Driving Her Crazy - By Amy Andrews Page 0,33

like the average male and he’d certainly never had one of those conversations with her breasts that annoyed her so much. In fact she’d have to say that Kent had displayed supreme lack of interest.

Annoyed at the direction of her thoughts when her mind needed to be on Leo, Sadie grappled to get back on the page. ‘Trust me, he’s straight,’ she said icily, seeking and holding his gaze for a moment. ‘Very, very straight. We had lots and lots and lots of sex.’

Which wasn’t exactly true. Leonard had been more into oral sex and they’d had plenty of that but he’d not been great at reciprocating. Still, he’d stimulated her in other ways, intellectually and artistically, so his low sex drive hadn’t ever been an issue.

Being his lover had transcended the physical.

Kent dragged his gaze back to the road as her doe eyes told him stuff he wasn’t sure he was keen on knowing. He really did not want to be regaled with stories of Leonard Pinto’s straightness.

Not as it pertained to Sadie anyway.

‘So did he paint you?’ he said, trying to shift the conversation.

Sadie nodded. ‘Oh, yes. I became his muse. Gave up art school, moved in with him so I could pose for him whenever he wanted. All hours of the day or night. It was...exhilarating.’

And it had been. His obsession with her had been heady stuff. It had also been exhausting. Living with an arty temperament had its downside, especially when she was struggling to find time for her own art.

Still, she’d have never taken that part of her life back.

‘He didn’t paint anyone else for nearly two years.’

Kent heard pride soften her voice. It sounded a little co-dependent to him, but Kent couldn’t blame the guy and a part of him hoped he might get to see one of those paintings.

He remembered wanting to photograph her this morning and, whilst he wasn’t a fan of Pinto’s nudes, Kent couldn’t deny he was curious to see a master’s take on Sadie’s curvy perfection. Had Leonard managed to capture the perfectness of her imperfect features?

Although quite how Pinto managed to be so productive with Sadie living in his house and stripped naked a lot of the time he had no clue. He knew for damn sure there wouldn’t be a lot of work going on if she was buck naked and posing for him!

His groin stirred and he clamped down on unproductive thoughts as he zeroed in on the most startling part of her story. ‘You gave up art school?’

Sadie nodded. She’d cut herself off from everything, even her mother. Completely isolated herself. Weeks would go by without seeing another soul and she’d revelled in it, satisfied with being the centre of Leo’s world, buying in to his control over her because she’d loved him and believed he loved her.

‘I was never really good anyway,’ she dismissed.

Kent blinked. That was the second time she’d written off her ability. ‘Says who?’ Art schools were notoriously difficult to get into—they only took talented students. It had taken him two years of applying before he’d been accepted into one to study photography.

‘Leo.’

‘And you believed him?’

Sadie rolled her eyes. ‘He’s Leonard Pinto. I think he knows a thing or two about talent, don’t you?’

Kent thought good old Leo also knew a thing or two about manipulation. ‘How old were you when you hooked up with Pinto?’

‘Nineteen,’ she said wistfully.

Kent paused as that info sank in. ‘And he was?’

‘Thirty-nine.’

Oh, yeah. Leo knew which side his bread was buttered on.

‘What happened?’ Kent asked. ‘How’d it end?’

‘Behind my back my mother gathered a portfolio of my work and put me up for a scholarship to my dream college in London. And I got it.’

Kent shook his head. And she still believed she didn’t have any talent? ‘I’m guessing Leonard was none too pleased to have his muse running away.’

Sadie looked away. ‘I hadn’t painted in over a year. Leo loved me, he didn’t want me to fail. He was right to point out that I’d lost my edge. That I wouldn’t last long there, that places like that require exceptional talent and dedication. That I’d probably only got in because of my association with him.’

Kent ground his teeth at Pinto’s disingenuous actions. Nice. ‘So you didn’t want to go?’

Sadie shook her head. ‘No. I did want to go. I’d been doing nothing for a year and I was getting restless. I just...’

‘What?’

‘It was hard. Leo saw it as a betrayal.’

Kent snorted. ‘I thought he