His Hired Girlfriend (12 page)

Alex widened
her eyes at the array of men clothing in there, all neatly
arranged. Very
expensive
looking clothing.

Jay put her bag on the bed.
“There you go. I’ll go down and find you that aspirin.”

“Jay, those clothes... whose
are they?” she asked, pointing to the wardrobe.

“Mine,” he said, winked at her
and then strolled out the room, whistling.

Alex just stood there, staring
at the walk-in-wardrobe. Those were Jay’s clothes? What the heck
were they doing in there? Oh shoot! Her brain hurt. Her head hurt.
She can’t think anymore.

She raided through her luggage,
found the things she wanted, and rushed into the bathroom.

She took her sweet time
showering. The warm water soothed her aching body, and after
shampooing and conditioning her hair and cleaning her face and
body, she felt a lot better. She dressed herself in the skinny
jeans and white T-shirt and then did her make up. Once all set, she
rushed out and found Jay sitting on the now made-up bed, waiting
for her.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

She nodded, suddenly feeling
very conscious of her shabbiness what with her inexpensive jeans
and t-shirt that she had bought from Glasson on sale price.

Jay got up and came to stand
right in front of her. He touched her temple again with his fingers
and thumb and gave her gentle massages.

Alex bit her lip shyly, her
eyes downcast.

“Not hurting as much?” he
asked.

Alex shook her head. “Uh-huh. I
always feel better after a good, warm shower.”

“Good.” He moved to grab the
aspirin on the bedside table. “Here,” he said, the medicine in
hand.

Alex stared at the two tablets
as though those things were going to bite her if she wasn’t
careful.

“Go on.” He brought his hand
higher.

Alex shook her head. “I’m
feeling better now, thank you. I don’t need them.”

Jay tried very hard to hide a
smile. He could see that she was afraid she really had to take
those tablets. He wondered what she’d do if she had a fever or one
of those yearly flus back in New Zealand. Would she rather suffer
or would she take medicine.

“Go on. It won’t hurt. Just
swallow.”

Alex shook her head again and
started to dash away.

“Oh no you don’t!” he chuckled,
grabbing her arm. He pulled her back, and to prevent her from
running, he placed one hand behind the nape of her neck. “Right,
come on.”

Alex could feel a nice, warm
liquid pleasure where his hand was touching her. Her stomach felt
all fluttery. He was making her feel things she had never felt
before. To hide her emotion, she glared up at him. “You’re not my
dad,” she snapped a bit too sharply.

He chuckled. “No, I’m not. But
since you’re here and I’m responsible for you – you, missy, will do
as I say. I don’t want Peter or your dad to hunt me down and
torture me if anything were to happen to you.” That said he pushed
the aspirin tablets in between her lips.

Alex kept her mouth shut. Jay
was determined that he took the medicine and pushed the tablets
into her mouth.

Alex could taste the
bitterness, and she groaned in disgust. She signalled for him to
get the glass of water for her – her finger pointing and her face
all scrunched up.

Jay chuckled as he quickly
grabbed the glass. Alex downed the whole lot in at once – water and
aspirin. Once she finished she shut her eyes and covered her
mouth.

“There, not that bad, right?”
he chuckled, watching her.

Alex opened her eyes, saw him
smirking and slapped his arm. “Stupid man,” she murmured and placed
the empty glass back on the bedside table.

“I’ve got something for you,”
he said.

“More aspirins?” she teased.
When she turned, she saw him on the other side of the room,
retrieving something.

He laughed. “Of course not.” He
came to stand in front of her and said, “Here.”

Alex glanced down and saw a
BlackBerry in his palm. She eyed him in confusion.

“It’s for you. Thought you want
to ring home.”

She watched him grinning, her
inside turning liquid warm. Her first gift from him? Oh my Gosh!
She couldn’t believe he was so sweet. Then she thought that she
couldn’t really accept his gift – if it was really a gift. “But I’m
only going to be here for a couple of weeks.”

“In case you got lost and
couldn’t find me. In case you got bored and wanted to text me,
Facebook me, twitter me, email me. Whatever. My number is in there
already.”

“Oh,” was all she could
say.

“No worries,” he chuckled. “So
are you up for it?”

Alex glanced at him, her
thought still on the BlackBerry. “Up for what?”

