Maid for the Rock Star (19 page)

Audra set his bandaged hand back in his lap and lifted the other one. "That's the day they announced Chaya's farewell tour, and you were all over social media because you had drinks with some tourists in the pub."

He laughed. "So you even got the news out here. Those girls wanted me. They always do. And they made no secret of it. I could've had any one of them, or all at once."

"So why didn't you?" Audra challenged before she could stop herself.

"Is that what you'd have told me? If you'd been there in the pub with me, and I'd said, 'Audra, do you think I should fuck these girls senseless until my cock's sated and all my frustration at the band's breakup is gone?' Would you have told me to go for it and bonk my brains out?"

She bit her lip. "That's what you usually do, or at least that's what the news always says. I'm sure you didn't need anyone's advice. If that's what you wanted to do, why didn't you?"

"I was going to," he admitted. "And then one of them mentioned the band breaking up. Looked at me all accusing, like it was my fault and I could fix it. Those bitches were angry at me for something that's not even my fucking fault!"

"So Jay Felix doesn't do hate fucks? That's why you didn't bring them back here?" Audra swallowed. "Reception called me and said to prepare your villa for guests. I assumed you were looking for romance, so I tried to help. The fondue in your fridge, the rose petal stuff in the spa, the champagne, the candles...What changed your mind?"

His eyes opened and bored into hers. "You. All those voices yammering at me and all I could think of was your quiet sympathy. Someone who saw me as a person and not the rock god they feel is their personal property."

Audra snorted. "If they think a rock star's their personal property, they're delusional. Maybe one day you'll be someone's, but I hope for your sake it'll be a girl you love and care for, someone who'll give you her heart as she treasures yours. When I was a teenager, I remember thinking like they did, and maybe occasionally I dreamed...but I woke up. Someone like you will never settle for someone like me."

"I keep telling you, but you're not listening. I want you, Audra. In my bed. In my arms. Wrapped around me with nothing between us. Fuck everyone else. I want you."

Audra dragged her hands out of his grasp. "But that's it, isn't it? You have fucked everyone else, except me. I'm just a challenge. One night and you'll forget me, never to think of me again, but that night will cost me my job. My self-respect. If you have any respect for me, you'll quit with the sex talk and let me do my job. Until you leave me in peace to go back to your rock star life."

"It wouldn't be like that, I swear." Jay swallowed. "Fine. Give me two days. You're supposed to be watching me all day anyway, and tomorrow, too, so you're stuck with me. Give me two days to demonstrate you're more to me than a night's conquest."

"Sure." She still wouldn't sleep with him, she swore. But she could admit she'd been wrong about him. And it'd make the next two days a lot easier. At least, she hoped so.

THIRTY-SEVEN

Jay threw down his fork. "So, what do you want to do today?"

Audra swallowed her mouthful of muesli. "What do you mean? I'm supposed to tag along with you. I should clean the bathroom, too. After the mess last night..."

Jay waved as if he could sweep it all away. "Not your problem. I'm not staying cooped up inside. I had enough of that in hospital. Let someone else clean the damn house. Come with me to a secret beach I found at the south end of the island. You have to scramble a bit and you'd have to watch the tides because it looks like it might be cut off from the rest of the island at high tide, but it's worth it."

"But you shouldn't swim. Doctor's orders. You'll get your stitches wet."

"We won't. Last time I just took a book with me. I've read the ones you gave me, though. Is there anything else?"

Audra permitted herself a small smile. "Oh, plenty of books. I'll take you to the resort library and show you. You can pick your own then."

Jay nodded. "Sure. Can we get lunch sent down to us?"

"Can we get a room service trolley to your secret beach?"

Jay eyed the breakfast trolley doubtfully. "Don't think so. It'd probably get bogged and if it doesn't, it won't handle the rocks too well."

"Catering make up picnic baskets for day trips. People take them heli-fishing or sightseeing when they're out on a charter flight. I can pick up one of the menus on the way to the library and we can order one, if you like."

"A picnic for two, yeah? You're joining me for lunch."

"If you insist."

After stacking the breakfast dishes on the trolley, Audra found Jay pacing around the lounge room.

"Get your shoes on and let's go."

Audra balked at the note of impatience in his voice, but let it go. She'd seen the bruises hidden under his shirt and she was fairly sure she was responsible for a few fresh ones last night. He was allowed to be grumpy from the pain. She nodded, then watched in amusement as he shoved a cap on his head and put on an enormous pair of mirrored sunglasses. "You're trying to hide from people? I thought you loved the attention."

His mouth set in a grim line. "Not today."

"It's harder to smile when you're in pain. I understand."

Jay flashed a smile. "And that's why I want to spend today with you. You're the only one who does. So show me this library of yours."

Audra let Jay set the pace at a leisurely stroll and walked beside him instead of hurrying like she normally did when she was working. A pair of rainbow-coloured birds she'd never seen before flew across the path to a palm tree, where another pair screeched at the uninvited guests.

