His Hired Girlfriend by Alexia Praks Page B

leads him to the door.
    Jay groans and stands up. He thinks he’d better go up and
see how Alex is getting on. She’s probably so scared at the thought
of meeting so many people she doesn’t know, people who’d probably
bombard her with inconvenient questions, that she’s probably hiding
somewhere. The closet, perhaps?
    As he comes out, he sees
many guests mingling at the foyer. The men are dressed in suits and
the women in their lovely, designer dresses. The hallway is in a
chaotic state of guests greeting.
    “ Ah, Jayden, how are you?” Mrs. Greenwood says, a rather
large woman with fiery red hair, large green eyes, and Irish skin
that tends to get red at the slightest of
irritation— emotional
irritation . She strolls
toward him elegantly, and her red dress that doesn’t quite suit her
complexion hangs about her body like a tent. She grabs his hands
and smiles widely, showing her snow-white teeth that would have
taken the dentist many times to get to perfection.
    “ Where is this girlfriend of yours? I can’t believe she’s
from New Zealand, so your grandmother told me. Where is New
Zealand, anyway? A state in the US? I’ve never heard of it. Or is
it some small town in the UK or France?”
    “ How are you, Mrs.
Greenwood? How is your husband doing? And no, New Zealand is not a
state in the US, nor is it a small town in the UK or France. New
Zealand is a country of its own.”
    “ Really now? Why, your
grandmother said it is such a ghastly place to have met a girl. A
plain place for a plain girl. She wonders why you went there in the
first place,” she says, chuckling away enthusiastically.
    “ Excuse me.”
    “ Oh, all right. We’ll chat again at dinner, yes?”
    “ Of course,” Jay replies. Then he struggles his way through
the throng of guests who one by one stop him with their polite
greeting. When finally he manages to reach his intended
destination, which is the stairs, Beth elegantly steps in front of
him with a big smile on her face.
    “ Jayden, you must come along and meet Britney,” she says.
Without giving him any choice on the matter, she leads him to the
drawing room.
    “ You’ll love her, Jay.
Britney is such a darling,” she says excitedly. “Britney darling,
you remember Jayden, don’t you?”
    Jayden notices a slim woman in a sexy red, designer dress.
She is talking to a young man with light blond hair and grey eyes.
Ted Wilson is his name. His family is extremely well off. They just
moved into the neighborhood of the Upper East Side a year
ago.
    Britney Marcelo turns
slowly and smiles brightly at him, showing her perfect, white
teeth—as though she practiced that bit many times to perfection.
She has dark brown hair that curls into loose waves about her
shoulders, bright green eyes that Jay thinks are rather sharp, and
full ruby red lips that any man would want to kiss.
    Whoa! Britney is one hot
chick. And from the look of adoration from young Ted standing next
to her, she is not one to be missed.
    Yes, Jayden finds her hot
all right. But the dress is showing a bit too much of
her—especially her generous bosom that leaves little to the
imagination.
    “ Jayden,” she says, her
voice smooth and sweet like melting chocolate. She touches his arm
and moves her face closer to him, which causes Ted to glare at
Jayden.
    Jay can smell her strong perfume. A mixture of rose,
vanilla, and some spices.
    “ Britney, long time no
see,” he says, managing a small smile that doesn’t quite reach his
eyes. He sees Beth nodding her head furiously, her smile bright
with glee. He knows she is up to her matchmaking tricks again.
Somehow he’d have to convince her that Alex is his girlfriend and
that any other woman wouldn’t do.
    Still dressed in his
casual clothing, Jayden finds himself being dragged along with Beth
and Britney to greet other guests that have just arrived. And
before he knows what’s going on, it’s dinner time.
    Crap! He needs to
find Alex, fast. He feels like a jerk,