Back for Seconds (Lone Star Second Chances Book 1)

by Ginger Voight

  She might not have gone to the door at all had it not been time to get another check from Russell. More than anything she wanted to tell him where to shove his check. She wanted to tell him that she no longer needed it, or him, and that she was standing on her own two feet thank you very much. But she knew that was just her pride talking. Her kids needed his financial support and they deserved it. And he needed to shoulder some of the responsibility for the care, especially since he had delegated the hard work of raising them to her anyway.

  So she squared her shoulders and followed her children into the house. It hadn’t changed much in the month that she’d been gone, but everything looked different. All those possessions she had taken so much pride in acquiring and displaying had been reduced to mere things she could easily leave behind, quite superfluous to her existence.

  Not too long ago this house had been her pride and joy, but it had never really been hers at all. She knew that now that it had been easily taken away.

  Never again, she swore to herself as she watched Russell turn the corner to greet them all. Hannah launched herself into her Daddy’s arms like normal, but Kari held back just a tad, preferring only a hug. Nash, of course, hung back like usual.

  When Russell’s attention turned to Joely, his blue eyes slid over her hair, face and body in cool assessment. She knew he missed nothing, including the fact she wore nothing on underneath the dress. Russell had known her body better than anyone, so he wouldn’t have missed out on these important details. But he said nothing as he walked over to where she stood.

  “Hot date?” he asked in that smooth voice that now felt like nails on a chalkboard.

  “Something like that,” she dismissed. “Ready for your weekend with your kids?”

  Her condescending tone did not go unnoticed. “I’m always ready to spend time with my kids.”

  She wanted to scoff and ask him, “Since when?” But her kids were present and she was determined not to let it devolve into a fight. Instead she let the subtle arch of her eyebrow say it all.

  Russell brushed past her to retrieve the white envelope on the table in the foyer. It was her check. “Don’t spend it all in one place,” he murmured under his breath. So he did notice the fine fabric of the new dress she wore, if only to judge her for spending whatever money she had for it.

  There was a small smirk on her face as she said, “See you Monday.” She walked out of that house with more strut than when she walked in.

  It was the same strut she wore when she walked into The Ranch that night. Xander had texted her a time to meet, telling her to wait for him at the bar. She took her place at the crowded bar, squeezing into a vacant seat between two groups of people, and ordered herself a drink.

  One of the men standing next to her glanced down with appreciation, his eyes sweeping over her figure and quickly processing how ripe for the pickings she might have been. “Hello there, beautiful. What’s your name?”

  She didn’t want to answer him at first, but then decided if she was going to be pushed up against him until Xander came, they might as well be on a first-name basis. “Joely.”

  “Brian,” he said as he reached for her hand. “I haven’t seen you around here before.”

  “I used to come here all the time when I was younger,” she admitted. “Decided to check it out.”

  “Lucky us,” Brian smiled at her as he tipped his beer in her direction. He couldn’t stop staring at her bared cleavage, the promise of her full breasts on prominent display strained against the thin fabric that contained it. “Care to dance, Joely?”

  “Thank you but I’m actually waiting for someone.”

  Brian leaned down. “Can’t dance while you wait?”

  “I think the lady made herself clear,” a rich voice with a British accent said. She turned to see Xander standing directly behind her. He wore a ready smile for her as he reached for her hand and brought it to his lips. Without even asking he pulled her from the stool and pointed her towards the dance floor. He turned back to Brian with a big grin. “Sorry, mate. She’s with me.”

  He propelled her through the crowd towards the dance floor, not stopping until they reached the center and he pulled her close to his body. His eyes swallowed her whole as he looked down at her, taking in every detail. “My God, you look fantastic. I do have great taste, if I do say so myself.”

  His grin was infectious. “Don’t wrench your arm out of socket patting yourself on the back.”

  He chuckled as she held her tighter. “If I do, you can pop it back in place for me.” He swung her around to the music until she laughed. “So tell me. Did your ex gnash his teeth out when he saw how incredible you looked?”

  She shook her head. “He wouldn’t notice me if my hair was on fire.”

  “He’s an asshole but he’s not dead. Believe me. He noticed,” Xander said as his hand swept across the curve of her back and landed on her backside. She gasped in surprise. “No panties. Good girl.”

  She held him tighter as the music swelled and pulsated around them. “You told me not to. I’m just following orders.”

  Again he chuckled. “You’re doing more than that, love. And you know it.” He bent to lightly nuzzle her ear. “Tell me you don’t feel like the most powerful woman in this room. Look how the men around you are watching you, just waiting for their chance.”

  “They just think I’m easy,” she retorted.

  “There’s nothing about you that’s easy, Joely,” he murmured in her ear, his tongue lightly rimming the earlobe. “If there were, I wouldn’t want you as much as I do.”

  She trembled in his arms. Hearing those words whispered hotly into her ear turned her into putty. She was completely under his spell and completely at his mercy. “Then what are you waiting for?”

  He pulled away to look her in the eye. “Are you telling me you want me to take you home?”

  Her voice nearly cracked with need. “Maybe I am.”

