Read Online Dream Date With the Millionaire by Melissa McClone - Free Book Online Page A

recycling bin and sat on the couch. “I’ll talk to her.”
    “Thanks.” Gratitude filled her voice. “I knew I could count on you.”
    “That’s what big brothers are for.”
    “Are you okay?” Caitlin asked. “You sound…I don’t know…different.”
    He glanced at his laptop, sitting on the coffee table. “I’m waiting for something.”
    “You’ve never been good at waiting. Remember on Christmas Eve when you woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to open presents?”
    “I was ten.”
    “And now you’re thirty-two. Not too much has changed.”
    “Thanks, sis.”
    “Anytime,” Caitlin said. “So what are you waiting for at this hour?”
    “An e-mail.”
    “I was hoping it was a woman,” she admitted.
    He wasn’t about to go there. “Sorry.”
    “Don’t forget, you need to find a date to the engagement party or you’ll be fighting off all the single women there. And a few of the married ones, too.”
    “I can handle them—” he thought about Dani “—though I may have a lead on a possible date.”
    “Who?”
    “A woman.”
    “Give me a name. Something.” Caitlin sighed, but he would guess she was smiling now. “Come on, Bryce. You saying ‘date’ without making it sound like a four-letter word is huge.”
    “There isn’t anything to tell right now.” Inviting Dani to the party probably wasn’t a good idea given the circumstances. “But if the situation changes I’ll let you know.”
    “Promise?” Caitlin sounded more like a little girl than a bride-to-be.
    Bryce knew his sister would call their mother about his potential “date.” Maybe that would take some pressure off Caitlin and whether their father and his girlfriend could attend the party. “I promise I’ll let you know if I ask someone, but don’t get your hopes up.”
    “Are you kidding? Hope is already overflowing.”
    “It’s not that big a deal.”
    “Oh, yes, it is,” Caitlin countered. “The fact you’re actually considering getting away from your computer long enough to meet and go out with a woman is almost miraculous.”
    Bryce frowned. “You make me sound like a total geek.”
    “If the pocket protector fits…”
    His computer dinged. He glanced at his in-box and saw an e-mail from Dani. Finally. “I gotta go.”
    “That e-mail you’re waiting for is from her, isn’t it?”
    He clicked on the message. “Goodnight, sis.”
    “It is.” Caitlin laughed. “Goodnight, big brother. Keep me posted on what’s going on. And don’t forget. You promised.”
    The line disconnected. Bryce turned off the phone. The e-mail appeared on his screen. He pulled his computer onto his lap and read.
     
    To: “Bigbrother”
    From: “Sanfrandani”
    Subject: Made it
    I’m in my apartment though there were moments I doubted whether I’d make it back or not. A group of mimes boarded at Divisadero and decided I needed to be entertained. Not a smart decision on their part. I would rather face a psychopath wielding an axe than a clown.
    -d
     
    To: “Sanfrandani”
    From: “Bigbrother”
    Subject: RE: Made it
    Glad to hear you survived the trip in spite of the mischievous mimes. Sorry I wasn’t there to see it.
    Note to self: leave face paint at home on Friday night.
     
    To: “Bigbrother”
    From: “Sanfrandani”
    Subject: RE: RE: Made it
    You didn’t miss much except for seeing a grown mime cry. Good call on the face paint or you’d be spending the evening alone and in tears.
     
    To: “Sanfrandani”
    From: “Bigbrother”
    Subject: RE: RE: RE: Made it
    Wouldn’t want that.
    Meet me under the rotunda of the Palace of Fine Arts at six-thirty on Friday. I’ll bring dinner and we can have a picnic.
     
    To: “Bigbrother”