“Meeting my family.”

“Oh, right. Yeah, I suppose,
let’s do it.”

“Sure?”

“Uh-huh. Though I am rather
nervous.”

“Nothing to be nervous about.
Come along.” He grabbed her arm. Alex placed the BlackBerry on the
bedside table before she shut the door.

At the hallway he said, “Don’t
forget. Endearment.”

Alex, who was staring wide eye
with marvel at her surround, said, “What would you prefer? Jay
darling? Or Jay honey?” Then she laughed.

Jayden chuckled. “I like
both.”

“Your house is big,” she
commented as they came down the grand stairs. She felt like she was
in a celebrity’s house – all so glamorous with marble floor, huge
glass window that overlooked an immaculate garden, crystal
chandeliers, fancy drapes and expensive, luxurious furnishing.

Jay made a noise as though he
was agreeing with her as he pulled her closer. Then he placed his
hand about her waist as they walked toward the drawing room.

Oh dear, Alex thought, this was
not at all what she was expecting. This girlfriend thing was going
a bit too real for her. Jay’s hand about her waist was very warm,
and it was sending nice sensations through her body again. There
were also butterflies in her stomach. Maybe she was nervous about
meeting his family. Well, she wasn’t his real girlfriend anyway, so
she shouldn’t worry to much, should she?

The moment Alex stepped into
the elegant drawing room she knew she was completely out of place.
The three women sitting on that very expensive looking sofa were
all dressed in the latest of fashion, which made her feel like she
was trash.

Jayden nudged her forward. Alex
nervously glanced up at him, her eyes showing him clearly that she
was not very comfortable.

Jay smiled at her in
reassurance and guided her towards the arm chair. She stiffly
followed him.

Granny Beth frowned at the
couple, her blues eyes sharp. Gracie smiled, nodding at them. And
Kelly just clamped her lips together as she waited for the two
people to take their seats.

Only there was only one seat
where Jay was leading Alex to. Once he had taken that seat, Alex
wondered what she should do. Stand or find somewhere else to sit.
Her decision, however, was taken out of her hand when Jay pulled
her down and made her half sit on his lap and half on the
chair.

“Grandmother, Mother, Kelly,”
Jayden began, “this is Alex or Alexandra Stewart, my girlfriend.
She’s from New Zealand.”

At this point Alex didn’t know
what to do. What did one do exactly when one first got introduced
to one’s boyfriend’s family?

“Hi,” Kelly said.

“That’s Kelly, my sister. It’s
going to be her wedding soon,” Jay supplied.

Alex smiled nervously and
nodded at Kelly. “Right,” she said to Jay. “Hi,” she said to
Kelly.

“That’s Mum, you can call her
Gracie.”

“Hi,” Alex said.

“Nice to have finally meet you,
Alex.” Gracie leaned forward and grabbed Alex’s hand. They shook.
“Can I call you Alex?”

“Yes of course,” Alex replied,
laughing nervously.

“I like your accent,” Gracie
said. “Jay has been telling us so much about you.”

“Oh, thanks.” Alex’s eyes met
that of Jay’s. He gave her a wide grin and winked at her. Alex
blushed. She wondered what kind of things he had been telling his
family about her. The bad things or the good things. The true
things that had happened in her life or the things that he had made
up to make her look good. Oh dear. She had better ask him when they
were alone.

Granny Beth frowned. She didn’t
seem to like what she saw and said, “So what do your parents
do?”

“Um,” Alex began, looking at
Jay for help.

“Her dad has retired. Her mum
is a sales manager,” Jay said as he pulled Alex onto his lap fully.
“Sweet heart, are you feeling better? That aspirin working?”

Alex blinked.
Had Jay just called her sweet heart?
Oh my
God!
Jay had just called her sweet
heart.
‘Okay,’
she told herself.
‘It was only part
of their acting. It was nothing real. ‘Calm down, Alex.”

“Yes, my head doesn’t hurt as
much now. Thank you,” she said, smiling at him tightly.

“I hate travelling too,” Gracie
said. “I get headache sometimes.”

Alex nodded in agreement.

“So where abouts is New
Zealand?” Beth asked, picking up her delicate Wedgewood china and
began to sip her tea.

“Down south. It’s a small
country. We call it Aotearoa in Maori. It means land of the long
white cloud.”

