by Lola Kidd
Elephants Never Forget
(Safari Shifters Book 3)
Lola Kidd
Copyright 2015 by Lola Kidd
Cover Design: Melody Simmons
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced without the express consent of the author.
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About This Book
Maura Trebel is visiting Safari Island for her honeymoon, except there is no husband by her side. Her fiancé left her at the alter and Maura was forced to come to the romantic resort alone. She quickly makes a new friend and is surprised to see a face from her past.
Branch Dunkin is having a less than stellar summer. His best friends have gotten married and he’s lonely. He’d love to find a mate one day but is content to keep his life single and carefree for now. All that changes when a woman from his past waltzes back into his life.
The two have an instant connection but Maura doesn’t think she can act on it. She’s on the island for more than her honeymoon. The secret is enough to make her keep her distance. Will she go through with her plans or will she be won over by love? Find out in book three of the Safari Shifter series!
Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
A Note From Lola
Other Books by Lola Kidd
One
“Your bags, miss.” The bellhop smiled at Maura Treble and pointed at the mountain of luggage.
“Oh, yes,” Maura said. She adjusted her clothes and stretched. The bus ride from the hotel had made her stiff and tired. The humidity was also oppressive. She cursed her ex-fiancé for the twentieth time that day. It was his idea to come to Safari Island during the hottest part of the summer. Everything on the island was cheaper, he’d reasoned. Well, yes, it was cheaper because it was hotter than standing the sun during July. The short walk from the bus to the front of the hotel had left Maura covered in sweat. That was exactly what all the reviews online had warned about.
“I guess I’ll take them inside with me.” She reached up to start pulling down the bags.
The bellhop quickly stepped in to stop her. “No need, miss. I’ll wheel your bags to your room if you’d like.”
“Are you sure you aren’t too busy?” Maura asked, unsure. She didn’t want the bellhop questioning why she had so many bags for just herself.
“You’re only the third guest to check in this morning.” The bellhop wiped his forehead. “I think it’s a little too warm for tourists this month.”
“That’s what I said.” Maura dug around her purse for a tip. She shoved a few crumpled dollars at the young man. “For your trouble.”
He took the money from her and nodded. “Thank you, miss. I’ll wait for you just inside here.”
Maura went inside and found the front desk. This was going to be one of the hardest parts of the trip. She was going to have to check in to a honeymoon suite all by herself. Everything would get easier when her companions got to the island, but for now she was on her own. Her ex-fiancé was supposed to be with her but he’d also no-showed at the wedding. It wasn’t like she had any other choice but to go through with this trip.
If she hadn’t made promises before John left her, she would have bailed. But this trip wasn’t just for fun. She was a mission. She was going to help an animal rights group protest on the island. It had been a wonderful coincidence that People for Animals was planning a demonstration on Safari Island. She and John were going to be able to go on a very nice honeymoon and help out a good cause. They had no problem with the resort and amusement park side of Safari Island. It was the animal tours that bothered them.
Animal rights were one thing she and John both cared about passionately. When they began dating, she’d been over the moon to discover that he was a member of PFA too. This honeymoon would have been their first protest together as a married couple. Had she known that John would change his mind about the wedding, she never would have agreed to any of it. Not because she didn’t believe in the cause but because the humiliation was a lot to handle.
There was a very beautiful, small, curvy woman behind the front desk. Maura looked at the ground as she checked in. “Hello, I’m Maura Treble and I’d like to have my room key.”
“Hello, Maura!” The woman was so chipper it made Maura feel even worse. “Thanks for joining us for Blue Sky Resorts’ inaugural summer. We’re so glad to be a part of your happy weekend.”
“Thanks.” Maura looked at the wall behind the woman and studiously avoided her eyes. The question was going to come soon enough.
“I see that you’re in the honeymoon suite. I was one of the first people to use those suites.” The woman leaned forward to make her point. “They’re very romantic. You aren’t going to be disappointed. I’ve got two keys here for you and Mr. Treble, but I don’t think you’re going to be leaving your room much once you see it.”
“I’ll only need the one key, actually.” Maura finally met the woman’s eyes.
The woman looked at her computer again and then back to Maura. “I must have gotten the wrong information. I’m so sorry.”
