The Bachelor by David Dower (read along books TXT) 📖

like Vegas?” he asked.

Fatima frowned. “You will have to spend the night there if you will.”

“Good.”

“But you will need to bring more crew. Vegas is a big place and I think Jack—”

“He won’t come, will he?”

“I don’t know,” Fatima shrugged. “He’s got a lot of editing to do with—”

“Good! Then I’m taking the girls to Vegas. Cancel that island trip,” he ordered and continued walking. If he has a lot of editing to do, what the hell is he doing talking with Jules?

As he suspected, Jack was still there when he appeared. But the moment Julianne and Jack spotted him, the director stood up, murmuring something to Julianne that caused her to smile in a different way, and started walking towards him.

Zach tried to hide the scowl on his face. “Hey, I want to take the girls to Vegas,” he said to the man.

Surprise registered to Jack Carter’s face. “Vegas? I don’t think that will fit our budget…”

“It’s all on me,” Zach intercepted. “I want to get out this island for a while,” he added, his gaze travelling behind Jack’s shoulder where Julianne was still sitting, looking at them anxiously. Why is she looking nervous? “We’ll leave immediately,” he turned to Fatima and said, “Tell them to ready the boat and fuel the plane.”

Fatima nodded and rushed back to camp where all the staff stayed during working hours.

“I’ll go break the news,” he grinned forcefully at Jack Carter, who now he considered a contender.

Jack just nodded and he took off without a word.

“Hey, Jules!” he said loudly so Carter would hear. “Excited for our date?”

 *****

Julianne’s eyes squinted. “Date?”

Zach nodded eagerly. “Vegas, baby. We’re going to Vegas.”

“Vegas?” She hadn’t been to Vegas and never planned to.

Zach winked at her with a smile, leaned down to grab her hand. “Come on, you better pack.”

“Pack?” she asked stupidly.

“We’re going to stay there for a night,” he explained. “So go pack,” he pulled until she was on her feet.

Julianne looked at him, “Who else are coming?”

“Hanna and Tanya,” he offered. “Now, go,” he pushed her gently towards the door, his face excited.

Julianne just shook her head. This was another thing they didn’t have in common. He liked to party, she didn’t. But why was she even thinking what they had in common? She was leaving him in no time, right?

 *****

Zach did not spare a lot of time and rushed the ladies from their cabin and into the boat, which took them to the plane that was ready to fly, and thirty minutes later they were on the air going to Las Vegas.

He was smiling contentedly to himself as he watched the island from his window. Finally, he had Julianne all to himself again. Almost. Hanna and Tanya wouldn’t leave him alone for even a second. They always had something to say like the different kinds of clouds, the weather, his hair, the show…everything.

He would be grateful if Julianne would join their conversation, but as always, she was seated far away from him, facing her laptop. Zach had been fighting the urge to grab the thing and toss it out the plane. It seemed more interesting than him? But he respected her passion for her work, so he wouldn’t dream of even touching it.

He knew he wouldn’t get the chance to talk to Julianne with Hanna and Tanya present without them noticing something for he very well knew that he would not act as normally as he would if he was with Julianne, and from what Chloe told him, the girls were already thinking he was especially fond of Julianne. He didn’t want to confirm their suspicions because he knew how they would make Julianne’s life miserable if that would happen. If only it were Pauline present, he would not have such a big problem.

That was why he left her alone. He would just have to think of a way how to get her for himself later tonight.

They arrived at McCarran International Airport by one in the afternoon and it took less than twenty minutes for the limo of Aria to take them to the hotel. Reservations were not a problem since hotels would always jump at any chance to greet with so much hospitality a group of people with money and television cameras. The limo drove through a private driveway of the 61-storey building. The moment they stepped out, they were escorted through a separate lobby for their private check-in and after that, another trip by a private elevator took them to their two-storey villa composed of three bedrooms.

Jack Carter ordered three camera guys to go with them, making Zach feel crowded than ever. But they would leave to go to their own rooms when the time came, so there would be no problem for later.

As the girls took in the view offered by the panoramic windows of their Sky Villa, he prepared drinks, watching Julianne’s face as she gazed outside from the corner of his eyes.

“Go pick your bedrooms,” he said as he handed them their drinks. The camera men were all over the place, doing their job, but he didn’t care. He was more eager to party tonight and finally get the chance to be alone with Julianne.

As soon as he said that, the two women, Hanna and Tanya, jumped on their feet and climbed up the stairs to pick a bedroom. Zach grinned, knowing they would share one room and Julianne would have the other for herself. He on the other hand, would have to sleep in the third one.

“What about you, Jules?” he asked, his eyes twinkling with merriment.

 *****

“What about me?” Julianne asked. Deep inside, she was amazed. She never expected they would actually stay at one of the best five-star hotels in Las Vegas and that he managed to get one of the Sky Villas.

