Emma cuddled Arthur in her arms while Tumbles wound around Emma’s ankles.
“Of course not. It’s on my way to and from work, and I’m off Saturday, so Michael and I can stop in and hang out with your babies.”
“You’re a saint, Emma. I’m always available for babysitting Michael, you know.”
Emma grinned. “I’ll take you up on that offer, too.”
“Any time.”
After Emma left, Josie changed into black yoga pants and a long sweater, then surveyed the contents of her suitcase to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything before she closed it and set it by the front door. She picked up Arthur and gave him several soft cuddles and kisses before placing him in his crated area, and then picked up her cat.
“I’ll only be gone for a few days,” she said to Tumbles. “And Dr. Emma is going to come by every day to check on you. In the meantime, you have plenty of food and water and your toys. You be a good boy.”
The doorbell rang, so she carried Tumbles with her to the door and opened it. Zach smiled at her.
“Hey, gorgeous.” He nodded at Tumbles. “Beelzebub.”
Josie shook her head and held the door open for him, then realized she’d forgotten her toothbrush.
“Oh, I forgot something.” She placed Tumbles in Zach’s arms, ignoring his wide-eyed look, and dashed into the bathroom to grab her toothbrush. She noticed her toothpaste wasn’t sitting on the counter, so she’d clearly packed that.
“Idiot,” she mumbled, then grabbed her toothbrush case from the drawer and slid the brush inside of it. When she came out of the bedroom, Zach was still standing near the front door, having some kind of quiet conversation with Tumbles.
“What are you two talking about?” she asked as she tucked the toothbrush into the front pocket of her suitcase.
“I was bribing him. I told him if he didn’t shred my favorite shirt, he’d get a treat.”
Josie reached over and scratched Tumbles behind the ears. “Since he’s purring against your chest, I think you’ve struck a deal. Come on into the kitchen.”
Zach followed her with the cat still in his arms while Josie reached into the pantry for the treat package. She handed the package to Zach. “There you go.”
Zach put Tumbles on the floor. “Well done, Satan.” He handed him a treat. The cat nibbled it from his fingers, then walked off.
He handed the treats back to Josie, who tucked the package back inside the pantry. She took one last look around, making sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. She’d already let Emma know where the food and treats were for both Tumbles and Arthur, and she’d written everything down and left a note on the counter as well. Plus, Emma was the animals’ doc, so Josie knew they would be well cared for. She didn’t have anything to worry about. And they’d only be gone a couple of days.
“Okay,” she said, looking at Zach. “I’m ready.”
Zach looked down at the cat who was currently batting at his shoelace. “What about the Prince of Darkness and Arthur?”
“Emma’s going to pop in to care for and play with them.”
“Oh. Okay. So you’re not boarding them?”
She shook her head. “Tumbles has been through enough trauma in his life, and Arthur is just learning his way around here. A change in environment would be tough on both of them. Even without me here, they’re happier staying home.”
“Hey, you’re the boss. You know what’s best for them.”
She appreciated that he didn’t question her decisions about her babies. “Thanks.”
“So we’re ready, then?”
“Ready. Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
He slanted a sly smile her way. “Not yet. You look beautiful, by the way.”
She had never been impressed by men saying sweet things to her. So what was it about Zach’s words that made her all warm inside? “Thank you. You look hot.”
Which he did, in dark jeans and a cream-colored henley. Then again, did it really matter what the man wore? He wore hot like a brand.
He wrapped an arm around her and tugged her against him long enough to brush his lips against hers. The kiss was brief. A tease, a promise of what was to come. She was so looking forward to spending some extended alone time with him.
She laid her hand against his chest, feeling the fast beat of his heart before he took a step back and said, “We’d better go.”
Too bad, because she could have lingered a little longer against his warm body. She grabbed her sweater, and he took her bag outside, so she shut the door behind her and locked it.
It felt weird leaving her house for three days, especially leaving her babies behind. Which reminded her …
“Who’s watching Wilson?” she asked after they got into Zach’s SUV.
“I’m boarding him at Emma’s clinic. They all love him there, and he gets tons of attention.”
“That’s good. You won’t have to worry about him there.”
“That’s what I thought, too.”
When they ended up at the airport, her heart skipped a beat. She looked over at him. “We’re flying?”
“We are.”
But instead of parking in the general parking lot or park and ride, he drove just offsite and pulled up to a gate. He gave his name to the security guard, who motioned him through.
The name of a private aviation company was emblazoned on the building. Josie was filled with questions. Rather than bombarding Zach with them, she decided to wait and see what was going on.
He parked inside a huge building where several aircraft were located. He got out and came over to open her door.
“I have so many questions I want to ask,” she said.
“I know you do. Come on.”
Some guy had come over to grab their bags.
“Hey, Mr. Powers, how’s it going?”
“Pretty good, Mack. How about you?”
“Doing good. Flight has checked out, so we should take off on time.”
“Thanks, Mack.”
Zach took her hand and led her outside to a small jet. They walked up the stairs and inside. There were four ample, comfortable seats.
“Pick a spot,” he said.
She took a seat in the back, and Zach grabbed the other seat across the aisle from her.
