The Au Pairs (The Au Pairs 1)

She hugged her legs around his waist tighter and whispered, "Let's go find somewhere we can be alone."

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jacqui has always been smarter than you'd think

Now, this was a party! Jacqui thought, walking into the Perry mansion, momentarily forgetting that she was employed there.

She'd been drinking all afternoon. She felt fantastic--except for the wooziness and the dizziness and the slight double vision, that is. But who cared? She snuggled up to Leo. Leo, nice, faithful Leo, who made her forget, well, almost everything.

So what if they had zero chemistry? Not to mention that his parents' three-bedroom shack in Bridgehampton was nothing compared to Luke's corner wing on the Van Varick estate. And so what if he was slightly cross-eyed and had an irritating laugh? None of it mattered. He was Luke's best friend. And as every girl knows, there's nothing a guy hates more than sharing.

Jealousy was a terrible thing, and Jacqui knew exactly what she was doing. She wanted Luke to feel as bad as she did when she found out about his girlfriend. She wanted him to squirm. She wanted him to suffer. Maybe she wouldn't be able to break his

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heart--but she could damn well try to shatter his ego. It was time for her to go public with her latest conquest.

"Where's the bar?" Leo asked, yelling in her ear.

"Over there!" she screamed, pointing to where Ryan was mixing frozen daiquiris in a blender.

They picked their way past a group playing Twister and several clumps of people dancing on the sofa (Anna would die if she knew what they were doing to her Louis Quinze) and were stopped in their tracks by Poppy Perry, in a shredded Van Halen T-shirt and micro denim hot pants.

"I don't remember inviting you," she sneered, giving Leo a death's-head stare.

"What's up with the bruha?" Jacqui asked.

Leo looked sheepish. "She's my ex-girlfriend."

Poppy's eyes followed them as they moved across the room, where another angry face met them.

"What's the deal?" Luke said, coming up in Leo's face close enough to spitting vicinity. "Are you here with her?" he demanded, giving his pal a hard shove.

"I'm here with him," Jacqui said, pushing at Luke's chest with a pointy fingernail. "Do you have a problema with that?"

"What's going on, honey?" Karin asked, appearing by Luke's

side. "Oh, hi, Leo. And Jacqui, right?" she said pleasantly. "Nothing--everything's fine. Get me another beer," Luke spat. Karin walked away meekly as the three of

them glowered at each other.

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eliza teaches jeremy the o.c. d rinking game

In the Perrys' private screening room the digital projection screen blazed a sixteen-foot-tall upset-looking Mischa Barton explaining to Benjamin Mackenzie why she couldn't see him anymore. "They're breaking up! You need to take a drink!" Eliza cheered.

Eliza had found the only room in the house that wasn't already locked and in use by an amorous couple, or occupied by a group of kids passing a roach around. Not everyone knew about the basement screening room.

On-screen, Ben apologized for being from "a different

county."

"Chug?" Jeremy asked, holding his shot glass.

"No! Only when he actually says 'Chino," Eliza said, explaining the rules of the game.

"Oh. Sorry. I don't watch this show."