Free Shrink to Fit by Dona Sarkar Page A

dribbling ice-cold oil down her back.
    He plunked down a six-pack of beer and a tub of sunblock and, uninvited, took a seat next to her on the dune. “What an amazing view,” he said as he uncapped a light beer, his Bermuda shorts riding up his legs to almost a vulgar point. “That’ll be you pretty soon, babe. Lights, camera, action. The whole shebang.”
    The whole shebang? People still said shebang? Leah rolled her eyes. She hated when old people tried to use phrases they thought were cool. Groovy, foxy and, worse yet, jiggy.
    Ugh.
    â€œI bet.”
    Alfreddo liberally applied robin’s egg–blue sunblock to his legs. “You’re lucky. You never have to worry about looking washed out or pale in winter.”
    God, he was like a girl. She could imagine this comment coming from one of the cheerleaders. She rolled her eyes. “I’m black. It comes with the package.”
    â€œBeer?”
    â€œSure.” Leah grabbed the light beer he held out to her. Only two hundred calories. She could burn that off in twenty minutes on the treadmill that night.
    â€œYour mama is really something else,” Alfreddo said, touching his bottle to hers. “I can’t believe she’s thirty-six. She looks ten years younger.”
    Again, Leah had to stifle a laugh with a hefty gulp of the bitter dark beer. Thirty-six! Was that what her mother was telling people now? Please. Victoria had celebrated her forty-fifth birthday that May. Of course no one else knew that information. Apparently in the modeling world, post-thirty was retirement age, but post-forty? You might as well be dead.
    â€œWhen did your father leave?” Alfreddo drained his beer and buried the bottle in the sand, shaded eyes turning to Leah. The slight curve of his lips dipped lower.
    Leah stiffened, all sense of humor gone. “Before I was born,” she said. That was a topic her mother refused to ever talk about. And Leah understood why. Her father had apparently left one day in the middle of the night. No note, no explanation. Nothing. Leaving behind his pregnant girlfriend.
    â€œWhy?”
    Leah’s cheeks started to burn, but before she could give Alfreddo a piece of her mind, Cillian saved her.
    â€œThat’s all for today, everyone! Roald says to wrap this deal up,” he called to the crew. “Leah, me love. Could you come here a sec? I need an opinion.”
    Leah glared at Alfreddo before burying her half-empty beer in the sand and standing up. “Cillian wants me.”
    â€œI see that.” Alfreddo didn’t take his eyes off her as she ran over to the photographer.
    â€œThanks,” she muttered under her breath as she peeked into the viewfinder. It was a picture of a seagull dipping into the ocean. The ordinary act seemed liked art when captured in a photograph. She’d been flipping through his negatives the whole afternoon. Every shot was creative, with the movement captured perfectly.
    â€œRoald’s great but that Alfreddo’s a goddamn prick. He’s the only reason I feel like quittin’ this job and hightailin’ it back to Ireland.”
    Leah laughed. “I wish I had that option. My mom loves him.”
    â€œWell, she’s insane to let her daughter near a guy like that.” Cillian rubbed her bare back, letting his fingers linger. “I’m here with you, you know that, right?”
    Her breath shortened when his hands didn’t budge after the comforting touch. Up until now, she had assumed this was just innocent flirting, what he did with all the models.
    His sea-green eyes said differently. “Pose for me one last time. Lose the sarong.”
    Leah hesitated. Her stomach was flattish and she wasn’t too self-conscious showing it off. Her thighs were a different story. And this guy seemed to like her. She didn’t want to turn him off with the sight of her trunklike legs.
    â€œNo one else is around, look. I think