His Hired Girlfriend (17 page)

She felt herself blushing. Her
body quivered in reaction. Her heart was pumping at 200 beats per
minutes – as though she had just finished a marathon, which she had
never done before. Now she cursed herself for putting on her
contacts after the shower, because if she hadn’t put the contacts
on then she wouldn’t really be able to see him properly and then
his stare wouldn’t affected her as much.

She avoided his eyes and rushed
into the walk-in-wardrobe. As she went about finding her things and
one hand tightening on the towel about her chest – she cursed
herself for not taking in her clothing before rushing into the
bathroom. She’d have to do that next time so she won’t have to
suffer the humiliation of Jay watching her as she went about
finding her things with barely anything on her.

Of course, she reminded
herself, she had been a bit absentminded this morning after that
wonderful kiss she had unexpectedly received from him.

She gathered her black skinny
jeans, light sweater and underwear, which she hid well under the
others so that Jay wouldn’t be able to see.

Arms overfilled and dangled
with her clothing, she rushed back into the bedroom. She was in
such a hurry and because she was not fully in control of herself,
she stepped on the material of the jeans, tripped on herself and
fell flat on her face.

She groaned in humiliation and
pain and silently cursed herself for being so stupid and clumsy.
She gathered herself up and sat on her bottom, her clothing
scattering around her, her towel barely covering her nakedness.

“Are you all right?” Jay’s
voice echoed very close in her ear. Gosh! He was fast. One second
he was out in the veranda and the next he was beside her.

Suddenly she could feel his
warm hands wrapped about her bare arms. She could feel his strength
beside her, so close to her like a thick brick wall. She couldn’t
answer him because his touch was sending wonderful sensations in
her. Her brain was basically dead, so confused it was.

“Alex?” his voice came
louder.

She turned to look at him then,
her eyes large and glistening with tears.

“You’re not feeling yourself
today, are you?” he asked her gently, one hand cupping her cheek,
his eyes looking deep into hers.

Alex shook her head, a single
tear-drop fell from her left eye down her red cheek.

“Still tired?” he asked.

Alex bit her lip. Damn it! She
wasn’t tired. She was confused and she also wanted to cry. Well
damn it! She had already done that because he was now wiping the
tear from her cheek with his oh so warm thumb.

Not fair, she thought, she
didn’t want him to be so nice to her. She wanted him to treat her
normally, like a stranger so she wouldn’t feel so involved and
attached to him.

She shook her head. “No, not
that tired.”

Jayden chuckled. “You just need
a bit more rest.”

“Yeah,” she said, avoiding his
eyes that she knew were staring at her much too intensely. She
could even feel his warm breath against her cold, bare skin.

Jay gathered her clothing for
her. She grabbed them from him and tucked them securely in her arms
about her chest. In doing so she was also able to hide some of her
nakedness from his view.

“So does it fit?” he asked, a
hint of curiosity in his deep voice.

Alex turned to look at him, her
eyes questioning him at what he meant. “What?”

“That,” he said, nodding at the
pink laced bra.

Alex glanced
down and saw the bra that he had brought for her back in New
Zealand parading proudly in her arms.
She
wanted to die.

“Does it?” he asked.

How was she supposed to reply
to that odd question? She cocked her head to one side and nodded.
“Yes. Yes it fits,” she replied stupidly.

“Really?” he prodded, one
shapely brow rose.

Alex wondered where this
conversation was going. Apparently no where. She was getting rather
cold from inadequate clothing even though it was a lovely warm day.
She shivered slightly.

Jayden respond by moving in
closer and wrapped his arms around her. “Better?”

Alex couldn’t breathe because
he was so near. She closed her eyes and said, “I should go and
change.”

“Yeah, you do that,” he said,
refusing to move an inch. “I’m glad it fits.”

“What?”

“I’m glad the bra fits.” He was
grinning, his eyes twinkling.

“Yeah,” she responded.

“Do I get to see?”

“See what?”

“You with the bra on,” he said,
his face too handsome for his own good.

