Maid for the Rock Star(22)

Only when she heard the sound of the shower flowing did she allow herself to laugh, glad he couldn't see her blush. Evidently they both had similar dreams, but she swore that's all they'd ever be.





THIRTY-SIX



Jay sat on the sofa with his eyes closed, extending his hands toward Audra. She shook her head and guided them onto her knees. For a moment, she wished she'd chosen to do this at the dining table, but Jay kept his hands courteous. As long as he didn't grope her, she could manage.

For all her first aid training, she'd never had to practise it much on real wounds, but the principle was the same. Off came the old dressings, with the peculiar ripping sound that made both of them grit their teeth at the thought of hair being pulled. Not that Jay's hands were hairy. His long, smooth fingers curved over Audra's as she pressed down each new dressing, careful not to touch the cuts or the stitches holding them shut.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"You mean aside from crash my car?"

"I mean to your hands. Why are they all cut up?"

"Broken glass. From the smashed windows. And the beer."

Beer? He'd been drinking and driving? "You were drunk?" Audra asked carefully.

"Maybe. Dunno. But the beer in the car wasn't for me. It was for you. A present." He sucked in a breath and winced. "I'll have to get you some more. I wonder if they deliver."

Audra laughed. "A present for me? I don't believe you."

Jay shrugged. "Don't believe me, then. But I've been completely honest with you."

"Jay, I'm just a random member of staff at the hotel where you're staying. Why would you even remember my name, let alone buy me presents?"

Even with his eyes closed, his grin was sexy. "Audra, your name was the mantra I chanted the whole way back from the pub. The bottles in the back were the same as the one you'd wrapped your lips around the night before and I couldn't get the image out of my head. Do you know what I did in town?"

Audra set his bandaged hand back in his lap and lifted the other one. "That's the day they announced Chaya's farewell tour, and you were all over social media because you had drinks with some tourists in the pub."

He laughed. "So you even got the news out here. Those girls wanted me. They always do. And they made no secret of it. I could've had any one of them, or all at once."

"So why didn't you?" Audra challenged before she could stop herself.

"Is that what you'd have told me? If you'd been there in the pub with me, and I'd said, 'Audra, do you think I should fuck these girls senseless until my cock's sated and all my frustration at the band's breakup is gone?' Would you have told me to go for it and bonk my brains out?"

She bit her lip. "That's what you usually do, or at least that's what the news always says. I'm sure you didn't need anyone's advice. If that's what you wanted to do, why didn't you?"

"I was going to," he admitted. "And then one of them mentioned the band breaking up. Looked at me all accusing, like it was my fault and I could fix it. Those bitches were angry at me for something that's not even my fucking fault!"

"So Jay Felix doesn't do hate fucks? That's why you didn't bring them back here?" Audra swallowed. "Reception called me and said to prepare your villa for guests. I assumed you were looking for romance, so I tried to help. The fondue in your fridge, the rose petal stuff in the spa, the champagne, the candles...What changed your mind?"

His eyes opened and bored into hers. "You. All those voices yammering at me and all I could think of was your quiet sympathy. Someone who saw me as a person and not the rock god they feel is their personal property."

Audra snorted. "If they think a rock star's their personal property, they're delusional. Maybe one day you'll be someone's, but I hope for your sake it'll be a girl you love and care for, someone who'll give you her heart as she treasures yours. When I was a teenager, I remember thinking like they did, and maybe occasionally I dreamed...but I woke up. Someone like you will never settle for someone like me."

"I keep telling you, but you're not listening. I want you, Audra. In my bed. In my arms. Wrapped around me with nothing between us. Fuck everyone else. I want you."

Audra dragged her hands out of his grasp. "But that's it, isn't it? You have fucked everyone else, except me. I'm just a challenge. One night and you'll forget me, never to think of me again, but that night will cost me my job. My self-respect. If you have any respect for me, you'll quit with the sex talk and let me do my job. Until you leave me in peace to go back to your rock star life."

"It wouldn't be like that, I swear." Jay swallowed. "Fine. Give me two days. You're supposed to be watching me all day anyway, and tomorrow, too, so you're stuck with me. Give me two days to demonstrate you're more to me than a night's conquest."