The guy who had grabbed their bags climbed into the plane.
“Josie, this is Mack. Mack, this is my friend, Josie Barnes.”
Mack tipped the bill of his baseball cap at her. “Ms. Barnes. Pleased to meet you.”
“You, too, Mack.”
“We’ll be taking off shortly, Zach,” Mack said. “We’re all stocked up, the skies are clear, and we should have a smooth ride all the way to Las Vegas.”
Zach smiled. “Great. Thanks, Mack.”
After Mack disappeared into the cockpit, Josie turned to face Zach. “We’re going to Las Vegas?”
“Yeah. I thought it would be fun to spend a couple of days there and get away from everything for a while.”
She was so excited. “I love this idea. Thank you. I’ve never been to Vegas.”
“Oh, yeah? Then we’re going to have lots of fun.”
“So you know the pilot?”
Zach nodded. “I’ve chartered flights with Mack’s company several times. He has good planes and great staff, and he’s always reliable.”
“Huh. This is … I’ve only been on a couple of flights before. This must be incredibly expensive, Zach.”
“Not as expensive as you might think. And this is the same thing, just smaller planes and no lines.”
“I just don’t want you to think you have to spend a lot of money on me.”
He looked at her, then cupped her face and brushed his lips across hers. “You’re unlike any woman I’ve ever known.”
“I’m going to assume you mean that as a compliment.”
He smiled. “I do.”
“Still, don’t spend a lot of money.”
“Okay, Ms. Thrifty. But don’t worry about it.
Despite me cutting ties with my family, I wasn’t one of those guys who partied it up on my pro football salary. I was paid well for five years before my injury, and I managed to save almost all of it. Plus, my grandmother Powers left me a sizable sum.”
She swiveled around in her seat. “Uh-huh. So you’re some kind of multimillionaire disguised as a high school teacher?”
“Something like that.”
She’d been joking. Apparently, he wasn’t. She blinked, not sure what to make of that. She’d had no idea Zach had money.
“Uh, okay. But just so you know, money means nothing to me. I grew up without it, and all I need is a roof over my head and food on my table. And an occasional nice bottle of wine.”
The smile he graced her with was enigmatic. Sexy, yet showed he was deep in thought about something.
“Good to know,” he said.
They buckled up, and shortly thereafter, the plane taxied down the runway. It wasn’t long before they were in the sky on their way to Las Vegas. Josie tried to tamp down her excitement as she looked out the window at the clouds below them, but she couldn’t help herself. She could actually feel her heart beating faster. Part of her wanted to unclip her seat belt and climb onto Zach’s lap and express the utter thrill that zinged through her body. But that felt too childish, so she resisted the urge.
“You’ve never been to Las Vegas?” Zach asked.
She pulled her attention from the puffy clouds and onto Zach. “I’ve never been anywhere.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve never traveled much. After I left Oklahoma to go to college, I stayed put in Georgia. After college, I got a job teaching there. Other than the occasional road trip to visit some historical sites, I haven’t gone anywhere. And then I moved back to Oklahoma to take the teaching job in Hope. That’s pretty much the extent of my glorious travel experiences.”
They’d leveled off, and the seat belt light went off. Zach got up and went to the front of the plane. “You want something to drink?”
“Sure. Water is good for me.”
He grabbed bottled water for both of them from a small fridge, then came back and sat, handing the bottle to her before buckling his seat belt.
“So the lack of travel. Was it fear, lack of interest, or lack of opportunity?”
She’d never thought about it. “To be honest, I don’t know. For a while, it was a definite lack of funds. In college, it was all I could do just to make ends meet. After that, I was focused on establishing myself in my job and in getting settled in Atlanta. Dylan—my boyfriend in Atlanta—he was a homebody. All he ever wanted to do was work out and hang out at home.”
“Sounds boring.”
She’d never thought so before, but she supposed it was his way of keeping her to himself. She’d found it romantic at the time. Until she’d found out about his other girlfriend.
“I guess it was. But when it’s all you know, you don’t realize what you might be missing.”
He leaned over and laid his hand on her arm. “I’m going to show you a really good time, Josie.”
“You do realize I don’t need the glitz of Las Vegas to have a good time with you.”
He crooked a smile. “That means a lot. But as long as we’re headed that way, we might as well enjoy it, right?”
She’d been honest with him about Vegas. She didn’t need anything fancy. She just wanted to be with him. But as long as they were going, she intended to soak in every second. “I’m looking forward to having some fun.”
The flight took only a few hours. Apparently, the magic tiny fridge also held some fancy finger sandwiches and small bottles of wine, too, so they’d had snacks along the way. Josie and Zach talked almost the entire way. She shared stories of her time in Atlanta, and he told her about his childhood.
“You have an older brother?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. He lives in DC with his wife and son.”
“Wow. So you’re an uncle.”
“Yup. It’s a great job.”
“And this is maybe why your parents felt it was your job to carry on the family biz, huh?”
“Yeah. Phillip, my brother, went into the tech field, so they assumed I’d be the one they could count on. They were utterly disappointed in my choice of football as a career. My uncle is also in the family business, and he has two sons, both of whom are in the Powers business.”
