Read A Second Chance at Crimson Ranch for Free Online

shoulders. To know whether it was straight or held a bit of curl, if it all would feel as soft in his hands as the bit he’d fingered during their dance.
    â€œGood morning,” he said as she scooted aside to let him in. He took a strange satisfaction in the fact that she seemed as affected by him as he was by her. It wasn’t the six-year age difference that made his awareness of Olivia so foreign. She was in a totally different league than him. Normally he’d respect that invisible barrier. But something about this woman made him want to forget all of the very rational reasons she was not for him. Because as much as his brain understood that, his body wasn’t cooperating.
    â€œDo you want coffee?” she asked as she led him through a formal living room filled with antique furniture and real art—the kind that looked like it cost a lot of money. A few spaces on the wall were noticeably blank, but he didn’t comment as he followed her into the kitchen.
    â€œI’d love a cup,” he answered, taking in the modern appliances and warm butcher-block counters. “Nice space,” he told her.
    Her hand faltered as she reached up to take a mug from the cabinet. “Thank you. The kitchen is my favorite room in the house. It’s the only place that doesn’t feel stuffy to me.” She flashed a tentative smile. “The garage apartment is nice, too. It was going to be my studio, but...”
    â€œYou’re an artist?” He pulled out one of the stools and sat at the island’s counter.
    â€œA painter. Sort of. Not really.” She shrugged. “I like to paint and studied art in college, but I haven’t had much time for it lately.”
    â€œI took a ceramics class in high school. Before I got suspended for the second time.”
    The mug she held clattered to the floor but didn’t break. He watched as she scooped it up, set it in the sink and took out another one. He shouldn’t have brought up his misspent youth, but he’d needed to remind them both how different their lives were.
    â€œWere you any good?”
    â€œI didn’t have a chance to find out,” he told her. “They put a lot of the troubled kids with one of the art teachers. Kept us busy and out of the way of the students who gave a damn.”
    She turned, her gaze curious. “Why didn’t you care?”
    â€œI was angry, stupid and young. A bad combination. I managed to graduate, mainly because the school wanted to be rid of me.”
    She set the cup of coffee in front of him. “Milk or sugar?”
    He shook his head.
    â€œBut things got better after you left Crimson?”
    â€œAfter a while,” he answered as he took a drink. “I grew up. Realized I didn’t have to turn out the way most people expected me to. I had a choice not to fail, to prove them wrong. I made that choice.”
    She took the seat across the counter from him. “Maybe the problems you had when you were younger shaped you into a person determined to be better.”
    He actually laughed out loud. “I’ve never heard anyone suggest that.”
    â€œI have a lot of experience putting a good spin on bad situations,” she answered with a small grin.
    How was it that talk about his wild past seemed to melt away her nerves? He’d brought it up to keep her at arms’ length, not as an ice breaker.
    Her smile slowly faded. “I wasn’t sure you’d come today. I figured maybe once you’d left town you wouldn’t be back.”
    The thought had crossed his mind more than once in the past few days. He’d even interrupted Josh on his honeymoon to run Olivia’s plan by Sara. He’d figured his new sister-in-law would have something to say about Logan returning to town and working so closely with her friend.
    To his surprise Sara had loved the idea. She’d told Logan that Olivia needed someone on her side, and he’d be the