His Hired Girlfriend (23 page)

“My bed is that way,” she said
tiredly, pointing towards the sofa.

“Your bed is there,” he said,
nodding toward the bed. “And don’t argue with me. Go back to
sleep.”

“Bully!” she grumbled sleepily,
her eyes closing and her fist weakly punching his chest.

“Ouch!” he chuckled, teasing
her. Her punch felt like an itch to him. “Why did you that
for?”

Alex opened her eyes. “Cos I
want to hurt you,” she retorted.

“Why do you want to hurt
me?”

Alex wanted
to say
—‘coz you lied to me.’
Instead she said, “Put me down,
Jayden.”

“All right.” He gently laid her
down on the bed. Alex immediately rolled off and marched back
toward the sofa. Jayden swiftly caught her arm and swung her
around.

“What?”

Jayden blinked. He realised
then that her thick, bedroom tangled hair looked different. The
colour had changed. Now it was light brown with a hint of blonde
and under the dim light it was very glossy. Her whole complexion,
too, looked healthy, fresh and milky.

Shit! Alex was beautiful, and
he felt his gut churning with acid and his body shuddering with
desire. Now standing up, she looked too damn sexy and tempting, she
was about to give him a heart attack.

No, maybe he had had too much
wine back at the party, and now he couldn’t seem to concentrate or
see things clearly. Yes, he was drunk, and Alex being beautiful was
only his imagination. His brain must be playing tricks on him.

‘
No
kidding, Jayden’
– the voice at the
back of his head snapped. ‘
You hardly had
more than two glasses of red wine.’

“Well?” Alex prompted, frowning
at him, folding her arms across her chest.

Jayden shook his head to clear
his thought. “The bed is this way,” he said.

“I’m too tired to argue or
fight with you now. We’ll do it in the morning,” she announced.

“It is morning and we’re not
fighting,” Jay said, moving closer.

“Yes we kind
of are,” she said, unfolding her arms impatiently, which drew
Jayden’s attention to her chest. He realised that she wasn’t
wearing her bra underneath that thin Tee which said clearly
‘I’m No Angel’
in big
bold letters. How ironic, he thought, because looking at her now
she damn well looked like an angel – a very sexy one at
that.

“In what way?” he asked with
his head cocked to one side, now studying her.

Alex pulled her face. She
wondered what they were doing there, talking about nonsense when
she knew they both were very tired and in need of a lot of shut
eyes? She thought that she really must get away from him. Otherwise
she’d probably start shouting at him about his lies.

She shrugged her shoulders and
turned on her heels.

Jayden didn’t know what came
over him then. He should have just left it at that and let her
return to her uncomfortable sofa and him going back to his inviting
soft bed. He, however, acted before he could think. He swiftly and
smoothly got off the bed and pulled Alex into his arms.

“Ah!” Alex gasped. She blinked,
her sleepiness gone. She was now very aware of his strength and
warmth against her body. Excitement bubbled up in the pit of her
stomach.

Jay ran his fingers through her
hair, mesmerised by her new found beauty. Yes, her hair was soft
and silky under his touch.

“Your pupils are dilated, Jay,”
she said, grinning, knowing the fact that he liked her new
look.

“What?”

“I said your pupils are
dilated,” she repeated.

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Us humans are like that.
When we see what we like, our pupils dilate.” She grinned
cheekily.

“Right,” he responded, still at
a lost as to what she was talking about. To be frank he didn’t care
much. He just liked listening to the sound of her sweet, husky
voice, inhaling her scent, and gazing at her pretty face that he
had the urge to kiss so badly.

Alex cocked her head to one
side. “So are you liking what you’re seeing, Jay?” she asked, a
smile on her face.

That brought
him up short. He stopped stroking her hair and frowned.
Was she implying something?

“May I ask you a question?” she
started.

“What?”

“Does touching a woman make you
feel disgusting? I mean, like really grossed you out?”

Jayden blinked. “What?”

“I mean you’re gay, right?
Doesn’t the thought of touching a woman gross you out?” she asked,
her brows rose.

