Bachelor Number Five (The Bachelor Series, Volume 1) Read Online Free PDF

laundry.”
    “That’s ok, I got it.”
    They made their way back into the courtyard and started up the stairs with Amanda in the front.  She felt her way with her feet, unable to see the steps ahead of her.  When she was nearly to the top, Amanda heard a man’s voice shout “Look out!” but it was too late for her to react.  Instead she collided headlong into the person, her basket and pillow tumbling to the stairs.  Amanda was left clutching to her comforter as she watched her toiletries roll down one step after another.
    “I’m really sorry,” said the man.  “I should have been paying better attention.”
    Amanda looked up to find the owner of the voice standing right in front of her, holding his phone in one hand.  He was handsome.  Strikingly handsome, with deep blue eyes, boyish features and sandy brown hair carefully trimmed.  He wore a charcoal grey suit, white shirt, no tie.  When their eyes met, Amanda’s heart trembled just a little bit. 
    “Nice going, Pete!” said Lauren.
    “No, it was my fault,” said Amanda.  “I couldn’t see where I was going.”
    Pete put his phone in his pocket and moved past before reaching down to pick up the basket and then begin retrieving her items one at a time.  When he’d scrambled for the last of her toiletries, he came back up and rested the basket on top of her comforter.
    “You got it?” he asked.
    “Yeah, I think so.”
    “I really am sorry about that.”  He gave Amanda a quick look up and down, as if trying to calculate who she was and what she was doing there, though he didn’t bother to ask.  Instead he retrieved his phone from his pocket and then skipped on down the steps and away.
    “Who was that?” Amanda asked.
    “That was Peter.  He hates it when I call him Pete.  That’s why I call him Pete,” said Lauren.  “Or Petey.  He hate’s that even more.”
    “Does he live here?”
    “Unfortunately he’s apartment number eight, right next door.”
    “I take it you don’t like him much?”
    “Not so much.”
    Lauren picked up Amanda’s pillow and they continued on up and inside.  “So, what’s his problem?” Amanda pressed the issue.
    “He’s a party boy,” said Darren.  “Big time clubber.”
     “I just don’t like those skanks he brings home,” said Lauren.
    “What clubs does he go to?” Amanda asked.
    “I don’t know.  The clubs where the skanks hang out.”
    “Do you ever go to those places?”
    “Do I look like a skanky ho to you?”
    “No, I guess not,” said Amanda.
    “You guess not?”  Lauren seemed defensive.  “Not that I don’t like to have a good time, but no, I don’t go to those places.  I prefer live music, not dressing like a slut to shake my booty to a bunch of electro-pop.”
    “Ok, forget I asked,” said Amanda.  Apparently she’d struck a nerve.  They moved on into the apartment and dropped off their loads in Amanda’s room before heading back to the car for another round.  When all of her things were inside, Amanda began unpacking, putting some of her clothes in the dresser and hanging the rest on hangers in the closet.  She placed her most valued possession, her guitar, in one corner.  Her few boxes she stacked along the far wall before looking around the room to take stock.  This was home.  She would be comfortable here.  It was missing something, though.  Perhaps if there was something on the walls, maybe that would liven the place up a little.
    Amanda opened the desk drawers and looked through them one after another.  They were mostly empty but in one she found some office supplies; paper clips, staple remover and a small pair of scissors.  She took out the scissors and then rummaged through her boxes until she found her magazine.  Amanda flipped through it until she found the picture of Bachelor Number Five standing bare-chested on the beach.  She cut out the photo and then took a tack from her bulletin board, stuck it in the top of the photo and