Love's Second Chance (Second Chances Series) Read Free

she needed me. I held her while she cried, and made love to her the entire night. We both knew there would never be another chance, so we took the night for ourselves.
    Brady hesitated and then finally answered, “I don’t know why I didn’t say anything. It was really tragic the way it all happened. Jenna was heartbroken for her friend, and we just didn’t discuss it for a while. I’m giving you fair warning though … Jenna’s on a mission, and I’m sure you can imagine what that mission is.”
    “I just wish you would have told me. There probably wasn’t anything I could have done, but it would have been nice to know.” I paused to let that sink in and then I asked, “So Jenna’s playing matchmaker again?”
    Nodding sheepishly, Brady smiled. “If I could stop her I would, but you know how she gets. She’s a determined woman.”
    “I think I can handle it, and anything else your wife has in mind. As a matter of fact, I’m looking forward to it, but I wonder what Korinne will say about all of this.”
    “There’s no telling. Jenna was nervous about asking her.” Laughing, Brady stood from his seat. “Well, I better get going since I’m sure you’re dying to get back to work.”
    “Very funny, little brother. I guess I’ll see you all tomorrow night.”
    “I wouldn’t miss it.” He turned to head for the door, but paused and turned back around. “Oh yeah, I have another favor to ask you,” he said while cringing.
    “What do you want now?” I questioned.
    “Jenna is staying with Korinne tonight. Do you mind if I crash at your place? I really don’t want to stay at Mom’s,” he begged.
    I shook my head, exasperated. “Please tell me you’ve thought about this. If she finds out you’re in town and you didn’t stay with her she’s never going to let you live that down.”
    Brady groaned and nodded. “I know, it’s just that she drives me crazy sometimes.”
    The past year had been a rough one for my family. My father passed away five months ago, and we all took it pretty hard, especially my mother. Luckily, she seemed to be on the mend. I, however, had inherited the family business, and with that came a lot of responsibilities. Taking the keys from the desk drawer, I handed Brady the key to my house. He snatched it up excitedly and looked at it as if it was a treasure. “Don’t mess with anything while you’re there, you hear me? I don’t want it to be like last time when you cost me hundreds of dollars to get my things fixed,” I ordered in a serious tone.
    “You have nothing to worry about,” he promised. Yeah right , I thought.
    Once my brother had gone, I was left to the silence of my office while thoughts of Korinne and our last night together replayed repeatedly in my mind. Tomorrow I was holding the quarterly cocktail party for my employees, and for once I was actually looking forward to it. The question was … would Korinne be looking forward to it, too?
     

Chapter Three
     

     
    The boxes in the room surrounded me, and there was hardly any place to walk, or even see the floor for that matter. The desire to unpack or decorate anything was not something I wanted to do. What is ironic about that, is decorating had been what I loved most before Carson died. Being hired to decorate for a living had earned me a name in these parts of the state. Magazines had featured me, and newspapers had run articles on my talents. However, all of that felt like a dream now. I didn’t feel like that person anymore. When Carson died, my ambition to do anything died along with him. I thought coming back home was what would hopefully help me find my way to that spark again. I wanted to have my life back, a life where I could be happy. It was just the fear that held me captive.
    I rented a furnished condo in the south-east district of Charlotte, NC. It was one of the smaller condos in this development, but I had no need for the extra space. I preferred the close quarters because anything