Page 51 of Riding High

Jesus, she was screwed.And not in a good, set-her-panties-on-fire way.

Jed looked up and their eyes collided.Eden hauled in a deep breath as Jed’s eyes dropped to her chest before slowly, too slowly, coming back to her face.He pushed his hand through his hair, his bicep bunching and straining the band of his shirt.Desire flickered then whooshed through his eyes, turning them a burnished gold.Underneath his scruff, a muscle in his tightly clenched jaw ticked and he widened his stance, folding his arms.She knew he wanted her to go to him, while she wanted him to come to her…

It was another battle of wills, one she was determined to win.The man was far too competitive and needed to be taken down a peg or two.Preferably naked in bed, his wrists latched to a bedpost, while she tortured him with chocolate body paint.

Hoo boy, it was hot in the tent.

A pair of feminine arms encircled her and Mick rocked her from side to side.‘There you are!I’ve been looking for you everywhere!’

Eden looked into Mick’s glassy eyes and grinned.Her friend was dressed in tailored shorts and a boxy jacket that was held together with one button, with nothing, except for a pair of sticky boobs, underneath.She looked sensational and had been surrounded by male admirers all day.

She was also happily drunk.‘Do you need some black coffee, Mick?’

‘I need another drink,’ she told Eden, dropping her arms.‘What an amazing day!Have you had fun?’

Eden nodded, smiling.‘So much fun.’

‘It’s great, right?’Mick threaded her arm through Eden’s elbow.‘The first polo match always feels like the start of summer to me.’She shifted from foot to foot and looked around.‘I need another drink.’

Mick needed food.Eden was about to head over to the canapé table to make a plate for them to share when she saw Jed there, his back to them.God, he had the best arse…

‘Talking about polo—’ They hadn’t been, but okay… ‘I’m looking around and thinking of how much hard work goes into making a day like this happen.Thank you for making our upcoming charity match a reality, E.You’ve been an absolute blessing.’

She still wasn’t used to being called E, but she liked it.She smiled at Mick.‘Even though I nearly froze your cat?’

Mick grinned and waved her words away.‘Bizzy was, at most, a little chilled.And really, you’ll laugh about it someday.’

No, she wouldn’t, because she lived in constant fear that Gemma would discover how she’d lost her cat and would shave her head while she slept.She was as obsessed with the cat as Eden was with…

No, admitting that she was obsessed with Jed was a step too far.And sounded a bit too stalker-y.

‘Hey.’

Talk of the sexy devil and he arrives.Eden resisted the urge to stroke a hand down her hair, to tuck it behind her ears, to rock on her heels.Even rumpled, he was cover-of-a-men’s-health-magazine sexy.Eden was sure the lipstick she’d slicked on earlier was long gone, and that her mascara was smudged.She was sure that if she touched her fingertips to her forehead, she’d find micro-droplets of perspiration.

He was hot, while she was simply a hot mess.

He lifted his beer bottle, sipped and swallowed.‘Congratulations on your win,’ Eden said, silently cursing her breathy voice.

‘Yeah, you weren’t half bad,’ Mick blithely told him.

‘I can’t handle your effusiveness, Mick,’ he drawled.

Mick, because she often reverted to being a teenager around her older brother, stuck out her tongue.He bumped her with his big shoulder and looked at Eden.

In the blink of an eye, everyone around them faded away and they were alone.They were all lovers in history: Jack and Rose on the Titanic, intrigued and fascinated.Or Jesse and Céline in the café, silently acknowledging their connection without saying a word.No, maybe they were Elio and Oliver with their smouldering looks expressing their growing desire and confusion about their feelings.And dammit, did her breath have to catch and her heart race?Why did she feel this ache deep within her, something pushing her toward him, desperate to be in his arms?The air between them crackled with electricity and anticipation.

How much longer could they stare at each other until Mick noticed?

Mick, thank God and all His cherubim and seraphim, didn’t.

‘Eden, one of my boobs has fallen off,’ Mick whined, and she was hurtled back to reality.She held out the silicone, adhesive cup and, almost instinctively, Eden and Jed moved closer to her.Thankfully, because Jed was so big, between them they hid Mick’s hand.

‘What are you guys doing?’

Eden jumped at Kit’s voice behind her and in doing so, created a gap for him to see what Mick was holding.‘Lost a boob, Mick?’he asked, laughing.

Mick threw it at his head, Kit ducked, and the cup went sailing past the nose of a man wearing a deerstalker.It landed, with a plop, on the grass outside the tent.