His Hired Girlfriend (4 page)

“
Dear lord,”
she
whispers to herself,
“I wish
Dad would get his heart transplant and that he’d get well.”
She opens her eyes and moves closer
to the flickering candles. She takes a deep breath and closes her
eyes—an image of
Mr.
Hot-Choc
appears in her
mind.
What?
She shakes her head to clear the
image away, confused.

“
Come on, Alex, blow!” Nikita squeals.

She closes her eyes, lowers her head, and blows. All the
candles wink out, followed by the sound of ever-so-slightly
sarcastic cheering and clapping.

“
So what’d ya wish for?”
Tim asks.

Alex looks up at her younger brother. He’s gorgeous, with
jet-black hair, dark brown eyes, straight nose, and Hollywood jaw.
He’d break lots of hearts.

“
Can’t tell,” she replies, hoping her wish will come
true.
It has to come
true.

“
So, who wants cake?’ Mom
asks.

“
Me!” That’s Emma—surprise, surprise. “I’ll help you cut.”
She’ll make sure she has the biggest piece, too.

After the last of the cake crumbs has been licked from the
plates, Alex’s friends drag her into town claiming she needs to
have some fun. Soon she finds herself in the Octagon with her
friends and, it seems, half of the student body and a large
percentage of the town’s population.

The air is crisp and cold, and Alex is glad she chose
boots, skinny jeans and a blazer—much like her friends. If she had
worn a flimsy dress and four-inch heels like most of the other
girls on the crowded streets, she would have simply shivered and
collapsed on the spot, quite apart from the fact that she wouldn’t
be able to walk in those heels.

“
Come on, Alex. You haven’t been in Electrica since Uni,”
Isabella says with a pretty pout. “It’s time you had some fun,
girl.”

Her friends drag her
across the street where a hundred or so people are stamping the
cold away, waiting to get into the bar.

Alex laughs as Nikita fills the air with a youthful, “Yay!”
She twirls around with her arms out. Nikita, Nikita! Always so bold
and fun with her tomboyish ways.

The street is thronged with young people. A couple of guys
are about to start a fight, pushing and shoving each other. Alex
ignores a group of men standing nearby. Most are smoking and make
no attempt to hide their obvious interest in her and her friends.
Three of them are struggling to stay upright.

Half an hour later, they finally reach the door. Alex rubs
her eyes and blinks. That’s what glaring down a microscope at red
and white blood cells eight hours a day does to you—especially if
you wear contacts. She should have put some eye drops in before she
left the house, but the girls were in such a rush.

The huge doorman, probably Maori or Pacific Islander, waves
Ruby, Nikita, and Isabella straight in. Not Alex. He asks for her
I.D. She can’t believe it. She just turned twenty-five, and the man
wants to see her I.D? Does she look that young? It’s both
flattering and annoying. The doorman glares at her driver’s license
for what seems like a minute, the kind of look that says he knows
it’s a fake but can’t quite put his finger on why. He hands it back
to her with narrowed eyes and steps aside to let her through. Ruby
gives her a look, but Alex just shrugs her shoulders as they rush
down the stairs.

Music thumps the walls of
the lower ground floor. The place is bathed in darkness, lit by
sudden flashes of neon light like lightning on a stormy night.
Smoke snakes slowly across the dance floor, coiling around groups
of dancers. A group of students squeezes past, bumping their
shoulders. Alex glances around. The people and the smell of sweat,
perfume, and alcohol suddenly seems overwhelming. But there is
Nikita, who enthusiastically pulls her into the crowd. Alex doesn’t
have the heart to tell her friends she wants to get out of
here.

Down on the dance floor, they excuse their way to the
middle. Their hips are swaying and arms making shapes in the smoky
atmosphere. Alex feels awkward. She hasn’t been clubbing for so
long she can barely remember any moves! Her gaze falls on Isabella,
who seems frozen in place.

“
Oh, gosh,” Isabella says.

“
Hey, what’s wrong, Isa?” Ruby shouts. “You
okay?”

“
Eric’s here,” Isa
whispers.

Ruby glances at Alex, but
she only shakes her head. “What?” Ruby shouts.

“
Eric’s here!” Isa points her finger toward the end of the
bar where a group of young doctors is ordering drinks. Isa’s
crush,
Eric,
is with them.

“
Go say hi.” Nikita nudges her.

Isa shakes her head. “No!
Don’t be silly, Nik.”

“
Hey, what’s the harm? He
used to be our high school classmate.”

Isa shakes her head again.
Nikita is about to drag Isa toward where Eric is when a troop of
new arrivals bowls past them.

“
Hey!” Nikita shouts in
annoyance, but her voice is lost in the music. Then more people
come in, shoving through and separating them.

Alex finds herself in a dark corner. She has no idea where
her friends are. She stands on tiptoe, but all she can see are the
shadows of wide shoulders and heads. She wishes she was taller. Not
to mention her eyes are getting worse by the second.

Moving around the corner, she exits the dance floor and
enters a quiet, dimly lit corridor. With the insistent
boom-boom-boom of the music rattling the walls, she pays attention
to her eyes. She blinks and rubs a finger across the
lids.

“
Fudge!”
she swears as
the contact lens flicks out of her right eye. In a panic, she
blinks harder and gropes around on the floor. Then the other one
does the same.
“Oh, for God’s
sake!”
Now she can’t see
anything. She is reaching into her handbag for her glasses when a
hand grabs her upper arm and pulls her around.

Though she can’t see the man properly, she knows instantly
she’s in trouble. She tries to shift away, to avoid him. He catches
her other arm and pulls her closer. The odor of sour alcohol washes
over her face, and she wants to gag.

“
Hey, sweetheart,” he
breathes.

