His Hired Girlfriend (16 page)

“What are you doing?”

He came over to the sofa near
the window and laid on it, resting his head on the pillow. “Making
myself comfortable on my new bed.”

“Jay, please don’t do that.
This is your room, after all. You sleep on the bed, and I’ll sleep
on the sofa.”

“Don’t be silly. Now go to
sleep.”

“But, Jay.”

“Hush, missy. I’m a man. I
sleep on the sofa. Do you really want to damage my manhood?” he
joked.

Alex couldn’t
help but laugh at his comment. She wanted to say to
him
—‘your manhood has already been
damaged, Mr. McCartney, in my eyes anyway.’

Jay raised one brow. “What is
so funny?” He was in fact smiling himself.

“Nothing. Are you very sure you
are comfortable on that lovely bed of yours?”

“Very sure, Mademoiselle,” he
said and then closed his eyes. “Goodnight.”

“All right then. Goodnight,
Jay,” she replied. She turned over and made herself comfortable.
She peeked at him and saw that he looked as though he was asleep.
She should do the same, she told herself. She closed her eyes and
then drifted off to a very sound sleep.

*****

CHAPTER 11

JAYDEN
LISTENED TO Alex’s rhythmic breathing as she slept. Oddly enough he
found it very comforting and soon he, too, fell asleep. When he
woke up the next morning, it was to the smell of strong, black
coffee and freshly baked bread. Chef Leon must have just finished
baking those wonderful French bread he so enjoyed, Jay thought with
a smile. He breathed in deeply as though he was inhaling fresh air
into his lungs, enjoying the wonderful aroma. He couldn’t wait to
go down for breakfast. Then he thought he couldn’t believe this
would be the very first time that he’d be sharing breakfast with
Alex. Suddenly he felt his chest puff up with – what?
Happiness?
He wasn’t
sure what but he was really looking forward to it.

He stretched his body. Damn, he
thought, his neck felt very stiff. Apparently the sofa didn’t make
such a comfortable bed after all.

He sat up and started to
massage his aching muscles. He turned his neck left and right as he
groaned. Then he turned his neck too far to the right and it
cracked, making a loud noise.

“Shit!” he muttered at the
sharp pain erupted throughout his body. He stopped short when he
saw Alex watching him, a pretty smile on her lips.

“Good morning, Mr. McCartney.
Good sleep last night?” she asked sarcastically.

Jay saw the mischievousness in
her glowing eyes and relaxed his body. Though his body was still
sore all over, he’d be damned if he’d show her his weakness. So he
leaned back on the sofa, his arms crossed behind his head. “Yeah,
wonderful sleep,” he said, staring up at the chandelier, watching
the colourful spectra of rainbows forming as light hit the
crystals.

Alex laughed, shaking her head.
“Really? Well from what I saw just moments before, you don’t look
as though you had a good sleep at all, Jay.”

Jayden narrowed his eyes at
her. His lips in a thin line as he said, “Well that maybe...”

“You know what?”

“What?” he asked, eyeing her
now.

“I’ll sleep on the sofa
tonight. I’m smaller so it fits me better.”

“Don’t be silly,” he scoffed,
liking the glow of light playing on her person. He thought she
looked radiant.

“I’m not being silly. I used to
sleep on the floor with just a thin mattress when I fruit pick at
the farm,” she said, watching the toned muscle of his arms. She
suddenly wondered what it felt like under her touch. Would it be
hard and smooth as she suspected it would be?

“Did you fruit pick? What was
it like?” he asked, sitting up.

“Hard work,” she commented. Now
she could see his semi-naked chest where it was exposed beneath his
white night shirt. Smooth, hard, muscular chest. She swallowed and
shivered.

“You’ve been working hard all
your life, haven’t you?”

Alex shrugged her small
shoulders, casting her eyes down to look at her small hands
instead. Gosh, what was she doing? Wanting to touch a gay man?
Jay’d think she was a loon. “Nothing to it,” she said. “It was
rather fun at times. The fresh air, the warm sun, the sweet smells
of ripe strawberries.”

“Sounds heavenly,” he
commented, watching her, wondering if her hair would be soft under
his fingers as he imagined it to be.

