Free Bachelor’s Return by Clarissa Yip Page A

women at him. The last time he had been home, his mother had set him up on four dates in one weekend. He almost had an aneurism after the second date. Women acted differently when they found out he made a fortune. Worst of all, he couldn’t stand the talk of settling down and picking out wallpaper.
    “I can’t guarantee that I won’t be called back to work if there’s something important. But with you making surprise visits to my office, everyone knows when your wedding is.”
    His sister responded with a wink.
    He shook his head. Liv could get away with anything when she turned her baby blue eyes on him. His sister was cunning. He glanced at the table covered in cardboard and cloth. “What are you ladies making?”
    Cara, the blonde, stood up and moved to his side. “We’re putting together wedding favors.” She showed him a two-by-two white box tied with brown and green ribbon. He studied it. To him, it was just a box.
    “They look nice.”
    “You should help us. We have another two hundred to do before Melissa comes back with the favors themselves,” said Betty, the redhead.
    His smile faltered. As much as he loved his sister, there was no way in hell he would spend an afternoon tying pretty little bows on cardboard. “Well--”
    “Can someone help me carry in the boxes?”
    James whirled around. “I’ll help,” he offered before he knew who spoke.
    He stopped and stared. His eyes trailed over three-inch black pumps, sleek long legs clad in a black pencil skirt and lilac-colored blouse that hugged the perkiest breasts he’d ever seen. He zeroed in on the face behind black-wired frames and felt a jolt down to his groin, then frowned.
    “Brat?” he asked.

    Melissa Johnson’s eyes narrowed in on the man clad in tight jeans and a white muscle t-shirt. The blue jeans fit him to perfection as his shirt stretched deliciously across his broad chest. The jerk probably still worked out every day.
    Her heart pounded against her blouse.
    He was back.
    For a week.
    “James.”
    He moved in closer, and she noted how handsome he looked, the same as when he was younger but more built and taller. “You look as if you grew another inch, brat.”
    She bit the inside of her cheek. The nickname he’d given her since she was five grated her nerves. He’d always seen her as a brat. Nothing more. Just another annoying little sister he could beat up and make fun of. She had enough of his big brother demeanor and his attempts at ruining her life with other men.
    Her first date in high school had been ruined when James had showed up at the park where her and her date had snuck off to make out. He’d embarrassed her by dragging her home and telling her she was too incompetent to attract any guy, namely him . The first date in her life had turned out to be a dare from a group of jocks, but still, James didn’t have to humiliate her and carry her home like a sack of potatoes.
    It wasn’t the only time. Her list of discrepancies against him could go on forever.
    “Were you expecting the little girl with braces and raggy hair?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
    She thought she saw his eyes drop to her cleavage, but she must have been wrong.
    James grinned. His smile quickened her heartbeat. “Still temperamental, I see. I told you your attitude is going to get you in trouble some day.”
    “Don’t worry. Just stay out of my way and you won’t see my rage.”
    He laughed. “Where are the boxes? I’ll help you carry them in.”
    Melissa glanced over his shoulder to see the girls staring at them with curiosity. Liv was shaking her head. Her best friend had witnessed the many times James and her batted at each other whenever they were in the same room. “They’re in my car.”
    He followed her outside and down the side of the house to her little Honda Civic. “What have you been up to these days?”
    “Just work. You?”
    “Same. What are you doing now?”
    She clicked her key fob to unlock the car. “I