Read Online Bachelor Unleashed by Brenda Jackson - Free Book Online

basically slept like a baby. But that hadn’t kept visions of a hot and ready Farrah out of his mind. At least that’s how she used to be. This overly cautious Farrah would take some getting used to.
    His cell phone rang and he leaned forward to pull it off his belt. “Yes?”
    “When are you returning to Charlotte, X?”
    He smiled at the sound of Uriel Lassiter’s voice. Since he and his five godbrothers had been kids, they’d shortened each other’s names to just the first letter. “Why you want to know? You miss me, U?”
    “No. It’s Ellie.”
    Xavier chuckled. “Your wife misses me?”
    “No, and stop being a smart ass. Ellie’s having a New Year’s Eve party and wants to make sure you’re coming, especially since no one knows your schedule for the holidays.”
    He leaned back in his chair. “I still haven’t decided where I’ll be for Christmas but I’m game for New Year’s. And as far as when I’ll be returning to Charlotte, it will depend on how soon we can close the deal here. I hope to be back in Charlotte in a week.”
    “And then you’re taking the rest of the month off, right?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Good. Z is coming home.”
    Xavier sat up straight in his chair, surprised. “He is?”
    “Yes. I talked to him last night.” Uriel chuckled. “He couldn’t tell Ellie no, so he’ll be here for Christmas and New Year’s.”
    Xavier nodded. Of his five godbrothers, Zion was the youngest, at twenty-eight, and the most well-known because of the jewelry he designed. And he was the one who at the moment was going through some major issues. Before she died four years ago, his mother had revealed to him that she wasn’t sure that the man Zion thought was his father really was since she’d taken a lover during the earlier part of her marriage.
    It was Zion’s secret, one he’d only shared with his godbrothers. Xavier figured it would be an easy enough thing to prove or disprove, but Zion didn’t want to risk his father ever finding out that the woman he’d loved so much had once been unfaithful to him. So instead of hanging around and letting something slip, Zion had escaped to Rome and built a home and an empire there. Xavier couldn’t help wondering if Z had finally figured you can’t run away from your problems and was now thinking about moving back to the States.
    Moments later, Xavier was hanging up the phone and pulling a file off the huge stack of papers on his desk. His thoughts, however, shifted to Farrah, and he couldn’t help but remember what she’d said about not wanting to get hurt again. He knew how she felt. Wasn’t that the same reason he’d avoided serious involvement with women?
    What he needed to do was prove they could enjoy themselves without getting all that serious. They had done so for close to a year, so there was no reason they couldn’t continue. After such a long separation, he was certain if they rekindled their affair, they would be mindful of the mistakes they had begun making the last time by getting too attached.
    The thought of them falling in love was scary stuff. He knew that better than anyone. But he was just as certain it wouldn’t happen. There wasn’t a woman alive he would give his heart to. He had no intention of getting great sex confused with any emotions of the heart. Things didn’t work that way for him, and he was sure things wouldn’t work that way for her either.
    Her ex had damaged her emotionally on the institution of marriage, so what was the problem? Why couldn’t two people who only wanted to enjoy off-the-chain sex do so without worrying about their hearts getting in the way?
    It would be up to him to convince her that they could resume their no-strings-attached affair with no entanglements, and he intended to do just that.

    “Mrs. Byers and Ms. Shaw, we’re here to bring about an acceptable resolution to the case pending before Judge Lewis Braille. Hopefully, we’ll reach an agreeable resolution so that we can