“
Let go.” She shoves at
his arm. He catches her again, his fingers digging painfully into
her flesh.

“
Come with me.” His voice slurs.

“
Leave me alone,” she
snaps, shoving ineffectually at his chest. “Get lost!”

“
What’s that
sweet—sweetheart? Co—come with me, ya know ya wanna.”

“
Get lost!” she shouts, her heart beating faster, a cold
sweat beading her skin. She’s frightened of what’s going to happen.
She’s scared of what he’s going to do to her. She feels trapped.
“Ruby? Nik? Isa? Where are you guys?” Her eyes dart around, hoping
to see her friends—or anyone, for that matter.

She is pushed against the wall as his face looms closer to
hers.
Holy Crap!
Alex doesn’t want to be kissed by a
drunken man she doesn’t know. She feels his other hand fumbling at
her belt. A sickening feeling rises up in her stomach. Her head
starts to swim. She struggles one hand free and slaps him in the
face. He doesn’t let her go. He doesn’t even flinch. A scream is
building inside her when suddenly the man is yanked from behind,
and a fist crashes against the side of his face, cannoning him into
a corner. His body crunches against the wall and slides to the
floor, blood welling from his nose and lips.

“
Leave her alone!” The
voice is icy, hard, and commanding.

Stunned and shaking, Alex looks up at her rescuer. She can
only make out a silhouette—a strong and powerful shape. The drunk
man in the corner mutters something, but nobody is
listening.

The newcomer gently pulls her to his side. The gesture is
almost feral—
she’s
mine.
It signals not just
sexually but personally
.
His stance and the
way he angles his body indicates his readiness and willingness to
pursue more violent action. Alex can feel his strength radiating
over her.

The drunk’s eyes widen. He holds up his hands, realizing
his mistake.

“
No worries, bro. Thought she was free,” he mumbles as he
pushes by them.

Alex squints at her rescuer, but without her contacts or
glasses, she cannot see any detail, even this close. She glances
down at the hand that still holds her wrist. Odd that only moments
before she felt frightened when she was alone with the drunken man,
but now alone with this man, she feels safe.

She offers him a tentative
smile. “Thanks.”

“
Why are you here
alone?”

There’s that voice again! She can barely understand what
he’s saying. There is a hint of an American accent, familiar
somehow, but the connection eludes her.

“
I don't know—the loud music—the crowd,” she says. “And my
contacts. I’ve lost my contacts. I can’t see properly.”

She tilts her head. She can’t see his features, can’t
concentrate, and tears well in her eyes. She’s going to
cry.

Goddammit, Alex,
she
snaps at herself internally.
You’re a big girl. It’s stupid to cry in front of a
guy.
She blinks and wipes her
eyes clean with the back of her hand. “I didn’t see that guy
coming, that’s for sure.”

“
Hey, it’s okay. Where are your friends?” The harshness is
replaced by soothing warmth.

“
My friends?” She touches
her forehead hesitantly. “I’m not sure. I’ve lost them.” She shakes
her head a little. “I’m fine,” she lies, wanting to go home. She
feels tired. There’s still work tomorrow and then the meeting with
Peter. A sigh escapes. “Can you help me find them?”

“
Yeah, sure. Come on.”

Her hand is neatly enveloped by his as he leads her toward
the door. Ruby comes rushing through, the music swirling around
her. “Alex? Alex! There you are. Are you okay?”

Nikita and Isa are just a
step behind.

“
Yeah, I’m fine. Can we go
now?’

Nikita gives her a look.
“Yeah. I have had enough. Too many people here. No fun being shoved
around.”

Isa looks at the rescuer
and grins. “Thanks for helping Alex find us. So you know each
other?”

He nods unseen in the
darkness as Alex interrupts, “No, we don’t know each other. Now can
we go?”

“
Yeah,” Ruby says. “Let’s
get out of here.”

As they make their way
toward the stairs, Alex turns. “Thanks for everything.”

At that moment, Jayden wants to pull her into his arms and
comfort her, but he damn well can’t do that, can he? He’s a
stranger to her. She would think he’s no better than that bastard
he pulled off her. Why he feels this way toward her he doesn’t
know, except she’s Peter’s friend—and possibly his future
fake
girlfriend.

He makes sure Alex and her
friends are safely out of the bar before he returns to Peter, Mary,
and some other interns sitting in the corner.

Peter asks, “Long
line?”

“
Yeah,” says Jay, not
willing to tell the whole story. He picks up his Blackberry and
sees a message. It’s from David Peterson, his executive officer
from head office in New York for his real estate company the J.M.
McCartney Group.

Hey, boss, contract ready for you. Documents all
sort
ed. Need you to check and
sign. Check your e-mail. How’s the vacation? Hope to see you
soon.

He leans across to Peter.
“Hey, I think I’m gonna call it a night.”

Disappointment flashes
across Mary’s face, a slight blush reddening her neck.

“
You all enjoy yourself. Bye, everyone. Nice to meet you
all,” he says as he heads for the stairs.

Peter hides a smile at
Mary’s discomfort. “See you guys at work,” he says, following
Jayden out.

* * *

Three

The aroma of coffee greets Alex the moment she steps through the
door of SAN café. It’s toasty warm inside compared to the sharp,
cold air outside. She heads to the counter and orders herself the
hot chocolate she has been craving since Friday. After grabbing her
number, she takes a seat facing the door to make sure Peter will be
able to spot her.

Alex glances about her
surroundings, noting the busy staff, the happy customers, and cozy
decor of the restaurant.

SAN café makes the best hot chocolate in town, not to
mention Cambodian food. She and her friends have always met here
for their
hot-choc
sessions.

She takes off her blue coat nervously. In fact, her insides
are shuddering with anxiety as she waits for Peter and his
friend,
whoever he
is
, to show up.