“Kind of,” she chuckled. “So,
like, I was just wondering...”

“Hmm?”

“Do I get to go on a tour about
New York or anything? I mean come on this is my once in a life time
opportunity. Can I please go sightseeing?” She managed to flutter
her eyes a few times at him, so that he’d know she was begging him
to show her around.

Jayden chuckled once he had
seen her bright eyes full of enthusiasm. “That’s true.”

“Can we go to Central Park? And
the Central Park Zoo? They are in one place, right? And the Empire
State Building? And can we go shopping? Not that I’m gonna shop but
just window shopping you know. I mean I don’t even have the money
to shop. Gosh, everything must be really expensive here.”

Jayden laughed.

“What?” She frowned, folding
her arms across her chest. “What’s so funny? Okay. All right. Fine.
Just cuz you’ve lived here all your life and no doubt everything
seems awfully lame to you here now.”

Jay managed to stop and shook
his head. “No, of course not. New York is never lame. Although I
must admit I don’t like it much here.”

“So you don’t like living
here?” Alex was astounded. Everyone wanted to live in New York
City, especially on the Upper East Side, where all the rich, high
class socialites lived. Such glamorous lives they had.

Jayden shook his head.

“Why not?”

“Not my kind of scene. I want
peace and quiet. I want a place where I can relax and think and not
have to get involved with the type of people my family are involved
with.”

She was very curious and so she
couldn’t help asking, “Then why are you here?”

Jay shrugged his powerful
shoulders. He wasn’t going to tell her that he wanted a place like
Queenstown, and that he only stayed in New York because of Sarah.
But now...

“Because of work?” she
supplied.

Jayden changed the topic
swiftly. “So you slept well?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“And you are not still
tired?”

Alex cocked her head to one
side in serious thought. “Nope. Not at all tired. I feel much
better now. So, um, no more parties, right?”

Jay laughed.

Alex blushed a shade of pink.
The richness of his laughter caused her heart to quiver with joy.
Oh dear! She wondered if that was normal.

“Good,” he said. “We’ll go
sightseeing today.”

“What? I mean, really?” she
asked excitedly, hoping that he meant what he had just said.

Jay cocked his head to one side
as he studied her. Her long hair was in a wild mess, her eyes were
bright, and her lips were red and very kissable – enough to tempt a
monk. And Jayden wasn’t a monk so...

“Really?” she said, her voice
soft and sweet, her lips now clamped. She was giving him the puppy
dog look.

Jay swallowed his now dried
mouth and quickly looked away. Shit! This was not good. He had just
realised that he was attracted to his hired girlfriend.

“Where should we go first? Oh,
I know. I really want to go to Central Park. Would that be okay? I
mean I’m not bothering you? I could always go by myself, you know.
I’ve got a map. I got it all worked out. We are in the Upper East
Side of New York City, right? So...”

Jayden had just realised that
Alex chattered nonstop when she was excited. And he found that he
liked that just fine. Slowly he relaxed and studied her as she
ticked off with her fingers all the things she could do at Central
Park. He loved her unguarded emotions, clearly shown on her face as
she talked – so animated, he thought.

Suddenly there was a series of
knocks at the door. Alex stopped and glanced in that direction,
wondering who it was.

“Jayden? Are you up yet?”

Jay bolted up and fired his
gaze at the door. “Shit!” he swore under his breath.

“What?” Alex asked, her eyes
wide in confusion.

Jayden didn’t have time to
answer. He leaped off the sofa and raced to the bed – with the
blanket in tow. He hopped in between the sheets, arranged the
blanket about them both, and pulled the surprised and confused Alex
into his arms. As he was doing so, one of his hands was busy
messing up his own hair and then he did the same to Alex.

Alex just looked at him as
though he had just gone mad.

Jayden stared down at her. It
seemed as though he couldn’t help himself after all. He caught her
chin and slammed his lips against hers – tasting her soft, sweet
mouth. As he deepened the kiss, his fingers dug deep into her thick
hair. He pulled her closer against him, wanting more of her.

Alex was
shocked to the core. She went still as her heart did somersaults.
Not to mention her body went soaring into the sky like an eagle.
Jay was warm and hard against her. And he was kissing her.
Her! Plain Alexandra Stewart from New
Zealand!

