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    Skyclad: Girls on Film celebrity novella
    Skyclad: Girls on Film celebrity novella
    Skyclad: Girls on Film celebrity novella
    Ebook118 pages1 hour

    Skyclad: Girls on Film celebrity novella

    By Josie Baker

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    About this ebook

    Hiding out in a seaside town where no-one knows her past, Alexandra Roye reconnects with her youthful dreams of becoming an artist, making jewelry for a market stall. Alex is a naturist, at her most creative when she's naked – which is fine, except her muse is urging her to create large-scale outdoor sculptures.

    The other problem? Jamie – her best friend's brother and Alex's first love – has just resurfaced in her life and is asking painful questions.

    Alex has a lot to hide – her involvement in her friend's death, and 'that' scandal – the one that caused a media shit storm and threatened her family's social standing.

    Living anonymously on the other side of the country after leaving her job and her parents behind, Alex has found everything but forgiveness.

    Will Alex bare all to heal her soul and find happiness?

     

    A best-friends-brother, second-chance standalone romance

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJosie Baker
    Release dateNov 28, 2020
    ISBN9780995365377
    Skyclad: Girls on Film celebrity novella
    Author

    Josie Baker

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      Book preview

      Skyclad - Josie Baker

      ONE

      Perth, Western Australia

      Last summer…

      Beneath the unforgiving glare of the studio lights, Alexandra Roye struggled through the final story of the show, her heart hammering madly in her chest.

      …and its good night from me, she said with a practiced smile at the camera, trying not to think of the faceless sea of humanity watching her. Not since her first months working as weather girl for Perth’s most popular news network, had she felt so… exposed.

      Naked.

      Experience and repetition had thickened her skin, but now, after nearly nine years in front of the camera, she was more than exposed. Most of those people watching – her viewers – had actually seen her unclothed.

      What was she doing here? Coming back to work had been a terrible idea. Despite her conservative blouse and tidy chignon, she knew she was being judged by the audience as the worst type of woman.

      Homewrecker.

      The anchor wrapped up as the theme music swelled. Finally, the Monday edition of the Daily Wrap was done. In a hurry to escape, she stood and strode away from her desk, her pencil skirt and high buttoned shirt clutching her like a straitjacket.

      She avoided looking at the camera guys she’d known for years, even though she knew they would be studiously avoiding looking her in the eye. Making for the main passage and access to the stairs, she cursed the five-inch heels that made her gait unnatural, the climb to her workplace sanctuary too slow.

      It felt like an age before she pushed through the heavy door beyond the fourth floor and burst out onto the roof, where the vastness of the evening sky seemed to lighten the weight of scandal. She sucked in cool fresh air and strode to the edge of the roof, feeling a little less suffocated.

      Her gaze slid down the windowless outer wall of the studio, where she spent too much of her life and energy, then skimmed the sprawling bitumen carpark and kaleidoscope of cars, picking out her mother’s red Mercedes and her father’s black Jag.

      Of course, they were still working. The studio was more of a home to them than their Dalkeith mansion.

      In an effort to dispel the weight of their disappointment, Alexandra rolled her shoulders and lifted her gaze to sweep the horizon. The sun was setting in a flare of orange and lilac over the ocean, but her attention was greedy for the distant tapestry of darkening green bushland. It was bittersweet torture to be trapped in the prison of her choices when what she really needed was almost within reach. If only she had the courage to grasp for it.

      She yearned to be out there, to draw comfort from the leaf-littered soil, or to walk barefoot on the sand, feel the connection to the pulse of life. She needed the sense of belonging that was such a fleeting but necessary part of her soul, dreaded being swallowed up again by the dead block of concrete that broadcast her failures to the community.

      Her gaze narrowed on trees blurred by tears and shadowed by approaching night.

      I can’t do this anymore.

      This was no life. It had to end.

      TWO

      Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

      Three months later, Saturday 11am…

      The comforting whoosh of waves caressing the sand, the laughter of children and chattering of their parents dropped away the moment Alex Roye glimpsed the apparition from her past.

      Her heart seemed to freeze in her chest, her gaze locked on the man who’d just wandered up to the market stall next to hers.

