I Dare You! (Moments in Maplesville Book 4)

by Farrah Rochon

  “As grandparents should.”

  She glanced toward where she’d spotted Dustin, but he was no longer there.

  “Here, let me introduce you around,” Stefan said, wrapping an arm around her and guiding her to a cluster of men and women. All were Hawk Offshore Transportation employees. All were also ex-military personnel, and all had great things to say about her brother.

  “I paid them to say this stuff,” Stefan joked.

  Once she was finally able to politely break away, Stef sought Dustin again, but as soon as she headed in his direction, he turned the other way. Over the next hour, she made eye contact with him several times, but whenever she tried to move toward him, he managed to find someplace else to be.

  Pain sliced through her at the realization that he was actively avoiding her. She deserved it after the way she’d repeatedly rejected him. She realized how arrogant it was of her to think that all she needed to do was apologize to Dustin to make everything right again —as if her admitting that she was wrong was all it would take.

  Jada caught her by the hand. “Callie’s about to give Stefan his gift,” she whispered, dragging her over to join Kiera.

  At the table reserved for wedding gifts. Callie reached underneath the sage green table skirt and pulled out a gift bag. The pastel colors—pink, blue, and yellow—were a big clue as to the surprise, not that Stef’s oblivious brother noticed. When Callie handed him the book, he just kissed her cheek and set it on the table.

  Callie picked the book up and shoved it back at him. Confusion clouded Stefan’s face as he thumbed through the pages. Stef could tell he had no idea why Callie wanted him to look at a bunch of old pictures in the middle of a party.

  As he neared the rear pages, his movements slowed. He got to the final page and his jaw dropped. When he looked at Callie, she nodded as tears streamed down her face.

  Stef had to wipe her own cheeks, while Kiera and Jada sniffled through their teary-eyed smiles.

  In a voice loud enough for everyone in New Orleans to hear, Stefan yelled, “We’re having a baby!” He picked Callie up and twirled her around in his arms.

  The crowd erupted in excited cheers. A line quickly formed with guests eager to congratulate the expectant parents.

  Stef managed to slip in and give her brother and sister-in-law hugs before disengaging from the enthusiastic fray surrounding them. Once again, she sought out Dustin. When she spotted him going inside through the kitchen door, she took off after him.

  She found him standing at the large granite island. He was tipping a bottle of champagne over flutes on a silver serving tray, filling them halfway. A woman in black pants and a tuxedo shirt with the Catering by Kiera logo embroidered over the left breast stood to his right, arranging more glasses on another tray. A second server entered the kitchen carrying an empty tray over one shoulder. She quickly started to fill it with Kiera’s in-demand crab tarts.

  Stef’s steps slowed as she neared the island. She stopped directly across from Dustin. Several intense moments ticked by while she waited for the servers to leave. As he set the bottle of champagne down, for a second, she thought he was going to leave too.

  She refused to let him slip away again. “Are you purposely avoiding me?” she asked, going straight to the heart of the matter.

  “I’m hosting a party,” Dustin returned.

  “So, you’re the type of host who deliberately avoids speaking to his guests?”

  “What do you want from me, Stefanie? I’m trying to respect your wishes.”

  “I never wanted you to walk the other way when you see me,” she managed to say past the regret tightening her throat.

  “Shit,” Dustin whispered. He came around the kitchen island and caught Stef by the wrist. He drew her into the spacious dining room adjacent to the kitchen. The moment he shut the door behind them, he dropped her hand and started to pace back and forth in the space between the ten-person table and the marble fireplace.

  “You’re the one who said it had to end,” Dustin said. He stopped in front of her and held up both hands. “I’m only doing what you asked.”

  “I said that we couldn’t see each other anymore, not that you should pretend that you don’t see me at all. You can at least talk to me.”

  “No, I can’t.” He shook his head. “I can’t talk to you, because seeing you here tonight and knowing that I can no longer be with you is killing me. Although, it’s not as if avoiding you has dulled the pain all that much either.”

  The hurt in his voice squeezed at her chest. “Dustin, I never meant to hurt you,” she said. “You have no idea how sorry I am.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re not the only one.” He shook his head. “I keep telling myself that it would have been better if I’d walked right past you at that bar on Grand Turk, but that’s a damn lie. If I had to go back and do things differently, I wouldn’t change a single thing, not if it means giving up the time we shared these past two weeks.

  “But do me a favor, Stefanie. Don’t make it any harder than it has to be. I’m avoiding you tonight because it’s easier that way.”

  He turned and walked over to the window that faced the gardens. His back was rigid, everything about him screaming do not approach.

  She ignored the silent warning, walking over to him and stopping just a few feet away. After several tries, Stef finally said, “What if those are no longer my wishes?”

  His posture stiffened even more, his head jerking up. Slowly, he turned to face her. A mask of doubt clouded his face, but there was a glimmer of hope reflected in his intense stare.

  His words, when he spoke them, were so soft she could barely hear them. “What are you saying?”

  Ribbons of uncertainty and apprehension knotted in her belly. The probability of him dismissing her from his life was higher than she cared to contemplate.

