Daring Dixie

by Tara Crescent

  He’s standing a little too close, his eyes fixated on my breasts, a very unpleasant leer on his face. I take a step back. What does he mean—he knows what I’ve been doing? “What do you want, John?”

  “Well, let’s see.” He crowds me again. “I had my one-on-one with Xavier on Friday. You must be feeling pretty smug and self-satisfied right now. Slept your way right to the top. There’s a word for women like you, Dixie.” His expression contorts with disgust. “But it’s worse than that, isn’t it? It wasn’t just Kane you fucked. You fucked two men. At the same time.”

  I go very cold. “How did you find out?”

  “You weren’t exactly quiet about it,” he sneers. “Everyone in that taqueria heard you. Disgusting.”

  A shock goes through me. John must have been there on Tuesday. I was drunk. Loud. Recklessly foolish.

  And now he knows.

  I brace myself for a wave of self-hatred and shame.

  It doesn’t come.

  “I’m going to make this easy for you,” he continues. “Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to go into Xavier’s office on Monday. You’re going to tell him you’re not interested in Pierre’s job. You’ve been thinking about it, and it’s too much responsibility. You’re not ready.”

  My mouth falls open. “What? No.”

  “Or,” he continues, ignoring my refusal. “I will tell everyone what you did. Every single person in the office. You decide. Does the world find out that Dixie Ketcham likes to spread her legs for any man that comes along?”

  The hair on the back of my neck stands up. “You’re blackmailing me.”

  “Oh yes, I am,” he says grimly. “I’ve worked too hard for this. You come in six months ago, and you think that all you need to do is put out like a fucking slut? Fuck that shit.”

  I clench my eyes shut. Not because I don’t want to face this situation, but because I need a moment to compose myself.

  The man in front of me is John Stone, but when he calls me a slut, it’s not his voice I hear. It’s William’s. That voice has haunted me since I was seventeen. It has kept me closed off and afraid and alone. I’ve spent most of my adult life being ashamed of my desires.

  Enough.

  William’s words can’t haunt me any longer. Not if I refuse to let them. I’m not a teenager. I’m a grown woman, and I’m taking my power back.

  I open my eyes and stare at the man in front of me. “Do your worst,” I tell John, my voice clear. “Tell whoever you want. I’m not backing down. I’m not ashamed of sleeping with Hunter and Eric.”

  “You aren’t?” Eric’s voice asks from behind me. I swivel around, and it’s not just Eric standing there. Hunter’s there too. As is Xavier. And Hira.

  Oh crap. We have an audience.

  Time to dive into the deep end of the pool. I lift my head and meet Eric’s gaze. “I’m not.” I pivot to the VP of Human Resources. “I need to disclose that Eric and I are…” My voice trails off. I don’t want to announce that we’re in a relationship; that would be presumptuous. I should probably ask Eric and Hunter if they want to do that first.

  “Are?”

  “Involved,” Eric says.

  John’s recovering from his shock. “She’s been sleeping with Kane, and they’ve been hiding it from you,” he says, his voice accusing. “In fact, she’s sleeping with both of them.” He points his finger at me. “Two men.”

  “And?” Hira’s voice is frosty. “So what? I fail to see how Dixie’s personal life is any of my business. As for her relationship with Eric Kane, it’s already been disclosed to HR.”

  “What?” I blurt out. “How? I didn’t tell—”

  “I did.” Xavier speaks for the very first time. “I sat down with Hira a few weeks ago. I wanted to ensure I was evaluating both of you fairly.” His gaze moves from me to John. His eyes harden. “You tried to blackmail one of my employees,” he says. “Hira, let’s head to my office and take care of this. John, come with me.”

  “Not so fast,” Eric grits out. “He called Dixie a slut.”

  “Yes,” Xavier agrees. “And, judging by the look on your face, you want to punch him. But before you do, could I remind you that you’re still an employee of Leforte, and what you’re planning to do is definitely against the rules?”

  Hunter steps forward. “Eric might be an employee of yours,” he says grimly. “But I’m not.” His fist jabs out and connects with John’s jaw.