Holy Mother of God! He had
forgotten the fact that he was supposed to be gay. And how the heck
was he supposed to know whether gay men felt disgusted at the
thought of touching women?

“Well,” he began, searching his
tired brain for an answer. “I don’t know about gay men...I mean
other gay men, but I surely don’t feel grossed out at the thought
of touching women.”

“So, erm, touching me right now
doesn’t gross you out?”

Jayden wanted to laugh then
only he knew he shouldn’t because she’d be suspicious and thought
he was a loon.

‘
Heck no!
You feel just right in my arms, my sweet,’
he wanted to say to her. But of course he didn’t. He said
instead, “Touching you is like touching a sister. Nothing special
about it.”

“Really?” Alex prompted.
“Right.” She saw him nod and took a step back, almost reluctantly,
she thought. “Right then. Goodnight,” she said and turned on her
heels.

“Oh no you don’t,” he
chuckled.

“What?” she said over her
shoulder.

“The bed.” He nodded that
way.

She raised her brows,
challenging him. “And you’ll sleep on the sofa?”

“Nope. I’ll sleep on the bed as
well.”

“No,” she replied simply.

“Yes,” he said, grabbing her
arm and pulling her towards him.

She laughed. “Jayden, I don’t
think so. It’s not safe.”

“What’s not safe?”

“I told you before. I used to
sleep on the sofa, so I’m comfortable with that.”

“No. You’ll sleep on the bed
with me, missy.”

“It’s not safe,” she said,
frowning at him now, seriously pulling herself away from his tight
grasp.

“Don’t be silly. I’m gay. What
could happen?” he said, laughing.

‘
A lot
could go wrong, Jayden,’
she wanted to
shout at him.
‘I know you’re not
gay.’

Instead she said, “Right.
Nothing could go wrong of course. But still...”

Jayden bent down, quickly
scooped her up and marched to the bed. Before Alex knew it, she was
on the bed and Jayden was on top of her, so she wouldn’t be able to
get away.

He chuckled. “If you run away,
Alex, I’m going to kiss you.”

She laughed, her soft voice
echoing in room.

He smiled, loving her beautiful
laugh.

“You? Kissing
me?” she scoffed, her brows rose in doubt. Na-da! There was
no way
Jayden was going
to really kiss her. It was simply a threat because if he really was
going to kiss her he’d blow his entire masquerade that he had so
cleverly built.

“Really?” she prompted, her
head cocked to one side as she studied him. “I don’t believe you.
You’re gay, mister, so behave like one.” Then she shoved his
rock-hard chest so that he’d move away. He obediently shifted
aside, freeing her.

Alex sat up and gave him the
look that said – I told you so. “Wuss,” she said, grinning, feeling
quite satisfied she had won the argument. She landed her feet on
the carpet and stood up, heading towards the sofa.

In a flash, Jayden caught her
wrist, pulled her back on the bed and rolled himself on top of
her.

Alex had no idea what had just
happened. One second she was standing and heading toward the sofa
and the next she felt herself being pulled back and then she was
back on the bed. She could see Jayden on top of her, grinning – the
type she had never seen on his face before. She was suddenly very
alarmed and butterflies rushed up from the pit of her stomach.

Jayden brought his hands up and
cupped her face. Slowly he lowered his head toward hers. Once his
face was only inches from hers, their noses nearly touching, his
hot breath against hers, he said softly, “I’m no wuss, Alex.” Then
he fastened his firm lips against her soft ones.

His kiss was not hard and
demanding but soft and gentle. He deepened the kiss as his fingers
dug deep into her thick hair and his tongue stroking along her half
opened, quivering lips.

Alex was shocked to stillness.
Her body was ablaze with small flickers of fireworks she never knew
could exist. When Jayden slid his tongue into her mouth that was
when she caught the breath at the back of her throat, felt as
though she was floating on air and the fireworks within her became
more powerful – exploding into a myriad of colours.

