by Lola Kidd
Chet looked away from Shane and saw that one of the waitresses was staring at them with wide eyes. He backed up and let her put down the tray muttering an apology.
As soon as the drinks were on the table, Addison slammed hers back and jumped off her barstool. She walked around the table quickly and took Lily by the hand. “Thanks for the drinks, guys, but we have to be off. I’m feeling pretty tired.”
“Are you?” Lily looked at Max and Finn pouting. “I’m feeling pretty awake now. Just an hour more?”
Addison shook her head and yawned. “Nope. Too sleepy. Maybe we’ll see them again.”
Lily reached into her purse to pull out her phone but Addison was already pulling her through the crowd. She gave the twins an apologetic look and shrugged. They were lost in the sea of people before Chet could say anything.
“Nice work, asshole,” Shane spat. He bumped Chet with his chest. “You scared them off. What’s your problem?”
Branch pushed him back. “Calm down, Shane. I don’t think it’ll look too good for the head of security to start a fight with Safari Island’s most decorated employee. Use your head, man.”
“Whatever. I’m going to go dance. I’ll see you guys later.” Shane grabbed the two shots closest to him. “Maybe try not stealing my girl next time, Chet.”
Chet let him walk away. He wasn’t interested in the club anymore anyway. He had to find Addison. He had a good feeling about her. With her fast exit, she probably wouldn’t want to see him that night anymore, but he would find her. He’d use his connections to find out where she was staying and talk to her. His rhino told him this wasn’t a girl to let slip away.
Four
“You still owe me.” Lily kicked at the sand. She and Addison were taking a stroll on the beach before lunch. Ever since Addison had pulled her from the club, she hadn’t stopped going on and on about how pissed she was.
It wasn’t Addison’s fault. She couldn’t stand being stuck between those stupid meatheads another second. They’d been having a great time until Lily had spotted Max. She had convinced Addison to sit with the airport worker and his security friend.
“Actually, this is your fault too,” Addison said. “If you hadn’t made me sit with those guys, we would have had a nice night. We could have danced until the sun came up. But no. You had to go and flirt with the hot guy.”
Lily stopped and put her hands on her hips. “Are you seriously trying to tell me that you didn’t think Chet was mad hot?”
“It doesn’t matter if he’s hot or not. He and Shane were being totally out of hand. They would have probably gotten into a fight and gotten us kicked out of the place. At least now we can go back.”
Lily crossed her arms and kept walking. “Shane works for security. They wouldn’t have banned us.”
“Fine. I didn’t want to spend my night getting hit on by guys acting like buttheads. That isn’t why I came here. I thought we were going to have fun. Isn’t this trip about me and you having fun and not about some dumb guys?”
Lily pouted. “I guess, but I still want to meet some hot guys. And Max and Finn were the hottest guys I’ve seen here.”
“We’ll find hotter guys. Don’t worry. This place is huge and there are lots of guys.”
“Sure. They just seemed cool, is all. I’ve never met a crocodile shifter before.”
They walked in silence for a while. They were on the public beach and it was very crowded. Addison was glad they had won the luxurious vacation package. It would have been impossible to get a spot on the beach without waking up extra early. Even worse, it was packed with exactly the kind of men she was trying to avoid. She did want to have fun and meet someone, but not that kind of man. Lily was right, Chet was incredibly handsome. Possibly the hottest guy she had ever seen. He was tall and had a deep golden tan like most of the workers on Safari Island. He had deep black hair and grey eyes. He was also incredibly tall and wide. He was so broad-chested that he was at least twice as wide as Addison was. She wondered if she would even be able to get her arms all the way around him. Not that she would ever want to find out now.
The way he had acted was completely out of hand. She had just met him; he didn’t have some kind of claim on her. Neither did Shane, for that matter. It was all so ridiculous. That hadn’t even been the worst news that day. She had called to book a reservation for a safari and had found out that they were booked solid for the rest of the month. There was no way she and Lily were going to be able to book one.
