Episode 1

CHAPTER 1

Queenstown, New Zealand

Jayden McCartney raked his long, lean fingers through his thick, blonde hair in frustration and wondered what the hell he was supposed to do. He thought that this was supposed to be his holiday, and holiday supposed to mean stress free, either it be from work or family.

Work - that he knew he could never be free off since he was, after all, a workaholic and a CEO of his own multibillion dollars Real Estate Investment & Development Company, which had recently gone international. He loved what he was doing and what made it even sweeter was the fact that he didn't have to be in the office twenty-four-seven. He basically work whenever and wherever he wanted to, either it be at home in his bed, in a hotel room somewhere in France, or in a restaurant in Asia. His job could be achieved simply with a quick phone call or a flick of an email to his many international mangers in different countries.

Unfortunately the stress he was having at that moment was not from that of work but his family. By that he meant his grandmother specifically.

His mother Gracie, who was married to his father Tom McCartney for thirty-five years, had suggested he bring his girlfriend to his sister's wedding. His grandmother Elizabeth, also known to them as Granny Beth, had not only agreed but further more demanded that she must fit their criteria.

What were those criteria again?

Jay did a mental check list as he stared off at the beautiful snow-covered mountain in the distance not very far from his luxurious hotel room.

Ah yes, the criteria were as follow:

1) Well off: their meaning--her family must own a multimillion dollars business.

2) Good family background: their meaning--family should be as old as time itself, perhaps even dated as far back as Richard the Lion heart himself had became Kind of England and their background must be sparkly clean.

3) Pretty: their meaning--model material.

4) Good manners: their meaning--socialite chick--another word polite with a hint of bitchiness.

If possible, Granny Beth had added, it should be in that particular order but not necessary.

Jay strolled over to the sofa and threw himself on the comfortable seat. Now what? Because of that damn phone call he had just had, he knew he wouldn't be able to enjoy his ski trip any longer. Not that he had been enjoying much of it since the kick off of this so-called holiday anyway.

What the hell was he going to do? He couldn't very well beg his ex-girlfriend Sarah to go with him to his sister's wedding and pretend that nothing had ever happened between them.

The very thought of Sarah caused his heart to jab with a dull pain.

Oh yeah! He should have seen it coming all right. There had been clues that he should have picked up in the early state of their loving relationship.

Loving? The word loving sounded stupid and hallow in his ears now.

He didn't want to remember that night three weeks ago in Sydney. God it hurt!

Women thought guys don't get hurt in this type of things. Well hell! Maybe some don't, but he definitely did.

It hurt like hell, the realisation that your girlfriend was cheating on you.

Sarah had been complaining to him about their trip the whole time, that it was supposed to be their holiday and why had he to meet up with his friend. What she had meant by his friend was that it was a friend only Jay knew, a friend who was not her friend, a friend who didn't rub shoulders with the socialites and millionaires back in New York, a friend who basically didn't belong in their social circle.

'It was unexpected,' he had replied. "Beside, we haven't seen each other for years since London."

Jay shut his eyes and gritted his teeth. The pain in his heart deepened as once again he pictured Sarah, her beautiful naked body intertwining with another man in their bed they had been sharing in the hotel.

The naked man with her that night was none other than his so-called best friend Kyle Shore.

It had been a big blow. His best friend and his girlfriend? He could never have imagined it in a million years. How could that be possible? They hate each others' guts! Or at least he had thought they hated each others' guts.

Jay had known instantly that their relationship was over, and he had told her so right in her face.

He remembered Sarah begging him, telling him that it was not what it seemed.

What the hell had he been seeing then? Jay wondered in disgust, shaking his head once again and grunting loudly.

Once he had refused to listen to her begging and told her to get out of his life, she shouted back at him, telling him that she had never loved him anyway. Then she and Kyle had left him. Jay then had drowned himself in sorrow and had drunk himself almost to death. That had been when his good friend Peter stepped in.

"You need to get over it, mate," he had said in his very Kiwi accent. "She's gone. There's still a hell of a lot of hot fishes out there wanting your net to come 'n catch them." Then he laughed. "Or maybe you just need time out. How about killing yourself in extreme sport?"

Jay had thought about that and unenthusiastically agreed. So the two of them had come down to good old New Zealand and had done some good old extreme sport such as sky diving, water diving, bungee jumping, biking marathon, and skiing.

Jay had managed to forget about Sarah and the break-up, most of time when he had been very tired and busy anyway. But he had known it would take him a long time to actually forget about her, to get her out of his system.

Now Gracie and Granny Beth had asked him to bring his girlfriend to Kelly's wedding. Jay knew if he didn't do what they were asking, they'd start match-making him again--and that he didn't want.

