Second Chances (5 page)

Stacy stood in front of the wall of mirrors. She was wearing what someone might call booty-shorts and a lime green sports bra. Stacy had her hair wrapped in a black handkerchief.

She had three girls and one boy standing behind her watching as she went through some moves and then clicked back on the music. Some dance song about having hands in the air came on and Stacy and the others started dancing.

The girl moved like a dream. He knew enough from being dragged to countless recitals growing up to know that Stacy didn’t have to try too hard to dance as well as she did. Bellamy and Stacy always danced together, and growing up, he and his brother suffered through watching them practice at home.

Stacy sinuously moved in front of the dancers, encouraging them as they all kept dancing. Dustin could see the perspiration that coated her whole body and felt his mouth water.

It wasn’t until the music was ending that she noticed him standing there. The smile she gave him made his chest clench.

Dustin watched her click off the music and tell the dancers to take a quick break before they did the dance one more time. She bent to pick up her bottle of water and walked towards him.

“You looked good, Stace,” he said, enjoying the slight blush that covered her cheeks.

“Thanks. I’m not very good at the teaching thing, but it’s been fun.” She turned to look at the kids and then turned back to him. “I really can’t wait for Bellamy to come back.”

“Well, regardless, all of you looked great,” Dustin said. “I’ll just go sit out front and check my e-mails while I wait for you to finish.”

“Okay, bu—” he didn’t let her finish.

“I’ll be waiting.”

***

Stacy watched him turn around and head towards the front. She couldn’t help it when her gaze drifted down to his beautiful backside. If someone looked up the definition of perfection, Dustin’s ass would be the picture they’d see.

She felt her body heat up when she remembered fondly grabbing it as he fucked her in his bed. Stacy took a sip of her water to quench her quickly building thirst.

He was a sensual lover who could make her aroused so fast that her head felt like it would detach from her body. Dustin knew his way around the female form, that was for sure.

Dustin’s walk almost looked lazy. He had a swagger about him and always looked like he had all of the time in the world.

“Ms. Stacy, who’s the hunk?” Stacy whipped around to face Kendra, one of her students.

“That’s Ms. Ruth’s son, Dustin. He’s just waiting to help me lock up.” She didn’t want to scare the girl by telling her the real reason.

“Well, your boyfriend is hot,” Kendra said with a giggle.

“Oh! He’s not my boyfriend. Dustin’s one of my best friends,” Stacy said as she looked over her shoulder to make sure Dustin didn’t hear them.

“Well, you two sure look at each other like you’re boyfriend and girlfriend,” Kendra said and then ran over to the other kids, giggling and laughing.

Stacy just shook her head. She didn’t even want a boyfriend, at least not right now.

Plus, Dustin probably didn’t even think of her that way. She just needed to get through the last few minutes of class, get the kids out of there, and then lock up and go home.

“All right, guys, let’s do this one more time and then we can get out of here,” Stacy said as she got into place.

***

Ten minutes later she was saying bye to Kendra and the others. She walked them out and found Jackie’s mom flirting shamelessly with Dustin.

Now Rebecca was his type; tall, willowy, with fake breasts to boot. Stacy couldn’t help but start to feel self-conscious about her body.

She looked down at her own breasts that weren’t as perky as fakey’s were. Her stomach was slightly rounded and her hips were wide.

The woman had the most irritating laugh imaginable. Stacy knew she didn’t have the right, but every time that woman put her hand on his arm she wanted to punch her in the face.

Stacy didn’t want to be jealous, but she couldn’t help it. Women like Rebecca were the first ones to tease and taunt her when she was younger. She shook her head to get those thoughts out of her head. None of that mattered now. She wasn’t with him, so he could do whatever or whoever he wanted.

She watched Dustin start herding the kids and Rebecca to the door, but turned and walked away before she split that woman’s lip.

Stacy walked back to the studio and started shutting things down when her phone rang. She grabbed it off of the stereo and smiled when she saw it was her Uncle Garrett.

“Hey, Trouble!” Stacy said in way of greeting.

