Maid for the Rock Star (25 page)

FORTY-EIGHT

Audra wanted to shout at him, but all the blood rushing to her head as he held her partially upside down brought back her headache with a vengeance. She bit down hard on her lip to stop herself from screaming. Or maybe she should, not that anyone would hear her out here. Jay had threatened her with sexual assault before – who knew if he'd actually do it. As soon as he set her down, she'd bolt, faster than this drunken idiot could run, and she'd vanish into the dark before he could follow her. Just as soon as the world stopped spinning and got its colours back.

She fell on something soft and breathed a sigh of relief, trying to focus on what she knew was Jay's face in front of her.

"Wow, you have a black eye. I've never seen a chick with a black eye. Have you been fighting over me?" He grinned like it was one big joke.

"What?" Audra couldn't remember Penny landing a blow to her face. When had Penny managed that? While she was unconscious? Audra scrambled to her feet and stumbled for the bathroom. Shit. The bruise blooming on her face was going to be spectacular tomorrow. If Penny had laid into her while she'd been unconscious, no wonder Serge had joined in. The girl was so crazy he'd have had to break her arm to stop her, most likely. Shit. What a mess. And all because of Jay. Who'd just appeared in the bathroom doorway.

"It's your fault," Audra snapped, turning on him. "If you hadn't seduced that bitch yesterday and made her suck your dick in front of half the hotel, she wouldn't have lost her job and taken it out on me. You want to know why no one answered your oh-so-urgent call? It's because you fucked, as you so eloquently put it, the maid who was assigned to your villa, and she got fired. Then she tried to bash me to death with the gym equipment, and attacked anyone who came between her and her prey. Most of the senior staff are on the mainland, either in the police station or the hospital emergency department, while I was just left to lie there because somehow no one saw me on the gym floor when they broke up the fight between the psychopath and the personal trainer. So you want to know why I didn't come earlier? It's because your bitch-whore knocked me out and I was unconscious. I could've died. But hey, I'm not some rich rock star, so when someone like me might have a concussion, there's no hospital staff trying to seduce me. There's no police officer standing at my side to protect me. No helicopter on stand-by to take me to a fancy hotel to recuperate. There's no twenty-four-hour, on-call first aid officer watching over me to make sure I'm all right. Or even hand me a couple of paracetamol. Instead, I get paged to some arsehole's house, where he's decided to emulate Pro Hart and smear the contents of his fridge all over the ceiling so he can make fun of me while he watches me clean up the mess he's made. Well, fuck you, Jay Felix. You may be a rock star, but you're a failure as a human being."

With considerable satisfaction, Audra noted that she'd shocked Jay into silence. Well, that was a first.

"Now get out of my way." She elbowed her way past him.

"Where are you going?"

Audra didn't turn around. "To clean up the arsehole's house. If I'm lucky, I might've finished dealing with half the mess you've made by lunchtime tomorrow."

His strong arms caught her round the waist. "No, you're not."

Audra brought her foot up and kicked behind her. She heard a grunt and he let go. "I'd rather clean chocolate off the carpet than stay here and get raped by you, caveman."

"Audra, wait. Please. I'm not thinking. Too much to drink. I shouldn't've..."

"Fuck you, Jay." She kept walking, trotting up the stairs to Maxima as if every step didn't make her head pound. She lifted her arm to scan her ID, but nothing happened. Her wrist was bare.

Jay had her ID. Gritting her teeth, Audra returned to Pinctada, where she had to knock on the door. "Give it back!" she shouted.

The door slid open. "It's inside."

Of course it was. "So go get it for me."

"No." He sounded sad. "You're injured, Audra. You said it yourself. Someone should be taking care of you. I can't let you clean that house."

"You think I'd let you touch me? Watch me while I sleep?" she demanded. "I told you already, I'd rather – "

"Clean than get raped. Yeah, me, too. And everyone else in the world, I imagine." To his credit, he didn't crack a smile. "I bought the hotel, Audra. The owners accepted my offer this morning. I wanted you to share a bottle of champagne with me to celebrate. And I wanted to explain what you saw yesterday. It's not what you think."

Audra lowered her voice. "What I saw yesterday made me physically sick. You called her a prostitute the day before when you saw her giving the chef a blowjob, then yesterday you were happily thrusting down her throat. Like you keep saying, you're a rock star and that's what rock stars do. And like I keep saying, there are better men than rock stars."

"She begged me for it. Said she could give me the best blowjob I'd ever had and that you'd sent her over to give it to me. Bloody awful is what it was. Then when I saw you..." He swallowed. "My first thought was to stop, but you looked like you didn't care. She'd said you'd sent her and you said to keep going...so then I wanted to make sure you knew I appreciated your gift and I..."

Audra held up her hands. "Stop. Seriously, stop. Seeing it was bad enough. I don't want to hear all the gory details. Just give me my ID."

He shook his head. "I can't. It'd be criminal negligence if I let an injured staff member keep working. Not after you took such good care of me, Audra. Let me return the favour. And I promise...I promise to keep my pants on, unless you say otherwise."

The pounding in her head was starting to leach colour out of her vision. Audra rubbed her temples, trying to dislodge the pain. "In your dreams, Jay."

"Oh, you'd love my dreams. But not tonight, I think." He moved aside to allow her to slip past him into the house. "Pick a bedroom. Unless you want a drink first? I think I saw some booze in this fridge. Ice for that shiner, too."

"I should be doing that. You called for maid service and I answered." Audra dragged her feet toward the kitchen, but Jay got there first.

"I didn't call you to clean or serve. I called you to come have a drink with me. Now, what's your poison? There's no champagne here, but there is some of that mango beer you like."