“Ah.” She’d finished off her sandwich plate, which had also come with a delicious chocolate chip cookie that she’d devoured. She took a sip of her wine. “Family competition must be brutal.”
“It is in my family.”
“How did they feel when your brother chose a different career?”
“They were okay with it. Of course, since he’s older, I think they figured I’d toe the line. I did major in business in college, so they just assumed the whole football thing was for fun, you know? That I’d play football in college, then just … get over it and come to work for the family after I graduated.”
“But you didn’t,” she said.
“No, I didn’t. I told my father I loved football, and that’s where my future was. He didn’t understand why I didn’t care about the family and the Powers business. But all I’d wanted to do from the time I was a kid was play football.”
“It must have been awesome for you to know from such a young age what you were destined to do.” She swirled the wine around in her glass. “As for me, I didn’t have a clue.”
He shrugged. “That’s not unusual. Most kids don’t.”
“I guess.”
“When did you know you wanted to be a teacher?”
“My freshman year of college, when I developed this insane crush on my romantic literature professor.”
Zach arched a brow. “Really.”
Josie laughed. “Yes. And yes, I know. It was terribly childish of me. Fortunately, the professor was utterly professional and totally ignored me. But my crush—and the class—helped me develop a focus for his teaching methods. I learned so much that year, not only about language arts, but the history behind literature. It was that year I realized how much I wanted to be a teacher myself, and continued to foster my love of literature.”
“Bet you also got an A in his class.”
She waggled her brows. “Hell yes, I did. On merit, of course.”
“Of course.”
Before she knew it, they were circling the incredible lights of the Las Vegas strip and getting ready to land. The plane taxied to a hangar, and they got out, where a car was waiting for them.
“Thanks, Mack,” Zach said. “See you on Sunday.”
“You bet.”
Josie turned and shook Mack’s hand. “It was a great flight. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Ms. Barnes.”
Mack handed their bags to the driver, who put them in the trunk of a sleek black Cadillac, then opened the back door for them. They climbed inside, and Josie sank against the soft leather seat and enjoyed the ride. The drive to their hotel wasn’t long, and when they got to the Venetian hotel, the sun was just going down and the strip was lit up. She got out of the car and stared in awe at the blinking lights on every hotel and casino.
Amazing.
Zach led her inside, and the décor was incredible. She’d felt like she’d just stepped into Renaissance Italy. The stonework and sculptures along with the frescoes on the ceiling took her breath away. And those were just in the registration area.
She looked at Zach. “Wow. They do it up big here, huh?”
He handed his credit card to the registration attendant. “Yeah, they do.”
She was definitely going to have to take some time to just … gawk. This was pretty incredible. She took out her phone to snap a few photos.
Zach grabbed the keys to their room and led her through past a few shops she wouldn’t mind stopping in, either. They had to walk past the casino on their way to the elevators. The constant ringing of the slot machines was like a si
ren’s call, incredibly compelling even though she wasn’t a gambler at all.
They rode the elevator and headed to their room. When Zach opened the door, Josie couldn’t hold back the gasp.
She entered through a foyer and an elegant dining area, then walked up a few steps into a luxury bedroom with a king-sized bed. The doorway led into a massive bathroom with marble floors, a jetted tub with a separate huge shower, and a double vanity.
“Wow.” This place was impressive.
She walked out of the bedroom and noticed the room extended down the stairs and into a spacious living room.
She looked over at Zach, who had tossed their keys on the dining room table. “This room is three times the size of my first apartment,” she said “It’s amazing.”
“I like a room with some space.”
She cocked her head. “This one has space, for sure.”
“I have dinner reservations for us at eight at Delmonico here at the hotel.”
She reached for her phone to check the time. That was in an hour. “Sounds perfect. I’ll unpack and change.”
She hung up her clothes, putting the rest in a drawer, then went into the oh-so-amazing bathroom to freshen up. Zach did the same, and it felt so weird to share the bathroom with her. But a good weird. She liked being there with him. It was intimate to share this space. It felt normal. Right.
When she’d been with Dylan, they’d rarely spent the night together. He said it was a weird quirk, that he preferred sleeping alone. She’d told him she understood at the time—everyone had their quirks, after all. As their relationship progressed, she’d asked him again and he got upset about it—like, really upset. He’d apologized to her and said it was just a thing. Since she knew all about having to handle someone with kid gloves, she’d let it go. But after he broke up with her and she found out about the other girlfriend, she figured he’d been leaving her bed to go to the other girlfriend’s.
She’d been so stupid.
And he’d been a douche.
She shook her head and forced her ex-boyfriend out of her thoughts. This weekend she’d have fun with a guy who wasn’t an asshole. One who actually wanted to spend the night with her.
She’d asked Zach about what to wear to dinner tonight and he told her whatever she wanted to, so she chose one of her vintage skirts, a gold one with a lace overlay. She coupled it with a black off-the-shoulder short-sleeved top that clung to her skin. She added a gold chain necklace, a black bracelet, and her black flats, along with her cute black-and-gold chandelier earrings.