His Hired Girlfriend (8 page)

Shoot!

Not wanting to be seen
peeking in on her while she is undressing, he says loudly, “Alex,
you all right?”

She had gotten half her singlet up to and covered her face
when he said that.
Holy
Mother of God!
He could see
the lace of her bra coiling with her singlet, and it is going
up.

Alex turns around as she
yanks the singlet all the way off her body. She blinks once it is
off her person.

“
Jay!” she
gasps.

“
Holy shit!”
Jay
swears under his breath, staring at her, the top half of her body
naked. She has beautiful breasts. They are milky white, full, and
round with light pink nipples.

Shit! Shit!
Shit!

Alex glances down and her
face goes bright red. She quickly covers herself and starts
mumbling something that Jay couldn’t hear.

Feeling guilty, he states,
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“
No, no, no. It’s my fault. I didn’t lock the door. But
that’s okay because you’re gay.” The moment she says that, Alex
wants to die.

Where did that come from?
You stupid girl! What have you done? You’ve hurt Jay’s tender
feelings. You know very well that gay people are very sensitive,
not only about this subject, but in everything else as
well.

Jay cocks his head to one side, studying her. She’s staring
at the floor, completely mortified. O
kay. He is supposed to be gay. This should come in useful.
So instead of saying sorry to her, shutting the door, and leaving
her alone like a real bloke would do, he comes into the bathroom
and closes the door. He glances at her chest; the milky white flesh
of her breasts is barely concealed from his prying eyes, what with
her slender arms and the little material of the wet
singlet.

“
Hey,” he finally says. “It’s okay
.”

Alex looks up at him. “I
really didn’t mean that, Jay. I’m sorry.”

“
Don’t be. I can’t help
the way I am,” he says, his gut retching in disgust.

You’re damn right, you
rascal. You can’t help with the way you are. You’re a male who is
about to take advantage of an innocent young woman.

He comes to stand right in front of her.
Now then, what does a real gay man
do when he encounters such an odd situation? He’d be understanding,
and he’d give her a hug, like when a girl gives her girlfriend a
hug after she finds out that her best friend got dumped.

Jay touches her arms and
says gently, “It’s all right, Alex.”

He tries, honest to God,
he really does try. But he is just a mere man. He is not a monk. He
couldn’t help himself, and so he glances down at her breasts
again.

Shit!

She seems to be hugging
herself harder, as though she is withdrawing from him because he is
touching her. And in doing so she’s squeezing her breasts together.
His mind starts reeling with sinful images. His mind starts
picturing what he could do to her, particularly those amazing
breasts of hers.

He quickly looks away before his imagination gets any
wilder. He stares at the wall instead and
thinks—
you rascal, you’re
turned on. Shit! You’re turned on. You’re in deep shit.

Think of something to say! Think of a joke! Make a
joke!

Nothing.

Alex looks up at him, his
warm hands touching her bare arms.

“
Jay?” she whispers, her
eyes large beneath her glasses as she gazes up at him.

“
Hmm?” he responds,
finally looking down at her face that doesn’t seem so plain
anymore.

“
I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. Peter told me. I’m sorry. I
should have kept it a secret. I mean, not mentioning it to you. But
Peter told me, and—oh, damn—I’m so lousy at this. But I was just
wondering, so you like men?”

God, she is so cute trying to apologize. She doesn’t even
know how to go about this so she won’t hurt his
so-called
feelings even more.

As an answer to her
question about him being gay, he swallows and manages to
nod.

“
So it’s okay
then,”
she says quietly.

“
What’s okay
?”

“
Me half-dressed in front of you. I’m shy. But since you’re
gay and all, I think it’s okay. I heard people say gay friends are
genuinely nice, like they’re not—you know—maybe it’s good to have
you as a friend. I think you’re a good man, Jay. I think that’s why
Peter is helping you out. And like can we not talk about this, you
know, to anyone? Can we like keep it a secret?”

Jay wants to laugh. She is
drawing all the wrong conclusions about him. She considers herself
safe in his presence when she’s half-naked? And she thinks he is a
good man?

“
All right then. That’ll
fix it.”

“
What’ll fix it?” Alex
asks, looking up at him.

“
I’ll get one of my shirts
for you since I’m the one who spilled beer on you,” he says and
reluctantly takes a few steps back. “And yeah, we’ll keep it a
secret.”

“
Thanks. Can you like
hurry cos I’m hungry.”

Jay nods. “Right,” he says
and opens the door. “Back in a sec.”

Alex grins. Jay closes the door. Alone, she turns and
glares accusingly at her old bra. It’s the bra’s fault, of course.
She can’t believe the stupid thing coiled with her singlet and came
off. Gosh, she needs to buy a new one.

* * *

S
ix

In the dimly lit dining room, Jayden watches Alex from across the
table, grinning to himself. She has on his dark grey jumper. It’s
way too big for her person, but she manages to make it look as
though it fits her perfectly, with the sleeves rolled up to her
slim forearms.

“
So how’s the house
renovation going, Pete?” Alex asks, glancing up from her plate of
roasted pork and various veggies.

“
Not too well,” Peter
says. “Did I tell you about that mold?”

Alex shakes her head as
she pops some pork into her mouth.

“
We have to take down the
walls. God, more labor cost and more materials needed now,” he
mumbles. “And Tracy is not very happy.”

“
I’m sure I wouldn’t be
happy either,” Alex comments, thinking about the amount of money
needed for a house renovation.

“
So, Alex,” Mr. Thompson
says from across the table, sipping his glass of white
wine.

