to sport these days. Just neatly trimmed nails, not too short, not too long.
Nothing fancy. Just like the rest of her.
Quite why she had her hand on his chest he wasn’t sure. He knew from her loglike sleep in Cunnamulla she wasn’t a restless sleeper. So why was she touching him?
And, more importantly, why was he just lying here not doing anything about it?
In the distance he could just make out the noise of a car approaching and as it got closer she started to stir. He froze as Sadie turned, rolled to face him, sighed, licked her gorgeous lips and then settled to sleep again.
All without moving her hand.
He held his breath as the car passed by without waking her and then he was looking right in her face, her plump mouth moist from the swipe of her tongue. The deep red rouge of it, like an apple amongst the creaminess of her complexion, looked lush and kissable. Her eyelashes fell lightly against her cheeks. Her wild wavy hair framing the lot as if she’d just been painted by Rubens himself.
He found himself wishing for his camera again. Wanting to capture the way the gentle morning light enhanced her too wide eyes and her too big mouth into something quite striking.
Wondering if that too big mouth of hers kissed as well as it wisecracked.
If it was as good a lover as it was a talker.
A louder engine roared in the distance just as things beneath the covers started to stir, snapping Kent out of his stupor.
What the hell was he doing?
He sat bolt upright, displacing her hand and waking her in the process.
‘Come on, Sadie Bliss,’ he said briskly as he kicked out of his swag. ‘The day has started and I’m starving.’ He ignored her groan. ‘Let’s hustle.’
An hour later, Sadie left Kent to another disgustingly unhealthy roadhouse breakfast as she headed for the amenities. Yes, she was starving, but she was seeing Leo today and she was doing that with the flattest stomach possible even if it meant depriving herself of food all day.
Plus she needed a shower. Badly.
The facilities were fairly basic and she thanked God she’d thought to bring her own shampoo and conditioner. Her hair was thick and did not take kindly to cheap products.
Still, even with hair products that cost a small fortune, Sadie despaired as she looked into the grimy mirror. She sucked in her cheeks in the vain hope that they’d look like they used to—all hollowed and model-like. She hunched her shoulders to enhance her collarbones. She pirouetted and craned her neck around to try and see if the size of her bum had reduced any in the last few days.
Even the minimiser bra she’d bought especially didn’t seem to look as good in the cheap roadhouse lights as it had in the expensive Sydney department store.
If only she’d known about this trip a month ago—she could have at least done something earlier.
She’d spent a lot of the last few years imagining her first meeting with Leo again. How she would look, what she would say, how he would react. And she could already sense the reality and fantasy were hopelessly mismatched.
She’d wanted Leo to weep when he saw her. To rue the day he’d told her to go. To eat his words. Words that had struck right at her very core.
Who’s going to want you, Sadie? You’re nothing without me.
And she’d wanted to be smoking hot when he did.
She didn’t care how vain, how girly that made her. How much it didn’t make sense. Leo had worshipped her body, had immortalised it in dozens of his works, and she wanted to show him that she still had it.
That Sadie Bliss was wanted plenty.
She screwed up her nose at her reflection. Could she pull it off?
And what would she do if he crooked that imperious little finger at her? Because despite everything there was still a damaged part of her, the Daddy’s girl, that craved his approval.
Sadie dialled the number Tabitha had given her as she made her way across to Kent, who was filling up the vehicle. Her heart was pounding in her chest as it rang in her ear and when it picked up her pulse spiked so quickly she thought she was going to faint.
Which turned out to be unnecessary given that it was Leo’s PA who answered the phone. Kevin informed her Leo was painting and not to be disturbed, but that he would pass on