His Hired Girlfriend (26 page)

“Sorry about the wait, sir,”
the sales assistant said, handing him a light blue bag that had the
brand Tiffany & Co.

Jayden took the bag. “Thank
you.”

“You’re welcome, sir. We hope
to see you again.”

Jayden nodded
politely and thought –
not in a million
years.

“She’s a fine piece.”

Jayden saw the sales assistant
nodding towards Alex.

“She is,” he commented.

“Congratulation, sir. The best
of luck from us and enjoy your honeymoon.”

Jayden blinked. He could only
smile after he had realised what she meant. She nodded and
left.

He came to
stand behind Alex, curious what had snatched her interest so
completely. In the show case glass he saw a princess cut diamond
ring encased in a platinum band
. Whoa!
What a piece.

“All sorted,” he whispered into
her ear softly.

Alex jumped. She turned and
glanced up at him. “Hi,” she greeted, smiling and her eyes were
shinning with adoration. “Look at that one. It’s so beautiful.”

“Yes, it is,” he agreed, his
eyes on her.

Alex licked her lips. “I’ve
never worn a ring before.”

“Yeah? Then try it on.”

“Huh? Don’t be silly.” She
chuckled, waving her hand at him.

“Excuse me,” Jayden called to a
sale assistant behind the counter who had been watching them. She
nodded and came around to them.

“Yes sir? Can I help you?”

“That one,” Jayden said,
nodding toward the ring.

“Jayden!” Alex hissed.

“Ah. Excellent choice, sir,”
the sales assistant commented.

Jayden ignored Alex’s frown as
he watched the woman inserted a key into the lock and opened the
glass door.

“It’s a Lucida princess cut
diamond ring set in platinum,” the woman said as she gently picked
up the case containing the ring.

Jayden picked up the piece of
jewel, examined it in his fingers. Once he was sure that he was
satisfied it really beautiful, he grabbed Alex’s left hand and slid
it onto her ring finger.

“Oh wow,” Alex exclaimed. She
moved her hand this way and that so that the diamond caught the
light and sparkled. “It’s beautiful.”

“It’s a perfect engagement
ring,” the sale assistant commented.

“Oh,” Alex gasped, surprised.
This was an engagement ring? Gosh! How embarrassing. “Err, thank
you,” she said and quickly took it off. The sale assistant
carefully set the ring back in its case and then put that back into
the secure glass box.

“Thank you,” Jayden said to the
woman. The sales assistant nodded and returned to her position
behind the counter.

Jayden led Alex towards the
door, holding her hand in his.

“Is that all?” she asked. There
was a sense of disappointment in her voice which Jayden did not
miss. He knew she wanted to see more of New York.

“Yeah,” he replied with a
secret smile. “That’s all.”

“Oh. Okay.”

***

ACROSS THE
HUGE store on the other side stood Stephanie, with bags of Tiffany
and Co. in her hands. She watched with interest as Jayden and Alex
headed toward the exit. Her eyes zeroed in on
the
Tiffany and Co. bag in Jayden’s
hand. A bubble of excitement erupted within her. It must be an
engagement ring. After all, she had glimpsed Jayden putting a
diamond ring on Alex’s finger –
the
one of a kind that was on show in the main glass
case in the middle of the lobby, the one that everyone admired but
couldn’t afford to buy. Yup – an engagement ring for sure. She
couldn’t wait to spread the good news.

*****

CHAPTER 19

ALEX SLID INTO the passenger
seat, clicked on her seat belt and then put on her sunglasses.
Jayden couldn’t help but admire the way she handled herself – with
such elegance and innocence. She looked as though she belonged
there, as a part of his world, but at the same time she looked
vulnerable and lost. She was very contradictory in his mind, but
very desirable as well.

“Back home then I suppose,” she
said absentmindedly.

Back
home?
Jayden was very surprised at her
choice of words. Did that mean his home was now her
home?

“What?” she asked when she saw
that he was looking at her oddly.

“Nothing,” he replied, starting
the engine, grinning. Then he steered the car around and into the
thick traffic.

Alex relaxed, thoroughly
enjoying the sun. A moment later she asked, “So what was it?”

“Hmm?” Jay glanced at his blind
spot and switched lane.

