
“When he held me against him, it was like we fit like a glove,” Miranda says to Cherry, “you say he tongued you, but I’m telling you he deep-throat tasted my heart.”
“We can’t all be poets,” Silke snaps. “It was a kiss, it was good, the end.”
“It was more than good,” Claire says, her voice wistful, “that man is a dreamboat.”
“We’ve kissed so often he knows my lips like the back of his hand. He’s going to choose me because we’re connected in a very real way,” Cherry shrugs. “The whole thing was a charade. Just wait and see.”
“Ugh. That’s why he would never choose you,” Valérie sniffs, “you have no class. With me, it was a beautiful, sweet, sensuous kiss that held promise. Perhaps it was a charade. Perhaps I’ll win this contest and have an overnight and the first date in our new destination.
I wouldn’t be surprised, after all; he is French, that is the kind of romantic gesture he might make. ”
I say nothing.
I’m still shaking, but doing my best to try to calm myself. I don’t know how I feel after the kissing competition. I hated it, yet his arms hadn’t felt quite as terrifying as I thought they might, not after the initial moments.
‘My first kiss.’
All things being equal, he’d been kind and not forced himself upon me when he realised my reticence.
But part of me, a very, very small part, wished he’d tried harder.
And part of me also wonders why he hadn’t tried to kiss me before now.
I thought it was because I’d told him I wasn’t here for love, or maybe because he might have realised I was traumatised from what happened when I was a child.
But if that was so, then surely he wouldn’t have even attempted anything tonight.
Not that I want it, I mean, obviously I don’t. But..’
“And…Action!”
I look up from where I’ve been pensively studying my toes while my brain was being stupid and realise he’s standing in front of us, watching me.
Meeting his gaze I frown quickly and look back away as he clears his throat.
“Ladies, I want to thank you for an evening full of delights.”
There are giggles from the women, and Claire shouts out, “The pleasure was all ours,” to more laughter.
Shaking his head and smiling, he goes on.
“Alas, there can only be one winner tonight. One woman whose kiss I have on my mind.”
He pauses, as we all know he’s been instructed to do, and I look up, waiting to see who he’ll choose.
Once more he flicks his gaze towards me, so quickly I could almost think I imagined it, before turning his attention to the Greek contestant.
“Vasiliki, will you do me the honour of coming on an overnight one-on-one date with me this evening?”
She nods enthusiastically and steps forward, her grin Cheshire, and all the girls politely applaud, their claws, for the moment, retracted.
All except Valérie, who begins to cry softly.
I make a mental note to take out the Greek in the next challenge, but catch the eye of one of the Zurich twins, and change my mind.