Kiwi Bride: Volume 1 (Kiwi Bride Series Book 3) Read online

  “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 that resulted from Jayden’s kiss. She groaned. A feeling of sadness built up within her heart.

  “Alex?” She heard his voice from the other side of the door, which was then followed by a couple of soft knocks. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that to you.”

  Sorry? She didn’t want him to feel sorry for what he did.

  “Alex, you hear me?”

  Alex sighed and reluctantly replied, “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t be sorry, Jay. I know it’s not real anyway.”

  “Alex, look—”

  She cut him off by turning on the shower so she couldn’t hear his explanations or excuses or whatever it was he was trying to say. She tiptoed to the door and listened to see if he was still there. When she heard nothing, she relaxed and rested her head against the door. Oddly enough, her heart hurt in a strange, painful way. What could it be? A sign of disappointment? Oh dear. Didn’t she warn herself about that when she first met him? Didn’t she tell herself it would be easy to fall in love with Jayden McCartney?

  She sighed and went about showering. Once she finished, she wrapped a thin towel about her slim body and emerged back into the bedroom. She came to a halt when she saw Jayden watching her. He was out on the veranda, leaning against the rail, his powerful arms crossed about his muscular chest. His eyes were so intense. She felt as though he could actually see deep into her soul.

  She cursed herself for putting on her contacts after the shower because if she hadn’t put the contacts on, then she wouldn’t be able to see him properly and then his stare wouldn’t have affected her so much.

  She avoided his eyes and rushed into the walk-in wardrobe. As she went about finding her things, 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 wouldn’t have to suffer the humiliation of Jay watching her as she went about finding her things with barely anything on. Of course, she reminded herself, she had been a bit absent-minded this morning after that incredible kiss she unexpectedly received from him.

  She gathered her black skinny jeans, light sweater, and underwear, which she hid well under the others so Jay wouldn’t be able to see. Arms overfilled with her clothing, she rushed back into the bedroom. She was in such a hurry, and because she wasn’t 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 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 close to her ear. He was fast. One second he was out on the veranda, and the next he was beside her. Suddenly, she could feel his warm hands wrapping about her bare arms. She could feel his strength beside her, so close to her like a brick wall. She couldn’t answer him because his touch was sending glorious sensations through her being. Her brain was basically dead.

  “Alex?” His voice came louder.

  She turned to look at him then.

  “You’re not feeling yourself today, are you?” he asked, one hand cupping her cheek, his eyes looking deep into hers.

  Alex shook her head.

  “Still tired?”

  Alex bit her lower lip. No, damn it! She was not tired. She was confused. And 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 get so involved.

  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 bare skin.

  Jay gathered her clothes for her. She grabbed them from him and tucked them securely in her arms about her chest.

  “So does it fit?” he asked, a hint of curiosity in his deep voice.

  Alex turned to look at him, her eyes questioning.

  “That,” he said, nodding at the pink-laced bra.

  Alex glanced down and saw the bra he had bought for her back in New Zealand parading proudly in her arms.

  “Does it?”

  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.

  “Really?” he prodded, one shapely brow rising.

  Alex wondered where this conversation was going. Apparently nowhere. She was getting rather cold from inadequate clothing, even though it was a lovely warm day.

  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 ne
ver 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.

  “Alex has been telling me how you two met,” Gracie said.

  Jay glanced at Alex. He saw her blushing. “Really? Do tell. I’m curious.”

  Gracie chuckled. “She spilled tea on your jacket.”

  Jay took a bit of his toast. After a bit of chewing, he said, “She did.”

  “Then you spilled beer on her.” Gracie continued. “How clumsy of you, Jayden.”

  He threw the half-eaten toast down and grabbed for the coffee.

  “It’s already 9:30,” Beth announced at the door as she rushed into the room. “Come along now. We are late for Vera Wang.” She tsked loudly. “Where’s Kelly?”

  “Calm down, Beth. She’ll be down soon,” Gracie said.

  Jay saw Alex hiding a grin. God! How she affected him. He wanted to leap over the table and kiss her. Only he couldn’t because a) he was supposed to be gay, b) his family was with them, and c) he had promised himself not to touch her.

  He thrust back the chair with a loud screech and stalked out of the room. “I’ll get the car ready,” he announced as he was leaving.

  A moment later, Kelly appeared. “Oh gosh! We are late. Come along, Alex. You’re coming, too.”

  Alex widened her eyes. “Me?” She pointed a finger at herself, her brows raised.

