Ethan (California Dreamy) Read online

  “Possibly,” Ethan admitted. “But I plan to change that.”

  “Not an easy task.”

  “No.”

  Her eyes skimmed over his shoulders, taking in their determined set, then rose to his face which was equally decisive.

  “It could be you’re up for it,” she allowed and opened the door so he could pass through.

  “She isn’t expecting you,” her mother tossed over her shoulder as she showed him to the back of the house.

  “No.”

  She stopped in front of a set of French doors that opened onto the back patio and turned to him. “I want a smile on my daughter’s face before you leave,” she told him.

  “Yes, Ma’am. That’s my plan,” Ethan confided.

  She opened the door and he followed her through it.

  Shae was in the back yard, on a lounger and reading a magazine. She was munching from a bowl of party mix and a bottle of carbonated water sat on a nearby table.

  “Shae,” her mother began. “You have a visitor.”

  Shae turned, her eyes went wide, and her hand poised before her lips, loaded with pretzels and Chex. Ethan smiled into her surprise.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” he said. He rocked back on his heels. “I would have called. . .well, I did plenty of that. I needed to do more.”

  Shae nodded. She dumped the party mix back into the bowl and swung her legs over the lounge chair as she prepared to stand.

  “Are you okay, Shae?” her mother asked.

  “Yes. Thanks, Mom,” she said.

  “Can I get you anything,” her mother asked Ethan. “Ice tea or maybe a sandwich—it’s about lunch time.”

  “No thank you, Mrs. Matthews.”

  “Laurie,” she corrected then told them, “I have an appointment I need to get ready for. Make yourselves at home.” She went inside and closed the doors behind her, giving them privacy.

  “You’re here,” Shae said and stood.

  “And I’m staying,” Ethan promised, “for as long as it takes.”

  “As long as what takes?”

  “Give us a chance, Shae,” he said simply. “That’s what I’m asking for.”

  “You don’t know,” she began, “I mean, I could be pregnant—”

  “I do know, and I don’t care.”

  Shae nodded.

  “You know me better than anyone, Shae. And I’m not talking only about my past. You know my struggles and my triumphs. You stood beside me, with an uncommon compassion, and helped me explore my darkest moments. That’s true and a man would be a fool to leave that behind. But you’re also gutsy. You rose to the top in a world that would just as soon chew you up and spit you out, and you did it with an honesty that doesn’t usually survive in our business. You took on a man you didn’t know from Adam, tread where few would be willing to go, and you did it knowing there would be no personal gain.” Ethan felt emotion seep into his voice, but he wasn’t finished. He cleared the huskiness from his throat and continued, “You’re driven, but by the purest motives. You have a sense of humor that delights me and a body that makes my knees weak.”

  She looked a little like that deer in the headlights, so Ethan stepped closer. He took her hand in his and it felt so right, he didn’t want to imagine a moment when he reached and she wasn’t there.

  “Will you give us that chance, Shae?’

  She nodded, wiped a tear that had slipped from her eyes and said, “Yes.”

  Epilogue

  Shae slipped on the wrist corsage and then looked at herself in the mirror. Eva had good taste. She’d chosen a deep red silk for her bride’s maids’ dresses and simple flower arrangements as their only accessory. Shae also loved the table decorations—glass slippers filled with fine chocolates, the heels wrapped in a tulle bow—and the live jazz band who would perform after the ceremony. Ethan’s sister had included Shae in all the wedding preparations, often dividing up errands into lists she’d handed to Emme and Shae and two other women, friends who were also serving as bride’s maids, to complete.

  Shae stepped out of her hotel room—the one she would share with Ethan that night—and lifted her face to the sun. Eva was getting married at a historic hotel situated on the beach in San Diego. It was grand, elegant, everything Eva had wanted it to be. But it was September, and even with the cool ocean breezes, the heat of the day would quickly melt the chocolates. So earlier Shae had run around with the other ladies and put dry ice into each slipper decoration. The flowers hadn’t been placed at that point, staying in the cooling units until just before the ceremony in order to keep them fresh. From her vantage point, she could see the linen-covered tables and the blue-coated servers moving among them, making final adjustments.

