Read Playing for Love (Summer Beach Vets 1) - Escape Down Under for Free Online

Have you never heard of bloating, people?
    Still, the one comfort was the way Jeff had seemed to champion her fuller figure. When he gallantly announced on breakfast TV that he loved her “just as she is”, women everywhere swooned and fell over. Here at last was a man who did not mind a “real woman with real curves”. If Jeff’s stock had been high before, it went soaring after his relationship with Sara went public. Within weeks there was talk of multiple movie contracts and sponsorship deals. Everybody wanted Jeff Kingston as their leading man.
    And Sara was happy for him… until she realised that she wasn’t Jeff’s real leading lady. She had lived in a naïve bubble for five months before she walked in on them one day, when she arrived at Jeff’s place early and let herself in with the spare key. Sara could only stand and stare in horror as the tall, willowy blonde rose languidly from the bed and came towards her with a sneer on her beautiful face.
    “Did you really think he’d want a fat lump like you?” she had laughed. “It was all for the PR, sweetie. It made him look good, gave him the boost he needed to get to the next level. But you didn’t seriously think he would find you attractive, did you?”
    Sara had turned stricken eyes on Jeff, waiting for him to deny it, but she had seen the truth in those famous twinkling blue eyes even before he had given her that sheepish shrug. She had turned and run out of his house, the blonde woman’s laugh still ringing in her ears.
    And then Sara had discovered just how fickle the media could be. As soon as their break up was announced, the speculation about her weight began again… this time about whether it was the reason Jeff had ditched her for the obviously thinner model he was now parading around town. Gone were the articles praising her as a role model for “real women”. Instead, she was now an object of pity, an example of someone who had “let herself go” and couldn’t keep her man. Paparazzi camped outside her door, this time to catch as many unflattering photos of her fuller figure as they could.
    The last straw had been when Sara received a phone call from a reality TV production company asking if she would star in a show following her attempts at weight loss in order to win Jeff Kingston back. She had swallowed her grief and humiliation, and managed to maintain her dignity as she coolly told them that she wasn’t interested. Following on from that, Ellie’s invitation to come to Australia had seemed like a godsend. Sara had booked her flight the next day.
    And now I’m here, thought Sara, coming out of her reverie to see the shimmering blue sea stretching to the horizon in front of her. She was lucky to be able to escape to such a beautiful place and she wasn’t going to let Jeff Kingston spoil it for her, she decided. She was done grieving for the bastard. From now on, she wasn’t going to think about him again.
    And, she promised herself, she wasn’t ever going to date a celebrity again. The media interest, the constant pressure on her image, and, most of all, the nagging fear that he might be using her for another agenda… No, she vowed. Never again. She was going to stick to nice, normal guys now.
    Like an Australian small-town vet?
    Sara blushed at the direction of her thoughts and gave herself that mental slap again. She wasn’t going to think about Dr Craig Murray either. She looked around her and realised that she had come much farther up the beach than yesterday. She had been so lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t realised how far she had walked. She’d passed the clump of palm trees and was now almost at the base of the cliffs.
    A movement ahead of her caught her eye and she realised that somebody was coming rapidly down a path which wound down the side of the cliffs. This must be a different entrance leading onto the beach.
    Then she also realised, with a jerk of her heart, who the person jogging towards her was.
    Dr Craig