      What was He doing here, so far from Perth?

      Oblivious to her panic, his gaze scanned the tea paraphernalia on the next table, task focused. A man on a mission.

      Would he stop at her stall? Would he recognise her? Alex’s grip tightened on the mobile ATM machine in her hand.

      Are you okay? Corinne asked in a low voice, breaking her trance.

      Alex sucked in a breath and forced a smile for her friend, who had called in to say hello an hour earlier and, on finding her frantically trying to serve customers and re-stock her table, stayed to help.

      Remembering that she was in the middle of a transaction, Alex glanced down to tear off the receipt and hand it with the last hand-decorated paper bag to the girl who had just purchased a pair of amber earrings.

      Would you be a love and grab some more gift bags from under the table? she asked Corinne, who obliged with a smile. And then her world stopped as Jamie Ainsworth stepped up to her stall and looked straight at her, stopping the earth in its rotation.

      Blue eyes widened with recognition. Alexandra?

      In the unguarded face of the now-grown man towering over her, Alex glimpsed a flicker of the happy, easy-going teenager she’d once known. An echo of the attraction they’d shared twelve years ago reverberated through her body.

      Then he blinked, his face emptying of expression.

      Jamie, she choked out, cold prickles of regret tingling across her face. Remembering the coping mechanisms Dr Ingle had taught her, Alex breathed deep, absorbing calm from the salt-scented air.

      James? Corinne said with surprise as she popped up with a handful of recycled paper bags and noticed their newest customer. You know Alex?

      Knew, he countered in a low, flat voice. Nice to see you Corinne.

      It was so long ago now, but what did she expect, when she’d broken off contact with his family so suddenly, at the worst possible time?

      Yes, it’s been a long time, Alex agreed and dug her toes into the grass beneath her bare feet, taking comfort from her connection with the warm earth to lessen the sickening memory of the twisted car wreck in which her best friend had died.

      Oh, I see. Corinne glanced at Alex, who frowned and narrowed her eyes in response. Um, I can look after the stall for a while if you two want to catch-up.

      No need. Jamie said and turned as if to walk away.

      Are you looking for something in particular? A gift for May? Alex said quickly to stop him. She had the feeling he would do everything in his power to make sure their paths never crossed again if she let him walk out of her life now. She didn’t know what she was hoping for, but now that she’d seen him again, she yearned for something…

      Yes. A gift for Mum for her birthday. Jamie addressed the table and shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

      Friday would be the first of May. May day. Funny how she still remembered it every year. Most likely because May and Cameron Ainsworth had been more like family than her own self-absorbed TV celebrity parents.

      She’d lost more than her best friend the day Bec had died.

      Alex picked up a pendant, the copper and blue abalone shell crafted into an abstract butterfly design. This would be lovely with her blue eyes and dark hair.

      Her hair is mostly grey now. Jamie’s full, wide lips thinned, and the crease between his eyebrows deepened. He pulled his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans. But she would love it.

      And these are a gift from me. Alex slipped the matching pair of earrings into a bag while Corinne processed the payment for the pendant. You don’t have to tell her that, she drew a shaky breath, that they’re from me, I mean. Alex knew a pair of earrings, no matter how much love and passion went into creating them, could never make up for being out of touch all this time.

      She held out the bag to him, willing her hand not to shake as she waited for him to take it, and tried not to let him see how overwhelmed she felt. The teenage boy she’d known and cared for had matured into an impressively built and handsome man. A stranger who looked at her as if they’d not shared every weekend for a year on a labour of love with his father and sister. Those days spent fixing up Bec’s first car, when she’d felt like part of a real family, had been some of the best times of her life.

      Thanks. Jamie was careful to avoid contact when he took the bag. Good-bye, he said with finality. With a slight softening of his expression, he nodded at Corinne. See you at work.

      Then he was gone.

      Alex yearned to follow him with more than her eyes as he melted into the crowd, but she remained rooted to the earth. She watched his progress instead, the sun bright on his dark blond hair, until he turned between two stalls and out of her line of sight.

      Alex sighed, deflated. Before Jamie arrived, she’d been buoyant with the record sales she’d made, having already sold most of her back-up stock. Now he’d gone,

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