"Sure." She still wouldn't sleep with him, she swore. But she could admit she'd been wrong about him. And it'd make the next two days a lot easier. At least, she hoped so.





THIRTY-SEVEN



Jay threw down his fork. "So, what do you want to do today?"

Audra swallowed her mouthful of muesli. "What do you mean? I'm supposed to tag along with you. I should clean the bathroom, too. After the mess last night..."

Jay waved as if he could sweep it all away. "Not your problem. I'm not staying cooped up inside. I had enough of that in hospital. Let someone else clean the damn house. Come with me to a secret beach I found at the south end of the island. You have to scramble a bit and you'd have to watch the tides because it looks like it might be cut off from the rest of the island at high tide, but it's worth it."

"But you shouldn't swim. Doctor's orders. You'll get your stitches wet."

"We won't. Last time I just took a book with me. I've read the ones you gave me, though. Is there anything else?"

Audra permitted herself a small smile. "Oh, plenty of books. I'll take you to the resort library and show you. You can pick your own then."

Jay nodded. "Sure. Can we get lunch sent down to us?"

"Can we get a room service trolley to your secret beach?"

Jay eyed the breakfast trolley doubtfully. "Don't think so. It'd probably get bogged and if it doesn't, it won't handle the rocks too well."

"Catering make up picnic baskets for day trips. People take them heli-fishing or sightseeing when they're out on a charter flight. I can pick up one of the menus on the way to the library and we can order one, if you like."

"A picnic for two, yeah? You're joining me for lunch."

"If you insist."

After stacking the breakfast dishes on the trolley, Audra found Jay pacing around the lounge room.

"Get your shoes on and let's go."

Audra balked at the note of impatience in his voice, but let it go. She'd seen the bruises hidden under his shirt and she was fairly sure she was responsible for a few fresh ones last night. He was allowed to be grumpy from the pain. She nodded, then watched in amusement as he shoved a cap on his head and put on an enormous pair of mirrored sunglasses. "You're trying to hide from people? I thought you loved the attention."

His mouth set in a grim line. "Not today."

"It's harder to smile when you're in pain. I understand."

Jay flashed a smile. "And that's why I want to spend today with you. You're the only one who does. So show me this library of yours."

Audra let Jay set the pace at a leisurely stroll and walked beside him instead of hurrying like she normally did when she was working. A pair of rainbow-coloured birds she'd never seen before flew across the path to a palm tree, where another pair screeched at the uninvited guests.

"Bloody lorikeets," Jay said. "We used to get them all the time at home. Drove me nuts early in the morning."

"Where did you grow up?"

"Perth, of course, but I had this old place in Cottesloe and they used to screech in the trees by the beach over the road. Working gigs late at night, then coming home and being woken up a couple hours later by those feathered pests almost made me want to take up shooting."

Privately, she thought they were pretty and she'd have welcomed their chirping over the neighbours screaming as they beat the shit out of each other at all hours of the day and night. Her parents might've been poor but she had nothing to complain about; with five children, it was a miracle they'd never tried to kill one another.

They walked in silence until they reached the fork where the path branched off to the staff accommodation and kitchens. "I should get a catering menu for you. I'll be right back," Audra said.

She darted down the path at her usual pace, slipped through the screen door to Catering and stopped dead. Backed up against the wall was a chef with his eyes raised to heaven as a kneeling girl deep-throated whatever she'd found in his unzipped pants. Audra squinted at the girl's worn sneakers and recognised them as Penny's. That made the chef Patel. If they knew she'd reported them yesterday... Silently, slowly, Audra retreated the way she'd come until her backside met something that shouldn't have been there. Shit. Luckily, the chef emitted a groan that drowned out the sound of her squeak. She squeezed past Jay, shaking her head, but he grinned and started forward.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realise this place had an onsite brothel. I thought this was the kitchen," Jay boomed and Audra clapped both hands over her mouth so she wouldn't burst out laughing. The sounds of choking, coughing and frantic zipping only made it worse. "I hope you didn't pay too much for that one. She didn't even swallow. I'd ask for my money back, if I was you." He raised his voice. "OI! Where's the service here?"