Alex’s heart nearly exploded –
if that was possible. Her face went bright red. “Don’t be silly!”
she snapped, giving him a dark scowl. With clenched teeth, she
gathered her clothing, shoved herself out of his arms and ran to
the bathroom.

There she quickly got dressed
and then did her makeup. Ten minutes later she was finished – and
felt very hot. Apparently rushing and thinking about Jay and his
too close for comfort actions towards her at the same time didn’t
do well with her nerves. Her hands kept shaking and she couldn’t
seem to do anything right.

Only
yesterday she had felt so comfortable with him and now she could
feel this weird sparking tension in the air like there was some
sort of electrical charges between them.
Jesus!
What was going on?

She cleaned up her mess and
then rushed back out. She gave a quick glance at Jay, said, “I’m
going down for breakfast now,” and paced to the door.

Jayden watched her with
amusement as she strode like the Devil was on her tail. He couldn’t
help admiring her little bottom and her slim, shapely legs in that
black skinny jeans either. He found he quite enjoyed the view. When
she closed the door behind her, he felt upset because he wanted to
see more. Then his mind flashed back to when she had came out with
only a thin towel wrapped about her small body. He could feel his
blood rushing with pleasure at the thought of her near nakedness,
as the slightly wet towel hid very little of her nice, shapely body
from his eyes. Not to mention the beads of water glistening against
her skin only roused his desire all the more. Then when she had
tripped on herself and fell to the floor, the towel had nearly
unwrapped itself from her body. Damn, he had hoped that it would –
but she had been too quick for it, grabbing it just in the nick of
time.

He simply
loved the feel of her smooth, wet skin against his palm. Then his
mind suddenly started reeling with ungodly images of her.
Shit!

‘
My God,
Jayden, you must stop it this instance!’
He shook his head in disgust. This was Alexandra he was
thinking about. Alex was a nice girl. He should not think of her in
such a way. Then the thought of what he had done to her early this
morning, kissing her without her permission, really turned his gut.
She must think him a playboy or a ladies man or something along
those lines, taking advantage of her. He’d have to keep his hands
away from her otherwise he’d offend her again – and that he did not
want.

He quickly showered and changed
into a Jacob Cohen faded blue straight-leg jeans and a navy blue
checkered Burberry shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his
forearms. He was just coming out of the bathroom when he saw Kelly
entering the bedroom.

“What’s up?” he asked when he
saw her serious face.

Kelly was dressed in a pretty
Gucci light pink sun dress with a Prada heels. As usual she looked
immaculate. She smirked at him as she folded her arm across her
chest. “Good morning, Jay.”

“How is my sister today? You
haven’t got cold feet, have you?” he half joked.

“Of course not,” Kelly scoffed.
“I never get cold feet. Just a bit nervous is all.”

“Well I’m glad.”

Kelly brushed her blonde curls
over her shoulder. “It’s about time you tell me what’s going
on.”

“Uh-oh!” Jay narrowed his eyes
at his sister. “Shoot.”

Kelly touched his arm and
leaned closer to him. “About you and Alexandra.”

“Hmm?”

“Jay, you have to tell me. What
happened to Sarah? What happened in Sydney?”

Jay sighed, felt a pang in his
heart every time Sarah’s name was mentioned. “We broke up.”

“What? You and Sarah?”

He sat down on the bed. He said
through clenched teeth, “You were right.”

Kelly came to sit beside him,
her hand rubbing his shoulder. “About what?”

“Everything. She cheated on me.
I saw her with Kyle,” he said in disgust, suddenly remembering that
night at the hotel in Sydney. “I still can’t believe it.”

“Oh, Jay. I knew that woman is
no good. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, Kelly. I should have
listened to you. But...”

“Not too late, eh? You did the
right thing. And Alex?” Kelly asked, eyeing her brother with
interest.

There was a long pause. Then
Jay reluctantly said, “I hired her.”

“You what?” Kelly shouted, her
eyes large as she stared at her brother in shocked surprise.

“I hired her to be my
girlfriend. You know very well what Beth is like. Hey, you can’t
mention this to anyone. Understand? If you do... It’s not me I’m
worried about. It’s Alex.”