  But of all the risks she’d ever taken in life, this one had the greatest reward.

  “I’m saying I was wrong not to give us a chance,” she stated. “I’m saying that I was wrong not to trust my own strength not to turn back into that girl I was all those years ago.” She brought her eyes to his and held his stare, swiping at the insolent tear that escaped despite her best effort to hold it back.

  “And I’m sorry for not trusting in what we had,” she said.

  “Stefanie—”

  She put her hand up, staving off his reply. “I was afraid that being with you would turn me back into that girl I’ve worked so hard to leave behind, but then I remembered that she wasn’t all bad. There was good in her, and you brought out the very best parts. You reminded me that it’s okay to enjoy life, and then you showed me how to do it.”

  Stef swallowed back the emotion that climbed up from her throat. “But I’ve come to realize that I won’t enjoy a life that doesn’t have you in it. I want to give us a chance, Dustin. Are you willing to take that chance with me?”

  His chest expanded with the deep breath he inhaled.

  “I don’t know if I can,” he said.

  Stef blinked several times, momentarily caught off-guard by his response.

  Expected him to just fall over with gratitude?

  Yes, she had. She hadn’t realized just how overconfident she was until her arrogance had come back to bite her in the ass for the second time today.

  Doing her best to disguise the hurt in her voice, Stef nodded and said, “I understand.”

  She turned to leave, but Dustin caught her by the arm and pulled her against his chest.

  “Get over here.” He cradled her face in his hands. “I was going to make you sweat for a bit, but I want to kiss you too damn much.”

  He crushed his lips to hers in a kiss that had her simultaneously sighing in relief and begging for more.

  “That probably wasn’t the best time to joke around, was it?” Dustin whispered against her lips.

  “No,” she said. “But I don’t care. As long as you promise it won’t be the last.”

  Seconds drifted
into minutes as they stood there wrapped in each other’s embrace. Stef had no idea how much time had passed when she heard her brother’s voice calling out from the kitchen.

  “In there?” The door to the dining room opened. “Hey, where—Aw, shit.” Stefan put his hands up. “I don’t want to know what’s happening. I just want to know if you have one of those big nets for fishing stuff out of the pool. Someone’s shoe ended up in there.”

  “There’s a closet on the left side of the pool house,” Dustin said.

  “Okay, thanks.” Stefan looked between the two of them and shook his head. He mumbled something that sounded like, “I should kick your ass,” before he backed out of the dining room and closed the door behind him.

  “I’m not worried about him,” Dustin said. “He’s all talk.” He dropped his hands to her waist, his fingers meeting at the small of her back.

  “I guess you should get back out there,” Stef said. “You do have a party to host.”

  “They’re grown. They can fend for themselves.”

  He leaned forward and captured her lips in a kiss that made her forget about the backyard full of party guests just steps away. It made her forget about everything. Everything but him.

  Epilogue

  Stef pounded her fist on the tabletop, trying her hardest to fight the disgust crawling over her skin. She rocked back and forth, her eyes closed tight. She slowly sucked in a deep breath, and then blew it out on an equally deep exhale.

  “Come on, Mom,” Jacob whined.

  “Yeah, come on,” Dustin said. “This isn’t some yoga routine. Get to it.”

  Stef cocked one eye open and speared them both with a death glare. “Can you two give me just one minute?”

  “We’ve been sitting here for twenty,” Dustin said. “Stop stalling.”

  She held her hands up. “Look, I don’t have to do this if I don’t want to. Neither of you can make me.”

  “But you said you would,” Jacob pointed out as he lifted the tortilla chip from the paper plate and carried it over to her.

  “That’s right,” Dustin said. A grin slid across his face. “Now, open wide.”

  You are going to pay for this, she mouthed.

  Stef tried to avert her eyes, but she wasn’t quick enough. She caught sight of the fried cricket sitting on top of the chip and nearly lost her breakfast.

  “Wouldn’t the next step in this bug therapy thing be touching it?” she asked Dustin. “How did we jump all the way to eating already?”

  “Would you please hurry this up?” Dustin said, heavy on the exaggerated frustration. “Stefan and I are interviewing candidates for the HR department head position in less than an hour. Now that he’s taking over some of the management duties, your brother has turned into the biggest hard a—” He glanced at Jacob. “Hard nose I know. Will you eat the bug already so I can head back to work?”

  “Stop rushing me,” Stef said. “Didn’t you come here by helicopter? You can get back to work in five minutes.”

  Jacob started to chant, “Eat-the-bug. Eat-the-bug.”

  Dustin joined in, along with the kids at the table next to theirs. If she didn’t get this over with soon everyone in the Insectarium would be here, pressuring her to snack on this cricket.

  Dustin held up a hand, halting the chant. “Hold on, fellas. I know how to get her to eat it.”

  He’d better not…

  Dustin took the chip from Jacob’s hand and held it in front of her. With a wicked grin lifting up the corner of his mouth, he said, “I dare you.”

  He did. Oh, he was so going to pay for this.

