of infomercials before he’d finally fallen asleep after his shower, but he was used to having to wake and be instantly ready so he vaulted upright instead.
Sadie backed into the room, pushing the door shut with her foot, and turned around. She met Kent’s bleary gaze. ‘You ordered this, I assume?’
He nodded. ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.’ He patted the bed. ‘Put it here.’
Sadie plonked it where he indicated. She lifted the metallic covering on one of the plates. A full cooked breakfast greeted her—bacon, eggs, sausages, fried onions, tomatoes, and baked beans.
Her stomach growled at the waft of cooked meat and she started to salivate.
Her fat cells did too.
It looked so damn good. But she knew she couldn’t indulge. In just a few shorts days her pants were already looser. And she’d be seeing Leo soon.
She replaced the lid and picked up one of the pieces of perfectly browned toast. ‘Thanks,’ she said, nibbling at the dry corner.
Kent scrunched his face as he looked up at her. She was wearing some baggy yoga-style pants to go with her baggy T-shirt. It was the unsexiest get-up he’d seen in his life. But even it didn’t manage to keep the curvy figure beneath in check.
The curvy figure she was obviously trying to straighten out by depriving it of adequate nutrition. That was it? She was just going to eat one piece of dry toast?
‘You don’t want any more?’
‘I never eat much breakfast,’ Sadie lied as she bent over slightly and poured herself a cup of tea from the small metal teapot with a leaking lid. ‘Usually just need a cuppa and I’m good.’
Her gaze flicked to his momentarily but she quickly looked away. She didn’t expect or want him to know about the demons that drove her to this crash diet.
She doubted a he-man of his ilk would understand.
Their enforced proximity was bad enough without laying herself totally bare to him.
Kent watched as she pulled her gaze away and her hair swung back and forth across her shoulders at the activity. It was a tangle of waves this morning. As if she’d spent the night in a wind tunnel.
‘And I suppose you’re going to eat nothing but celery and salads again today?’
Sadie sat cross-legged on her bed, facing the television. A news show was on. ‘Carrots, actually,’ she said primly.
Kent stared at her for a moment, then shook his head. He was on a road trip with a rabbit. He’d never understood women who obsessed over what they perceived to be every figure flaw and every calorie they shoved in their mouths. He’d dated his share and they were, without exception, boring.
And Sadie not realising just how gorgeous she looked was nothing short of criminal. Was she anorexic?
Or just screwed up by one too many magazine covers?
Kent eyed the piece of toast that she was nibbling, contemplating his next words carefully because he wanted to say them, to get involved in this juvenile silliness, about as much as he wanted to saw off the top of his head. But maybe she was like this because no one in her life had ever sat her down and told her that she had a smoking-hot body.
Although God alone knew what was wrong with men of her age today—were they blind or just incredibly stupid?
‘Look, this is nothing to do with me and you can eat...or not eat...whatever you want but—and I say this with absolutely no disrespect or sexual harassment or icky older-man creepiness in mind—your body is fine.’
Sadie blinked. If that was a compliment it could sure do with some work. And gave her an opportunity to steer the conversation away from what she was and wasn’t eating.
‘Wow. You really are rusty,’ she murmured.
Kent shot her an impatient look. ‘I’m not here to stroke your ego, Sadie Bliss.’ Or land himself in the middle of a lawsuit.
Or something else entirely inappropriate.
‘Well, that’s just as well because you’d be failing, Kent Nelson. You do know when you tell a woman her body is fine she interprets that as you’re okay but you could look better, right? Unless, of course, you prefix it. Mighty fine or damn fine work quite well.’
The sad truth was Sadie knew that none of those prefixes applied. A few years back, when she’d been with Leo, mighty fine had fitted the bill. Now she was just struggling to keep back the tide.
Kent stared at her. Did she really think he gave a rat’s arse about