His Hired Girlfriend by Alexia Praks

mouth as if she is about to say something.
But of course being shocked as she is right then, she couldn’t
think of what to say. Oh, my God! Jayden planned the party for her?
What the heck for? And he never bothers to mention it to her all
those times they chatted on Facebook? She’d have to ask him when
she sees him next. She doesn’t like parties, even normal parties
back home, either the BBQ type that mainly involves families and
close friends, or the loud parties some of her acquaintances threw.
Often she is so shy and so tongue-tied she never makes good
conversations with anyone—especially guys. If she gets invited to a
party, she’d be there at most half an hour, unless her family
happens to be there, and then she’d be out the door before anyone
catches her.
    Kelly also said gown with the big “S” at the end. Gowns?
Does she mean evening gowns? Are there going to be cocktail parties
and the likes?
    Uh-oh! This is going a bit too far, and here she was
thinking she’d only be here for a couple of weeks so he’d get off
the hook from matchmaking and marriage.
    “ Whoa! This is very nice,”
she says once they are inside Kelly’s huge, elegant
bedroom.
    “ Thanks,” Kelly replies, frowning slightly. She’s thinking
she must talk to Jay about what his real relationship with Alex is.
Who is she really? Where is she from? What happened to Sarah
Taylor? Since he returned, he had never once spoken of Sarah. Then
there was this morning. She thought Jay and Sarah were back
together after their fight, but instead of seeing the demanding
Sarah at the front door, she saw Alex. How confusing everything is.
She must admit though that Jay and Alex look good together. She
knows Alex would never hurt Jay the way Sarah had. That, she bets with her Louis Vuitton bag which cost her at least
a grand.
    “ Okay,” Kelly says, strolling toward the walk-in wardrobe.
“Let’s see what I have that fits you.”
    Alex clamps her lips together nervously as she follows
Kelly. The first thing that comes into her mind is that the
wardrobe is bigger than her parents’ master bedroom back home, and
only then does the Oh, my
God kick in.
    Kelly has thousands of
clothes—designer brands. She wouldn’t be surprised if those
so-called “fashion boutiques” in Dunedin blush in shame when
compare with Kelly’s wardrobe.
    Alex’s eyes are large with
wonder as she touches and gazes at the beautiful clothes. She feels
like she’s a child in a candy store.
    Kelly goes through the
many dresses that are hung along one side of the wall. “Which one?”
she mutters to herself as she expertly inspects each one in turn.
“You’re smaller than I am, so I don’t know if there’s anything. But
of course I do sometimes wear a size smaller than I am. What size
are you anyway?” She turns to look at Alex. “And don’t just stand
there. Come here and help me pick.”
    Alex hesitates. She
doesn’t want to mess up Kelly’s perfectly arranged clothing, even
though she wants to explore.
    Kelly shakes her head at
Alex’s lack of response. She grabs Alex by the wrist and says,
“Wherever you’re from and whatever your relationship with my
brother is, I don’t care. I’m going to dress you up, and that is
that.”
    Alex’s heart does a
startled kick. “What do you mean?”
    Kelly bites her lip for saying too much . Damn! “Nothing,” she says quickly. “If I guess rightly, you’re a
size zero.”
    “ What? I’m not a size
zero. I’m a size eight.”
    “ No, you’re not. You’re a
size zero.”
    “ Eight.”
    “ Zero. Look at you. You’re
so slim. You’re a zero.”
    Alex cocks her head to one
side. A size zero? That is truly ludicrous. Unless they have
different size system here in America. That makes sense
then.
    “ Okay , I’m whatever
size you’re saying,” she agrees.
    Kelly nods in satisfaction
and turns to pick a green day dress. She brings it out and shows it
to Alex.
    “ What do you
think?”
    Alex touches the