  With an arrogant arch to her brow, Stefanie snatched the chip and, just before popping it in her mouth, said, “You’re on.”

  Thank you so much for purchasing and reading I Dare You. Read on for an excerpt from A Perfect Holiday Fling, Callie and Stefan’s story, from the Moments in Maplesville series.

  Read the entire Moments in Maplesville series:

  A Perfect Holiday Fling (Callie & Stefan)

  A Little Bit Naughty (Jada & Mason)

  Just a Little Taste (Kiera and Trey)

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  Event planner Erica Cole recruits her best friend to help her plan the ultimate Valentine's Day fantasy, but chocolatier Gavin Foster is determined to show her that they should be more than just friends.

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  The Rebound Guy

  Relationship advisor, Dexter Bryant, is trying to shake his stud-for-hire image, but when Asia Carpenter makes him an offer he can't refuse, Dex will have to play the role of professional rebound guy one last time.

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  Bayou Dreams

  Interested in reading more about the small, fictional town of Gauthier, Louisiana? Check out my Bayou Dreams series!

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  A PERFECT HOLIDAY FLING

  A Moments in Maplesville Novella

  Chapter One

  A plume of pungent smoke wafted from the charred skillet as Stefan Sutherland dunked it into a sink full of water. Using a spatula, he scraped the stubborn bits of trout still stuck to the pan.

  The cool points he’d scored for taking his nephew fishing this morning were null and void after rendering today’s catch unrecognizable. It was probably a good thing that when Stefan had asked Jacob what he wanted for lunch he’d answered beef ravioli. Chef Boyardee to the rescue.

  He snatched the checkered dishcloth from the counter and dried his hands, his eyes focused on the scene outside the kitchen window. He watched as his nephew hunted for twigs and sticks that would be used to build a fire during their campout tomorrow night. A wad of hurt burned Stefan’s throat as he regarded the doleful expression etched across Jacob’s face. Even when doing something that should have been fun, that trace of sadness was always there.

  Stefan rubbed the back of his neck. He had to figure out a way to put more than just the occasional smile on that kid’s face. Jacob was only five years old, for heaven’s sake. Smiling and laughing was a part of the job description.

  He walked over to the pantry in his twin sister Stefanie’s yellow and white kitchen. It was so like Stef, sunny and optimistic, and the antithesis of the dreary galley kitchen in his matchbox apartment back near the naval base in Norfolk.

  Stefan lifted a can of pasta from the shelf. His sister knew her son well. Before leaving for her six-month deployment in Afghanistan, she’d stocked the pantry with several dozen cans of Beef Ravioli, Beefaroni, and what he had quickly learned was his nephew’s favorite, Mini Dinosaurs and Meatballs.

  He was emptying the second can of ravioli into a saucepan when he heard a loud shriek coming from outside the window.

  Stefan’s head popped up in time to see Jacob sliding down the shallow embankment at the far edge of the backyard. He dropped the can and tore out of the kitchen, cursing through clenched teeth as he hustled down the back porch steps.

  “Jacob,” Stefan called, keeping his voice calm so as not to frighten his nephew. The crunch of the leaves beneath his feet was deafening as panic magnified his senses.

  “Jacob,” Stefan called again past the tightness in his throat.

  “Uncle Stefan,” Jacob cried out.

  In the seconds it took to cover the twelve yards from the ba
ck porch to the narrow drainage ditch that lined the back of the property, a dozen scenarios flashed through Stefan’s brain. None of them contained the scene he found when he reached the ditch’s edge. Jacob stood next to the culvert, the soles of his SpongeBob SquarePants tennis shoes submerged in muck.

  But instead of the fear he’d expected to find on his nephew’s face, there was a huge smile. The expression was so rare; it caught Stefan completely off-guard, rendering him momentarily speechless.

  “Look, Uncle Stefan!” Jacob held up a muddy, pudgy white and gray-colored cat. “I heard him crying. He was stuck in that hole.” He nodded toward the drain pipe that led to the town’s water system. “He’s got a cut on his ear. See?” Jacob said, holding the cat out toward him.

  Stefan stood with his hands on his hips, still trying to catch his breath. The short dash from the house hadn’t winded him. It was the fear of finding his nephew face down and unconscious in the boggy ditch that had adrenalin still racing through his bloodstream. From the moment he’d agreed to care for Jacob during his sister’s deployment, Stefan’s biggest fear was having to deliver news that he’d, in some way, caused harm to her child.

  His chest expanded with the deep, relieved breath he inhaled. He gingerly walked down the slope and into the ditch, hauling both his nephew and the cat into his arms. He set them on the ditch’s bank and made a mental note to look into having a fence installed around his sister’s property.

  Stefan climbed out of the ditch and cleaned his muddy hands on his shirt, then he crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at his nephew.

  “Didn’t we agree that you weren’t supposed to go past the tree?” he said, nodding to the towering pecan tree that shaded much of the left side of the backyard.

  Jacob’s smile vanished. His head dropped, and a muffled “I’m sorry,” barely made it to Stefan’s ears.