Maid for the Rock Star (5 page)

NINE

Audra raised her arms above her head in a stretch that resonated through her shoulders to her spine. "Right. Good to be in my own clothes again. Do you think they could make the uniforms any more uncomfortable?"

Pamela smiled shyly. "It could be worse."

Audra thought of the ties, tight-fitting tops and short skirts she'd had to wear in her various other jobs. "You're right. Let's get these down to the dock in time for the last boat and we can go for dinner." She counted the trolleys. "Isn't Penny supposed to be helping us? Where is she this time?"

"She said something about a sexy new sous-chef."

That meant Penny would be too busy flirting to do laundry duty like she was supposed to.

Audra sighed. "Fine. You grab that one and I'll take these two." She yanked four laundry bags off the full trolley and dumped them on the half-empty one, then added one more. "Now they're balanced."

They trundled down the path in a rattling procession to the jetty where the carrier boat waited. Baz, the captain, offered them a lazy salute. "Ladies."

Both girls laughed.

Audra waved at the bags. "Guest laundry and a week's worth of island uniforms. Please don't let the laundry service get us mixed up with the hospital linen again. The only thing worse than the maids' uniforms out here are surgeons' scrubs."

"Oh, so you liked the nurses' uniforms, did you?" Baz teased.

Pamela blushed bright red. "One day, when I can afford to go to nursing school, I'll wear one all the time."

"You'll get there," Audra said.

"And I bet the guests think all you housekeeping girls are deaf, dumb and stupid. What would they say if they knew you'll one day be saving their lives, predicting the weather or...what's the other girl want to do again?"

"Penny wants to be famous. She wants to be a reality TV star." This week. Next week, she might want to be a lounge singer. Or marry someone rich. Audra lost track sometimes.

Baz rolled his eyes. "Right. Well, see you in the morning. Don't break too many hearts tonight."

They waved as Baz and his mate cast off, before trudging up to the staff block.

"There you are! I've been waiting for you," Penny said.

Audra didn't believe a word of it. Penny's shirt wasn't buttoned right and she had a suspicious mango-coloured stain on her breast pocket. "If you'd remembered we're on laundry duty tonight, you'd have known where to look."

"Oh. That. Sorry." She didn't look it.

As Penny launched into a rambling story about her time training to be a chef at the community college in Port Hedland, Audra stepped into the staff dining room, scanning the tables for Dennis. He met her gaze and slowly shook his head, then shrugged. No, the dickhead hadn't complained and Dennis had no idea why. At least, that's what she thought it meant.

She nodded and resumed listening to Penny's story about the night her crazed housemate in Hedland kicked in a door, convinced that Penny had poisoned her. From what she'd heard about Penny's cooking and her penchant for revenge, anything was possible.

Audra accepted a plate from Pamela and proceeded to load it up with salad. An experimental sniff at the hot food told her the new sous-chef had burned the mango chicken again and the results were deemed not good enough for guests. Mango chicken salad was her favourite, so she hoped the forgetful sous-chef would be around for a while.

More fresh mango for dessert. If it wasn't her favourite...Audra laughed quietly to herself and filled a bowl with fruit.

The personal trainer jostled her aside. "Wow, you must really like mango." Serge grinned. "Pity I didn't need to rescue you today. I did an extra hour on the rowing machine, too, just in case you needed a fast escape off the island." He imitated the sculling movement, flexing even more muscles that Audra didn't know the names of.

She laughed. "Yes, I love mangoes. One of the best things about working up here is that I get to eat my fill." She couldn't afford them at home and on the rare occasions she'd attempted to treat herself, the fruit had disappeared from the fridge before she'd had a chance to taste it. Her brothers' fault, she was sure of it.

"Have you tried that mango beer in town? I'm due two days off next week and I know your roster matches mine. Do you want to come to dinner with me at the brewery restaurant?"

She couldn't justify the expense of dinner or beer, but she couldn't tell him that. "I have a date with my laptop next week. Both days. Maybe another time." If she didn't submit her job application by the due date this year, she'd be vacuuming floors and cleaning bathrooms for another year instead of using her degree. No. Her future was more important than that.

"I'll hold you to that," Serge promised.

Audra managed a smile. Her ID began beeping, drawing the attention of everyone in earshot.

"Damn VIPs. Taking advantage of the twenty-four-hour maid service. Sucks to be on call." Serge patted her arm and headed off.

Audra uttered a few swear words under her breath as she read the digital display:

MAXIMA

Did he need someone to wipe his bum now? She slammed her bowl of mango cheeks and ice cream down on the table and decided he could wait until after dessert.

The persistent beeping continued.

"You're doing Jackie's job at the Pearls?" Penny squealed, seizing Audra's wrist so she could read the display. "Ooh, who needs you urgently in Villa Maxima? Is he rich? Hot? Single?"

Audra swallowed. "Confidential. You know I can't say. Guest privacy and all."

"Can you tell me how big his dick is?" Penny persisted.