  John crumples to the floor.

  Xavier sighs. He waves his hand, and a security guard appears out of nowhere. “Please get Mr. Stone to a room,” he says. “I’ll deal with him in the morning.” He gives Hira a wry smile. “Sorry to make you work on a Sunday.”

  She laughs. “That’s okay, Xavier. I’m used to it.”

  The party is in full swing. The band is loud, and everyone is on the dance floor. Xavier and Hira have rejoined the festivities. Hira gave me an encouraging smile before she went back into the ballroom. If I’ve shocked her by my revelation, she’s showing no sign of it.

  Only the three of us remain.

  I swallow the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry I ran away on Tuesday,” I whisper. “Eric had suggested that ridiculous fantasy, and we were all wet, and I realized I’d fallen in love with you. I was scared.” I take a deep breath. “I don’t want to let fear win anymore. I’m not as brave as Fiona, Avery, and Kiera. I’ve got a lot of conditioning to overcome. I know you don’t want to be in a relationship with me, but—”

  “Dix,” Eric interrupts. “What do you mean, we don’t want to be in a relationship with you?”

  I blink. “Well, it’s true. Hunter’s got too much going on, and you… you just don’t want it.”

  Hunter opens his mouth to protest, but Eric gets there first. He tilts his head to a side. “And you reached this conclusion how?”

  I give him an exasperated look. “Come on, Eric. Do I have to spell it out? We were sleeping together, and your first loyalty was to Xavier. You wouldn’t even tell me he was pissed off with me.”

  “Dixie, I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”

  “I asked him about some Thailand transactions, and—”

  “Wait, what? He wasn’t pissed off with you about that. I’m pretty sure that’s the day he decided to offer you the job.” He frowns. “Oh, shit. I think he wanted to tell you himself. Oops.”

  I’m so confused. “If Xavier wasn’t annoyed with me, why didn’t you want me with you when you talked to Kevin Hughes?”

  “I wanted to protect you.” He looks faintly sheepish. “I know you don’t need protecting. What can I say? It’s a thing I do. Hughes didn’t like you. If you’d been there at that meeting, he would have fixated on you. I wanted to insulate you from that.”

  “Oh.” It’s not the first time he’s protected me from Kevin. Weeks ago, Kevin had been outraged about some contract or the other, and in our weekly huddle, Eric had jumped to my defense.

  I feel like a fool. “I thought…” My voice trails off. My cheeks heat. “I might have jumped to conclusions. Again. Sorry.”

  He waves it aside. “Forget that. None of that is important. You love us?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” I hear the relief in his voice. He takes a deep breath, and his eyes lock on mine. “After Cici, I didn’t want to be in love with anyone. Then you came along. I’m completely head-over-heels in love with you. And Hunter loves you, and—”

  “Hunter is perfectly capable of speaking for himself, thanks,” Hunter quips. “But yes. What Eric said. I thought I couldn’t handle a relationship, but then you showed up at my house with a casserole. I thought I was alone, and you made me see that I wasn’t. I’m crazy about you, Dixie. And I hope that this means that you want something more committed and less casual, because that’s what I want.”

  Joy spreads through my body. “That’s what I want too.”

  I’m not a fool. It won’t always be easy. The world really does look askance
at non-traditional relationships. People will judge me. I still have no idea what I’m going to say to my brother.

  But I have Eric and Hunter on my side, and I know it’ll all work out. It’s going to be amazing.

  Epilogue

  Dixie

  Early Spring

  The last few months have been filled with milestones.

  The Monday after the gala, Xavier Leforte called me into his office and formally offered me the Chief Operating Officer job. “It’s not going to be easy,” he warned me. “Pierre left things in a mess. Eric’s been fixing it, but the work isn’t done. And now, with John gone as well—”

  John Stone had been fired, of course. To his credit, he hadn’t acted surprised. I’d been afraid he’d press charges against Hunter, but he hadn’t. I think John realized he’d screwed up, big-time, and if he ever wanted to work in the corporate world again, he’d need to make amends. He’d even emailed me an apology. It wasn’t the slightest bit sincere, but it still took me by surprise.

