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Troy laughed, catching Aaron’s move. “Perhaps, but you’d have to actually get the votes for that to be a reality.”
The redhead scowled playfully before assuring Troy that he’d be just fine. Cocky, that one.
Our host turned back toward the camera. “We’ll be filming everything in the house, but don’t worry, anything explicit will be filtered out by our tech team so we don’t traumatize our audience,” Troy said with a wink to the camera. “Despite the name, there will be no dick pics from us here onLove on Display.”
I laughed, enjoying Troy’s little play on words.What? He was punny.
“Instead of having confessional moments like on other shows, we’re going to let you watch it all unfold on camera instead of letting the housemates feed you lines. The point of this is to communicate and be open with your partners, not keep things bottled up and only share it with the audience. The couple that puts in the work and really puts their love on display and has the most votes at the end of our experiment will go home with a one hundred thousand dollar prize!” Everyone cheered loudly, champagne glasses lifted in salute. That money would be life-changing, even split with a partner.
Troy turned toward the other camera. “And it is up to you, the viewers, to make that happen. Because what happens in the villa certainly doesn’t stay in the villa. Not with our cameras watching.”
Troy grinned and motioned to the enormous home behind him. “I’ll be seeing you guys for your first challenge in a couple of days. For now, go, explore, have fun, and most importantly, put yourLove on Display!”
We all cheered, glasses raised high, as Troy finished with his cute sign-off line.
“That’s a wrap on Troy!” a cameraman shouted. “You guys can go ahead. We’ll film you heading up to the villa and the stationary cameras will pick up the rest.”
I placed my glass on the table and turned toward Diego, who still had his arm around my shoulders.
“Ready for this?” he asked, his question laced with innuendo as his eyes raked down my body. He was asking about much,muchmore than the house tour.
“Not at all,” I answered with a breathy laugh, responding to the actual questionandthe implied one. “But let’s go!”
Diego gently took my hand and led me along the path toward the house. The others were all around us, chattering excitedly while pointing out the infinity pool to the left and the garden area to the right.
The big white villa was dazzling against the Caribbean blue sky, and I had a feeling I was walking toward my destiny.
Or, ya know, something less cheesy than that.
* * *
With Zanderand Viv leading the charge into the house, the rest of us followed, hot on their heels. From the brief interaction we had earlier, Viv seemed sweet, and I just had this feeling she and I would be fast friends. As soon as we neared the villa, Viv tore her arm out of Zander’s and sprinted over toward a big cabana. It was open on three sides, covered by a wooden lattice type thing, and the last wall was against the house.
“Look at this!” she cried.
There were three couches set up in a horseshoe around a coffee table with a big red phone on it.
“This must be the central meeting spot,” I ventured, looking up at the ceiling and finding an array of cameras pointed down at the seating and a few around the edges of the space. My guess was that this was where we’d sit when Troy called to tell us about the challenges and deliver news about who was spending the weekend together on the other island once the viewers had voted.
“That makes sense,” Zander said. “Let’s check out what else we’ve got going on.”
The ten of us stepped inside the villa and explored every nook and cranny.
Downstairs had a massive kitchen and dining area, all done with white marble and cabinets. A double stove, two ovens, two fridges, and a table big enough to seat all of us, plus a few extra people. There was a living room with comfortable-looking couches, a big TV, and a small array of DVDs in the entertainment unit. A handful of board games were in the hutch, and there was a gym down a few stairs right off the kitchen. There were two small bathrooms down here, and after oohing and aahing at the view through the expansive windows, we headed upstairs.
The landing led to a massive room full of wardrobes lining the walls; it looked like one huge walk-in closet for all of us. This space had to be twice the size of my bedroom back home. Someone had labeled the various wardrobes, and when I opened mine, I found my bags neatly stacked inside.
The closet of my dreams led to a makeup room. There was a long table with mirrors spaced throughout, and tons of designer brand makeup on the tabletop. Product placement, check!
The bathroom had four walk-in shower stalls, all tiled with sandstone-colored marble and divided by glass that had a privacy band running through the center to hide the naughty bits from the cameras and each other. Mostly from the cameras, though, because all it took was someone tall and close enough to see everything.
The bathroom up here had four sinks and there were four toilets closed off from view, thankfully. I followed a small hall and found the bedroom.
Yes.Thebedroom. As in one.
Five king-sized beds were evenly spaced throughout, each with three-foot high privacy walls on the sides aside from a small gap for entrance, meaning we were all buddied up unless someone was sleeping on the floor.
“Dibs!” Kayla announced. She strutted over to the bed farthest from the window. “I don’t want the sun hitting me in the face first thing in the morning.”
