Chapter Eleven
Troy
“I’m not riding that! It’s too big! And it has those weird-looking spots on it! What’s wrong with it?”
I snorted with barely-disguised amusement as one of the contestants—a brunette whose name I couldn’t quite remember—glared at the producers and folded her arms as we all gathered at the old stables on the ranch. Today’s group activity was a leisurely horse ride over to the forested side of the property, where we’d all be camping tonight, and some of the women weren’t too happy at the prospect of being in the great outdoors for so long.
The aforementioned brunette was gesturing at the spotted Appaloosa horse which had been assigned to her, and her producer looked exasperated. “It’s part of the show, Elise. If we don’t get a nice shot of you riding, then we—“
“No, it looks dangerous!” the brunette—whose name was apparently Elise—cut in.
I saw Eden and her colleague Candice shaking their heads and sighing, and I grinned. “Hey, Elise,” I said. “It’s not too big or dangerous. Watch this.”
I jumped up onto my own horse, which was standing next to me, and I slid my feet into the stirrups before grabbing the reins and doing a quick circle around the yard. “See?” I called out before coming to a stop. “Easy.”
Eden smiled over at me and mouthed the words ‘thank you’, and I winked at her. I hadn’t gotten a chance to speak with her since yesterday after the big reveal of Blair’s betrayal, but I didn’t mind. I had a pretty good idea why—she must’ve been in Blair’s room for ages, sorting out that whole drama, and by the time she was done, it was probably late. She looked like she’d barely slept a wink, and Blair looked much the same.
I knew I’d get a chance to speak with her as soon as we’d set up the camp after the horse ride, so I wasn’t stressing about that. Still, I was nervous, apprehensive and excited all at the same time at the thought of what might go down when we talked.
What if she informed me that it was too late and she no longer wanted me after all these years had gone by? It had all been because of a big bullshit misunderstanding courtesy of Blair, but that didn’t mean things hadn’t changed. Maybe we were no longer compatible.
There was no point worrying about it now, though. I just had to wait and see.
“I still don’t think it looks safe,” Elise whined.
“Oh, for god’s sake, just get on, you ditzy moron!” Anya snapped from nearby. She was still riling everyone up as the ‘mean girl’ of the season, and I had to admit, she was doing a good job of making everyone dislike her. The producers had specifically asked me not to cut her during an elimination ceremony anytime soon, because the amount of drama her harsh words created amongst the other contestants was apparently ‘pure gold’.
Elise looked deeply offended at her words, and Eden let out a sigh. “Ladies, calm down. Elise, why don’t I get on your horse and show you how safe it is?”
“No, don’t do that,” Anya said, rolling her eyes. “She should just suck it up and do it.”
Eden held her hands up in a placating gesture. “It’s okay, I’ll be quick, and it might make her feel better.”
She hoisted herself up on the horse and slid her feet into the stirrups before shuffling herself forward on the saddle a bit. “See?” she said. “Totally safe…argh!”
As she spoke, one of the saddle straps somehow snapped or came loose, and Eden went flying off the horse’s back as the saddle slid off to the left. I reacted fast, sprinting over, and I grabbed her before she could hit the hard, dusty ground. She’d already gained a bit of momentum from the quick fall, so we almost tumbled all the way down, but I managed to stay standing in the end, with Eden pressed against me, held tightly in my arms.
Her face was only a breath away from mine, and I could see the expression changing in her eyes in a mere blink. First there was shock and fear from the fall, then a heady, fiery look of desire as she realized how close we were. She subconsciously bit her lower lip, and I almost lost it right then and there as her eyes danced over my face, searching for affirmation.
Fuck, I wanted to kiss her so bad.
I almost did, but then I snapped back to reality and remembered where I was as Elise’s shrill voice filled my ears. “See? I told you guys it was unsafe!” she shrieked before stomping away.
The moment was officially over.
“Shit, someone’s partly cut one of the straps,” Candice said, picking up the saddle and looking it over. “That’s why it fell off. It was checked just a few minutes ago so it must’ve been done pretty recently.”
She dropped the saddle and trudged over to us as I gently placed Eden back on the ground. “You okay?” she asked, lightly touching Eden’s shoulder.
“Yeah,” Eden replied, her cheeks flushing a deep pink. “Just a bit shaken up.”
Before Candice could reply, Glenn’s booming voice filled the air around us. “That was fantastic! We’ll edit the shot a bit to make it look like it was one of the girls on the horse. Eden’s hair is brown so we’ll just pretend it was one of the brunettes, and the viewers will eat it up, seeing Troy save her life.”
“What?” I said, my forehead creasing with confusion.
He grinned at me. “Normally we get stunt actors to pull off stuff like that, but that was real live action, and it looked romantic too, with you saving her from falling like that! Makes for great TV.”
Christ, Eden could’ve been seriously hurt, and all he cared about was the ratings on his show.
“I think someone intended for Elise to fall off this horse,” I said, gesturing to the saddle. “One of the straps was cut.”
He waved his hand to shush me. “Don’t say that so loudly. Don’t want to freak out the girls,” he said in a low voice. “I already have the producers looking for this supposed crazy saboteur contestant, but the last thing I need is all sixteen of them getting scared. It’ll ruin their vibe.”
“Right,” I replied, barely hiding my sarcasm. “Who cares if someone gets hurt? As long as the vibe is good.”
He ignored me and called out to everyone else. “Get a new saddle on this horse, guys!”
He strode away, and one of the other producers rolled his eyes and pulled out his two-way radio to call for one of the stable hands. While he did that, Eden turned to me and gave me an embarrassed smile as she dusted herself off.
“Thanks,” she said softly. “I could’ve really hurt myself if you hadn’t caught me.”
“No worries,” I replied. We were still standing quite close to each other, and I could see Candice throwing us a vaguely suspicious glance, so I hastily added in a loud voice, “I would’ve done the same for anyone, Ms. Zamora,” and took a big step back from her.
Eden’s smile grew wider at that. “Ms. Zamora? Really?” she mouthed, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
“Had to make it look like I don’t really know you,” I replied, nodding towards Candice, who was now looking down at a clipboard. “She was giving us some weird looks.”
Eden nodded. “I figured. Well, anyway, I have to go do some damage control on Elise, or she’ll never get on this horse while we still have daylight for filming.”
“Tell her she’ll get a free pair of Louboutins if she gets on it. That should do the trick.”
Eden snorted with laughter as she headed off, and she turned her head over her shoulder and looked back at me once she’d reached the area where Elise and some of the others were standing now. I couldn’t help turning the corners of my lips up in a smirk, because I had the answer to my earlier question from the look in her eyes alone.
She definitely still wanted me.