  “Yeah. We can’t just leave you here. Besides, Vera Wang is on Madison Avenue where all the fashionable boutiques are. We can go shopping for your dress when we’re done,” Kelly said, her hands clasped together in anticipation.

  “Yeah,” Alex said, somewhat reluctantly.

  Gracie grinned. “Come on. We’re late.”

  Alex nodded, and then she was led by Kelly and Gracie on either side of her to the car.

  * * * * *

  Leaning his shoulder against the black limo, Jayden watched as his family and hired girlfriend finally made an appearance.

  “Oh, we are late, we are late,” muttered Beth. “We do not want to be late for lunch with Britney, too.”

  Jayden saw Kelly smirk and whisper something into Alexandra’s ear. Jay wondered what they were gossiping about. Him, perhaps? They were eyeing him with some sort of interest.

  He opened the door for his grandmother, who muttered something about the weather being too hot for her frail body to handle. Then Gracie slid in, followed by Alex. He nodded at her with a masklike face, and that was the most he was going to interact with her from now on, he vowed to himself.

  Kelly said, “You look like you want to murder someone, Jay. Don’t worry. We won’t take long. I know how much you hate shopping.”

  “Just get in the damn car,” he snapped and gave her a nudge.

  Kelly chuckled and slid in. Jay followed her. He found himself sitting beside his grandmother, who was busy on the phone, talking to Britney. In front of him were Kelly, Alex, and Gracie. He thought it was better for him to sit in the front with their chauffeur John. Where he was now, Alex was too close for comfort. She was within reach, and he could simply put his hand out and pull her into his arms if he wanted to. Yeah, he certainly wanted to do that, especially when she grinned at him in that alluring way. She kept nibbling her lip as though she were excited about something.

  “Is Madison Avenue big?” Alex asked Kelly. “Is it near Central Park? Is Central Park big?”

  Gracie laughed. “We’ll have to take you on a tour, Alex.”

  “Yes, please,” Alex replied, at which point she turned her eyes meaningfully to Jay.

  Jayden got the hint. Now he knew why she was so excited and kept grinning at him. He had promised to take her on a tour today. Damn! He forgot about that.

  “We are on our way to Vera Wang, Britney dear. I assure you we won’t be late for lunch,” Beth said to her BlackBerry.

  “Beth, do you have to tell her we’re going to Vera Wang?” Kelly muttered.

  Beth ignored Kelly. “I’m on the phone, dear.”

  Jay turned over to the chauffeur behind him and said, “Vera Wang, John.”

  John nodded and started the car.

  As they drove out of the Upper East Side of New York City, Alex wid
ened her eyes with wonder, staring at the tall buildings. And Jay in turn found himself enjoying watching her expressive face.

  Not long afterward, they were heading along 77th Street off Madison Avenue. The limo came to a halt in front of Vera Wang. Before Alex could enjoy the sight of one of the most fashionable streets in the world, she was bustled away into the elegant store.

  And what a store it was. There were beautiful, expensive wedding gowns on display, chandeliers with bright crystals hanging above them, tall vases of flower arrangements giving off vibrant colors and scents, and sofas and chairs arranged near the dressing room and in the center of the store for comfort.

  “You’re here!” a voice sang out.

  Alex saw a pretty redhead rushing toward them. Kelly and the woman hugged and displayed some girlish giggle type of excitement. “Oh, I can’t wait to see you in it.”

  “I know. I know,” Kelly chuckled. “Oh, this is Alexandra Stewart, Jay’s new girlfriend.”

  Alex turned her attention to them. New? What did Kelly mean by that? But before she could ponder on the subject any further, Kelly pulled her aside and introduced her to Stephanie Wilson, the maid of honor.

  “So, Alex, how did you meet Jayden?” Stephanie asked, a note of curiosity in her voice.

  “Back in New Zealand,” Alex said, eyeing Jay, who was now sitting on one of the antique sofas and making himself comfortable. He already looked as though he were bored to tears. She wondered if he hated shopping that much.

  “Well, come along now. We haven’t got all day,” Stephanie said, pulling Kelly by the hand away toward the dressing room. “Nice to meet you, Alex,” she said over her shoulder.

  Alex replied, “Same here,” with a bright smile. Then she wondered what she should do to pass the time. She thought about joining Gracie and Beth, who were now comfortably seated on the sofa, chatting and sipping their tea that a sales assistant had placed before them. She, however, decided against it and so busied herself exploring and touching the lovely, soft fabrics of the wedding and evening gowns designed by Vera Wang. They were all so beautiful, the type that she could never afford or ever dream of wearing.