  His warm laugh danced across her nerve endings. “I’m not a man who responds well to maybe. You have to tell me what you want. Be direct, Joely. Say what you want. You never know,” he added as toyed with a lock of her hair, “you just might get it.”

  For a long moment she stared up at him, at war with herself. There was nothing she wanted more than for him to take her home and complete his seduction at last. But the other part of her, the responsible part, the one who was still a mother, and a morally upright human being, one that hadn’t yet to succumb to the sins of the flesh like her wandering husband, was screaming at her to use caution, to make good choices. This just wasn’t respectable. It wasn’t ladylike. It was pure craziness. “Take me home, Xander.”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” he grinned. He took her hand in his and led her from the dance floor straight out the door. He paused briefly to wave at Brian before he pulled her from the club.

  Back at Fairway Oaks, Russell Morgan hovered over the outdoor barbeque, preparing some steaks for his kids. He had wanted to take them out to eat, to a nice restaurant he was sure Joely could no longer afford. But when Jena called at the last minute to cancel, he decided he didn’t wish to corral his rowdy children in a crowded public restaurant by himself. He wasn’t the disciplinarian of the family and never had been. He really wouldn’t even know where to start. And he knew better than to allow the children to find that little crack in the veneer.

  Instead he rented a movie and bought all the fixins for a family barbecue, just like the ones they had shared all summer before their lives had all been blown apart. Though September was giving way to October, the weather was still warm enough they could enjoy the huge back yard that overlooked the golf course. The back yard had been one of the house’s finest selling points, with a large in-ground pool and spa, an outdoor fireplace and complete barbecue/smoker/wet bar underneath a smattering of twinkling lights. He watched his children from where he stood over the food. Hannah was floating in her inflatable seahorse, splashing in the water and giggling to herself.
Kari kept an eye on her from the side of the pool where she sat in her bikini, legs dangling in the water. Nash had compromised. He sat outside, but he didn’t change into his swimwear and wouldn’t go anywhere near the pool. Instead he parked himself in one of the chaise lounge chairs and played with one of his infernal hand-held games.

  It was a quiet way to spend a Friday evening. Had this been a couple of months before, Russell would have chalked it up to another perfect night with the family. The kids weren’t fighting or acting up. Joely wasn’t hovering over everything trying to find problems where there weren’t any just so she could have something to do by fixing them. And he was allowed to do exactly what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it. He bought the steaks he wanted, marinated them in the store-bought sauces she insisted were unhealthy and too salty. He even didn’t have to hear any nagging about the movie he chose, that it may have been too violent for the kids. Everything was exactly like he felt it should be.

  So why wasn’t he happy about it?

  He blamed Jena for throwing a wrench in their plans for the weekend. She had been a huge help during the kids’ last visit. She kept them entertained during the day, and him entertained at night. Unlike Joely, Jena was eager to make him happy. From the day she started working at his office, she catered to his every need with an unspoken enthusiasm. She never had any complaint. She never nagged. She never said no. Whatever he needed, whenever he needed it, she’d make it all happen with a smile on her face.

  She had made him feel like a god. She was so fucking hot, with her ample tits, that tiny little waist and that sweet curve of her ass. Her legs were long and lean and her soft skin was still taut and smooth. Her big full lips always curved into a teasing smile whenever their eyes met, with sparkling blue eyes that mirrored his own.

  She had been suggestive without being slutty, which made the chase more fun. Six months ago he finally caught her, and she had reminded him how satisfying sex could be. She was an eager partner who never shied away from any request, unlike Joely, who always looked like she was burdened by the chore of their lovemaking.

  He couldn’t even remember where it started, but their love life flat-lined years before. She stopped wearing sexy nightgowns, opting to sleep in thread-bare T-shirts and formless pajama bottoms. She would scrub her face clean of any makeup and pulled her drab hair back into a generic ponytail that had always made him want to cut the damn thing right off.

  And it never mattered how she looked anyway because anytime he got close to her she’d shut the light off so he couldn’t see her anyway. In recent years she wouldn’t even get undressed all the way. It was like she preferred sex as expedient as possible. She’d lain there like a dead fish, waiting for him to do his business so that she could get to sleep.

  He stopped romancing her because he never had to. He’d just poke at her with an erection and she’d do her wifely duty. He’ d get off, but she never did. When he first made love to Jena, she had a multiple orgasm within minutes of his penetrating her. She thrashed around under him, clutching him tight within her body, telling him how fantastic he was and how good it all felt. With Joely, he could have been stroking for a solid hour and she always looked like she’d rather paint her nails or compose a grocery list.

  He lost sight of who he was as a man with her, so of course he blamed her entirely for the fact he had to stray. He couldn’t muster a speck of sympathy for her, even when she had been crying and screaming at him the second she found out he’d been prowling around. Had she cared she wouldn’t have stopped trying to please him. Her heartbreak was her own damned fault. Did she really think she could stop tending the garden without a few weeds taking over?

