Second Chances by D.L. Roan Read Free Book Online

didn’t mean to…it was rude of me to stare.” She felt herself blush again and stared back into her glass.
    “Hey, don’t be sorry.” Matt chuckled as he turned to the stove and removed a covered dish from the oven. “And you’re right, we do get our fair share of attention because of the twin thing. It’s not all that bad.” He wiggled his eyebrows and was rewarded with another giggle. Man he could listen to that sound for an eternity and never get tired of hearing it.
    “Yeah, being identical twins has its definite advantage s,” Mason said as he whipped around with a stack of plates in his hand. He placed the plates on the island, setting three places for her, himself and Matt. She immediately noticed the missing place settings.
    “Speakin g of twins, where are Con and Car?” She knew it was going to be a struggle keeping her hay-wired hormones in check even with the rambunctious boys to keep them distracted. How was she going to get through a whole dinner with just the three of them? She was so going to need another glass of wine.
    “They spent the afternoon with our parents. They live on the south side of the ranch, just down the road. They should be dropping them off in a couple of hours,” Matt said as he sat the hot, aromatic dish on the island counter and he and Mason sat down on either side of her.
    Mason noticed the uneasiness in her posture and the uncertainty in her eyes. “We thought it would give us a chance to talk. You know. About Con and the problems he’s been having i n school. Come up with a plan.”
    Claira let out a breath and watched as Matt dished out a healthy portion of lasagna onto her plate. That made sense, she guessed. Just as she reached to pick up her fork her purse began to slip and she clenched it back into her lap.
    “Here, I’ll set it on the table in the entryway for you.” Mason reached out for it but she grasped it to her torso.
    “No, that’s ok. I’ll just keep it here with me, next to my chair.”
    Mason drew his hand back and looked at her quizzically as she reluctantly set it down. “We won’t go snooping through it until you’re out of the room, I promise.”
    Oh, God. They must think I’m an escaped mental patient. Wapner at seven. She could hear the Rain Man’s voice in her head. “It’s not that. It’s just,” How did she explain that she was so used to picking up in the middle of the night, or any time really, and running for her life.
    One of those times she had been in the gym, at a hotel in Los Angeles, when the Marshals came to get her. She didn’t have time to go to her room to pack her things. She’d lost her phone, her identification, her money; everything. It took them weeks to get it all replaced but she never saw the pictures of her mother and brother again. That was all she’d had left of them.
    “It’s okay,” Matt shrugged and shared a look with Mason that she didn’t understand. “We get it. Women and their pu rses are like men and their p…”
    “Matt hew!” Mason coughed into his hand.
    “What?” Matt paused, his fork perched at his lips, and grinned. “I was going to say men and their pick-up trucks. What did you think I was going to say?”
    Again, Claira couldn’t help t he laugh that bubbled out. The whole dinner went that way. Easy. Any time she began to feel uncomfortable, Mason would say something soothing and Matt would make her laugh. As the time went by she found herself so at ease with them and their bantering, she had barely even touched her second glass of wine.
    They talked about nea rly everything, except tutoring Con. She tried to feel uncomfortable about that but couldn’t. She’d learned that Mason bred horses and was a really good trainer. Matt ran the day to day operations of the ranch, from managing the hands to mending fences. Their older brother, Grey, had both agricultural and finance degrees and managed the business end of their three-way partnership. They all lived here. Together.
    When