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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.

‘Shit, I’ve lost my boob,’ Mick moaned, looking forlorn. She tried to shove her glass into Eden’s hand. ‘Hold this, I’m just going to get it.’

Eden gripped Mick’s hand, knowing that claiming the boob was a bad idea. The tent was already buzzing with laughter, trying to suss out who threw the insert; Mick didn’t need to make a tit– bad pun– of herself by retrieving it.

‘Just leave it, Mick,’ Eden hissed.

Mick slapped her hand against her chest. ‘But now my boobs are uneven!’ she wailed.

‘Your real boobs always look good to me,’ Kit drawled.

Jed sent his teammate a death stare. ‘Do you want me to end you?’ he growled. Eden caught Kit’s eye, shook her head and widened her eyes. There was teasing and then there was playing with fire. Messing with Mick’s sister was a good way to get incinerated. Kit, insouciant as always, just grinned.

The man had the common sense God gave a pot plant.

‘Eden…’

Ah, shit. Henry . Eden spun around and plastered a smileon to her face. While she was fine discussing Mick’s sticky-boob malfunction with Jed and Kit, she didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of Henry knowing Mick was currently minus one.

‘Henry, hi. Enjoying the day?’

‘Very much so,’ Henry replied. His eyes landed on Mick’s chest, and he frowned when he saw her clutching her jacket together.

Because he was a nice guy, he was about to offer if he could help, something that would skyrocket Mick’s embarrassment.

She shook her head and saw Henry’s quick frown and even quicker nod.

She sent him a grateful smile. ‘I had a look at Velour’s menu. I’m looking forward to trying their breaded pork cutlets.’

Henry flashed a smile. ‘I’m also looking forward to our date.’

Crap, he used the D-word. Eden bit her lip, half-turned and looked at Jed, who was marble still.

Was that a growl she’d heard? Her eyes skittered from his face down his body, her attention caught by his clenched fist at his side.

His other hand wrapped so tightly around his beer bottle he might snap it in two.

That he didn’t like the idea of her going on a date with Henry was six-foot-high, flashing-neon-sign obvious.

Damn. It wasn’t like she was deliberately trying to make him jealous; she wasn’t that keen on this being a date either.

It was pretty hard to spend hours in a fancy restaurant with a guy– no matter how nice and good-looking he was– when you desperately wanted another man to pin you up against a wall and kiss you stupid.

How had it come to this?

But she’d made her bed, and now she had to lie on its scratchy sheets. Eden sent Henry a quick smile. ‘I’ll see you later, Henry,’ she said, reaching for Mick’s hand. ‘Mick, come with me.’

She needed to put space between her and Jed, and if that meant her using Mick’s boob situation, or lack of it, to get out of Dodge, then that’s what she would do.