"I really shouldn't."

"Yeah, you really should. There's about as much alcohol in one of these as a light beer or a midstrength. I think there might be a couple of cans of soft drink, if you want." Jay noticed Audra's wrinkled nose. "Mango beer it is, then."

Audra grudgingly accepted the opened bottle from him and sipped the frothing sweetness. What she'd give to be able to afford one of these every night. Maybe next year, when she got her weather station posting. If she got it. Shit, with the luck she'd had today, maybe they'd lost her application. That didn't bear thinking about. She needed to think about something else entirely. Work. Jay. Sharks. No, not sharks. Shit, the whole lot made her head hurt. Didn't alcohol help dull pain? She should just drink the beer and let him talk.

"So what made a rock star choose to buy a hotel? And this one, of all places?" she asked carefully, keeping her eyes on her beer as she took another sip. If she focussed on her drink, she wouldn't smash the bottle in his face like he deserved.

Jay grinned. "Oh, that's easy. I bought this place because of you."

Audra choked.

FORTY-NINE

"Here, some ice for that eye." Jay crossed the room and pressed the ice-filled tea-towel to her face. Before Audra could stop him, his other hand reached around the back of her head and touched the tender spot where Penny had tried to bash her head in.

Audra let out a wordless cry as the pain blinded her.

Jay pulled back, taking the ice with him. "Fuck, I'm sorry. She really did a number on you, didn't she? Here, lie on the couch and put this under your head."

Audra tried to stifle a sob as she let Jay help her. Alarm bells screamed in her head, but she hurt too much to react to them. She forced her eyes open, fixing her gaze on Jay's tear-blurred face. Was this when he tried to take advantage of her?

Apparently not, because he returned to the kitchen. A minute later, he was back with a second icy tea-towel. Audra accepted it gratefully and set it to soothing her eye.

Jay retreated to a seat out of her line of sight. "It's funny. My sister and I came here to view the place with the intention of buying it, but she said she didn't want to. I stay here for a couple of weeks, and buy the damn thing myself. I'll have to sell my place at Surfer's on the Gold Coast, I think. Either that or my place in Sydney, but I want to hold on to the Sydney one, just in case I don't retire. Depends, really. I heard this tour's concerts are almost all sold out already, which means they'll pay well. Maybe I can keep the Gold Coast apartment. Get a tenant in there or something. Don't know..."

Audra's attention drifted as Jay talked about money and investments the likes of which she could only dream about. Buying a whole island? Owning multiple houses that no one lived in? She couldn't even manage to hold on to her own car. But she couldn't afford to lose it – even if it did cost all her savings to make it roadworthy again. If she didn't get the job up here or if the Bureau of Meteorology turned her down again, she'd need a car to get places. No public transport served her parents' area – too dangerous. Not to mention dangerous for her if she came home after dark, which she would if she had to go back to waitressing. Damn Ben and Leon.

"Is your head hurting too much? Want me to shut up?"

"What?" Audra lifted her head so she could see Jay. "No, it's all right. I just...it's been a really bad day." She flopped back down on the ice pack with a moan of relief.

"I could improve it for you." Jay shifted so he stood above her, grinning. His voice took on the underwear-melting tone that shouldn't have worked on her, but it did. "Make you forget everything else except one perfect moment."

She squinted at him. "This is about sex again, isn't it? So much for promising to keep your pants on." Audra took a deep breath, and for what felt like the hundredth time, began, "I'll lose my job if I – "

His finger touched her lips. "Sleep with a guest? Yeah, but I'm not a guest any more. More like the landlord of this place. And even if I wasn't, no one will ever know. There's only us out here."

"My wristband's recording every word you say, Jay."

Jay laughed softly. "Not tonight. Where I've hidden it, it won't hear a thing. Does anyone know you're here?"

"The night porter does."

"Do you think the night porter will hear you scream from the other side of the lagoon?"

Audra was done playing. This was getting way too creepy. "Yeah, he will. I'll make sure of it. You're freaking me out here, Jay. I'm not one of your fangirls and I don't want to sleep with you. I took a hell of a beating today and I hurt. So I'm going back to bed now. I'll send someone out here to clean your villa in the morning." She winced as she stood up. "Thanks for the beer and the first aid and the Shakespeare, even if it was on the wall. It's been surreal."

"Fuck, Audra. Why do you always take what I say the wrong way? If a rock star makes you scream, it's a good thing. 'Cause you're enjoying yourself?" His eyes seemed to beg her to understand. "No one's ever seduced you properly, have they? Fine. I want you to ride my tongue, Audra. I want to thrust my fingers into your pussy and make you come so I can taste it. And when you do, I want to hear you scream. For joy. Pleasure. What do the blokes in your romance books say? I want to taste you. Well, I do."

Audra managed a shaky laugh. "Sex isn't like in books, Jay. The only time girls scream is if they're faking it like Penny or if it's rape. Real sex? A bit of grunting, a lot of mess and that's about it. Life isn't a romance novel and no one comes twice in a night." Not even once, most times.

"Rock star sex is all that and more, Audra. Twice?" Jay stepped closer, close enough to kiss. Even his eyes seemed to draw her in. "I'll make you lose count before I even take off my pants. We'll still be going at dawn. Trust me, Audra. I'll make your body sing better than I can."

Her knickers weren't just melting – she was afraid they were going to burst into flame. If she didn't take them off first. Every word seemed to warm her insides like melted chocolate. A tiny voice inside told her he was seducing her. Of course he was. And she wanted him to, damn it. "Jay," she breathed.