Love For Hire (3 page)

Wait a minute
, Jayden thought, fear slowly crystallizing in the pit of his stomach, giving him the feeling that he had swallowed a stone. Why wasn’t he in a hospital? He had gotten stabbed, for crying out loud! Why had this guy taken him home instead? What did he want?

A strand of dark hair dislodged itself, falling over Jayden’s eyes, and before he could brush it away, a strong hand reached out, doing it for him. This time Jayden blinked in confusion, and when the slender but still strong fingers came back, gently caressing his face before running through his hair, all he could do was look dumbly at the man sitting at his bedside.

“You’re in my home,” he finally answered Jayden’s question, “and I need your help.”

Jayden’s eyes widened, because what kind of help could he possibly want from someone like him?

“The way I see it,” Blondie continued, his voice rumbling through Jayden, sending shivers down his spine. This was just odd, because Jayden had never reacted to a man like this before. As a matter of fact, he had never reacted to anyone in this manner, and it sort of threw him for a loop.

He stared at the blue eyes of his rescuer. He hadn’t been delusional before; the color was really pretty indeed.

Huh, was he perchance dosed up on the good stuff? He blinked, trying to gauge if he was on any medication. But despite the pretty eyes, there was something about the guy that had the tiny hairs at the back of Jayden’s neck standing up. He wasn’t given to flights of fancy, but in his short life he had learned a few things. Maybe this made him cynical or world-weary, as some might call it, but he knew a pretty package could hide a mean and downright evil spirit underneath the good-looking mask. And there was something else in those pretty blue eyes: a coldness that didn’t quite match the handsome face.

Maybe it was a buried sixth sense all humans had when faced with predators. With a slight shake of his head, Jayden dismissed those thoughts as crazy talk. He couldn’t deny that being around his father had always made him feel wary, and even though so far the stranger had done nothing but rescue him, the alarm bells in his head were still going off.

He didn’t like to think of himself as a rabbit and the stranger as the dog chasing him, but if the shoe fit…. Because this was exactly what he felt like: like a small hapless rabbit staring up at a dog that was getting ready to pounce.

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Maybe he had a concussion? That would surely explain why he was acting like a lunatic.

So with a huff, Jayden narrowed his eyes, willing Blondie to keep on going.

“You owe me,” Blondie continued. “I rescued you. You’re in my debt.”

Jayden couldn’t deny being in
his debt
, but he also resented the calculating way he was talking about having saved his life. Was this a setup of some sort? Had his rescuer been planning the whole thing all along?

He discarded the idea almost instantly, but he still didn’t like the way this stranger was claiming the favor Jayden owed him.

What happened to a simple thank you?
he wondered.

He owed Blondie his life, so
yes
, he was going to help him, but this was no way to go about it. It simply wasn’t polite, and he resented how Blondie assumed he would get his way without even being courteous about it.

“I apologize,” the stranger continued, his voice slightly stilted, but the deep rumble still did funny things to Jayden’s stomach, causing it to quiver and somersault. The pleasure and attraction from before were taking a back seat in the face of his rising anger. Who did he think he was?

For some reason, Blondie aborted the sentence, but the somewhat loaded silence didn’t last for long. When he spoke again, his voice vibrated through Jayden’s entire body, sending little jolts of pleasure mixed with anger through his veins, making him quite uncomfortable. Maybe sitting in bed in his birthday suit while Blondie was dressed in neat jeans and a shirt had something to do with it as well. He wasn’t ashamed of his body—he couldn’t well afford such funny notions, not when he was selling what little goods he had—but he hated feeling inferior because of it.

 “I apologize for my uncle and his strange sense of fun. You can be assured I have dealt with him.” After a short pause, and in a more menacing tone of voice—one that had Jayden shivering slightly—he added, “And I took care of his friend as well.”

Jayden blinked; this information needed a moment to be processed. The attacker wasn’t just some random man? He was the blond man’s
uncle
? He gulped. What if the uncle was the same man who had been attacking other young men in the area? He had no proof, of course, but thinking back and comparing what little he had heard through the grapevine and read in the papers, it did seem as if the attack on him had been similar to all the others.

And the cold way his rescuer was talking about it made him uneasy.

“Are you in any pain?” Blondie changed the topic, and Jayden shook his head before nodding slowly. He wasn’t in as much pain as he thought getting stabbed would warrant, but he was in some discomfort, and somehow lying to the scary man by his side didn’t seem like such a good idea.

“I’ve had my doctor look you over,” he continued in his sexy voice.

Jayden’s toes curled as tiny sparks of pleasure erupted from his groin. It wasn’t fair! Lamenting inside his head wasn’t something he usually did, but somehow he couldn’t seem to help himself. How did this guy manage to have him tingling all over simply by talking? If he ever truly touched him, Jayden’s world would probably shatter on impact. How could one man have that much power? A soft whine escaped his lips, but he managed to abort the sound before Blondie could pick up on it.

Of course the object of Jayden’s lust wasn’t even aware what was happening, so while Jayden was fighting with himself, he simply kept on talking.

“Thankfully you were only grazed. There might not even be a scar later on. You’ve got a few stitches, though, to avoid you accidentally tearing it further open. They should dissolve in a few days.”

There was something fundamentally wrong when discussing nearly getting sliced in half only merited a casual tone, no hint of any kind of panic anywhere. What kind of family was this?

The uncle thought cutting people open was a good way to spend his time, and his nephew had a doctor on call who apparently had no qualms about looking after a complete stranger, no questions asked. What had he gotten himself into?