Jay rested his head back against the sofa and his mind started wondering again. He could just see it all. Gracie and Granny Beth would bring in a hundred or so eligible bachelorette for dinner, tea parties, and balls. He could just see himself being swamped up with faceless, beautiful women. Some guy would think they are in heaven. They'd actually enjoy the attention, being surrounded with beautiful women like those in the reality T.V show 'The Bachelor'. But Jay was different. He disliked stuff like that. He disliked bringing attention to himself. He was sure he was going to get a heart attack from the stress of it all. He thought about buying himself a defibrillator and asking Peter how to use it just in case things got nasty.

Jay shot up from the sofa and paced back and forward, deep in thought. Good grief! He was just about having a heart attack right now. No! What he needed was a plan. Think, Jay, think!

He paused. He heard somebody whistling in the hotel corridor. A second later there were knocks at the door. He rushed to open it and saw the man he needed most in this time of crisis.

He grabbed Peter Thompson by the collar and hauled the surprised man into the room.

"Whoa! Jay, mate, what's up?" Peter said, chuckling, his Kiwi accent strong in Jay's American ears.

"I just got a call from Gracie and Beth," Jay said with a dark frown.

Peter raised an eye brow at his friend. "From the look you're wearing it doesn't sound good."

"Of course it's not good, Pete," Jay said.

"What is it?"

Jay glanced at his friend who he had first met years ago in London and then again only recently back in Sydney just before he had found out about Sarah and Kyle.

"They're at it again," Jay said in annoyance.

"What? Match-making?" Pete chuckled.

"Jesus man, it's not funny," Jay snapped. "What the hell am I going to do?"

"I suppose they are getting worried. You're their heir and you're thirty-three. Not getting any younger, mate," Peter said, walking toward the refrigerator and started whistling again. He opened the door and searched for a bottle of Heineken. "What one?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Yeah, sure," Jay replied, still deep in thought and frustration.

Peter took two out and threw one to Jay.

Six bottles of Heineken, two packs of Blue Bird chips, and four packets of Giant Cookies later, they were still contemplating on the dilemma at hand.

"Any suggestion?" Jay asked finally.

Peter glanced sideway at Jay and said, "I suggest you find yourself a new girl, mate, and take her to New York."

Silent. Jay's blue eyes stared intensely into Peter's green ones. Then, "You're kidding?"

"Nope," Pete replied. Then he stuffed some crisps in his mouth, chewed loudly and then took a good gulp of his beer.

Jay thought about the odd suggestion for a moment. "I'm not up for it, Pete. You know I'm not."

"Sarah?"

"It's still new."

Jay nodded. No, he hadn't gotten over Sarah yet. Mean while dating again just seemed wrong, odd, and basically he was just not into it.

"Look," Peter said, "you don't have to do this dating thing yet. I said you just need to find a girl and take her to meet your parents. You don't have to date her."

"Meaning?" Jay asked, looking at his friend in a weird way.

"Meaning you just hire a girl to be your girlfriend and take her to see your parents."

Jay just stared at Peter, his face basically said, 'seriously, dude, can't you come up with a better plan than that?'

No wait. It was supposed to be a joke. He was sure Peter was simply joking with him.

Then on queue Jay started laughing. He laughed and laughed until his stomach hurt. When he had managed to stop, he looked at his friend and said, "You're joking, right?"

Peter's face, however, was all in seriousness. "Nope."

"What?"

"Not at all," Peter said. "Just hire a girl as your girlfriend."

Must be the Kiwi's way of thinking, Jay thought. But he couldn't help stopping himself from blurting out, "Who the hell is desperate enough to do that?"

"Lots," Peter said. "Professionals."

Jay narrowed his eyes and said, "Oh no. I'm not hiring those types of girls. No way, man. Gracie and Beth have criteria."

Peter, who had just taken another big gulp of his beer, nearly choked on the liquid but he managed to swallow it, with a lot of difficulty. His oesophagus was damn sore. Apparently, choking on liquid was a lot sorer than choking on solid like food.

He touched his throat and said, "What? You mean your girlfriend has to fit your grandmother's criteria?" Then he started laughing.

"Stop that and start helping me figure out a way to solve this ludicrous problem," Jay snapped and punched Peter on the arm.

"Ouch!" Peter responded, still chuckling away enthusiastically. When he saw hard glare from Jay, however, he managed to kill his amusement.

"Okay," he said calmly. "You really need a new girlfriend. A fake one. I think I just might know where you can find one."

"She better not be a professional," Jay warned.

"Nope, not a professional at all. In fact, she's the total opposite."

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