Free A Second Chance at Crimson Ranch by Michelle Major Page B

get a guy like Logan, but I had no idea you’d
want
a guy like Logan. I’ve obviously struck a nerve.”
    â€œWhat does that mean, ‘a guy like Logan?’ Do you think I’m a snob? Is that what this is about?” Olivia hated how petty and defensive she sounded, but she couldn’t make sense of all the emotions rolling around inside her since last night. For someone who craved order and control she was doing a really bad job of keeping it in her own life.
    â€œWhoa,” Natalie said, hands up. “Let’s start over. Are you interested in Logan Travers?”
    â€œHe’s working on the building.”
    â€œYou know what I mean.”
    Olivia dropped the paint brushes into the sink and covered her face with her hands. “He kissed me. I kissed him. I’m not sure how it happened. Millie showed up and I came out in my robe and it was all so out of control.” She pushed the heels of her palms into her eyes. “I like control, Natalie. You know I like control. I don’t know what to do. First Craig left and I’m alone, I’m broke and I’m humiliated. Then I get another chance in Crimson and Logan is willing to help. But now I don’t know how to handle him or anything. It’s too much.”
    â€œHoney,” Natalie whispered, using gentle fingers to pry Olivia’s hands away from her eyes. “You like Logan.”
    â€œHeaven help me, I do.” Olivia took comfort in her friend’s touch. “Not just because of how he looks. He’s a kind, decent person.”
    She shook her head as one of Olivia’s brows quirked. “I know he has a bad reputation, but there’s more to him. I know there is.”
    â€œSit down.” Natalie motioned to a chair then checked her watch. “I have a half hour until my break is over. That may be just enough time to explain how Logan got that reputation.”
    Olivia slid into a chair.
    â€œOf the three brothers, I know Josh the best,” Natalie told her. “Besides Logan, there’s an older brother, Jake. They had a sister who died. Their dad was an alcoholic. Until Josh returned to Crimson, none of them had lived in town for years.”
    â€œSara told me that much before the wedding,” Olivia said.
    Natalie nodded. “I was a year behind Josh in school and a couple of grades older than Logan. Jake was away at college when the accident happened. The sister, Beth, was Logan’s twin.”
    â€œHow awful,” Olivia murmured. “And especially for Logan.”
    â€œHe and Beth were inseparable as kids,” Natalie confirmed. “The two older boys were gone by the time the twins hit high school. Josh took off for the rodeo circuit straight out of high school.” She took two plastic cups from the cabinet above the sink, filled them with water and sat down across from Olivia, pushing one of them toward her. “By that time their dad’s drinking was out of hand and everyone knew it. The twins started running wild, Beth especially. I think she’d been daddy’s little girl and was spared some of his drunken meanness. But once she got a bit older, she rebelled.”
    â€œIt was a car accident, right?”
    â€œHer boyfriend was behind the wheel drunk. He ran off the road and flipped the car into a ditch. He and Beth died on the scene. There was one other passenger, but that boy survived.”
    Olivia gasped. “I can’t imagine the guilt he must have felt. Does he still live in town?”
    Natalie had stopped speaking to take a drink and water sloshed over the side of the cup as she coughed wildly. “He left for college and never returned,” she said when her breathing calmed. “Beth’s death took a toll on each of her brothers, as well. Josh and Jake came back for the funeral but didn’t stay long. After that, Logan got into worse trouble all the time. Things got bad and when they hit a breaking point,