Read Online Skeletons in the Mist (The McCall Twins) by Jennifer Hayden - Free Book Online

incredulously.
    “Sure you are. And by the way, there’s nothing to gossip about here anyway. I’m in the middle of a case and Roxy’s a part of that case. Do you get me?” He gave her a stern look.
    She rolled her eyes. “I get you. Calm down.”
    He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Don’t you dare buy clothes with this, Luci. I’m not kidding this time.”
    Luci smiled as she took the twenty-dollar-bill her brother offered her. “Thanks, big bro. Love you!” She smiled and winked at Roxy as shegrabbed the other half of her bagel and disappeared from the room.
    Roxy couldn’t help but smile back. “She’s nice.”
    He shoved his wallet back into his pocket and picked his coffee mug up. “She’s a good kid. Smart mouth and extremely high maintenance, but good.”
    “I suppose you aren’t high maintenance?” She raised a brow at him.
    “Do I look high maintenance to you?”
    He had a point.
    “Give me a ratty pair of Levis and a t-shirt and I’m happy. Toss a broken in pair of old work boots into the mix and I’m ecstatic.” He grinned at her as he reached for a bagel. “You don’t impress me as the fashion conscious type either.”
    She let that mull over in her brain for a moment, then frowned. “I think I’ve just been insulted.”
    He laughed, then shook his head. “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just saying that you seem to appreciate the simple things in life. I’m used to the women around me being pretty high maintenance. Even the women I work with.”
    “Yes, I suppose you are.”
    “You’re taking my words out of context.”
    “I don’t think so, Detective.”
    It was his turn to frown. “I don’t think we need the formality anymore. Apparently you’ve slept in my bed.”
    Heat climbed up her neck before she could stop it. Of course he had checked! She shrugged her shoulders, trying to act nonchalant. “I didn’t want one of your siblings to come home, not expecting me to be here, and climb into bed with me.”
    He raised a brow, lifting his coffee cup to his lips. She hated when he was silent. It spoke louder than any of the words the man spoke.
    “So, what? You think I picked your bed for some other reason?”
    His smile never faltered. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
    “You are an egomaniac.” Avoiding his gaze, she went to work covering her bagel with cheese spread.
    “Roxy, I’m kidding.” He cleared his throat, now sounding a little uncomfortable himself. “And for the record, I’m not an egomaniac.”
    “Of course you are,” she said, feeling a little stupid for making such a big deal out of his teasing.
    “You’re wrong, but suit yourself and think what you want. Just do me a favor and call me Chas.”
    She was quiet a moment. “That’s an interesting name. I heard Luci call you Chase last night. Is that your real name?”
    He shrugged his shoulders. “It is. When we were little, Trace started calling me Chas and it stuck.”
    “Is Trace his real name?” She didn’t know why she was getting so nosy with him but she couldn’t help herself. He interested her, whether she wanted him to or not. She chalked it up to the fact that he was a twin, just as she had been at one time.
    “His real name is Alexander Tracy, if you can believe that one. My parents had some interesting ideas.” He grinned and took a long sip of coffee before speaking again. “I started calling him Trace about the same time he started calling me Chas, because I couldn’t say Alexander.”
    “Let me guess,” she said, finding herself enjoying the story. “It stuck.”
    “It did,” he replied, still smiling. “It’s a good thing he started calling me Chas. Otherwise we would have been Chase and Trace.”
    Roxy found herself laughing at that.
    “You had a twin. You were both R’s. You know how it goes with the twin thing…” The words died on his lips and he immediately gave her a regretful look. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think before I…”