  He thought back to how she looked that night in that dress with a scowl. If only she had done something like that when they were still together, maybe they wouldn’t have had to blow the whole family apart. She had cut and styled her hair, with blonde highlights that made her look years younger. Her eyes popped with dramatic makeup she had never worn in all their years together. That silk stretched over her body like a second skin. He could almost see every pore, every freckle underneath. When she walked away, the jiggle in her ass even made him stir a little bit as he remembered what it had felt like to disappear inside of her.

  When they had been good, it had been great.

  Now it was over.

  Or was it?

  She was dressing up for a new reason now, and Russell was quite curious to know exactly what that reason was.

  He waited until after the movie, when Nash had disappeared into yet another video game, and Hannah had gone to sleep, before he cornered Kari to get the skinny. He found her in the kitchen, putting dishes in the dishwasher. He stood beside her to help.

  “So what’s the deal with your mom and her makeover? Is she dressing like that a lot now?”

  Kari spared him a curious glance. “Not really. I mean, she’s dressing up more because of her new job and everything, but this was the first time she’d dressed to go out.”

  “Your mom has a job?”

  Kari nodded as she rinsed off another plate. “She’s making cookies and stuff to sell at Nanna’s restaurant.”

  His brow furrowed. “Why would she dress up to work at the restaurant?”

  “She doesn’t work at the restaurant, exactly. She makes everything at home and they sell it at the restaurant. She’s doing pretty well,” Kari admitted. “Xander thinks she can turn it all into a legitimate business.”

  “Who’s Xander?”

  Kari didn’t even look at her father. She couldn’t. She suspected he’d see too much. “He’s the new manager at Lillian’s Place.”

  “I didn’t know your grandmother had hired anyone to run the place.”

  Kari nodded. “And he’s brilliant,” she started, but abruptly stopped. “Anyway, he and Mom have been working pretty closely to launch Back for Seconds, that’s what they call it. He’s worked at restaurants all over the world so if anyone can make this a success, it’s Xander.”

  “I see,” Russell said. “So you think she was going to see him tonight?”

  Kari chuckled. Her dad could be so funny sometimes. “It’s not like that,” she said. “He’s way too young for Mom.” Young hot guys like Xander, who wore designer clothes and expensive cologne, who drove sports cars like a bat out of hell and listened to alternative rock and the rap music she liked could never go for anyone as stuffy and square as her mother.

  No, thought Kari. He was waiting for someone a little more exciting – like someone eleven years younger. That was what she was hoping anyway.

  None of what she was saying made Russell feel any better. He could see what Kari couldn’t see. Her mother was on the hunt. “So she hasn’t met anyone else?”

  Again Kari laughed. “Where? She’s working all the time with the cookies. She rarely leaves the house.”

  “She looked like she was going somewhere tonight.”

  “She’s going out with Auntie Novi,” Kari informed him. Russell’s scowl deepened.

  He had resented Novanna Barton-Lytle for more years than he cared to remember. Though she was the wife of his best friend, they had nothing in common. From their politics to their religion, to the very way they decided to live their lives, Novanna couldn’t be more different from Russell if she tried… and he often suspected she might have been doing that very thing.

  She didn’t want kids, which made no sense to him. He had told David for years that the clock was ticking. If Novanna didn’t want to provide him a family, there were scores of other women who would, women who weren’t such ball-busters and so damned hard to like. David would always shake his head, saying that he was happy with Novanna, with or without kids.

  Russell suspected that was all bullshit, and had called him on it more than once.

  Ever since he learned that it was Novi who ratted on him to Joely, in effect lighting the fuse that blew their whole existence apart, Russell had gotten a little sneakier to boot Novanna from his be
st friend’s life. He had enlisted Jena to find someone more compatible, which led to hiring twenty-four-year-old Amy Overstreet. She was the opposite of Novanna in every possible way. She was tall, blonde and fair, coming from a rural town that prided itself on traditional values. She transferred to their church, where she did volunteer work in the nursery. She had no outrageous ambitions like Novi, who wanted to fix the world and everything she found wrong with it. Amy was happy to clock in to work every day, doing what she was told with an even temper and good humor.

  All David had to do was see what a gold mine he had right in front of him day after day and Russell could completely cut Novanna Barton-Lytle from his life at last. It was the last thing he’d have to clean up from his decades’ long tour of duty as Joely’s husband.

  Knowing that Joely was out with Novanna right that second only made his hatred for both of them burn even brighter. No doubt it was her idea to parade Joely in front of him, dressed like some ridiculous sexpot, trying to rub what he no longer had in his face. He decided that wasn’t going to work. His life was better, and happier, without Joely in it.

  All he had to do now was wait till Hannah turned eighteen and he’d never have to see her again. He made a mental note to call his attorney on Monday, to go ahead with the divorce proceedings he had thus far postponed. He knew the marriage was over the minute she had thrown her wedding rings at him during The Event. Instead of feeling shame for being caught, he had been relieved. He hadn’t been happy with Joely for a long, long time. Her learning about his affair liberated him because he no longer had to hide it. He no longer had to play the perfect husband. He could send her on her merry way and spend his time with women who really enjoyed his company.