Huge. Audra felt her face grow red. "Penny, you know it's against the rules to get with the guests."

Penny shrugged. "Wouldn't stop me. What's a low-paid job like this compared to being swept off your feet by a rich man who's hung like a horse? I'd ride him before he could ask for room service." She winked.

Maybe Penny would've been a better choice to service the villas, Audra fumed. At least she would have enjoyed dealing with the almighty prick who thought he was God. But then Penny might also get the full-time job that Audra wanted, which she couldn't allow. She'd better find out what he wanted. The sooner she dealt with him, the sooner she could knock off for the night.

Audra made her excuses and left the table.

"Have fun counting the inches!" Penny called after her.

TEN

Audra slowed her steps as she reached the front door of the villa. Reminding herself that every word would be recorded, she forced herself to put on her professional smile. Even if she was out of uniform, she'd be the consummate professional she needed to be. She swiped her ID and allowed the intercom to notify Jay that she was waiting outside.

The door opened and he stood in the doorway. "Fuck me!" He looked her up and down, wide-eyed.

Here we go again. "Mr Felix, I've already said no, thank you." She turned to go.

"No, wait!" He grabbed her hand.

Assault. She had an excuse to get him arrested. If she wanted to.

"Please." His brown eyes begged. "I'm sorry. I expected you to be in your shapeless uniform again, not –" He waved at her singlet top and shorts. "– this. You surprised me."

Audra wished she'd worn one of the laundry bags over her clothes. Then maybe he wouldn't be staring at her breasts. "Is there something you need, Mr Felix? Something that is within my job description to provide?"

He reddened. "It's my phone. It's not working."

She nodded and waited for him to step aside to let her in. She led the way to the kitchen, where the intercom phone was. "This one?"

"No. Mine." He waved his smartphone. "I can't get reception."

"That's because there isn't any. The year the resort was built, the phone tower came down in a cyclone. They replaced it, only for the next storm to knock it down again. It cost too much to replace, so no one ever did." Audra lifted the intercom receiver. "You can make outside calls with this. Just press zero for an outside line, then the number. It'll be added to your hotel bill when you leave."

"Okay." Jay took the receiver from her and frowned at his phone. He stabbed the buttons on the intercom and clamped the receiver between his shoulder and his ear. "It's not ringing." He handed it back to Audra, who held it to her ear. A recorded message told her to leave her name and number after the tone and someone named Jo would get back to her.

"Your friend's phone isn't switched on," Audra told him, wondering how much she'd have to explain.

"My sister. She made me promise to call her. I need to talk to her!" Audra recognised the panic in his eyes. It was the same look her brother got when the world overwhelmed him and he forgot to take his pills. Her heart twinged with something that might be sympathy. For Jay Felix? Never.

"Your sister. The one who was here today?"

He twisted his shirt between his hands. "Yes."

"The one who flew out today. And when you fly, they don't allow you to switch your mobile phone on?"

"Yes." It took a moment before her words sank in. "You mean I can't call her because she's flying?"

Audra kept her voice steady. "Yes."

Wrong answer. "So what am I supposed to do? I need to talk to her! She said...she said..." His panicked eyes darted around the room, not fixing on anything.

She said to call her before he did anything stupid. Too late. And she'd made it worse. Audra sighed. "She said to call if you got lonely, didn't she?"

He nodded, then sighed. "I fucked up. You don't even like me and she's going to kill me when she finds out what I said to you today. I'll keep calling her until she lands and switches her phone back on." He paled. "What if she's driving? Or she stays in a hotel where there isn't any mobile access? What if I can't get hold of her until tomorrow or later in the week? I need someone to talk to." He seized her hand again. "Don't go. Please."

For a long moment, Audra stared into brown eyes that could have been her brother's. Tad was the reason she could never leave her shaver in the bathroom, after the first time she'd had to clean up the blood he'd dripped everywhere from the shallow cuts on his arms. If this prick got seriously into self-harm, she'd have to clean up his mess, too.

Audra told herself that her motivations were entirely selfish, as she said, "All right. I'll stay for a bit. As long as you don't demand sex of any kind, don't try to treat me like a prostitute, and don't stare at my boobs the whole time."

He managed a watery smile. "I'll try. But your boobs...the...you have to promise you won't go to the press. Whatever I tell you, no one else will ever know, right?"

Unless they hear this recording. Audra pressed her lips together. "That's right, Mr Felix," she lied. "All hotel staff are covered by a non-disclosure agreement. I can't sell guests' secrets to the press or I'll lose my job." That part, at least, was true.

"Jay. You can call me Jay." He met her eyes and then glanced away. "Let me get you a drink. We only have these weird fruit beers left. None of the normal ones. What'll you have?"

Thanking the hotel's policymakers for forgetting to ban drinking on the job, she accepted a mango beer and settled in an armchair. Savouring the taste with her eyes closed, Audra asked, "So what would you like to talk about, Jay?"