CHAPTER1
HESTIA
‘So tell me, cowboy, what’s your favourite thing to ride?’
I pinned Jesse with my eyes as I said it, but it was Cole who almost sprayed beer over his cards, the poor fucker still adjusting to my delivery.
Lottie smirked, shaking her head.
‘Hestia, girl, you’re a damn riot. How can someone who sounds just as ladylike as Lottie here come out with shit like that?’ Bailey said, slapping the table as she issued a dirty cackle.
I shrugged, still focused on breaking Jesse’s stare. There wasn’t even an inkling of a smile, nothing. Damn. Fucking hotanda good poker face.
‘Oh, don’t be fooled by the accent. Lottie’s just the other side of my coin, as Cole’s been finding out.’ I glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow. He was grinning now, glancing back at Lottie with the same besotted expression he’d worn ever since I got here. ‘It’s just that where she chooses dignity, I always choose violence.’
There was a pause, everyone waiting for Jesse’s response. Lottie gave me a knowing smile, which I returned.
‘I know what you’re trying to do here,’ Jesse drawled, taking his time as he looked back at his cards, utterly unruffled. ‘And there’s no way you’re getting one up on me through distraction.’
It’d only been a few days since I’d arrived at the Diamond Back ranch for a few weeks away from all the shit back in London, but I was getting impatient. The flirting had been hardcore, even by my own standards. Trouble was, this guy was a little too much like me. He was willing to push it further than others would, utterly sure of himself and very aware of just how fucking tasty he was – from biceps that strained against his shirtsleeves to the all-American, Old Hollywood chiselled face.
He was also all too aware that he was making me wait, despite having already fucked me with his eyes about a dozen times.
So, I decided something on the spot. When we got to it for real, which I guessed would be any time in the next hour or so, I’d make him beg for it.
‘Answer the question, then,’ I replied, leaning in against the tall-backed chair, elbow on the armrest. ‘Or I’ll give you a real distraction.’
That did it. His dark, smoky grey eyes flicked onto mine then dipped down to my chest, where I knew the top buttons of my shirt were pulled taut. Shifting in his chair, he refocused on his cards.
I had him. A surge of triumph coursed through me, and I tingled with the urge to tear his shirt open with one hand and rip his belt off with the other.
‘Well, let’s see then,’ he said, just as slowly as before; but this time he wasn’t quite able to stop himself from giving me a quick glance, the corner of his mouth curving up. ‘We’ve got bulls, mean sons-of-bitches but over pretty quick – kinda similar to the broncs.’ Cole snorted as he studied his own cards. ‘And then there’s the regular old horses here on the ranch, but that’s nothing. I’ve been riding ’bout as long as I’ve been walking, so . . . that leaves buckle bunnies, I guess.’
‘Okay, I’m out,’ Bailey announced, shaking her head with a smile in Jesse’s direction as she stood up, glancing between us. ‘I’m training with Darcy tomorrow, so I’m gonna leave y’all to it.’
Lottie started giggling, waving to Bailey as she rounded the table and headed across the vast living room.
I paused, focusing on my best friend for a moment. The lightness in her laugh was unlike anything I’d heard from her in years, maybe even since university. Her whole demeanour had changed in the couple of months she’d been here, as though she’d finally shaken off the weight of London, a job she hated, and Kyle, ex-boyfriend and professional prick.
It made me so insanely happy to see it.
I’d never known that kind of love, not even with Cal, my ex of five years. Passion, yes, friendship and a shared love of tattoos and music, definitely, but somehow, nothing deeper. We were both messed up, I knew that. Products of dysfunctional parents and traumatic childhoods. Somehow, I’d hoped – tried – for a while to connect through that. As it turned out, neither one of us had been brave enough to talk about any of it, so the soft, vulnerable and breakable bits had remained locked down tighter than ever.
Cole pulled Lottie up onto his lap, his own expression matching her joy as he brushed a thumb over her cheek, watching her laugh. I almost had to look away – the love in their touch was so intense that it felt wrong to intrude.
This time, when I caught Jesse’s eye again, I saw the last of his own contemplative glance, as though his thoughts mirrored mine. He quickly smiled in a way that reset my thoughts firmly back on him, on what that mouth would feel like on mine.
‘Anyone want some snacks?’ he asked, placing his cards face down. ‘Another beer?’
Cole and Lottie put in their orders before Cole resumed his poker tutorial. I could tell Lottie wasn’t really listening by the way she was watching his lips, playing with one of her curls absent-mindedly.
‘Hestia?’ Jesse asked as he rounded the table towards me, circling his shoulder as he did so as though it was bothering him. ‘Drink? Snacks?’
I pushed my chair back and stood, moving just far enough into his personal space to make myself clear as I flicked my hair over my shoulder.
‘I’ll give you a hand,’ I offered, keeping my voice low. He raised an eyebrow, fighting another smile. ‘With the snacks, you perv.’
He laughed then, unable to hold it back. Lottie and Cole looked up together.