“Sounds romantic,” Kelly
chuckled.

“Maybe we should all go
outside. It’s such a lovely day,” Beth interrupted. Though her
voice was soft and gentle, there was a hint of order that no one
dared to disobey.

“Yes, I agree.” Gracie stood
up.

“Oh, Britney is coming for the
dinner party tonight, Jay. You remember Britney Marcelo, don’t
you?” Beth asked, looking at her grandson.

“Britney? Oh yes, I remember
her,” Jayden said somewhat reluctantly. Just then he remembered
that he hadn’t told Alex there was going to be a welcoming party
for her yet.

“Yes, she is coming. Such a
nice girl, Britney is. Her dad is Mr. Marcelo. You remember Mr.
Marcelo, don’t you?” Beth continued.

“Yes, I remember him. One of
dad’s good friends. Haven’t seen him for a long time,” Jay said,
glancing at Alex, wondering if he should mention about the party
now.

“They just got back from Rome,”
Beth said excitedly. “Such a lovely girl, Britney is.”

Alex looked at Beth and knew
instantly something was up. She knew the old woman didn’t like her.
Aw, poor Jayden. Beth must be match-making him with this Britney
Marcelo woman. No wonder he was trying to get away from it all. She
patted his arm to show him her understanding.

Jay chuckled and winked at
her.

“Come along now, we shall
continue our tea in the garden,” Beth said, elegantly waltzing out
the door.

“Oh, it’s so nice to have
finally met you,” Gracie said and hugged Alex.

“Yes. So good to finally meet
you, too,” Alex said. Once she had moved back, Kelly rushed in and
hugged her as well.

“Good to meet you, Alex. We’ll
have to find you a dress for my wedding,” she said.

“Oh, right,” Alex commented,
moving back.

“Don’t worry. I know lots of
designers. They’ll be begging you to wear their dresses. It goes
into high fashion magazine, you know, this wedding of mine.”

“Really?” Alex said, shocked.
She didn’t expect that. High fashion magazine? Top designers? Oh
dear.

At the door Kelly said to Jay,
“Don’t forget we have things to talk about, brother.” Then she
laughed as she and Gracie walked arm in arm down the hallway.

“They won’t be taking pictures,
will they?” Alex asked Jay, looking up at him.

“For the wedding?”

Alex nodded.

“Yes, they will. Don’t worry
you don’t have to be in it if you don’t want to.”

“Of course I don’t.”

“Come on then,” he said,
pulling her towards the door.

As they strolled down the
hallway, Alex said, “I haven’t forgiven you yet, by the way.”

Jay glanced at her. “What
about?”

Alex squared her small
shoulders and replied, “You forcing those aspirins down my
throat.”

“I’ll do it again you
know.”

“No you won’t.”

“Yes I will. And beside, the
next time you’re sick, you’ll be begging for those aspirins knowing
how effective it is now.”

Alex thought about this and
said, “You’re right. I feel so much better now. So thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” He grinned,
leading her out into the sunshine. Then he thought to add, “By the
way, there’s a party tonight.”

Alex smiled. “I gathered that
from what your grandmother said about this Britney Marcelo.”

He glanced at her. He was
surprised that she had taken the news quite nicely. He had thought,
from what he knew of her so far, that she’d bolt at the thought and
refuse to make an appearance.

“You’re the honoured guest. The
party is to welcome your arrival,” he added, watching her
closely.

Alex widened her eyes in shock.
“What?”

Damn! Jay thought. There, not
so nicely after all. He surely hoped she was not going to run.

“I’m the honoured guest? The
party is to welcome me?” she queried, pointing a finger at herself
in disbelief.

“Yup. To introduce you to the
neighbourhood,” he said, giving her the apologetic look.

Alex swallowed. “Right. So I
will have to make an appearance?”

Jay nodded. “You’ll be
fine.”

Alex chewed on her lower lip
with worried as they approached the others. Yeah, she sure hoped
she’d be okay.

*****

CHAPTER 9

‘
HOW DOES
ONE work this blast thing?’
Alex
wondered as she stared at
her
BlackBerry. Of course it would be the same as any
other cell phone. She searched through the menu, found the call
section and started dialling. She brought the BlackBerry to her ear
and waited as the ringing noise continued.