"Bloody lorikeets," Jay said. "We used to get them all the time at home. Drove me nuts early in the morning."

"Where did you grow up?"

"Perth, of course, but I had this old place in Cottesloe and they used to screech in the trees by the beach over the road. Working gigs late at night, then coming home and being woken up a couple hours later by those feathered pests almost made me want to take up shooting."

Privately, she thought they were pretty and she'd have welcomed their chirping over the neighbours screaming as they beat the shit out of each other at all hours of the day and night. Her parents might've been poor but she had nothing to complain about; with five children, it was a miracle they'd never tried to kill one another.

They walked in silence until they reached the fork where the path branched off to the staff accommodation and kitchens. "I should get a catering menu for you. I'll be right back," Audra said.

She darted down the path at her usual pace, slipped through the screen door to Catering and stopped dead. Backed up against the wall was a chef with his eyes raised to heaven as a kneeling girl deep-throated whatever she'd found in his unzipped pants. Audra squinted at the girl's worn sneakers and recognised them as Penny's. That made the chef Patel. If they knew she'd reported them yesterday... Silently, slowly, Audra retreated the way she'd come until her backside met something that shouldn't have been there. Shit. Luckily, the chef emitted a groan that drowned out the sound of her squeak. She squeezed past Jay, shaking her head, but he grinned and started forward.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realise this place had an onsite brothel. I thought this was the kitchen," Jay boomed and Audra clapped both hands over her mouth so she wouldn't burst out laughing. The sounds of choking, coughing and frantic zipping only made it worse. "I hope you didn't pay too much for that one. She didn't even swallow. I'd ask for my money back, if I was you." He raised his voice. "OI! Where's the service here?"

"I can help you," a shaky male voice said. Patel, Audra presumed. She heard the squeak of running sneakers and ducked behind a linen trolley, hoping Penny didn't see her as the girl rushed past, the front of her uniform streaked with fluid that Audra could only presume had come from Patel.

"Oh, so this is the kitchen! And the call girls come to you, to service you on shift. Shit, that's a nice perk of the job. Wish I could get a blowjob while I'm working."

Audra snorted. If the stories were true, Jay had enjoyed more such perks than Patel would in his lifetime.

Jay ordered a picnic basket, which the chef promised would be delivered to his villa in an hour. Jay waved and thanked him, then marched outside, shooing Audra ahead of him.

"Library," Jay managed to say as he fought down the same laughter that threatened to make Audra lose control.

They made it to the library before Jay fell to his knees on the floor and laughed so hard that tears streamed down his face. "Fuck, Audra, your colleagues are worse than roadies with groupies! Did you see that bloke? If he can get a blowjob, no wonder this place has rules about staff sleeping with guests. That chick would fuck anything with a boner."

Audra agreed, but didn't dare say so. Anyone could be listening outside the door and Penny hated her enough already.

Instead, she swallowed and headed for the bookshelves. "What do you want to read? There's plenty more rock star books." She grabbed the three nearest and held up the bouquet of shirtless men. "Pick your pleasure."

"I'm not into naked men," Jay said, wincing as he clambered to his feet. "Shit, that one looks like me. I should send a copy to my agent and get him to look into it."

"I doubt you can copyright even your sculpted six-pack," Audra said, lifting a couple more off the shelf. "What about these?"

Jay pulled off his glasses and grinned at her. "I knew you'd noticed! They're sexy, right?"

"That's why they're on the cover of so many books here, I imagine."

"What's with the shelf markers? I've never seen bookstores with labels like this." Jay scanned the shelves and pointed as he read, "Rock stars. Billionaires. Motorcycle clubs. Kilts. Seriously? Cowboys. Mail-order brides? Fuck, who gets a bride by mail order?" He grabbed one off the shelf.

"They're historical romances. When Australia and America were settled, it was mostly men, and they got lonely, so they put ads in newspapers and things for brides and were pen-pals for a while before they finally met." Audra didn't want to admit it, but she'd had a thing for mail-order bride romances when she'd first arrived and she'd read every one on the library shelf.

"Sounds like it's still a thing. This one's an email-order bride," Jay remarked, reading the back of the book in his hand.

"Seriously?" Audra snatched it from him. Sure enough, he was right. "I haven't read this one."

Jay snorted. "Be my guest. I don't want it. There's something you'll never read. The rock star's email-order bride." He eyed the pile of books Audra hadn't put back. "I should check out this one, just to see if he's anything like me."

Exactly like him, and yet completely different, Audra thought, recognising the book as one she'd read. No fictional rock star compared to the complex reality of Jay Felix and she was okay with that.

"Right, got your book? Let's go back to the house and get our stuff for the beach. We should have lunch delivered in fifteen minutes or so, and then I can whisk you away to my secret spot." Jay winked and beckoned. Shaking her head, Audra followed him home.

THIRTY-EIGHT

"Got your bathers on?"

"If you're not going in, then neither am I," Audra said. "It's my job to keep an eye on you, and if I'm underwater while you're on shore, I'm not doing my job."