She grinned. “What did you get?
Your errand.”

“Oh. Right. In the bag,” he
said, nodding behind him towards the back seat. “Have a look.”

“Sure. Don’t mind me.” She
leaned over and reached for the blue bag. She placed it on her lap
and took out two small velvet light blue boxes that had the initial
Tiffany & Co. “Ooh,” she made a sound as she opened one box.
The gold wedding band shone against the glistening sunlight.

“Oh whoa,” she gasped. “It’s
Kelly’s wedding ring?”

Jayden nodded.

“Nice.” Then she turned the box
about so that she’d be able to inspect it from all sides without
having to take the ring out. She didn’t want to dirty it.

Jayden laughed. “Do you want
one?”

Alex glanced at him. “Who
doesn’t? When I find the right man, of course.”

Jayden was curious. The right
man, huh? He wondered what type of man was her ‘right man’. He had
no doubt that she probably had a list of criteria – as all women
do.

“So just curious and all,
what’s your ideal man? That perfect man you are looking for?” he
asked casually.

Alex shut the box and placed it
back into the bag. “I supposed every girl has her ideal man. Mine
is tall but not too tall. Your height is good.”

Jayden grinned from ear to ear
at her comment.

“He has to be kind. Don’t
really care who he is or where he’s from. I mean nationality wise.
Not sure about his career though. But I’d love to have a doctor as
a husband,” she said, smiling at him, nudging her sunglasses up the
bridge of nose with her finger.

“Why?” he asked, a hint of
disapproval in his voice. “A doctor?”

“Because I’m a scientist. They
kind of go together, don’t you think?”

“No. Does it matter that he has
to be a doctor?” He glanced at her.

Alex pouted her lips. “No, I
suppose not.” She shrugged.

“Besides, aren’t doctors
supposed to be so busy that they won’t have time for you?”

“I think that depends,” she
said, starting to feel quite uncomfortable chatting about her
‘ideal’ man. If he asked her enough questions he’d know who her
ideal man was, the man she wanted in her life, which was basically
him. That was why she had said a doctor instead of a business man.
“Let’s talk about something else,” she suggested.

“Right. What do you want to
eat?”

“Huh?” she glanced at him.

“What type of food do you want
to eat?”

“Are we going out to eat?” she
asked nervously.

“Yup.”

She sighed, a happy feeling
bubbling up within her. “And I get to choose the place?”

“Yup.”

“Cool.” She chuckled. “What
about a steak house?”

Jayden raised a brow at her.
“Really?”

“Yeah, I love steak.”

“All right.” Then he added,
“After I’ve taken you for a cruise around the town.”

Alex couldn’t believe what she
was hearing. She turned towards him and grinned, her eyes large and
puppy like. “Really?”

Jayden chuckled. “Unless you
have something else planned.”

“Oh no,” she replied quickly.
“Nothing planned.”

“Good,” he said, speeding up.
“Sorted then.”

After that everything was a
wonderful blur to Alex as she took in the sights of central park
and then the Metropolitan Museum of Art as Jayden guided her
around, holding her hands and showing her things. When she was
exhausted from the heat and from learning and seeing new things, he
took her for a late lunch.

The BMW came to a screeching
halt in front of Rob’s Steak House restaurant. Jayden got out and
rushed over to open the door for her.

Alex laughed. “You don’t have
to do that.”

“Ah,” he began. “But I have to.
I’m a gentleman.”

“Yeah. Right,” she scoffed. She
felt like reminding him that he was supposed to be gay, but she
didn’t have the heart to do so because he looked so pleased with
himself. And he was so damn handsome she couldn’t take her eyes off
him. She wondered if he knew that he was very good looking and that
lots of women would fall for him if he were to just lead them
on.

The restaurant was busy and
packed with costumers. Most of the seats were taken though Alex
couldn’t help but admire the fact that everything was run very
smoothly. There was no rush or panicked kind of atmosphere like
most restaurants she had been to when it was busy. Every staff
member here knew what they were doing and did so efficiently.

A waiter showed them to their
table which was situated near the window that overlooked central
park. He even pulled out a chair for Alex, and she thanked him
politely. Then he poured them each a glass of water and then showed
them the menu.

“Would you like some wine
today?” he asked.