She had been looking forward to seeing all the animals up close, but it hadn’t occurred to her to book it so far in advance. The lady on the phone had tried to make her feel better. She’d said the tours had sold out weeks before Lily had won the prize, so there was no chance they would have been able to book a safari. Even the private tours were all booked up. Safari Island was going through some growing pains. There was more demand than tour guides to go around. She had offered them discounted tickets to Safari Park as a consolation.
Addison had taken the amusement park tickets but also asked to be put on the wait list. There was still a slim chance of getting tickets if someone canceled.
The beach walk was much needed and very nice. It made her feel better about the whole safari tour debacle. There was a faint breeze over the ocean and they could smell the salt as they walked. Even Lily’s whining and the crowds didn’t take away from the beauty of the ocean. She was going to do this every morning even if Lily didn’t want to come. Maybe she’d even start walking when she got home.
Addison was so engrossed in her thoughts, she almost slammed into a man with a camera standing in their way.
“Watch it,” Lily hissed as she sidestepped the man.
He looked at the display screen and smiled wide at the two girls. “Hang on. Could I talk to you ladies for a minute?”
He was tall, with jet-black hair and pale white skin. It was warm and humid on the beach, but he was wearing a pair of slacks and a nice shirt. He looked completely out of place, and that put Addison ill at ease. She shook her head. “No. We’re just out for a walk. We don’t want anything you’re selling.”
He followed them. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I work for Safari Island. I’ve been looking for women to do some modeling for our website. I’m trying to find amateurs so the shots don’t look so staged. Even better if you ladies would be willing to tape a quick video talking about your stay on Safari Island.”
They girls exchanged glances before dissolving in laughter. Lily put her arm through Addison’s and they continued walking. She looked at the man over her shoulder. “You want us to be models? Uh-huh. So original. We haven’t heard that six million times from creeps on the internet. Kudos to you for trying it out in real life.”
“I’m not an internet creep. I’m Ward Langston and I work in PR here on the island.” He pulled his card out of his pocket and handed it to Lily. “If you don’t believe me, call the front desk at your resort and have them connect you to my office.”
Lily handed the card to Addison, who studied it. It was on heavy card stock and looked legit. “I don’t know. The card looks real, but I still don’t believe you.”
“If you ladies are even a little interested, I would really appreciate you giving me a call later today.” He showed them his camera. He’d taken a few shots of them walking. “I love these and would love to get you two on an empty beach. I’m way past deadline on this project and you guys would be doing me a big favor. Just think about it.”
“Sure.” Lily indulged him. “See you later.”
The two women walked away giggling.
“I haven’t heard that pitch since middle school,” Addison said.
“What if he was serious?” Lily asked. “It couldn’t hurt to call the front desk.”
Addison looked at her, surprised. “You can’t be serious. How do you know he isn’t in cahoots with the front desk people?”
“What would he do? The worst would be that he’d try to get us to
take our tops off. At best, he is who he claims and we get to be models for a day. Paid work while on vacation. Pretty sweet deal.”
“The worst would be he lures us to an abandoned warehouse and cuts us up into little pieces. This is exactly the kind of thing they warn you about when you’re vacationing.”
“Well, I’m going to call. You can stay in the room if it’s legit. If I get hacked up, you can call the police.”
Addison didn’t push the subject. There was no way the guy really worked for the company. They had a big night in front of them, anyway. They were going to a dining experience. By the time the first course was served, Lily would have already forgotten about the creep.
They walked for a half mile more before turning around. Addison hopped right in the shower when they got home. She was sweaty from the walk but she had a great tan. She wouldn’t need bronzer for the rest of the trip.
When she was drying off, Lily burst into her room.
Addison scrambled to pull up her towel. “Knock first!”
Lily ran out and knocked on the door rapidly.
“Come in.” Addison secured her towel. “What’s up?”
