by Alexia Praks
“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.
She felt herself blushing. Her body quivered in reaction. Her heart was pumping at 200 beats per minutes – as though she had just finished a marathon, which she had never done before. Now she cursed herself for putting on her contacts after the shower, because if she hadn’t put the contacts on then she wouldn’t really be able to see him properly and then his stare wouldn’t affected her as much.
She avoided his eyes and rushed into the walk-in-wardrobe. As she went about finding her things and one hand tightening on the towel about her chest – she cursed herself for not taking in her clothing before rushing into the bathroom. She’d have to do that next time so she won’t have to suffer the humiliation of Jay watching her as she went about finding her things with barely anything on her.
Of course, she reminded herself, she had been a bit absentminded this morning after that wonderful kiss she had unexpectedly received from him.
She gathered her black skinny jeans, light sweater and underwear, which she hid well under the others so that Jay wouldn’t be able to see.
Arms overfilled and dangled with her clothing, she rushed back into the bedroom. She was in such a hurry and because she was not fully in control of herself, she stepped on the material of the jeans, tripped on herself and fell flat on her face.
She groaned in humiliation and pain and silently cursed herself for being so stupid and clumsy. She gathered herself up and sat on her bottom, her clothing scattering around her, her towel barely covering her nakedness.
“Are you all right?” Jay’s voice echoed very close in her ear. Gosh! He was fast. One second he was out in the veranda and the next he was beside her.
Suddenly she could feel his warm hands wrapped about her bare arms. She could feel his strength beside her, so close to her like a thick brick wall. She couldn’t answer him because his touch was sending wonderful sensations in her. Her brain was basically dead, so confused it was.
“Alex?” his voice came louder.
She turned to look at him then, her eyes large and glistening with tears.
“You’re not feeling yourself today, are you?” he asked her gently, one hand cupping her cheek, his eyes looking deep into hers.
Alex shook her head, a single tear-drop fell from her left eye down her red cheek.
“Still tired?” he asked.
Alex bit her lip. Damn it! She wasn’t tired. She was confused and she also wanted to cry. Well damn it! She had already done that because he was now wiping the tear from her cheek with his oh so warm thumb.
Not fair, she thought, she didn’t want him to be so nice to her. She wanted him to treat her normally, like a stranger so she wouldn’t feel so involved and attached to him.
She shook her head. “No, not that tired.”
Jayden chuckled. “You just need a bit more rest.”
“Yeah,” she said, avoiding his eyes that she knew were staring at her much too intensely. She could even feel his warm breath against her cold, bare skin.
Jay gathered her clothing for her. She grabbed them from him and tucked them securely in her arms about her chest. In doing so she was also able to hide some of her nakedness from his view.
“So does it fit?” he asked, a hint of curiosity in his deep voice.
Alex turned to look at him
, her eyes questioning him at what he meant. “What?”
“That,” he said, nodding at the pink laced bra.
Alex glanced down and saw the bra that he had brought for her back in New Zealand parading proudly in her arms. She wanted to die.
“Does it?” he asked.
How was she supposed to reply to that odd question? She cocked her head to one side and nodded. “Yes. Yes it fits,” she replied stupidly.
“Really?” he prodded, one shapely brow rose.
Alex wondered where this conversation was going. Apparently no where. She was getting rather cold from inadequate clothing even though it was a lovely warm day. She shivered slightly.
Jayden respond by moving in closer and wrapped his arms around her. “Better?”
Alex couldn’t breathe because he was so near. She closed her eyes and said, “I should go and change.”
“Yeah, you do that,” he said, refusing to move an inch. “I’m glad it fits.”
“What?”
“I’m glad the bra fits.” He was grinning, his eyes twinkling.
“Yeah,” she responded.
“Do I get to see?”
“See what?”
“You with the bra on,” he said, his face too handsome for his own good.
Alex’s heart nearly exploded – if that was possible. Her face went bright red. “Don’t be silly!” she snapped, giving him a dark scowl. With clenched teeth, she gathered her clothing, shoved herself out of his arms and ran to the bathroom.
There she quickly got dressed and then did her makeup. Ten minutes later she was finished – and felt very hot. Apparently rushing and thinking about Jay and his too close for comfort actions towards her at the same time didn’t do well with her nerves. Her hands kept shaking and she couldn’t seem to do anything right.
Only yesterday she had felt so comfortable with him and now she could feel this weird sparking tension in the air like there was some sort of electrical charges between them. Jesus! What was going on?
She cleaned up her mess and then rushed back out. She gave a quick glance at Jay, said, “I’m going down for breakfast now,” and paced to the door.