Free Bachelor Unleashed by Brenda Jackson Page A

She picked up immediately. “Yes?”
    “I arrived a little early. If you’re not ready I can come up and wait.”
    “No need. I’m ready.”
    He was surprised. “You are?”
    “Yes,” she said, and he could swear he heard a smile in her voice. “For some reason I figured you might be early.”
    He lifted a brow. “Did you?”
    “Yes.”
    He didn’t like the sound of that. Was she on to him and his game plan? Hell, he hoped not. “Well, I’m here.”
    “And I’ll be right down, Xavier.”
    She clicked off the phone, and Xavier was about to return the phone to his pocket when it rang. He hoped it was Farrah saying she’d changed her mind, and he could come up to her room anyway. Instead, it was York.
    “Yes, Y?”
    “What are you doing tonight? How about coming over for a beer and to shoot some pool?”
    York, a former officer for the NYPD who now owned his own security firm in Queens, loved to play pool and was pretty damn good at it. There was a time he used to participate in tournaments around the country.
    “Sorry, I have a date.”
    He could hear York’s chuckle. “Hell, you don’t go out on dates, X. All you do is make booty calls. That’s been your M.O. for years.”
    Xavier frowned. Had it? Come to think of it, yes, it had been. After Dionne, he’d made sure no other woman got close to his heart, although they’d been more than welcome to share a bed with him, preferably theirs. What he would do was select a woman, get to know her well enough to suit him and then begin showing up at her place with a bottle of wine determined to get just one thing. He’d operated that way with every woman he’d slept with.
    Including Farrah.
    Why did the thought of grouping Farrah with all his other bed partners leave a bad taste in his mouth? Probably for the same reason he’d stayed with her longer than the others. For him, eleven months was a long time to sleep with the same woman. Hell, normally something like that could get downright boring. But there hadn’t been a damn boring thing about Farrah. She had made her bed one of the most exciting places to be. But, like the others, he’d never invited her over to his place to share his bed. Umm, he would have to remedy that one day.
    “So, who is she, X?”
    He couldn’t very well say she wasn’t someone York knew since Xavier had introduced Farrah to all five of his godbrothers at Donovan and Natalie’s wedding in June. But what he could do was be evasive as hell, which wouldn’t be the first time. “Why do you want to know? And aren’t you supposed to be checking out Ellie’s friend Darcy?”
    He smiled as he could actually hear York growling through the cell phone. “Hell, don’t mess with me like that, X. The woman and I don’t get along. I’m convinced she hates my guts.”
    Xavier laughed. Bad blood had developed between the two when, during Darcy’s first week of moving to New York, she’d encountered a burglar who’d broken into her home while she slept. By the time the police had arrived, Darcy Owens had already administered her own brand of punishment to the unsuspecting criminal, who hadn’t known she had a black belt in karate.
    Ellie had gotten York out of bed to go across town to check on her friend. When he’d gotten there and discovered what had happened, he’d raked Darcy over the coals for placing her life in danger instead of letting the NYPD handle it. Darcy evidently hadn’t appreciated York’s attitude, and the two hadn’t been exactly bosom buddies since. Frankly, Xavier had a feeling York liked Darcy more than he was letting on.
    “You still haven’t told me who’s your date, X.”
    At that moment the bell over the elevator sounded, the door opened and Farrah waked out. Xavier smiled. Saved by the bell. “And I won’t. Goodbye, Y.”
    He quickly disconnected the call and stuffed the phone in his coat pocket. His smile widened when Farrah came to a stop in front of him. She was wearing her full-length coat