His Hired Girlfriend (14 page)

“I’ve missed you, too,” Tom
replied.

“The guests are arriving,” she
said.

“Already?”
Jay muttered. He wondered if he should’ve cancelled the welcoming
party instead. Shit!
Double shit!
He knew Alex was not prepared for this. After
all, she had been hardly prepared for Granny Beth’s spiteful ways.
He thanked God for Gracie’s understanding. She seemed to like Alex.
And Kelly, too.

“Don’t worry, honey, everything
is in order,” Gracie said. “Now come along.” She dragged Tom by the
arm and led him to the door.

Jay groaned and stood up. He
thought he’d better go up and see how Alex was getting on. She was
probably so scared at the thought of meeting so many people she
didn’t know – people who’d probably bombard her with inconvenient
questions like Granny Beth had done – that she’d probably be hiding
some where. The closet perhaps?

As he came out of the lounge he
saw many guests mingling at the foyer. The men were dressed in
suits and the women in their lovely, designer dresses. The hallway
was in a chaotic state of guests greeting.

“Ah, Jayden,
how are you?” Mrs. Greenwood said, a rather large woman with fiery
red hair, large green eyes, and Irish skin that tend to get red at
the slightest of irritation –
emotional
irritation
. She strolled towards him
elegantly, her red dress that didn’t quite suit her complexion
flowing about her body. She grabbed his hands and smiled widely,
showing her snow-white teeth that would have taken the dentist many
times to get to perfection.

“Now where is this girlfriend
of yours? I couldn’t believe she’s from New Zealand so your
grandmother told me. Where is New Zealand anyway? A state in the
US? I’ve never heard of it. Or is it some small town in the UK or
France?”

Jay was
thinking –
really?
He said, “How are you, Mrs. Greenwood? How is your husband
fairing? And no, New Zealand is not a state in the US, nor is it a
small town in the UK or France. New Zealand is a country of its
own.”

“Really now? Why, your
grandmother said it is such a ghastly place to have met a girl. A
plain place for a plain girl. She wonders why you went there in the
first place,” she said, chuckling away enthusiastically.

Jay simply nodded and said,
“Excuse me.”

“Oh, all right, we’ll chat
again at dinner, yes?”

“Of course,” Jay replied and
then he found himself struggling his way through the throng of
guests who one by one was stopping him with their polite greeting.
When finally he had managed to reach his intended destination,
which was the stairs, Granny Beth elegantly stepped in front of him
with a big smile on her face.

“Jayden, you must come along
and meet Britney,” she said, and without giving him any choice of
the matter, led him towards the drawing room.

“You’ll love her, Jay. Britney
is such a darling,” she said excitedly. “Britney darling, you
remember Jayden, don’t you?”

Jayden noticed a slim woman in
a sexy red, designer dress talking to a young man with light blonde
hair and grey eyes. Ted Wilson was his name. His family was very
well off. They had just moved into the neighbour hood of the Upper
East Side a year ago.

Britney Marcelo turned slowly
and smiled brightly at him, showing her perfect, white teeth – as
though she had practised that bit of act many times to perfection.
She had dark brown hair that were curled into loose waves about her
shoulders, bright green eyes that Jay thought were rather sharp,
and full ruby red lips that any man would want to kiss.

Whoa! Jay thought. Britney was
one very hot chick. And from the look of adoration from young Ted
standing next to her, she was one not to be missed.

Yes, Jayden found her hot and
very attractive all right. But the dress, he thought, was showing a
bit too much of her – especially her generous bosom that left
little to the imagination.

“Jayden,” she said, her voice
smooth and sweet like melting chocolate. She touched his arm and
moved her face close to him, which caused Ted to glare at
Jayden.

Jay could smell her strong
perfume. A mixture of rose, vanilla, and some spices.

“Britney, long time no see,” he
said, managing a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. He
saw Beth nodding her head furiously, her smile bright with glee. He
knew she was up to her match-making tricks again. Some how he’d
have to convince her that Alex was his girlfriend and that any
other woman won’t do – for the moment anyway. When Alex was gone
and his bachelor life returned to its normal routine, he’d start
thinking about settling down with the woman he really loved – who
ever she was.

