Free Worth the Challenge by Karen Erickson

to crash over him. The battle had grown old and he was weary fighting it. “Believe in me.”
    Alex rested his hand on Rhett’s shoulder in a show of support. “Give Hunter time. He’ll come around.”
    “I doubt that,” Rhett muttered, wishing like hell he didn’t doubt it.
    “Hey, now you two are talking like I’m not here.” Hunter frowned.
    Alex glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s only three, but I need to leave. We have plans to go to the country this weekend.” He’d bought a small farm an hour outside the city, for the love of God, wanting to give his family a taste of sprawling green grass, trees and cows mooing in the nearby pasture. Visiting there made Rhett realize what a city boy he was.
    And how much he preferred it that way.
    “I should go too. Gracie’s getting restless being cooped up with Michael all day.” Hunter smiled. That same goofy look he always got when he talked about his wife and son crossed his face. “She wants to go out to dinner.”
    “You should come out to our house,” Alex suggested. “Spend the weekend there.”
    “I don’t want to impose…”
    “You’re never imposing. Tessa would love it.” Alex turned to Rhett. “You can come too, if you’d like.”
    “No thanks. I have too much to do. I’m hoping we’ll leave first thing Monday.”
    “Use the jet,” Hunter suggested.
    “I don’t want to waste so much fuel. Carbon footprint and all.” That one woman he’d dated for about a month late last year had gone on and on about carbon footprints. An environmentalist who’d taken everything to the extreme, she’d harped on Rhett enough to push him away.
    But he’d never forgotten her impassioned speeches about protecting the environment.  
    “Check the schedule. If no one is using it, you can take it and leave it there,” Alex said.
    “What about the crew?”
    “You think they’ll protest spending a few days in Hawaii?” Hunter chuckled. “If I wasn’t so busy, I’d insist on accompanying you.”
    Christ, the very last thing Rhett wanted, his irritating brother constantly looking over his shoulder the entire trip. He had a vision, a plan for when they went to Maui and he didn’t want to explain it to Hunter. He’d probably laugh at him.
    That wouldn’t build his confidence. More like Hunter’s taunts would tear it down and rip it to shreds.
    “Use the jet,” Alex said. “You can leave and return when need be and it really won’t cost that much extra. Just do it, Rhett.”
    Just do it, Rhett. The words could be applied to so many things, including exploring his unusual interest in Gabriella Durand.
    He didn’t get it. And there was no use in trying to get it either. He was attracted to her. Her straightforwardness, the way she spoke, the sound of her voice. Beneath the lackluster outfits was a stunning, lithe body. He could tell. He’d eyed enough women in his lifetime to recognize a shapely figure when he saw one.
    Well. She wasn’t what he would call curvy. Willowy, slender, small breasts, gently flared hips and long legs, Ella was built like a fawn. Sweet and inquisitive, shy and undeniably alluring, she called to him.
    And he was taking her to one of the most romantic spots on earth. He’d never taken a woman to Maui. Oh, he’d met plenty of them when he’d visited there in the past, but taking one was a whole different level of commitment—one he never messed with.
    Regardless that this trip was for work, it still felt…heavy, going to Hawaii with her. Especially when he considered what was in store for them while they were on the island.
    A sensual, intimate experience with the five senses is what he planned. Evoking the various scents of the islands, he wanted to capture all of it. And he wanted Gabriella to see that, smell it, experience it.
    He would be right beside her, accompanying her every step of the way.

Chapter Six
    Sunday afternoon, and Ella was a bundle of nervous energy. The frenetic rush of the city set her