Jayden moved in closer and wrapped his arms around her. “Better?”
“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.”
Alex’s 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 quite hot. Apparently, rushing and thinking about Jay and his too-close-for-comfort actions at the same time didn’t do well with her nerves. She couldn’t seem to do anything right. Yesterday she felt so comfortable with him and now she felt this weird tension between them as though there were some sort of electrical charge in the air. 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.
Jayden watched her with amusement as she rushed out the door. He couldn’t help admiring her little bottom and her slim, shapely legs in the black skinny jeans either. He quite enjoyed the view. When she closed the door behind her, he felt upset because he wanted to see more. Then his mind flashed back to when she came out with only a thin towel wrapped about her small body. He could feel his blood rushing with pleasure at the thought of her near nakedness, as the slightly wet towel hid little of her nice, shapely body from his eyes. Not to mention the beads of water glistening against her skin only roused his desire all the more. Then when she tripped on herself and fell to the floor, the towel nearly unwrapped itself from her. He hoped it’d fall, but she was too quick for it, grabbing it just in the nick of time.
He simply loved the feel of her smooth, wet skin against his palm. His mind suddenly started reeling with ungodly images of her.
My God, Jayden, you must stop it this instance! He shook his head in disgust. This was Alexandra he was thinking about. Alex was a nice girl. He shouldn’t think of her in such a way. Then the thought of what he did to her early this morning, kissing her without her permission, turned his gut. She must think him taking advantage of her. He’d have to keep his hands away from her; otherwise, he’d offend her again, and that he did not want.
He quickly showered and changed into Jacob Cohen faded blue straight-leg jeans and a navy-blue checkered Burberry shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. He was just coming out of the bathroom when he saw Kelly entering the bedroom.
“What’s up?” he asked when he saw her serious face.
Kelly was dressed in a pretty Gucci light-pink sundress with Prada heels. As usual, she looked immaculate. She smirked at him as she folded her arms across her chest. “Good morning, Jay.”
“How is my sister today? You haven’t gotten cold feet, have you?” He half joked.
“Of course not.” Kelly scoffed. “I never get cold feet. Just a bit nervous is all.”
“Well, I’m glad.”
Kelly brushed her blond curls over her shoulder. “It’s about time you tell me what’s going on.”
“Uh-oh!” Jay narrowed his eyes at his sister. “Shoot.”
Kelly touched his arm and leaned closer to him. “About you and Alexandra.”
“Hmm?”
“Jay, you have to tell me. What happened to Sarah? What happened in Sydney?”
“We broke up.”
“What? You and Sarah?”
He sat down on the bed. He said through clenched teeth, “You were right.”
Kelly came to sit beside him. “About what?”
“Everything. She cheated on me. I saw her with Kyle,” he said in disgust, suddenly remembering that night at the hotel in Sydney. “I still can’t believe it.”
“Oh, Jay. I knew that woman was no good. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, Kelly. I should have listened to you. But—”
“Not too late, eh? You did the right thing. And Alex?” Kelly asked, eyeing her brother with interest.
There was a long pause. Then Jay reluctantly said, “I hired her.”
“You what?” Kelly shouted, her eyes large as she stared at her brother in shocked surprise.
“I hired her. You know very well what Beth is like. Hey, you can’t mention this to anyone. Understand? It’s not me I’m worried about. It’s Alex.”
“Of course,” Kelly muttered. “Ah, I see now. The matchmaking”
“Hey, Alex isn’t what you think she is. She’s a good girl.”
“Oh?” Kelly chuckled. She was curious as to why her brother was defending his hired girlfriend when she hadn’t said a bad thing about the woman. In fact, she liked Alex. Whatever circumstances brought Alex to Jay, she was only glad it happened because she thought Alex could help Jay.
“So what about you, missy?” Jay changed the subject. “Have you managed to kill Sam’s bank account with your extravagant expenditures yet?”
“Of course not,” Kelly snapped. “What about you? What are you going to do with Alex when this is over? Ditch her? And what about Beth? And Mom and Dad? You know very well Beth wants great-grandchildren.”
Jay felt a mountain of guilt piling up. He hadn’t thought about that. “No. I’m not going to ditch Alex. As for Beth, Mom, and Dad—I’ll tell them the truth when this is over.”
“When what is over?” Kelly asked, her brows rising.
Jay shrugged his shoulders. “When your wedding is over and when Alex returns to New Zealand.”
“And you expect everything to go back to normal? To the way things used to be?” Kelly questioned.
“Yeah, I suppose,” he replied, somewhat unsure.
“Well, I hope so, Jayden,” Kelly said as she strolled to the door, a hint of doubt in her voice.
Jay glanced at his sister. She looked as though she felt sorry for him. Damn it! He didn’t want her to feel sorry for him, especially in his love life.
“For your sake,” Kelly said before she shut the door.
Jay raked his fingers through his wet hair, muttering, “What the hell is she on about?”
* * * * *
CHAPTER 12
Jayden came down to breakfast, still thinking about Kelly’s words. Surely she didn’t mean everything would fall apart. What about Alex when all this was over?
He wondered what her reaction would be if he were to tell her he wasn’t gay. He had never thought about that. She’d probably slap him in the face and call him a liar.
“You seem to be deep in thought, Jay,” Gracie called out.
Jayden looked up to see his mother and Alex at the dining table. Alexandra was smiling at him.
“Yeah,” he said, the dilemma wiped out of his mind. He came to sit opposite them and took a slice of toast. Then he poured himself a cup of black coffee.