Page 1 of Second Chances with my Billionaire Bosses

CHAPTER 1

Maxie

Four glasses of champagne, three bottles of beer, and two paper cups of something that smelled like rocket fuel. Slice the cake, refill the punch after taking away the bowl which had been spiked, and stop Carolyn Jones from ranting about the Cowboys in front of Mark Dole. I hadn’t been prepared for Nellie’s surprise wedding but I’d managed. I just hadn’t taken a deep breath in over twenty-four hours but I didn’t need to. I’d survived for longer without. I just had to get through the rest of the reception, clean everything up, take Bob out for some exercise, and then go to bed. Was that everything? Right now I didn’t have time to think about what needed to be done. I could do it all. No problem. I could do anything.

“Do you have any more of that moonshine Carl brought, Maxie?” A very, very drunk Ray Coldwell tugged my hand and grinned in my face with breath which smelled like that same rocket fuel I’d sniffed earlier.

“Let me check and I’ll bring you a cup if there’s any left. Okay?” I couldn’t believe I was passing out illegal moonshine. I couldn’t believe Mills hadn’t thrown a fit about it.

Ray patted my cheek and stumbled away, probably immediately forgetting he’d even spoken to me. The older man was sloshed off his butt and definitely didn’t need another sip of anything. I didn’t stop to watch him safely get to his seat because I had a thousand other things to do.

Refill drinks, bake a few more of the savory puffs that were running low, check on the cattle in the north fields, clean up the mess the party left, drive anyone home who needed a sober driver. The list went on and on. There weren’t enough hours in the day for everything I needed to do. There never were.

The crowd parted and I saw Nellie and Vera dancing together. They each had broad smiles on their faces and Vera’s belly wasso round that it looked like she could burst at any moment. Everything around me faded away except for them as I felt a twisted mix of happiness and burning jealousy. They were my baby sisters. Each of them had families and men who loved them dearly. They had the world already and I was so thankful they did. It was just…I had nothing.

Before I let my thoughts drift that way, I spun and started toward the main house. I admonished myself for letting those few moments slip by without doing anything productive. I had too many things to do to lose myself in my feelings. I wasn’t paying attention, though, so when three giant figures stepped into my path, I collided into the middle one.

As big hands grabbed my shoulders to steady me, the scent of leather and pine filled my nose and I nearly gasped at the way the scent dragged flashes of memory from the deepest parts of my mind. That smell, one I’d only ever smelled when I’d been too close to losing my mind and letting go of everything, was a slap to my face. My fight or flight response kicked in and since I only had the flight option, I pulled back from those big hands and was about to disappear when the giant I’d run into opened his mouth.

“Well, hell, Maxine. I didn’t think you’d bethatexcited to see us again.” Rhett Banks, like the ghost of Christmas past, had haunted me for far longer than a single night. He seemed in pretty good spirits about everything as he laughed his rich, dark laugh and stepped closer to me.

I was a bug and they were the deadly light calling to me so I had no choice but to lift my eyes to see them. A shiver worked its way down my spine. There they were, the three men who’d single-handedly shown me that men were nothing but trouble and pain. Still just as handsome as ever, still just as full of slow grins and bedroom eyes. The only people in my life to ever callme anything other than Maxie, they were real and they were waiting on me to say something.

I was tall and I still had to lift my head to look them in the eyes. Not that I was going to do that. No, I stared just over their shoulders when I looked at them because I wasn’t an idiot. I wasn’t a masochist, either. I didn’t want to see the laughter on their faces.

“Did you lose the ability to talk since the last time we were here, Maxine? You were never a chatterbox, but I know you could speak before.” Shep stepped closer. “Cat got your tongue?”

It was his teasing tone that broke my resolve. I looked at him then, really looked at him, and I felt all the plates I had spinning in the air begin shake. Shep was even better than I remembered. He had deep green eyes which were as intense as he was and hair that hadn’t changed, still falling over his forehead no matter how many times he pushed it back. He was a giant of a man, tall and broad, but he had freckles and his ears stuck out just enough to make him less terrifying. I knew from years earlier that his chest and upper arms were covered in tattoos and I could see them creeping up from the collar of his t-shirt.

I sucked in a breath that was tainted with their scent and straightened my shoulders. “Why are you here?”

Arlo’s wide chest filled my vision as he eased his way ahead of Shep. “We just bought the Mays’ ranch.”

I snapped my eyes up to his deep brown ones and almost forgot why that upset me so much when I saw the way he was looking back at me. It was the way my sisters’ men looked at them. It was enough to bring a blush to my cheeks but that’s as far as I allowed it to go. I knew that look from the three of them. They’d used it once before. I wasn’t as dumb at twenty-eight as I’d been at eighteen.

My stomach tightened and I swallowed. I mostly wasn’t as dumb. That look still hit me a little harder than I would’ve liked.

“What do you mean, you just bought the Mays’ ranch?”

“I mean we made an offer and bought it.” He stepped closer and his worn cowboy boots filled my vision as I stared at the ground.

It didn’t make sense. They couldn’t have bought the ranch. My family bought the ranch. Mills, Tate, and West had sent me on enough errands to the bank and back that I knew for a fact we’d bought the ranch. I was starting work on the property the very next day. They had to be lying.

I dug my nails into my palms to keep from screaming at them as I lifted my eyes to Arlo’s and shook my head.

“You’re lying.”

Rhett let out a soft chuckle. “Wanna bet, sweetheart?”

“I have to go.” I turned and rushed across the yard. I knew my older brothers were inside, watching the party from their farmhouse styled castle. I had to hear them tell me it wasn’t true.

Ray tried to catch me as I hurried past him but I couldn’t even stop to politely excuse myself. I couldn’t catch my breath. My palms burned and I was worried I’d made them bleed. My lips were already raw from me biting them so every time my teeth caught my bottom lip it was painful.

It was quiet in the house when I let myself in and I found my brothers on the couch, just where I expected them. They looked up from their whiskey glasses when I came closer, each of them seemingly surprised to see another living soul.

“We bought the Mays’ ranch, right?” I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought to ask for any specific details. Of course, we’d bought the ranch, though. Of course.

“What are you talking about?” Mills sat forward and put his glass down on the table. “How’s the party going?”

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