“That guy was for real,” Lily said. “He works in PR and has an office in Safari Complex. I guess it’s just past Safari Town. A photographer is going to meet us at the restaurant tonight.”
“What?”
“Our meal is going to be comped, of course, but we have to sign some releases beforehand.” Lily looked at her phone. “We’ll need to get there fifteen minutes early to sign all the stuff. Ward won’t be there tonight but he’ll be meeting us here tomorrow.”
“You agreed to do this without asking me.”
“He was so excited when I told him we were giveaway winners.” Lily continued, oblivious to Addison’s growing anger. “We’re going to get $750 each and almost everything is going to be comped. We may even make money from this trip.”
“Hello. I said I didn’t want to do it,” Addison fumed. “You should have asked me first. I don’t want to work on my vacation.”
“We don’t have to do anything special,” Lily whined. “You’re being unreasonable. We’re already going to be doing this stuff. Plus, and you’ll love this, we’re getting a private safari in addition to all the other perks.”
Addison kept her arms crossed but she was suddenly feeling less annoyed. “Tell me more.”
“Well, we’re going to get one this afternoon before dinner,” Lily said. “The guy who does the tour will take us back here to change and then drive us to dinner. That’s what I came in here to tell you. I know it’s short notice but there was no other time to schedule it.”
“Are you sure we won’t be late to dinner?”
Lily shook her head. “Nope. We should have tons of time. We’ll have lunch out there and everything. This is like the VIP deal. But we need to leave, like, now. The bus to that part of the island leaves in like twenty minutes.”
Addison threw on a pair of shorts and a light shirt. She took a long-sleeved top just in case it got cold. She pushed a headband behind her ears, threw a travel makeup set in her bag, and put on earrings. She was putting on her shoes less than ten minutes after Lily had told her about the trip. She was waiting on the front porch when Lily came outside.
“Someone’s a little eager,” Lily laughed.
They made the bus with minutes to spare. They snapped a few pictures for social media as they rode. Addison was excited. An all-day private safari was a dream come true. She was going to get to see the animals up close and they could ask the guide a million questions if they wanted. She hoped they’d get a shifter guide.
When they got to their stop, there were many vans and jeeps ready to take off.
“Which one is it?” Addison asked.
“He should have a sign with our name on it.” Lily scrolled through her phone notes. “Oh, we’re looking for jeep 17.”
They walked down the line looking at all the vehicles. Most of them were empty since there were a limited number of tours going at once. They had to walk all the way to the end of the row to get to their jeep. The driver was sitting in the car on the phone.
“Should I knock on the window?” Lily asked. “I’m going to knock. Maybe he doesn’t know we’re here.”
“You mean you aren’t going to just rip open the door?” Addison faked a surprised face. “Could you be learning?”
Lily made a face and poised to knock on the driver’s side window. The door popped open before her knuckles touched the glass. “Oh!”
Chet Gallow stepped out of the jeep. “Hello, again. Sorry I had to take that call. I picked up a shift today so I had to cancel an appointment. Ready to go?”
Addison debated turning around and leaving. She glared at Lily. “Did you know about this?”
She held up her hands. “I’m completely innocent. I had no idea who our driver was going to be.”
“No way she knew,” Chet assured Addison. “I didn’t even know I was going to be your driver until half hour ago. This is a favor for Ward. I didn’t even know it was you. I swear.”
He held open the back door. She slowly slid into the back seat. She wasn’t going to let him ruin the safari. But if he made one off comment, she was going to raise hell with the PR man who’d set this all up.
Five
Chet couldn’t believe his luck. He was trying to play it cool, but he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. When Ward found out what he’d done, Chet was going to owe him big time. He’d been more than a little pissed earlier when Ward had called in his chit. He’d been planning to get a haircut, and the wait list for his barber was two weeks long. But he’d gotten his ass over to the car depot and picked up his jeep.
