Free Confessions of a Bad Bridesmaid by Jennifer Rae

some time. So she said nothing more and turned to head back up the stairs.
    * * *
    ‘Edward, I can explain. I was jet lagged and I hadn’t eaten in two days, and Fiona was upset, and that champagne just went to my head...’
    Olivia had wrapped her fluffy coat around her but she was still cold, and they hadn’t even left the house yet. They were in the mud room, pulling on wellies and fighting two Irish Wolfhounds for space.
    ‘Here.’ Edward pulled something plasticky and puffy from the closet and handed it to Olivia. A coat. A big, ugly, puffy coat.
    ‘What’s this?’
    ‘You’ll freeze to death in that pathetic thing you call a coat, and I’m in no mood to talk to the authorities today. Put this on. It’s one of Bunny’s.’
    Bunny wore this ? It didn’t look like anything Bunny would wear, but when she slipped it on she knew there was no way she was taking it off. It was lined with wool and the warmest thing she’d ever had on her body.
    Edward opened the door and between the dogs and the coat she managed to bump into him as she passed. His hot breath hit her cheek and a warm trickle of heat flooded her veins. She’d never known a man to emit as much heat as Edward did. Nor had she ever known a man to smell as good as he did.
    She pushed past, ignoring the bubbles that had popped in her belly.
    ‘Edward, I’m so sorry...’ she began again once they were outside, trudging through a thin layer of frost and ice.
    ‘Stop apologising.’ Edward’s hands were shoved into his pockets and the collar of his grey coat was up. ‘You had a rough day. You drank too much champagne. It happens.’
    ‘But I... I...’ Threw myself at you. Tried to kiss you. Heat rushed up and burned Olivia’s cheeks. As if someone like Edward would ever kiss her .
    She sneaked a quick look at him. Today he was even taller and more handsome. Even more unattainable. He probably kissed tall, elegant women with names like Binky and Squidge. Women whose Daddies owned empires and who spent the weekends skiing in the Alps. Not trashy, try-hard foreign girls like her.
    ‘You needed help. I helped you. It was nothing.’
    ‘It wasn’t nothing. What if one of the others had found me out there on the terrace? Drunk.’
    She shuddered as she thought of Casper. What if he had found her instead of Edward? She couldn’t see him carrying her up the stairs—it might have crumpled his jacket.
    ‘Thank you, Edward. For listening to my drunken rant and for taking me to bed.’ She gulped. ‘And for ignoring my propensity to throw myself at strange men,’ she added quietly.
    She saw his face turn but he didn’t say anything. Instead he pointed to a fork in the road up ahead that led to a muddy pathway.
    ‘I want to show you something,’ he said as he walked alongside her.
    When they got to the rise, the valley was spread out below them. Although there was a slight fog Olivia could see a patchwork of fields and acres of winter wildflowers. It felt magical. As if she’d entered another world.
    Edward held her elbow as they headed towards an outcrop of rocks. He helped her find a foothold and they climbed to the very top. The rock was so large they could both stand on it. Edward moved closer, his sleeve against hers. She couldn’t feel it but she knew his skin was just beneath a few layers of fabric. The thought made her tingle.
    Stupid, stupid, Olivia , she berated herself. Always wishing for things she couldn’t have. Always falling for the wrong men. Not that she was falling for Edward. She just wanted to feel his skin. That was just lust. Hot, dirty lust. She glanced at his profile. So handsome, so strong. She’d never been with a man like that. She’d never even been able to talk to a man like that. And now here she was—stuck on a big rock with a man like that.
    Edward moved to the edge and sat down.
    ‘Come. Sit,’ he ordered, holding out his hand.
    She took it, still mesmerised by his jaw and the way it was twitching. Her skin