The thought alone was nearly enough to have him scrambling out of bed, running for the hills, but then his self-preservation instinct kicked in. So he stayed put, deciding to play this by the ears. Still, he couldn’t help himself; the wariness in his eyes was there for everyone to see. Despite his lax posture, his shoulders were throbbing, knotted tightly with tension, and if he had thought he could do it without being detected, his fingers would have been drumming a nervous rhythm on the mattress.

“There’s some good pain meds on the nightstand. Take one every few hours but no more than four,” Blondie instructed, eyes never leaving Jayden’s face until he nodded.

Showing weakness before a predator was a sure way to end up eaten, and while the reference to
Animal Planet
was probably flawed, Jayden was still convinced the analogy was sound. Even when his father had proceeded to beat the prettiness out of him, Jayden had always held his head high, refusing to let how much he was hurting on the inside show. He couldn’t be sure, of course, but there was something about Blondie’s mannerisms that told him to tread cautiously.

His fingers twitched while he risked a quick glance toward the pills. He would love one right now, but even though he had never learned how to get used to pain, he had gotten good at pushing it aside until he could afford to curl up in a tight ball, bemoaning his existence. With all of that in mind, Jayden controlled his impulses, keeping a level eye on Blondie’s, not breaking contact at all.

Blue eyes stared back at him, and Jayden was once again confounded by how someone could look so nice, so harmless, even, while his entire demeanor clearly screamed danger.

“You’re probably used to getting hurt,” the smooth voice continued, “but I still want to apologize again for my uncle’s actions.”

“Uhm,” was Jayden’s only answer, while he narrowed his eyes to stare at the man.

Contrary to popular belief, not every customer beat up the guy he was using to have a good time. It was an awkward although usually mutually beneficial arrangement, and while yes, there were times when it could get violent, it wasn’t as if that was the norm. And Jayden resented the casual way the man was talking about it, as if this had been a strange career choice of sorts!

The former stirring in his loins was replaced by a heat of different kind. He opened his mouth to give Blondie a piece of his mind when suddenly a finger was placed over his lips to shush him.

The gesture, something you would do with an errant child, had him reeling with anger, but instead of biting the offending digit, his tongue darted out, licking it. Jayden froze midlick and the world seemed to stop.

He ducked, expecting to be hit over the head when Blondie took his finger back, but nothing happened. He peeked up through lowered lashes. Apparently his crazy actions hadn’t been noted at all!

While his own heart was hammering inside his chest, Blondie seemed to be totally unmoved, as if nothing untoward had happened at all.

Jayden sniffed, feeling slightly insulted. He might not be much to look at, but surely having one’s finger licked deserved some kind of reaction.

His eyes widened a fraction as he realized how crazy he sounded. One moment he was lusting after the guy, then he was in the throes of nearly mind-numbing anger, and then he was offended when he wasn’t noticed at all.

Make up your mind, Jayden!

“Now, focus, please.” Blondie was back to being demanding. “What’s your name?” he asked.

“Jayden,” Jayden stuttered, voice strangely weak. “Jayden Collins.”

“Well, Jayden,” the still nameless man drawled, “It’s a pleasure.”

Pleasure?

Pleasure?
Jayden was practically shrieking the word inside his head, because while this had certainly been interesting and eventful, he wouldn’t call it a
pleasure
!

“I’m Matt Archer, and you’re going to be my boyfriend for the next few weeks.”

Jayden’s mouth fell open. He slowly started inching backward, looking for a way to escape. Maybe Matt was nuts?

“Come again?” he asked instead, stopping all his movements when he realized he probably wouldn’t get very far if he ran screaming and butt naked out of the room. Caution, yes—he needed to proceed with caution.

Matt, Blondie’s name was Matt, and what a relief it was to finally have a name to go with the gorgeous face. The last name did ring a bell as well, sounding oddly familiar, but before Jayden could follow his thoughts, Matt interrupted him by answering his question.

“For the next few weeks I’ll need you to pretend to be my boyfriend,” Matt said in the same tone of voice someone would use to comment on the weather.
Oh what a lovely day we have today. Don’t you think so?
Same flat intonation, same expression on his face. Surely the man couldn’t have just asked him to play his partner for the new few weeks. Things like that only happened in the movies or to other people and most certainly not to him.

The silence grew as Jayden simply stared at Matt as if he had grown two heads or sprouted horns.

“I’ll sweeten the deal,” Matt continued. “I don’t expect you to stay without just because you owe me….” His voice trailed off for a moment before he got to the point. “My uncle told me how much you were charging him, so I’ll pay you the same amount on a hourly basis for as long as your services will be required.”

Jayden’s mouth dropped open as the world shook before falling back into place. He gulped; had he heard right?

“Do I need to repeat myself?”

“Uhm,” Jayden hedged, offering up a weak, “no?”

“Do you accept the offer, then?”

When Jayden remained speechless, Matt’s tone turned even frostier, and he demanded, “I’ll need a clear
yes
or
no
from you.”

“Of course.” Jayden cleared his throat, throwing caution to the wind. Who needed to play it safe anyway when faced with this much money? And weeks… the man was talking about weeks! The money he would make would make all of Jayden’s dreams come true and finally enable him to leave the city behind and start anew. Hell yes, he was doing this! “The answer is yes, I’ll do it.”

A somewhat more relaxed look settled over Matt once Jayden had given him his answer. “All right then.” Matt slowly got up. “You better spend the rest of the day resting. I’ll get someone to send you up your meals. Tomorrow I want you to be ready at eight sharp. I’ll take you shopping.”

Shopping—that reminded Jayden of one fundamental fact. Where were his clothes? “Uhm… Matt?” he asked carefully. “Where are my clothes?”