Sondrae Bennett - Chasing Paradise

Collapsing into one of the kitchen chairs, Ethan put his head in his hands and groaned out in frustration. He didn’t need his family getting on his case. What he needed was their help. He knew exactly how badly he’d screwed up.

“What am I supposed to do? She means the world to me. Already I can feel the bond between us. It’s like she’s a part of me now. But she won’t let me get close enough to fix this.” There was a long silence and Ethan felt the heated gaze of both brothers as they silently assessed him.

“Well, sounds to me like you have to woo her. Don’t just tell her, show her,” Danny suggested after a lengthy pause.

“I don’t know how.” Ethan had never “wooed” a woman before in his life. They’d always sought out his attention. It figured his charm would disappear when it was most important.

“Well, sounds to me, baby brother, we need to come up with a game plan.” Jason’s wide grin reassured Ethan. Operation Woo Gwen was underway. And with his brothers’ help, she didn’t stand a chance of resisting. He wouldn’t fail. This was too important.

His siege began the next evening. Gwen had spent the day with Alyssa, looking at locations for her B&B, and Ethan knew how difficult searching for a house could be.

As she walked through the door of their home, Ethan had a glass of red wine ready for her. He’d already enlisted Alyssa’s help, finding out all of Gwen’s favorite things. Upstairs a bubble bath waited, candles scattered around the room.

Surprisingly, Alyssa had been a huge help. He’d been a bit reluctant to approach her, considering she had threatened to castrate him if he hurt Gwen. And he had hurt her. He only had to look into her eyes to see how deep that hurt went.

So her enthusiasm to help him had been a shock. But as she’d explained, she wanted her friend happy. It seemed he had yet another ally on his side, and this one might prove to be the most valuable of all. Although, her help did come at a price. The hour long lecture hadn’t been fun, but a small price to pay for insider knowledge.

He hated seeing the confusion and wariness in Gwen’s eyes as he held out her glass of wine and leaned down to kiss her cheek.

“I don’t understand,” Gwen said as he led her to the bathroom, where the scent of vanilla spiraled up from the warm bubble bath. Another favorite.

“What don’t you understand, pet?”

She looked at him warily, almost as if she waited for him to jump her.

She honestly hadn’t expected anything from him, he realized with a start. Except sex. She thought sex was going to be the extent of their relationship. That he would use her to slake his lust and not take any interest in who she was or what she did. Would he ever stop feeling like a complete ass?

“Why?” Her simple question hung in the air between them.

Nope , he thought, always going to be an ass.

“Because I know you’ve been on your feet all day and I want you to relax. Do I need a reason to spoil my woman?”

Appreciation slowly seeped into her eyes, replacing the wariness. Relief crashed through him. At least he was making some headway.

“Thank you, Ethan. I hadn’t expected… I’m sure you’re hungry. If you give me a little time to enjoy this, I can whip something up for us afterward.”

“Already taken care of. All you have to do is relax, enjoy, and leave the rest to me.” He thought she’d be pleased and was dismayed to see her eyes fill with quickly hidden tears.

“Gwen, what’s wrong?” Anything else he could deal with. But her tears made his wolf crazy. He’d do anything to keep her from crying. Couldn’t he do anything right? Even trying to spoil her, he made her cry.

“Nothing, Ethan. Everything is perfect. I just didn’t expect any of this. I thought things would be more impersonal.”

Yep, I’m an asshole, Ethan thought once again.

“Things are not going to be like you expected, Gwen. You are the woman of my heart, and it’s my pleasure to take care of you.”

She didn’t believe him. The skepticism shone from her eyes. But at least she was smiling. Smiles were better than tears.

“Thank you, Ethan.” She leaned up and kissed him gently on the cheek. “You’re a good man.”

Instead of feeling considerate, her gratitude made him feel lower than scum. He had hurt her immeasurably, and she was calling him a good man.

Leaving her to the bath, Ethan went downstairs to finish dinner. His heart ached at how deeply a few careless words could wound another. She didn’t trust him. Not that he could blame her. But her amazement at such simple courtesies bothered him. The determination to make it up to her burned through him. No matter what it took, he’d fix this.

Occasionally, he’d catch glimpses of the woman hidden behind the wall she erected between them, a woman who stunned him in her brilliance.

This morning, Alyssa had come over early to meet with Gwen before they went house hunting. He’d overheard their discussion about the inn and stopped outside the room to listen as they discussed their plan of action. Gwen took charge, her tone confident. He’d been impressed by her real estate savvy. But as soon as he entered the room, the shutters fell over her eyes and the bright aura surrounding her dimmed. Her words had stumbled to a halt until he left. Seeing the pain and uncertainty he had caused was the worst kind of punishment.

Gwen came into the kitchen as he was putting the finishing touches on the salad. She wore a red bathrobe he’d bought for her. Her long wet hair fell down her back, clinging to her damp skin. Ethan caught her hand as she moved to sit at the table. Her pulse skittered as his thumb gently stroked over the sensitive area. Leaning down he placed a delicate kiss in the center of her palm before holding her chair out.

“Keep her off balance,” his brothers had advised. “Don’t give her time to second-guess anything. If she can’t second-guess it, she’ll have a hard time ignoring it.” Sound advice and Ethan took it to heart. He’d show her love and caring over and over again until she believed him, no matter how long it took.

“How was your day?” Ethan asked as Gwen stared at their dinner in shock. It wasn’t much, pasta and breaded chicken with salad on the side, but Gwen looked more than pleased with the fare.

“What? Oh, all right. We found one place on the edge of town we really liked but we’re hoping we can get a better price on it. I didn’t know you could cook. This dinner is amazing.”

“Hopefully it lives up to your expectations.” Ethan threw Gwen a dazzling smile. “Tell me more about this B&B and the house you guys found. You haven’t told me much.”

Assessing eyes stared back at him. “I didn’t think you cared.”

Ethan carefully placed his fork on his plate and took Gwen’s hand where it rested on the table. “Gwen, I wish you would forget what you overheard back in California. It wasn’t meant to push you away. And I certainly don’t feel like that. You are my mate, and I want to know what happens during your day. I want to know your hopes and plans for the future and share mine in turn. I’m not only invested in what happens to you, I’m genuinely interested. But most of all, Gwen, I want to take care of you. I want to cherish you, because you deserve to be cherished.”

The man was good , Gwen thought, staring at her plate. Everything Ethan said was everything she’d ever hoped for. What woman didn’t want to be cherished by the man she loved? But it was so hard to let go of the hurt he’d caused with those few careless words. He’d made her feel like she wasn’t good enough for him, and that wasn’t something she could just ignore.