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

they asked her questions about herself, she tried to follow Daniel’s advice and stick to the truth as much as possible. She hated lying to them. It was difficult at times not to let anything slip that could reveal her old identity. She had almost told them where she was born, but managed to change it from Maryland to Maine at the last minute. Daniel had told her it would get easier, that after time she would almost believe the made up version of herself to be the truth. She knew it was just a matter of conditioning, but she also knew she’d never really forget.
    By the time Mason filled his glass with the last of the wine, she’d learned everything there was to know about raising horses, herding cattle and mowing hay fields. The one thing that never came up was Con and Car’s mother. She felt the need to know fighting against her common sense. Surely if they wanted her to know they would tell her. She finally gave in and had to ask.
    “The twin’s mother? Is she still…in the picture?”
    Mason and Matt shared another one of the ir knowing glances and Mason cleared his throat before he spoke. “Sarah,” he paused and glanced at Matt again. Matt inclined his head in a slight nod and returned his attention back to Claira. “Our wife passed away just after giving birth to the twins.”
    Claira felt her heart drop. She didn’t know how it felt to lose a spouse, but she definitely understood the pain of loss. Wait . “What?” Did he say our wife?
    A small grin that blended into a grimace pulled at the corner of Matt’s lips. “Yeah, you caught that, huh?”
    Mason turned in his chair and met her confused stare head on. “Sarah was our wife. Con and Car’s mother.”
    She had to have heard that wrong. Twice . “As in, you were both married to her…at some point?”
    “At the same point.” Mason immediately clarified. He tried to smile but he knew it looked the same on him as it did Matt. Painful. He found it more difficult than he thought it would be to talk about Sarah with another woman. The desire he felt for Claira mixed with the small pain he sometimes still felt for Sarah and the combination made his chest ache a little.
    “ But… Isn’t that…illegal?” Claira asked, her head swelling with so many questions she had blurted out the first one that sounded coherent in her head. She considered herself open minded about the different types of relationships, but two men married to the same woman, at the same time? Did they even have a name for that?
    “Technically, on paper, she was married to only one of us, but in our hearts we all belonged to her.” Matt said, his voice weakening to a near whisper. He reached out and took one of Claira’s hands in his as Mason took the other. They laced their fingers with hers and the raw emotion she saw in their eyes nearly broke her heart and set her on fire all at the same time.
    Suddenly she found it hard to breathe. He r heart raced and she felt her spine turning to jelly. What were they doing to her? She pulled her hands from theirs and took a sobering breath. She couldn’t think with both of them touching her that way; looking at her with such intensity. When she was within sight of either of them she was completely overwhelmed with emotions she had never experienced before.  She was good at working with children, but she was a walking wreck when it came to her body’s reactions to these men.
    “Claira? Are you ok?” Mason asked, his thumb gently stroking the back of her arm where she rested it on the counter.
    “I’ m fine. I just…” She blinked and gave her head a quick shake to clear the lust infused fog from her brain, but she still struggled to find the right words to explain. Should she explain? She was probably just overreacting because of her inexperience. These feelings were probably common for men like them but she felt like the butterflies in her stomach had gone on a bender at an all-night kegger.
    Matt had dealt with bigots and ass-hats