Alex looks over at Dr.
Mark Thompson, who had only arrived five minutes before dinner. He
had been busy at the Dunedin Public Hospital and at the lab. Well,
as a head consultant hematologist, he is expected to be busy and he
is expected to be called in at any time.

“
How’s Dad?” he
asks.

“
He’s not doing too well,”
Alex says, wondering if she should tell Mark her dad is getting
worse day by day.

Jay pops a piece of the
roast meat into his mouth and chews as he listens to their
conversation. He wonders what’s wrong with Alex’s dad. Is that why
she was reluctant to talk about her family back at SAN?

“
He’s still having those
fainting spells now and again.”

“
I suggest surgery if it
gets worse,” Mark says.

“
Likewise,” Peter
agrees.

Alex could only nod in
agreement, as she doesn’t know what else to say. She turns her
attention to Jayden and sees him watching her. Her stomach flutters
oddly as his gaze seems to be drawing her deeper into some kind of
spell. Then he looks away and pops another piece of sweet potato
into his mouth.

“
You do like kumara?” she
asked, watching him.

Jay looks up at her.
“Kumara?”

“
Yeah, kumara,” Alex says,
nodding her head. “You’ve had three big pieces already.”

“
I have? I don’t remember
eating them.”

Peter and Margaret starts to laugh. Peter says, “She means
sweet potatoes.”

“
Yeah, we call them
kumara. It’s a Maori word for sweet potatoes,” Alex
says.

“
Kumara,” Jay tries out
the word. “I like the name.”

Everyone
laughs.

After a good, hearty
dinner and then dessert of ice cream and fruits, Alex says good
night to the Thompsons and leaves. It’s cold and dark outside as
she rushes to her car. She is about to get in when Jay calls out to
her. “Hey, sorry to bother you.”

“
That’s okay
,” she
says, shivering and hugging herself against the cold wind. “Oh,
yeah, totally forgot. Your jersey.”

“
No worries. You can give
it back to me tomorrow.” A good excuse indeed to see her
again.

“
Tomorrow? What’s
happening tomorrow?” Alex asks, confused.

“
We have a lunch date,” he
says, grinning from ear to ear.

“
We do?” she asks. Her brows rise, her heart beating just a
little faster than usual.

“
Yeah.” He comes closer to
her. He could smell a hint of that lovely floral scent of her hair,
and he wants to get closer. He also wants to keep her out of the
cold wind.

“
Peter told me you said
yes. I thought we should meet tomorrow for lunch and arrange
everything. How long do you have for lunch?”

“
An hour.”

“
Only an hour, huh?” He
sounds disappointed. “That’s too short. How about we change to
dinner?”

“
Okay
,” she says,
nodding her head, and rubbing her hands about her cold arms to get
some warmth. “Dinner it is, then. What time?”

“
How about straight after
work? What time do you finish work?”

“
I finish at five,” she
says, inserting the key to start the engine.

“
How about six-thirty
?
Gives you time to go home and change.”

“
Why can’t we just meet at
like a quarter past five or something? I don’t need to change.” She
looks up at him in the dimness of the night.

Doesn’t she need to change?
Now that’s new to Jay. He thought every woman wants to
shower and change into something nice before they go out for a
dinner date. Apparently not this one. Maybe she doesn’t think this
is supposed to be a date.

“
That’s cool, it’s up to you. Five-fifteen it is,
then.”

“
Can we go to SAN? I
missed my salmon. You’re paying, right?”

“
Yeah, it’s on me. SAN it is
. Good night.”

“
Night, Mr. McCartney,”
she says and shuts the door.

Jayden watches as she
drives away into the darkness. “Mr. McCartney, huh?” he mumbles as
he makes his way back into the house.

He finds Peter by himself in the living room. He joins his
friend on the couch and watches the sports news Peter currently has
on TV. The Kiwis love their rugby, and he finds himself falling in
love with the sport too—what with the kicking, tackling, and
vigorous running. But he’s not a fan of that Dan Carter guy who
does ads for all kinds of things, especially for Jockey.
Apparently, all the girls adore him because of his good looks. He
wonders if Alex is one of them.

A moment later when the
ads begin, Jayden says, “What’s wrong with Alex’s dad?”

Peter glances sideways at
his friend. “Interested, are you?”

Jay grins. “If she’s going
to be my girlfriend, I have to know what’s going on in her
life.”

Peter chuckles. “You mean your
fake
girlfriend?”

“
Nobody is supposed to know except for you, me, and Alex.
Got that?”

“
Got it. And Alex’s dad
Jacob has heart problems. Long story short, if he gets any worse,
he needs a heart transplant. I personally think he needs it right
now, but Alex doesn’t have the money.”

“
I see,” Jay says, nodding
his head.

They both are silent as the ads end, and sports news
continues. Jayden sits there and watches, though his interest has
already waned. He is thinking about Alex and her dad. She needs
money for her dad’s heart transplant. Maybe that’s part of the
reason why she agreed to help him.

He smiles at the
thought.

* * *

“Shit!”
Jayden swears under his breath. He’s in a total panic,
wondering where he’s supposed to find a white singlet. He has been
searching in every damn shop that sells women’s clothing across
this small town and still can’t find a single white singlet. He
glances at his watch and notes that it’s nearly five o’clock. Alex
will be finishing work soon, and she’d be meeting him for dinner at
SAN.

He is now in the Meridian, one of their malls, looking like
a lost little duckling. Not that he is little, for God’s sake. He’s
over six feet tall and every female he passes, young or old, is
gawking at him from head to toe. God, he hates shopping. How can
people say shopping is fun? Even worse, how can people get addicted
to shopping? Hold on, hot shot! You’re a guy, and guys never like
shopping.
Period!