The door opened and then—
“Jayden!”

Jay didn’t want to stop the
kiss. But he reluctantly released the dazed Alex and turned to look
at his grandmother who, no doubt, was demanding for his attention
with her stiff voice.

He said, “Beth? Oh didn’t hear
you coming in.”

“My God! I can’t believe this,”
Beth muttered, her lips thin. She glanced at the dishevelled Alex,
hummed disapprovingly and then back to Jay she said, “Please hurry,
Jayden, we have an appointment at Vera Wang for Kelly’s final
fitting at ten this morning and then lunch with Britney at twelve.”
Then she sailed out the room, her head held high.

Once the door was properly
closed, Jayden relaxed with a sigh.

Alex bit her lip. Her heart had
just shattered as she had realised that Jayden hadn’t meant to
really kiss her at all. He had only done it as a stage show for
Beth.

Jayden turned to look at her.
He felt his heart glow. He wanted to kiss her again. She was so
soft, warm, and sweet – despite the fact that she didn’t even know
how to kiss. Of course he could teach her. He realised that she
hadn’t stop blushing either.

He stroked her tangled up, long
hair. Yup, he thought, it was very soft like he had thought it was
all right.

Alex loved him touching her
hair so gently like that – like he was stroking his beloved pet or
something. But she knew she must stop him because otherwise she’d
liked it too much and it’d hurt her in the end when they parted. So
she touched his hand, stilling his gentle strokes and said, “You
don’t have to act anymore. Beth is not here.”

Jayden’s heart missed a beat.
He frowned at her upset face and wondered what was wrong. Alex
slowly got up and out off the bed and then went into the bathroom,
her shoulders slumped.

“Shit!” Jay said, throwing his
head on the soft pillow.

***

Alexandra stared at herself in
the mirror, her fingers touching her slightly sore, red lips. She
could still feel that lovely sensation resulted from Jayden’s kiss.
It was her first, and done by none other than a hot, gay man.

She groaned. A feeling of
sadness built up within her heart as she knew Jayden hadn’t wanted
to kiss her. He had done it simply as an act. Oh how she wanted him
to really kiss her.

“Alex?” She heard his voice
from the other side of the door, which then followed by a couple of
soft knocks. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that to you. If I hurt
or offended you in anyway just know that I’m really sorry.”

Sorry?
Alex wanted to shout at him to leave her be. At
the same time she wanted to tell him that she didn’t want him to
feel sorry for what he had done.

“Alex, you hear me?” he
queried, his voice louder now.

Alex sighed and reluctantly
replied, “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t be sorry, Jay. I know it’s not real
anyway. You and I are just acting.”

“Alex, look—”

She cut him off by turning on
the shower so that she couldn’t hear his explanations or excuses or
whatever it was he was trying to say. She quietly and slowly
tiptoed to the door and listened to see if he had left already. A
moment later she heard him sigh. After that there was only
quietness from the other side except for the noise of the shower
running. She relaxed and rested her head against the door, assuming
that he had left the room.

Oddly enough her heart hurt in
an odd painful way. What could it be? A sign of love?
Disappointment? Oh dear. Hadn’t she warned herself about that when
she had first met him? Hadn’t she told herself that it would be
very easy to fall in love with Jayden McCartney? But how could she
stop it from happening? It was obvious the man did not feel the
same way towards her.

For the first time Alex wanted
to punch the wall. Only she wouldn’t because it’d hurt her knuckles
and they’d probably bruised for a couple of weeks. Of course this
won’t look good if she was going to attend one of the biggest
weddings in New York City – especially when she was pretending to
be the girlfriend of the bride’s brother as well. She’d surely draw
too much attention to herself. Goodness knows she had already drawn
too much attention to herself as it had happened last night.

She gave out a big sigh and
then went about showering. Once she had finished, she wrapped a
thin towel about her slim body and emerged back out into the
bedroom.

She came to a
sudden halt when she saw Jayden watching her. He was out on the
veranda, leaning against the rail, his powerful arms crossed about
her muscular chest. His eyes –
oh my
God
– they were so intense. She felt as
though he could actually see deep into her soul.