“Hey, my sweet girl, how are you?” he said.

He was the baby in the family. He came twelve years after her dad and was only ten years older than her. Before her family moved to Beaufort he was Stacy’s best bud. In most pictures of her when she was little, Garrett was always close by. They were more like brother and sister than uncle and niece. Growing up, she always called him for advice on how to handle her overprotective dad.

Stacy could always count on him to be there for her, even now with a family of his own. He and his partner Ian always made time for her. They’d adopted a brother and sister a few years back and were doing extremely well.

She remembered when she was twelve and her dad had been called to his family home right outside of Atlanta for an emergency family meeting.

Mom didn’t know what was going on, and when he came home, he sent Stacy to her room, but of course she immediately snuck out and down the hall to eavesdrop.

Her Uncle Garrett had come out to them and as her dad talked about it, she could hear the sadness in his voice because Garrett was so worried they’d hurt him that he carried a baseball bat with him so he could at least try to defend himself.

Her dad said that they told Garrett they loved him no matter what and that they all kind of suspected it, but he was hurt that Garrett didn’t trust them enough. That he couldn’t believe that Garrett thought they’d beat their own flesh and blood because of who he was.

“I’m good, G. How are Ian and the kids? I can’t wait to see y’all Friday. Don’t forget to bring clothes for your family picture,” Stacy said.

“Yep, we’re all set. Chloe says that she wants to stay with her Tay Tay. That girl is wild. I don’t even want to think about when she’s a teenager. I feel the grey already starting to pop out of my hair.”

Stacy laughed. She and Chloe were the only girls amongst all of the cousins and she had attached herself to Stacy since she was two. Now she was six and a little pistol. Their son Carter’s four and much more reserved than his sister.

“Well, she can stay with me if it’s okay with you guys. I know Mom will be disappointed, but maybe she can stay with me one night and with you guys at Mom and Dad’s the next.” She turned and saw Dustin standing in the doorway.

Stacy pointed to the phone and mouthed, “my uncle.”

“Sounds good. We’ll be there around one. We’ll see you at their place for dinner, right?”

“Yep, I wouldn’t miss it. I love you, and give those babies and Ian a kiss for me.”

“Love you, Stace. We’ll see you Friday.”

Stacy hung up her phone and put her phone back in her bag. She grabbed a pair of cut-off sweats and slid them on over her other shorts.

Stacy turned back to Dustin. “Thanks for waiting. Did you get them out?”

“Yeah, that woman was something else. Nothing like having someone come on to you with their teenaged daughter standing right there. I felt bad for the girl, she looked mortified.” Dustin didn’t look happy about it, which surprised Stacy.

“Oh, I, um—I thought she was your type.” She quickly turned away when she saw his jaw clench. Stacy knew she must’ve hit a nerve.

“How would you even know what my type is, Stacy?”

Oh yeah, he was pissed.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean anything by it, but I’ve seen the girls you’ve dated.”

“Well, what about you, Stacy? We had a thing.” Dustin shoved his hand through his hair.

Why did she have to open her big mouth? Nothing like pissing him off, but could she stop herself? No, because that’s what she did: she ruined things.

“Obviously I’m not your type, Dustin. I’m well aware of that.” She knew she was digging herself into a deeper hole, but once her mouth started running there was no stopping it.

***

Was this woman blind? Dustin thought. Couldn’t she see or at least feel what he felt for her? He knew she had some self-esteem issues, but he didn’t know why. She was beautiful inside and out.

“Stacy, just shut up, because you’re really starting to piss me off. So you don’t think you’re my type?” Dustin reached out and grabbed her hand and brought it to the crotch of his pants. “This is how I am whenever I’m around you. You’re my type because not only are you beautiful, but you’re everything else that I could ever want in a woman.”

Dustin didn’t give her a chance to respond before he hauled her up against him and brought his lips down on hers. He felt her soften against him immediately as he felt her hands snake up into his hair.

He pulled her against him and ground his erection against her stomach and felt it throb when she whimpered against his lips. All he knew was that they fit together, but Dustin knew he needed to stop before something happened that they’d both regret.