She didn’t realise that she was
responding to his kiss as her hands came up to wrap around his
neck. When she finally realised she was kissing him back, Jayden
suddenly stopped and pulled back – totally breathless.

Alex didn’t know that she, too,
was breathless and that her heart was pumping like mad – as though
she had run a marathon.

With his face still practically
touching hers, she could see his blue eyes that was – oh God –
blazing with passion. She never knew what the meaning of ‘fire in
the eyes’ was until that moment. Yes, she could see fire in
Jayden’s eyes – a deep, intense and powerful blue flame that was
alive and consuming everything in its path. In reaction to that
realisation, her heart did a somersault and her stomach knotted in
dread and excitement.

She covered her hands over her
mouth because she couldn’t believe what had happened. Then because
she couldn’t stand him staring at her so intensely like that, like
he didn’t regret what he had just done one bit and that he’d be
glad to do it again, she quickly turned over and gave her back to
him.

Jayden moved over so that his
lips were near her ear, his hand touching her bare arm. She could
feel the heat there, burning on her skin, sending her head
reeling.

“Don’t you dare sneak away or
I’ll do it again,” he whispered.

Alex shivered, both at the
thought of that possibility and at the fact that she could feel his
warm breath against her skin, tingling her sense.

“I won’t run,” she whispered,
her voice quivering. Then she shoved him back and away from her.
Jayden obliged at her need for space, chuckling.

“Stupid man,” she muttered
under her breath and quickly pulled the blanket up and over her
head, hiding from him.

Jayden smiled and lay back on
his side. Then he switched off the light, grinning from ear to ear.
Damn, he thought, he had just kissed Alex, and he didn’t care one
bit if that behaviour was gay and that she might be suspicious. He
thought he couldn’t wait to do it again – quite soon.

***

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND

MARY ST.
CLAIRE threw her Louis Vuitton handbag onto the leather sofa and
growled in frustration. Her legs hurt like a bitch because she had
been standing and running around the wards in heels all day. She
would never wear sneakers shoes like most of the other young
doctors though because she hated how it looked on her.
So unfashionable!
She’d
rather suffer than go for comfort.

God how she hated her job! She
had thought that becoming a doctor was the best career move ever.
After all it was one of the highest regarded jobs in the world. But
now, however, she found she couldn’t stand at the thought of
walking into the hospital building itself. Seeing sick, elderly
patients wasn’t her thing, especially the smell. She hated sick,
old people smell. She knew that before long she’d have to quit her
job and do something else. She didn’t know what yet but she was not
prepared to waste anymore of her precious time looking after sick
people. She had had enough.

She thought that right now
would be a good time for a boyfriend to come and comfort her and
maybe give her a massage. Suddenly the image of Jayden McCartney,
that American handsome man, popped up in her head. She still
couldn’t believe that he had left her stranded that Saturday night.
She had expected to spend the night with him, perhaps at her very
luxurious apartment her dad had bought for her for her twenty-first
birthday, and in her bed most of the night of course. She had been
very disappointed when he had left, and so she had had to make do
with a random cute guy from the bar. Now for the life of her she
couldn’t remember who that man was. Oh well. Who cared? It had only
been a one night stand.

She thought that she really
must talk to Peter and see whether she could contact Jayden through
him. Then a thought struck her. Of course Peter and Jayden were
friends. That meant that Jayden would be in Peter’s Facebook
friends list.

A bubble of
excitement burst up within her. She giggled and rushed over to her
laptop sitting on the desk near the window. She switched it on and
a few minutes later she was browsing through Peter’s friends list
on Facebook. Sure enough Jayden McCartney was there. She went into
his profile page and started browsing. She thought he looked really
hot in all of his pictures. She giggled.
Jayden McCartney
. Oh how she wanted
him.

She went to his bio page.

Her heart skipped a beat.

“Holy Shit!”
she swore under her breath. She glared harder and gritted her
teeth, her hands shaking.
“What
the!”

There his
relationship status said,
“In Relationship
with Alexandra Stewart”
.