  “You need to find his replacement,” Xavier had continued. “You need to find your replacement as well.”

  “My department is easy,” I’d responded. “Leona Miller will make a fantastic General Counsel.”

  “I tried to promote her,” Xavier had replied. “She turned it down.”

  “She didn’t want to work for Pierre. She said she didn’t need the hassle.”

  He’d grimaced. “Ah. Okay. I’m not going to lie to you—the next year will be a challenge.”

  He was not wrong. Leforte’s subsidiaries had gone too long without any real oversight. John’s entire department was a toxic mess and finding someone to take that over would be a challenge.

  Then there was Xavier himself. My boss had been content to let Pierre run Leforte Enterprises. It wasn’t until things had started going badly wrong that he’d stepped in. The instant I proved that I had things under control, he’d back away again.

  I was under no illusions—I knew exactly what I was getting into.

  “You’re not doing a very good job selling this to me,” I’d quipped. “I’m in.”

  The same week, before Xavier formally made the announcement, I’d had lunch with Hira at a nearby Chinese restaurant. After some small talk, I’d broached the topic on my mind. “Be honest with me,” I’d said. “Were you shocked?”

  “About your threesome?” Hira had considered my question. “Shocked isn’t the right word. I was surprised.”

  “Really?”

  I must have sounded skeptical because Hira had chuckled. “Dixie, we work for Xavier Leforte. It’s not exactly a secret that he owns a sex club. Do you really think anyone here will be scandalized by your personal life?”

  “It’s going to get out.”

  “It will, yes,” Hira had agreed. “That’s inevitable. John hadn’t exactly kept his voice down. So what? You’ll be the subject of gossip for a day or two, maybe even a week. But there’s a lot going on. John tried to blackmail you, and he got fired. There are rumors of a shake-up. People have other things to worry about. Trust me, your news is a very minor blip.” She’d smiled to soften the sting. “No offense.”

  “None taken. I’m sorry I didn’t you about Eric.”

  “As your friend, I understand.” She’d taken a sip of her jasmine tea. “As the head of HR, I want to remind you that nobody at Leforte is exempt from following the rules. Not even our soon-to-be Chief Operating Officer.”

  “I can respect that.” And I could. At my last employer, Rollins, Atterby & Rourke, the Head of HR was David Atterby’s wife, Mindy. David hired young, pretty assistants, and he liked to grope them. One of them had been naïve enough to approach Mindy. Needless to say, it went nowhere. Mindy badmouthed her all over town. Jackson isn’t that big. Emma hadn’t been able to find work for months.

  Not at Leforte. Here, HR has a mandate and the authority to follow through, and Hira’s not afraid to enforce it.

  “Are we still friends?” I’d asked.

  “Of course.” Hira had smiled. “Always.”

  As I predicted, my brother Michael had a hard time with my decision. “Two guys?” he’d said, sounding stunned. “How does that work? Never mind, don’t tell me. You’re my sister. I don’t even want to think of one guy pawing you, let alone two.”

  We hadn’t talked for more than a month after that phone call. Surprisingly, it had been my sister-in-law Jessica who’d reached out at the start of November. “About Thanksgiving,” she’d said.

  “Am I uninvited?”

  “What? No. I was calling to find out if we could do it at your house. The boys have always wanted to visit New York, and I thought we could make a trip of it. See the Thanksgiving parade, visit you, and meet Eric and Hunter.”

  “Oh.” I had not expected that. “Yes, of course. Are you okay—”

  “Dix,” she’d interrupted. “Do you know Tim and Sara Parsons? Sara was one of my bridesmaids.”

  Why were we talking about them? “Vaguely.”

  “Well, they’re in an open marriage now, have been for the last couple of years. And it’s done wonders for them. They used to snipe at each other all the time, and they don’t any longer. They seem renewed. So, if Eric and Hunter make you happy, I say, go for it. Life’s too short to be miserable.”

  I did not expect this. “And Michael? And the boys?”