It’d been a while since he had done a tour on his own, but all his anxieties had melted away when he saw the beautiful Addison heading his way. She looked so cute even with a scowl etched on her face. Her short blonde hair was held back by a headband, giving him an even better view of her face. It was going to be hard not to stare for the whole drive.
She didn’t look happy to see him, but he knew that was a lie. She was into him. He could smell her body reacting to him. She could pretend to be pissy all day if she wanted, but he knew the truth. He would be on his best behavior for the safari and ask her out at the end.
He was grateful Lily was along for the ride. While it would have been more romantic for just Addison to be on the drive, it would have been a disaster. She sulked for the first fifteen minutes. She didn’t say a word, but Lily chatted with him nonstop. Addison had seemed much friendlier last night. He must have really pissed her off.
“We’ll get to the animals any minute now,” Chet assured them. He looked back at Addison. “I just wanted to apologize for what happened last night. I didn’t mean to ruin your night and chase you out of the joint.”
She nodded. “Um-hm.”
“You didn’t ruin our night,” Lily said. “There weren’t that many hot guys there, anyway.”
“Shame,” Chet said. “My guys Finn and Max sure thought you were pretty cool.”
That was an understatement. The twins hadn’t shut up about Lily the rest of the night. They were going to be very jealous when they heard Chet had spent the whole afternoon with her.
“They did?” Lily beamed. “I thought they were the only hot guys there.”
“Maybe you guys should join us for dinner,” Chet suggested. Not the most romantic date, but at least he was sure to get Addison out. He could tell Lily was the best shot at getting his curvy goddess out for the night.
“We already have dinner plans,” Addison said quickly. “Remember, you’re driving us there after the safari.”
“We could join you,” Chet said. “You guys are going to the dinner theater, right?”
Lily nodded. “I heard it was like The Lion King, and I love that play. You’re more than welcome to join us.”
In the review mirror, he could see Addison shooting daggers at Lily with her eyes. Chet
smirked. The lady doth protest too much. She was laying it on really thick. “I’ll come. If you ladies don’t mind, I’ll stop and text Finn and Max.”
“Isn’t that against the rules?” Addison asked coldly.
“He already apologized,” Lily hissed. “Chill, girl.”
Chet rolled to a stop. “This is a great place to stop. If you look to your left, you’ll see a herd of elephants. I’ll give you a minute to snap some pictures.”
He dropped a quick line to Finn and then gave the tour guide spiel about elephants. He actually enjoyed private tours. He was lucky enough to be a driver. A lot of his fellow rhino shifters had bad eyesight, but his was extraordinary. Doing a tour let him slow down and enjoy the park in a way driving didn’t. He was always incredibly alert about the road and his passengers when he drove. That was why private tours were so rare. It worked better with two people, on to give the tour and one to drive and watch the people.
Private tours were slower since he had to do it all, but it was still fun for him. Watching the elephants, he itched to get out there too. It had been a while since his last shift and his rhino was restless. It didn’t help that Addison was sitting right there behind him. His rhino wanted to mate and if that wasn’t an option, run around in the grass.
Finn texted him back before they continued driving. “The twins are in. They’ll meet us there.”
“I’m not sure Ward is going to love this,” Addison said. “Lily and I are supposed to be doing modeling for him. That’s how we got this little private tour.”
“Shoot.” Lily chewed on her lower lip. “I bet he could just get some shots of us alone when we sit down. He didn’t say we had to go to dinner alone.”
“Exactly.” Chet took the jeep out of park. “A couple of gorgeous single ladies aren’t going to be alone long on Safari Island.”
The rest of the tour passed in a flash. All the animals were cooperating and the women got lots of great pictures. On the way back, Chet spotted a few of his co-workers out with the animals and waved.
“Did you just wave to that hippo?” Addison spoke her first words to him that weren’t chilly. She was actually smiling. He must have given her a good tour.