Still dressed in his casual
clothing, Jayden found himself being dragged along with Granny Beth
and Britney to greet other guests that had just arrived. And before
he knew what was going on, it was nearly dinner time.

Crap!
He needed to find Alex and fast. He felt like a
jerk, leaving her to her own device like that. He only hoped that
Kelly was there with her – where ever she was.

They were just pasting the
hallway into the dinning room, along with their fifty or so guests
when Jayden saw Kelly descending the grand stairs. She was very
fetching in her yellow sun dress. But he didn’t notice her for too
long because he caught sight of someone directly behind her. Jay
couldn’t make out who it was because it looked as though the woman
was hiding and trying very hard not to draw attention to herself.
He noticed that Kelly had a smirk on her face. He knew she was up
to one of her mischievous plan again. He wondered what it was.

Then Kelly cleared her throat
loudly so that everyone turned to look at her in some sort of
expectation. Standing there a top the stairs she said, “Evening,
everyone.”

“Kelly, darling,” Mrs.
Greenwood said. “My, you do look radiant. Heard your fiancé is not
here tonight. What a shame. Where is he, by the way? And who is
that behind you?”

Kelly just grinned and said
politely, “Yes, it is a shame that Sam is not here. He is in
Hawaii, sorting out business there.” That out of the way she
proceeded to smoothly move to one side. As she was doing so she
said, “Why, Mrs. Greenwood, it’s Alexandra Stewart of course.”

As Kelly stepped aside, Jayden
got a good look at Alex, and a huge silence fell in place.

All that Jayden could do was to
stare at her, like he was in a trance, lost in another world. Alex
looked enchanting in that emerald green dress, her long hair styled
in a loose bun on her head with some strains on the side of her
face like a Greek princess. He didn’t know that he was staring
until Granny Beth nudged at him to stop and Britney commenting that
the green dress was so last year.

Jay came to his senses then and
just realised that his mouth was agape in marvel as he gazed off at
his hired girlfriend. He cleared his throat, and it was only then
that he saw the nervousness in Alex’s posture. He stepped up the
stairs and reached one hand to her. Alex glanced hesitantly at his
hands, smiled in relief at him and then placed her small, cold hand
into his large, warm ones.

Kelly giggled and rushed down
the stairs.

“So that’s Alexandra from the
State of New Zealand,” Mrs. Greenwood said, laughing. “Such a
pretty little thing. Not so plain at all.”

As Alex stepped down the stairs
with Jay, she whispered, “Why did Kelly do that?”

Jay could hear the dread and
embarrassment in her soft, gentle voice. He moved his lips to her
ear and softly said, “She didn’t mean to embarrass you, darling.
But I’m glad she did it.”

Alex felt his
warm breath against her flesh and shivered deliciously. Her inside
shuddered with excitement. She said, “Jay, how could you?”
And he just called her darling?

“How could I what, sweetheart?”
This he said very loudly so that everyone could hear him, and then
he kissed her cheek. Everyone was still watching them as if they
were watching a very interesting movie.

Alex sucked in her breath as
her heart did a big somersault. She turned to him, and he smiled
and winked at her, then proceeded to lead her towards the
guests.

Alex was
dazed.
Oh My God!
Jay was so hot when he smiled and winked at her.
‘Ah! Stop it! Stop, Alex, Jay is gay – remember
that!’

*****

CHAPTER 10

ALEX WAS EXHAUSTED. Her feet
ached something sorely, and there was certain point when she
thought she couldn’t handle it any longer. She just wanted to
scream and kick the shoes off. She blamed the three inches high
heels or stilletos or what ever they were called for this because
she was unaccustomed to them. Sneakers and slippers were her best
friends and when she had no one to talk to during their long dinner
party she dreamt of her thick, fluffy Sylvester the cat slippers.
She dreamt of how warm and cosy and soft they’d be on her feet.

