Stacy's Destiny by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

outside in. That way she could take advantage of the milder weather this week. She spent a few hours in Marie’s office organizing a mess of papers and disposing of garbage left around the room. It was disgusting, and she was rather surprised since Marie’s house was immaculate. Of course she was reamed out by Marie for organizing her clutter.
    “Why don’t you go into town and get the supplies you need for the cottage? My power washer is at the hardware store. It should be ready, and I have an account there. Tell Lewis to bill me for it,” Marie told Stacy.
    Twenty minutes later, Stacy had a shopping cart filled with painting supplies and other materials to fix the cottage and had made friends with the young woman, Lisa, who worked behind the counter.
    “I’ll need some help getting that power washer into Marie’s pickup truck,” Stacy said to Lisa as she paid her bill.
    “No problem, I’ll get Lewis to help you. He’s in the storage room,” Lisa said as she walked toward the back of the store. Stacy thought that everyone in town was really friendly. It was a nice change from the city streets of New York.
    As she walked outside to place her bags in the truck, she absorbed the floral smell from all the planters surrounding the hardware store then the numerous other planters that lined the streets of Pearl. It was a gorgeous town, like something out of a fantasy.
    “Hey, darling, you need some help with them bags?” someone asked, and when she turned around, she saw some man she didn’t recognize. He looked dirty and scruffy, and her gut instincts kicked in, telling her to be careful.
    “No, thank you. I’m fine,” she replied, and he scowled at her before taking an aggressive step closer to her.
    Instinctively she clutched the bags tighter and stepped away.
    “You’re the new girl staying with Lemorte, aren’t ya? I bet you’re just shy not knowing anyone in town. Why don’t you come for a ride with me, and I can give ya a real nice welcoming sugar,” he stated then reached for her. Automatically Stacy turned to run and smacked into what felt like a solid wall of steel. As she gasped in shock, an arm of muscle went around her waist. The man lifted her then deposited her behind him. All she saw was a dark-brown uniform shirt, and she realized that it was the deputy.
    “Are you bothering this woman, Gutry?” Deputy Cantrell asked, and Stacy tried to peek around his large frame to see Gutry’s reaction. As she moved to the side, she felt another set of hands land on her waist, and she froze in place. She was really scared now and didn’t know who the third person could be.
    “It’s okay, honey, my brother will handle this. Don’t be afraid,” he whispered next to her ear. She sensed the large presence behind her and felt the heat of his body against her back. She was wedged between two very sexy men, and boy, did her body know it.
    She tried to focus on the banter going on between the guy named Gutry and the deputy, but Eric had yet to release her hips and Max still held a hand against her right thigh. For the life of her, she couldn’t believe how turned on she was, being touched by both brothers at once. It was shocking and scared her almost as much as Gutry.
    “I was just introducing myself to the new girl in town, and she was just about ready to go for a ride with me.”
    Stacy was shocked and outraged. “I was not!” she exclaimed as she attempted to get around Max. Eric held her firmly, and Max pressed against her thigh then looked over his shoulder at her. One look into those dark brown eyes and she froze in place.
    Suddenly she felt real uncomfortable. This wasn’t good at all.
    “You heard her. She ain’t interested so move along,” Max stated firmly.
    “I didn’t hear her say that. I think you two are scaring her,” Gutry responded, sounding cocky and not the least bit intimidated by the deputy.
    “Come on over here to me, honey. You don’t want to mess with these two. They