Page 48 of Sugar Coated Secrets

Can he change? Can he be what I need? Should I give him another chance? If I don’t, will I look back and regret it?

I need help. I need Everleigh. I wipe my vision clear and drive to her house.

Chapter 14

Sadie

I’m not a professional photographer by any means, but Easton was right when he implied all his pictures are good because it’s him.

He stands by the lake, a few green and orange trees to his left. The sunlight reflects off his sculpted back muscles. His bicep bulges from where his elbow is bent, his hand touching the rim of the cowboy hat he wears sometimes when he helps out at the farm. I’d love to get some pictures of his sweaty body doing that someday.

His profile is pure perfection. How can his nose and lips be so sensual? His long lashes curl up in a way that accentuates his seductive gaze. It’s like he wants to have sex with the tree in the distance, the one I told him to focus on, and all I want to do is mount him like a wolf on a full moon. I’ve never behaved this way, but then, I’ve never done a half-nude photo shoot with an Adonis like Easton. I’ve never attracted a man like him. Everleigh’s beauty attracted the mega-hot guys. Not that I dated dogs. The cute guys had an interest in me. I tend to draw the preppy ones, although I don’t know why.

Easton is not preppy. He’s rugged and sexy and more manly than any guy who’s ever given me the time of day. I once asked Dash why he never got jealous when I hung out with Easton. He said he wasn’t the jealous type and that he trusted me. It seemed like a mature answer brought on by confidence. Now, I wonder if he simply didn’t care.

“Want that full frontal?” Easton teases and turns to me. His nipples are puckered into tight little balls. The sun is close to dipping behind the trees. Even though it had warmed up this afternoon, it’s chillier now, and he’s bare chested.

“Wait!” I rush toward him. “Sorry. Don’t move.” I stop a few feet away and take a picture of him with a blurred filter that showcases his chest in the last of the sun’s rays.

“Got it. You can move.” I race to snatch his jacket from a blanket I laid on the pine needles and leaf-covered ground. Other props are there, too. A blue button down. Leather bracelets, and a belt with a thick buckle that screams cowboy—both he had from a previous Halloween costume. A pair of sexy boots and black jeans in case the blue jeans he’s wearing now don’t work for my client.

I run the jacket to him, meeting him on his way to me. “Here, put this on before you get sick.”

He laughs. “It’s not winter, Sadiecakes.”

“I know, but I’d hate for you to catch a cold because of me.” I find his long-sleeved shirt and toss it to him before sitting on the blanket and perusing the pictures.

He drops beside me, his shirt in his hand. “How did they turn out?”

“They’re amazing. I honestly don’t know which one I’m going to use. Maybe the last one. You looked so freaking hot. But the one before that was panty-melting, too. Your body is like an erotica novel. I could make a lot of money off these.”

“Really? How so?”

“Cover designers and authors pay big bucks for male models. And you, my friend, are the hottest male model I’ve ever seen. You didn’t even try. You just moved and I got the perfect shot. It’s like you were born for this.”

He leans back on one hand, his jacket open, his abs on display. The grin on his face is as charming as it is sinful.

God help me.

“You’re saying you can sell my pictures to be used for romance covers?”

“Yes. But not just covers, they’d use them in videos, and ads, and social media posts. You’d be famous.”

“I don’t care about that.”

“You might when women start stalking you on social media, or worse, following you home.”

“First of all, they already follow me home, and if it would draw attention to the farm, I don’t see the harm in it.”

“They’d draw attention to you. If women came to the farm, it’d be to see you or with the hope of seeing you.”

“It’s still business.” He raises his knee and rests his wrist on it.

It’s another picture perfect pose. I snap it.

He peers sideways at me, his expression saying I thought we were done.

“Sorry. I can’t help it. I’m considering taking up your offer on nudes.”

---