Her eyes were also very
irritated because of the dry weather. It was usually worse when she
wore her contact lenses, like she was right now. She really wanted
to take her contact lenses out and put on some eye-drops to relieve
the irritation.

At least for the past two hours
she had found the conversation with the handsome Tom McCartney
really stimulating. They talked about politics, of which she knew
nothing about. At least she had managed to tell him a little bit
about John Key, the prime minister of New Zealand, and his change
in tax law. She also felt quite good when she had happened to
mention Obama and how smart he was.

Tom had a pleasant personality
just like Jayden, and she felt a liking toward him immediately. She
thought he felt the same way towards her. At least she hoped so.
The longer she looked at Tom the more she was certain that Jay had
inherited most of his father’s traits.

She glanced over the table at
Jay who was sitting beside Britney.

Beside Britney was Granny Beth
who seemed to be egging them on or something. What a nosy woman she
was. Then Britney moved herself closer to Jayden, kind of shoving
her generous boobs toward him by arching her back.

Yuck! What a stupid woman.
Thank God Jay didn’t seem to be paying her any attention. At least
the type of attention that a man was paying to a woman.

“Tell me about life in New
Zealand,” Tom said, picking up his wine glass.

“Oh, not much to tell to be
honest,” Alex replied, shrugging her small shoulders. “I love going
to the Farmer’s Market though. I assume you have it here too? It’s
really fun. Just out and about, buying fresh veges from the farmers
themselves. Rather entertaining, too.”

“Ah, yes. I’ve never been to
one. Always been too busy,” Tom replied.

“I find the simplest things I
do most enjoyable. I also love to observe people. Like right now,”
she said, eyeing Jayden and Britney.

Tom glanced in that
direction.

“Have they known each other
long?” she asked.

“Who?” he replied, pretending
ignorant.

“Them,” Alex said, nodding her
head toward Jayden and Britney across the end of the table. At
first she couldn’t understand why Granny Beth had dragged Jay away
from her before they sat for dinner. But now she understood. Beth
wanted Jay and Britney to sit next to each other and that she,
Alex, sit as far away from them as possible. Hence she ended up
near the head of the table where Tom was sitting.

“They met when they were
young,” Tom replied. “Don’t worry. Jay is not that stupid.”

Alex turned to look at him, her
eyes questioning. “He isn’t?”

“Of course not. Britney is
wasting her time,” he said, eyeing his son. He saw Jay studying
them, smiling, and not listening to Britney’s continuous
yapping.

“Yeah, she is,” Alex agreed.
Jay will never be turned on by that type of woman – or any other
women for that matter. Then she wondered who Jayden boyfriend’s
was.

Jayden’s
boyfriend?
The moment the idea entered her
mind she shuddered in disgust. Then she wondered if Tom knew his
son was gay and that was why he had said Britney was wasting her
time.

Finally for what seemed like an
eternity for Alex, dinner was over and the guests slowly thanked
Mr. and Mrs. McCartney for the lovely dinner and then left. And,
yes, Alex had never felt so much joy when she saw the door to her
bedroom.

She rushed in, kicked of the
stilletos, and threw herself on the large, soft bed. She sighed and
simply gazed up at the golden chandelier, marvelling at the bright
lights. It felt so good to just lay there and do nothing. Her
pleasure died a quick death when she felt the sting in her eyes
starting to play up gain, and she knew she had to take the lenses
out.

She rolled off the bed and her
knees landed elegantly on the floor, her upper body still on the
bed. She gave out another loud, weary sigh.

Jay entered the room at that
moment. After closing the door quietly so that he wouldn’t disturb
her, he leaned his strong body against it, his hands in the pocket
of his trousers. He crocked his head to one side as he studied her.
She looked as though she had fallen asleep in her sitting position
with her head resting on the bed.

“I see that you like my dad,”
he said.

“Huh?” Alex popped her head up
and looked around the room in confusion. When she saw him she
simply shrugged. “He’s very nice, much like you.”

“Yeah,” he replied. “What are
you doing?”

“Huh?” And then. “Oh. Um trying
to make myself get up I guess.”