“I suppose you’ll take the other bedroom?” he asked.

“They will never share a room with me,” she scoffed in answer. She took her bag and started for the stairs. He stopped her by taking it from her hand.

“I’ll help you with these,” he said, taking the other.

“I’m not going out with you guys later,” she stated as they climbed up the stairs.

“Why not?”

“Because I’ll be sick,” she answered.

“Jules, come on, don’t do this. I actually did this for you, you know,” he whispered under his breath.

“You did it what?”

“For you,” he repeated. “So you better come or I’ll come get you and you won’t like it when I force you,” he warned playfully.

“Whatever,” she sighed. She knew it wouldn’t have worked anyway.

 *****

Zach stayed in his room, pacing around thinking of a plan for tonight. Hanna and Tanya would make things difficult unlike the last time with Pauline.

Then, out of nowhere, that tiny bell inside his head clanged. He immediately grabbed the phone and dialed a number.

“Liam, it’s me, Zach, you have to come to Vegas now.” Chapter 13

“You act different around her,” Liam told him later that night. His friend flew immediately to Las Vegas, obviously excited to see how he was holding up, and to meet the girls.

“What are you talking about?” he said it with a snort. Of course he knew what—or rather who—he was talking about.

“You know what I’m talking about. And you know who I’m talking about,” his friend whispered to him before sipping his brandy. “You can’t take your eyes off her.”

“I don’t really know what you are referring to,” he insisted, leaning back against the couch.

“Do you want me to say her name out loud?” Liam taunted, his brown eyes twinkling with obvious amusement.

“It’s nothing,” he uttered with a sigh after a few seconds. Julianne was sitting across from them, looking at nothing in particular. Hanna and Tanya were enjoying themselves at some games at the other table right behind her. They were at The Deuce Lounge and there were quite a number of people around. But it seemed that Julianne was the only one who seemed to be out of place. She was dressed up, yes, much to his insistence earlier, but her face was as blank as the players playing poker around them.

“You obviously like her,” Liam chuckled. “But she doesn’t like you, does she?”

“Of course she does. Why else would she be here if she doesn’t?” he asked incredulously. He would never admit to anyone that Julianne was desperate to get out of the show.

“She’s not into you, I can see that,” Liam said, further aggravating his frustrations.

No, Julianne liked him, he denied. She was not just in the position she wanted. But he was willing to change her mind.

And then what? You can’t have her in the end anyway, the silent fun-killer part of his mind cried out.

“So, Julianne, what are you into?” he heard Liam ask aloud.

Julianne snapped her head towards his friend. “I’m a writer,” she answered, her voice emotionless.

“What do you write?”

She shrugged, “Stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“She writes—” he started, but then he remembered Julianne’s choice of privacy and stopped. “She writes almost anything, right Jules?”

Liam turned his head towards him, frowned with amusement and chuckled. “Jules?”

“I call her that,” he said defensively. He looked at Julianne and stood up. “Okay, I know you’re tired. You’re tired right?”

Shocked, Julianne looked up at him and slowly nodded.

“Okay, I’ll take you back upstairs,” he said hurriedly. He looked back at his friend who was looking too appalled and too amused to even speak. “Hey, man, why don’t you take the girls to some poker while I take Julianne upstairs? I’ll be right back in no time,” he instructed.

Slowly, like Julianne, Liam nodded his brown head and said, “You sure you’re coming back?”

“Zach, I can go back on my own,” Julianne spoke up.

“Yes, Jules can do that,” Liam nodded his head vigorously with a wicked glint in his eyes.

Zach was getting annoyed at his friend. He was not making this easier. “No, she’s as frail as a bug and she might get lost. Her eyesight is poor.”

“What?” Julianne asked, startled and confused by his stupid remark.

“I can see she can see you’re acting like a child now so I guess her eyesight is—” Liam broke his sentence and held up his hands when Zach sharply turned to him with a murderous look. “Okay, it’s probably the best idea that you take her upstairs. Take all the time that you need.”

“Good,” Zach nodded and turned to Julianne. “Let’s go, Jules, you’re ruining the mood by your sour look. I know you prefer to be alone with your computer,” he took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

“Zach, I can go back on my own—”

“I take you back upstairs or you stay here. You choose,” he said it like he was talking to a toddler.

“Fine,” she huffed and looked at Liam, “Goodbye, it was nice to meet you.”

Liam gave a salute and said, “Anytime, Jules,” and Zach could have punched the man with the taunting look he threw at him as he called her by the name he preferred using.

 *****

As they rode the elevator alone to their room, Zach suddenly felt restless. He had two dilemmas at the moment.

 One, he knew Liam was sensing something was going on with him and he realized it was a mistake to have invited him. He acted on his impulses and the need to be desperately alone with