  “Michael will come around eventually,” she’d responded. “As for the boys…” She’d snorted a laugh. “We’d invited Mrs. Delaney over for lunch last week. We were in the middle of our meal when Dylan overheard her complaining about a sore back. So he scampers away, comes back five minutes later with my vibrator in his hand, and offers it to her. ‘Momma uses this when she has a backache,’ he said.”

  My mouth falls open. I’m torn between shock and laughter. Rona Delaney is seventy-five. She organizes bake sales for the church, she knits socks for prison inmates—she’s a veritable saint. “What did she say?”

  “She thanked him very solemnly,” she’d replied. “It was awful. Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about Dylan and Jonathan. Children don’t fuss about things the way adults do.”

  As promised, Michael, Jessica, Dylan, and Jonathan had come up for Thanksgiving. Despite my sister-in-law’s assurances, I’d been concerned about my nephews’ reactions, but Jessica was right. Dylan and Jonathan were far less interested in the fact that Aunt Dixie lived with two men and much more interested in Hunter’s Datsun and in Eric’s model train collection. At the end of the visit, Michael had grudgingly admitted that they weren’t bad sorts. It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement, but I’ll take it.

  Our next big milestone was moving in together.

  This one came about out of sheer necessity. We didn’t really have anywhere to live. My apartment had only one bedroom, and my bed was a double. It was fine for me, but it was really too small for three people. Crammed together, we couldn’t get any sleep. (We didn’t really get much sleep for the first few months for other reasons, but that’s beside the point.)

  Both Eric and Hunter owned condos, but Eric’s condo was in New York, and Hunter’s in DC, so that wasn’t a solution. Hunter’s mother’s house was an option, but it wasn’t a good one. As much as we tried to make new memories there, it was obvious that Hunter wasn't happy there. He felt his mother’s absence too keenly.

  I don't think we would have moved in together as quickly as we did had it not been for that. But shortly after Christmas, a house came on the market in Caleb Reeves’ neighborhood, and we bought it.

  It was a big step, and I think we were all nervous about it. We’d only been dating for a few months at that point, and, of the three of us, only Eric had lived with a partner. Hunter had never been in a live-in relationship, and neither had I.

  But at the same time, it had felt right.

  The basement is filled with Eric’s model trains, and the garage is strewn with car parts. (Hunter found a 1970 Dodge Charger rusting in a barn somewhere in Upstate New York, and
now he’s busy restoring it.)

  I couldn’t be happier.

  December was also Eric’s last month at Leforte. I was pretty relieved on his last day. Now that our relationship is public knowledge, it’s hard for me to remember to keep my hands off him at the office.

  Though I wouldn’t have pegged him for one, I’ve discovered that Eric is a toucher. He expresses love through physical touch. A thousand times a day, his hand grazes mine. When my neck is stiff, his fingers knead out the knots. It’s been difficult for both of us to stay professional at work.

  Which brings me to our most important milestone yet. Today.

  It’s a lovely spring day. The sun is shining. Birds chirp. The cherry trees lining the driveway are in full blossom.

  In an hour, almost a hundred guests will celebrate the opening of the Breanna Driesse Community Center.

  We’d had so many conversations about what to do with this house. Hunter knew what he didn’t want to do. He didn’t want to tear this house down, and he definitely didn’t want to see a luxury gated subdivision in its place.

  In the end, it was Mitch Donahue who gave us the idea. He’d threatened the community health center, he’d tried to guilt Hunter to sell this house, and he’d help us realize there’s a real shortage of rental space in the neighborhood. The health center was able to buy their building, thanks to Xavier’s gala, but that wasn’t the case for many other non-profits.

  The Breanna Driesse Community Center is many things. A new building on the southern tip of the property offers inexpensive office space for local non-profits. There’s a massive barn that functions as event space.

  And then there’s the most important part, the farm for at-risk youth. There are horses and goats, cranky chicken and therapy pigs. Hunter leased out the house and some of the surrounding acreage to Molly and Jamal Dowery for the princely sum of a dollar. The kids will be moving in at the start of summer.

  “My mom would have loved this idea,” Hunter said to us the day Molly and Jamal signed the lease. “I can’t think of a better way to honor her memory.”