Roman's Choice (Saddles & Second Chances Book 1) by Rhonda Lee Carver Page A

“Fuck!” He’d forgotten to skim through the numbers before the staff meeting this morning—in a few minutes to be exact.
    His brain wasn’t on business mode, but who could blame him? In a matter of days, he had met a woman and made her his wife. Most people at least got a honeymoon.
    Rounding the desk, he took a seat in the comfortable leather chair and opened the folder, trying to see passed his personal thoughts and onto the financial aspects of the company he and his brothers opened. It wasn’t as if they needed the money, or the extra workload. The ranch kept them busy enough, but when a close friend of theirs was retiring and selling the thriving business, Roman and his siblings decided they should buy it as an investment and rename it.
    Sometimes they could rub each other the wrong way, as all siblings do. But they were family and that meant they’d take care of each other through thick and thin.
    They each played a role to keep SCS running smoothly.
    Weston was the leader, natural born. Penn and Hugh both took on more of the high profile jobs that involved private investigation and undercover work. Urban worked well with his hands and did the inside jobs—installing security panels and systems. Roman had taken on the financial side of business with SCS and the ranch, as well as being a peacemaker when his brothers got out of hand. Sometimes he deserved a damn medal for tolerating the bickering.
    His mind automatically drifted to Pippa. After making love again last night, they’d finally fallen asleep, too exhausted to move. When he awoke this morning, she was sprawled across the bed, the sheet barely covering one soft, naked hip. He’d stood staring for the longest time, getting his fill of this new woman who’d practically accidently fallen into his life—like a fallen angel. And as he stood there, he was overcome with a heavy load of realization that he could fall for her. All of his walls were crumbling.
    He grabbed a pen from the horseshoe shaped cup Brie had made him and clicked the top repeatedly in restless energy. The numbers blurred on the paper and he sat back into his chair, the springs popping in resistance. He knew what he was facing. He had to tell his brothers about Pippa while they were all in one spot.
    He blew out a long breath.
    “Ready?” Weston poked his head inside of the doorway.
    “Ready as I’ll ever be.” Roman pushed back the chair and stood, following his brother down the hall and into the conference room where Penn, Urban, and Hugh were already sitting at the square, pockmarked table talking about the security job that Hugh was handling later that day. Something about a gentleman’s club. Out of all of his brothers, that’s who Roman most saw himself in. They both had a go-with-the-flow attitude and didn’t like arguing, although they weren’t to be messed with.
    Roman took his seat beside Penn and dropped the file down. Several papers slipped from the folder and he pushed them back into a neat stack. Once Weston sat down and they got the greetings out of the way, Roman tapped his fingers on the table which brought everyone’s attention onto him. It was now or never . Four sets of similar eyes all stared at him. His heart kicked up in speed and he swallowed against the constriction in his throat. “I have something to say—”
    “It’s okay, bro. I already know,” Urban said with a shit-eating grin.
    Roman snapped a look down the table. “You do?”
    He nodded. “I saw the car in your driveway this morning. It’s about time you had overnight company.” His words sent Penn and Hugh laughing, but Weston didn’t cock one hint of anything but a narrowing of eyes. He was very observant and knew Roman had more to add.
    “Let him finish.”
    Urban grimaced and shrugged a shoulder. “Be my guest,” he mumbled.
    Roman’s gaze fell to the folder, then back up, looking at each of his brothers. There wouldn’t be an easy way to break the news so he just went for