  Ethan’s family had embraced Shae this past year, including her in holidays and birthday celebrations; she’d gone on shopping extravaganzas with his mom and often met Eva and Emme for dinner; and she and Emme had become fast friends. They enjoyed many of the same activities and had gradually become allies and confidants.

  Kara approved of Ethan one hundred percent, and she’d let Shae know that after their first meeting. Since then he’d gone up on her rating scale. Her parents warmed to him quickly; Nikki and Jude saw less of Shae and Ethan, her sister being newly married and Jude committed to some kind of elusive justice, but when they did get together, everyone got along easily.

  All of which made Shae incredibly happy. She wanted their families to enjoy each other. She wanted to move easily between the two, including both in their lives. Their lives. She gazed at the diamond ring on her finger—five carats, princess cut, wreathed in smaller diamonds—and felt her insides melt. The past eleven months had brought them closer and Shae honestly couldn’t see a future without him. Even if it meant she would never have a child.

  The implants hadn’t taken and she and Ethan hadn’t begun trying.

  She felt her smile twist a little. Funny how time and the gathering closeness of someone you loved could change a person’s perspective.

  Ethan didn’t ask her to give up on her dream of motherhood. In fact, he’d promised her several babies and had just this morning offered to start right away. Shae, being less than traditional, had agreed to go without protection beginning tonight. At her age, she knew it could be months before they conceived, and she was fine with that. She was looking forward first to planning their wedding, which was only two months away.

  Thanksgiving. Her favorite holiday. November, her favorite month. She would use autumn colors and her gown was a Vera Wang.

  “Thinking ahead?”

  Ethan came up behind her and slid his arms around her waist. She was no longer surprised that he could read her so well. He was right, she wore her feelings on her face, shared them in a direct stare. And those traits had done them well. It hadn’t happened often, but Ethan had ducked inside himself a time or two and Shae had called him on it as agreed upon. Ethan had responded by shaking the bad memories and their phantom emotions and engaging with her on a level of intimacy that stole her breath.

  “It’s only two months away,” she reminded him. She had a lot to do. They wanted a small ceremony and kept it to seventy guests. They’d chosen the beach, of course, but in Hawaii. They’d reserved fifty-five rooms at a hotel on Kaanapali and would treat their families and friends to a week’s vacation. Hers would be a dream wedding, too.

  She turned in his arms and looked into his face. He had shaved. His hair was recently trimmed and pushed back in a wind-swept kind of way so that the strong lines of his nose and cheeks were prominent. He looked rugged, strong, but she knew when she found his gaze she would fall into a softness he reserved just for her. She went there eagerly. His green eyes reflected a depth of emotion she’d come to expect from him. He trusted his heart, and hers, too. And that gave her more than hope; it gave her commitment.

  “No need to remind me,” he said, and turned to place a warm kiss in her palm. “I’d have married you months ago.”

  It was true.
He’d asked her at Christmas, but they were still so new—really just three months into each other—and she had wanted to wait. When he’d asked her in the spring, she’d said yes but suggested a date in November. He had argued for a summer wedding, had tried to lure her with the promise of a surf ceremony, but she had resisted. Fall felt right and she had learned to respect timing.

  She smoothed the frown lines on his brow. “Was it so hard, waiting a few extra months?”

  He didn’t need to consider that. “Yes.”

  She smiled and he bent his head to capture it with a kiss. And then their cell phones buzzed.

  “Photos,” Shae murmured. Ethan would be standing in for his father and walking Eva down the aisle where they would be met by their mother; together they would hand Eva into marriage. It was a beautiful choreography.

  He pulled back and spread his arms. “I look okay?”

  He looked way better than a mediocre okay. He filled out every inch of his black tux with a strength that was almost too raw to be elegant, and managed the red ascot and cummerbund with a masculine flair that Shae found breath-taking. She fanned herself and said, “I’ll try to keep my hands off you today, but no promises.”

  His smile filled with wicked intent. “No need to restrain yourself,” he told her, sliding an arm around her waist and turning her towards the stairs.

  “I’ll make it at least until the dance floor,” she returned.

  “And then you’ll have your way with me?”

  They walked toward the stairs, but she looked up and snared his gaze, her eyes filled with heat. “You’ll wish I had.”

  “Is that a promise?”

  “Just one of many.”

  Table of Contents

  Previous Books by Rian Kelley:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Epilogue