“Of course,” Kelly muttered.
“Ah. I see now. The match-making”

Jay said when he saw the
disapproving look on Kelly’s face, “Hey, Alex isn’t what you think
she is. She’s a good girl.”

“Oh?” Kelly chuckled. She was
curious as to why her brother was defending his hired girlfriend
when she hadn’t said a bad thing about the woman. In fact she
really liked Alex. What ever circumstances had brought Alex to Jay,
she was only glad that it had happened because she thought Alex had
helped heal Jay’s heart – even though Jay himself hadn’t realised
it.

“So what about you, Missy?” Jay
changed the subject. “Have you managed to kill Sam’s bank account
with your extravagant expenditures yet?”

“Of course not,” Kelly snapped.
“What about you? What are you doing to do with Alex when this is
over? Ditch her? And what about Granny Beth? And Mom and Dad? You
know very well Beth really wants great-grand children.”

Jay felt a mountain of guilt
piling up. He hadn’t really thought about that. “No. I’m not going
to ditch Alex. As for Beth, Mom and Dad – I’ll tell them the truth
when this is over.”

“When what is over?” Kelly
asked, her brows rose.

Jay shrugged his powerful
shoulders. “When your wedding is over and when Alex returns to New
Zealand.”

“And you expect everything to
go back to normal? To the way things used to be?” Kelly
questioned.

“Yeah, I supposed,” he replied,
somewhat unsure.

“Well, I hope so, Jayden,”
Kelly said as she strolled to the door, a hint of doubt in her
voice.

Jay glanced at his sister. She
looked as though she felt very sorry for him. Damn it! He didn’t
want her to feel sorry for him, especially in his love life.

“For you sake,” Kelly said
before she shut the door.

Jay raked his fingers through
his still wet hair, muttering, “What the hell is she on about?”

*****

CHAPTER 12

Jayden came down to breakfast
still thinking about what Kelly had meant when she had said, ‘I
hope so, Jayden, for your sake’. What the hell did that mean?
Surely Kelly didn’t mean that everything would fall apart, that his
parents was going to find out Alex was only his hired girlfriend,
and that he had no intention of ever settling down until he found
the perfect woman – if he’d ever find one.

And Alex? Well, she’d be back
in New Zealand – happy because she’d be with her family and she
didn’t have to pretend to be his girlfriend anymore. After all, he
suspected she didn’t like him much. She had only agreed to help him
because she had needed the money for her dad’s surgery.

Suddenly he wondered what her
reaction would be if he were to tell her that he wasn’t gay? He had
never thought about that. She’d probably slap him in the face and
call him a liar. Then she’d run home and never want to see him
again.

The very thought didn’t sit
well in his chest. He didn’t want her to see him as a liar and even
worse was the fact that he didn’t want her to leave. Gosh, he
thought in irritation, he was selfish.

“You seem to be deep in
thought, Jay?” Gracie called out.

Jayden
snapped his head up, had just realised that he had reached the
dining room. His heart did a startled kick –
very rare for him
– when he had seen
Alexandra sitting beside his mother, now all bright and smiling at
him.

“Yeah,” he said, grinning now,
the dilemma he had a moment ago wiped out of his mind. He came to
sit opposite them and took a slice of toast. Then he poured himself
a cup of black coffee.

“Alex has been telling me how
you two met,” Gracie said.

Jay glanced at Alex. He saw her
blushing. “Really? Do tell. I’m curious.”

Gracie chuckled. “She spilt tea
on your jacket.”

Jay took a bit of his toast.
After a bit of chewing he said, “She did.”

“Then you spilt beer on her,”
Gracie continued. “How clumsy of you, Jayden.”

Jay swallowed. He suddenly
remembered that night at the Thompson’s house when he had seen her
half naked in the bathroom.

He threw the half eaten toast
down and grabbed for the coffee. He took big gulps of the dark
liquid to calm himself down.

“My Gosh! It’s already
nine-thirty,” Beth announced at the door as she rushed into the
room. “Come along now. We are late for Vera Wang.” She tsked
loudly, frowning. “Where is Kelly?”

“Calm down, Beth, she’ll be
down soon,” Gracie said and winked at Alex.