Page 34 of What a Wolf Wants
Ethan felt the same way and couldn’t imagine parting company with Charlene for all that time without keeping in touch with her if he really cared about her.
“I had no idea you would move across the country.” Noah sounded furious that she had the nerve to do that and had not even given him the courtesy of telling him.
Ethan was glad that she had gotten away from the disagreeable wolf. She deserved a whole lot more.
She shook her head. “We were not good together. I know that now. And you said that yourself several times.” Thenshe paused and frowned. “You didn’t, per chance, send me a bouquet of roses, did you?”
“That son of a bitch.” Noah sounded growly, ready to turn wolf and tear into the offender.
Ethan took his irate response as a no, and he suspected right away that Noah thought his friend Renault had sent them to Charlene.
“Pardon?” Charlene asked.
“Renault Green. He said that he was with a DEA team that raided your home accidentally. That’s how he knew you had moved to Portland.”
So Noah didn’t know that Charlene was living in Oyster Bay now then?
“Then he asked me if I’d moved to Portland too, wanting to know if we were together or not. I told him we were taking a break, but yeah, we were getting back together. The bastard.”
“He’s supposed to be your friend,andyou and I broke up permanently, not temporarily. If it had been just a temporary situation, I wouldn’t have moved to Oregon. He’s living in Portland now and if he thinks he can see me—”
“He’s not a wolf, damn it!”
Charlene took a deep breath and let it out. “Okay, listen, not that it’s any of your business, but I’m seeing a wolf. I’m not dating Renault, so you can quit being perturbed with him. Unless you two have had a fight about something else, he’s still your friend.”
Silence.
“I’ve got to go now. I hope you find what you’re lookingfor in a relationship with a she-wolf, Noah. Truly, I do, but we just don’t have what it takes. Bye.” She didn’t wait for him to say anything further and hung up on him.
Ethan smiled at her, glad she’d told it like it was. “So do you think that Renault sent you the flowers or not?”
“Well, we know for sure now that Noah hadn’t. But I would say it’s inconclusive as to whether Renault had. Did you notice that Noah thinks I still live in Portland? If Renault knew I had moved to Oyster Bay, he didn’t tell Noah any differently.”
“Hmm, then it’s still possible Renault doesn’t know that you moved either, and he might not have sent you the roses. The guys knew I was having dinner with you after the retirement party, but they could have assumed that we were doing that in Portland. I was moving to Oyster Bay after that.”
“You told them that you were having dinner with the woman whose home you tore up?” she asked, sounding a little bothered by the idea.
He was afraid he was in the doghouse with Charlene because of it. “It just came up. Adam, Sierra, and Tori said something about the date to me and then one of my team members heard the news and it spread like wildfire.”
“Like it would within a wolf pack.”
“Exactly.” Then Ethan smiled at her. “Thanks for letting me listen in on the conversation.”
“It was necessary in case Noah wasn’t getting the message or he thought I wasn’t really dating a wolf. I’m dating you and working with you on your case. So I wanted everything to be out in the open with you. And I wanted him toknow for certain that it’s over between us. I can’t believe he thought we just needed some time away from each other.”
“Yeah, for two whole months.” Still her comment about being open with Ethan made him feel guilty that he hadn’t been that way with her to begin with. “I appreciate it and I’m sure glad we’re dating.”
“I know that it doesn’t mean you’ll be staying in the area, but for now, I’m enjoying spending the time with you,” she said.
“The same thing here.”
“Thankfully, the rentals are easy to maintain while I can get other things done. I have a maintenance guy lined up if there’s any trouble with either rental home and a cleaning crew who will take care of cleaning when the occupants vacate the premises. Everything for booking is automated and then I just keep up with reservations and answering emails from registered guests or those interested in renting one of the places.”
“That sounds like a great deal.”
“Yeah, it frees me up to be able to go on a mission to help you catch bad guys, though I guess the drawback would be you finishing your mission and leaving Oyster Bay since the house you’re staying at isn’t really yours.”
“Well, if we’re still dating, I’ll have to find a solution to that situation then. But I will be glad to get these guys all behind bars. And this time Kroner for good. Then we’ll be free to just do whatever we would like to do,” he said.