Jayden glanced down the wine
list and choose one. The waiter jotted that down and then left,
telling them that he’d be back in a few moments.

“Wow. I don’t know what to
have,” Alex commented, biting her lip as she scanned through the
menu.

“I thought you wanted steak.
Just go for a steak,” Jay said, leaning back in his seat.

“Yes, I want steak. All right,
I’ll go for the steak.” Decision made, she shut the menu.

The waiter reappeared with the
wine. He expertly poured a bit into a glass for Jayden to taste.
Jayden nodded his approval and then the waiter poured more into his
glass.

He turned to Alex and poured
some into her glass as well.

“Oh. Thank you,” she said to
him, smiling.

“You’re welcome,” he replied
and left them after he had taken their order.

Once they were alone again,
Alex said, “I like this place. It’s nice.” The people, she thought,
were very pleasant and they all seemed to be dressed immaculately.
At the door she saw two people came through. It was them, the
blonde hair woman and the handsome man who she had met at Buon
Appetito. She hoped they wouldn’t see her and Jayden. She hoped
like hell they wouldn’t recognise her.

“I’m sorry, sir, but all our
tables are taken. If you both could please wait a moment,” one of
the waiters said to them.

The blonde muttered something
under her breath and folded her arms across her chest in
irritation. Then her eyes met Alex’s.

Alex was sure she could see the
hazel eyes narrowing as if there was a sense of recognition. She
quickly looked away, pretending she hadn’t noticed the woman. She
wasn’t pleased when she could see the blonde heading toward their
table from her peripheral vision.

The blonde stopped right in
front of them. She glanced at Alex and then turned to Jayden,
smiling pleasantly as if they were old friends.

“Jayden, darling,” she said
brightly.

Alex widened
her eyes in shock.
The blonde knew Jayden?
Oh my God! What a small world this was.

She watched Jay who looked at
the blonde with a cold, masked face. “Sarah,” he said.

That was when Alex felt the big
hole in her stomach. Her heart fluttered as she realised that
Jayden was very tense. She could see that his hands were gripping
into a fist and that his chest was heaving heavily.

So this was Sarah? Jayden’s
ex-girlfriend? The sense of realisation settled in her, and Alex
felt sick in the stomach.

“Did you enjoy yourself last
night? You didn’t stay too late with Britney, did you?” Sarah
asked.

Jayden ignored her questions
and fired one of his own. “What are you doing here?”

“Lunch of course, darling,”
Sarah replied sweetly.

“Sarah, we’re getting our
table,” the man said behind her. He came to a stop when he saw
Jayden. “Well, well, well. New York certainly is a small
place.”

“It is, isn’t it? I wish it
wasn’t,” Jayden said sarcastically. “How are you, Kyle? Have you
managed to bankrupt another company yet?”

Kyle gritted his teeth. “That’s
none of your business, Jayden,” he sneered.

“Oh. Sorry for asking. Don’t
you have your own table to go to?”

Sarah gritted her teeth at his
comment.

Alex could feel the woman
glancing at her. There was a sense of curiosity and jealousy in her
eyes.

“Meet my girlfriend, Alexandra
Stewart,” Jayden said, nodding towards Alex, his arm around her
shoulders.

“Your what?” Sarah shouted in
shock. “This toilet cleaning slut is your girlfriend?”

Jayden’s eyes became dark and
cold and his face turned rigid. Alex had never seen him looking so
ruthless and dangerous before and the image set her pulse racing.
She had to admit, however, that he still looked damn hot.

Alex turned her attention to
Sarah Taylor. What an arrogant bitch this woman was. The woman had
thought that she, Alex, was a cleaner before and had treated her so
horribly that Alex was not prepared for it to happen again. This
time she’d stand for herself. It was a free country after all.

Alex smiled pleasantly and
coldly as she slowly stood up, her eyes on the other woman. “I’m
sorry, Miss Perfect, but I don’t think I’ve ever told you that I’m
a toilet cleaner or that I am a slut. In fact Jayden is my very
first boyfriend and if you so wanted to know he will also be my
last. I’m not like some other women.” Moving her face closer
towards Sarah, she added, “I don’t cheat either.” Her brows rising
just a bit, mocking blondie.