Dustin eased his lips away from Stacy and leaned his forehead against hers as they both tried to catch their breath.

“Wow!” Stacy said. He couldn’t help himself and started to laugh. She gave him that smile that he loved and started laughing, too.

“Come on, sugar, let’s get out of here,” Dustin said as he led Stacy out of the studio.

Stacy set the alarm while Dustin stood by the front door waiting for her. His mom didn’t think an alarm system was necessary since she didn’t keep money there, but his dad told her that he’d feel better knowing that if something happened while she was there alone she could hit the panic button that was in the back studio.

Dustin held the door open as Stacy passed by him and walked to her truck. He watched as she threw her bag in the passenger side and came back over to him.

“Thanks for hanging out and seeing me to my truck.” She seemed a little shy at the moment and it made him smile.

“No problem. Are we still on for Thursday?” Dustin was looking forward to spending time with her.

“Absolutely. Do you need me to bring anything?”

“Nope, just yourself and your appetite.” He pulled her into a hug and couldn’t resist giving her a kiss that was far from friendly. “Now get out of here before I make a fool out of myself.”

Stacy smiled, shook her head, and walked around to the driver’s side and hopped in. He stood on the sidewalk until all he could see were her fading taillights. He really needed to show some restraint around her, but he had a feeling that was easier said than done.

Chapter 5

Stacy could still taste Dustin on her lips when she got home. That man knew how to kiss, but shouldn’t it have bothered her that not that long ago she was with someone else?

She cared about Mark when they were together, but with Dustin it was always different. Mark never fully opened up to her, which she now knew why. Stacy knew a lot about Dustin, and she felt closer to him than she ever did Mark.

Stacy made a quick sandwich to eat while she edited some pictures that were going on her website and the brochures she was having made.

As she sat down to work, her phone rang, and not even thinking, she answered it without checking the caller ID.

“Slut, I thought I told you that you were mine,” Mark sneered into the phone.

She let out a frustrated sigh, “Mark, why are you doing this?”

“You’ll know soon enough.”

Great, he was being cryptic. Her stomach started knotting up and her sandwich felt like it wanted to come back up.

“What changed, Mark, are you on drugs now? Is that why you’re being an asshole?” Stacy could never learn to keep her mouth shut.

Stacy could hear his heavy breathing on the other end. She knew she should just hang up, but sometimes she just did stupid shit.

“I made a mistake. I should have left her as soon as I met you and knew I wanted you, but I didn’t. I love you, Stacy. We belong together. Don’t you get that? Don’t you see how perfect we are together? Didn’t I make you happy? Come on, baby, just let me come over. I miss you and I miss that throaty moan you make when I push my cock inside that tight, sweet pussy of yours.”

“What the fuck,” she muttered. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t want you, you fucking liar. I don’t love you and I never did. We had fun, but that’s all done now because you’re fucking married. Now leave me alone, forget my number, and forget you ever knew me. If you don’t leave me alone, I will press charges and I don’t think your bosses would like to know you’re harassing me.” Stacy was shaking by the time she finished speaking.

She hung up before he could say anything, but her phone immediately started ringing again, so she turned it completely off.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she muttered.

Nothing like waving a red cape in front of a raging bull. Hopefully he took the hint and would stop calling her. Her stomach was too upset to eat, so she threw out the sandwich and got back to work.

***

Later in the week Stacy had felt a sense of relief. Mark hadn’t tried to contact her or shown up where she was. Granted it only had been a couple of days, but she felt like she really got her point across to him.

She was looking forward to spending time with Dustin. Stacy had spent most of the day working on her website, delivering the wedding pictures she’d just gotten in and she even booked another wedding in a month. She’d have a deposit coming that week and that money would go right into her savings.

If Stacy could book at least three more jobs she’d have enough to put down a deposit on a space for her studio.

When she got home, she got her stuff ready to take a shower. Stacy went through her closet trying to decide what to wear. She wanted to look casual, but nice, too.