Maura shook her head. “No, you didn’t. My boyfriend made the reservation when we were still together. Now, we aren’t together and I’ve paid for a whole honeymoon. It was too late to cancel without losing a lot of money, so here I am.”
“Ugh, what a freaking jerk!” The woman’s professional demeanor was gone. Her face was drawn in irritation. “This guy made you pay for the whole thing and then left you with the credit card bill and no husband? What a freaking jerk.”
“I know.” And all of her closest friends and family knew too. Maura still didn’t know how she was going to face her family at the holidays. Many of her aunts and cousins had warned her that no man wanted a big girl for his wife. Thanks to jackass John, they had enough ammunition to mock her for years to come. She didn’t know why she had even told the receptionist. She hadn’t meant to open her mouth but that kept happening. It was like she had to tell the whole world how much of a jerk John was.
“I’m Lily, by the way.” The woman held out her hand. “I think you need a friend. You should come with me to Safari Town for dinner tonight.”
“I don’t think so.” Maura had made herself feel even worse. It was nice hearing someone else say John was a jerk but now she was thinking about it again. She just wanted to curl up with a big bottle of wine and cry in the hot tub.
“No, you should come with me. By the time you get back to your room, it will be all the way un-romantic. You aren’t going to want to stay in there right now.”
Maura considered. This was a good time to get a look around Safari Town. She had planned to take it easy and keep to herself until Jimmy Tony got to the island. This was better. At least she would have something useful to add to the mission. As painful as the thought was, she nodded. “Sure. I’d love to come with you.”
“Great. I get off work in ten minutes and you can have the bellhop take all your stuff upstairs. Wait for me in the hotel bar?”
Maura nodded. She gave the bellhop her room number and found th
e Blue Sky Bar. She took a table alone to wait for her new friend. It was already an interesting trip. She’d somehow managed to stray from the plan. She would need to be careful after this. After this little trip to town, she would stick to the plan.
***
“And that concludes our tour for the day. You guys have all been great.” Branch Dunkin was giving his end-of-tour speech for the millionth time as sweet old ladies and young families disembarked from the tour van.
“That’s all of them.” Chet Gallow got up and walked to the back of the bus. He checked to make sure the van was empty while Branch counted the tips. “Looks like we’re all clear too. Want a lift home?”
Branch nodded and kept counting. “Not as good as the last one. Enough for a nice night out with Addy.”
“She’s not in a going-out mood right now,” Chet said as they walked from the van to a golf cart. “The heat is making her really uncomfortable.”
“The giant rhino calf she’s making probably doesn’t help.” Branch grimaced as he thought of Addison’s giant baby bump. He loved putting his hand on her stomach and waiting for the baby to kick him. The little guy was going to be great at football one day, but carrying him wasn’t much fun for Addison anymore now that the summer heat was settling in. Branch felt bad for her having to lug the extra weight around.
“True. Do you mind if I stop to grab a carton of ice cream? I want to surprise her.”
“No way. I could go for a cone myself,” Branch said. “You want to go out for dinner with me? I bet you’re getting cabin fever being cooped up with her all these months.”
“Not at all. I like spending time with my wife.”
Not as much as you like saying ‘my wife’, Branch thought. His two best friends had gotten married within six months to women who were best friends. While their working relationship was the same, personal time had changed drastically. The men used to go out to clubs and have dinner together frequently, but those dinners were a thing of the past. Last summer, Branch had never had to call around to find someone to go out with. This summer, he was having a hard time finding people to even answer his texts.
Chet’s wife was heavily pregnant and the twins preferred to stay in with their new wife. He understood. When he found his mate, he would get right down to business making a calf. He would never leave his single buddies out in the cold though. You could have friends and have a wife too. His thoughts on the matter didn’t change the fact that it was shaping up to be a lonely summer for the elephant shifter.
There were still lots of single guys on the island to be friends with, but it wasn’t the same. He, Chet, and Finn had been the terrible trio. They mixed together just right. It was depressing trying to recreate that vibe with all new people. Most frequently he ended up with Shane Cole. The hyena shifter had been Max Nunez’s best friend before the twins got married. Shane knew Branch’s pain and was usually free too.
But Shane wasn’t Chet or Finn. Shane was more of a gym rat and fist-pumping partier than Branch. Quiet dinners weren’t something Shane did, and Branch couldn’t be the third wheel at another dinner with one of the couples. Or sixth wheel on their double dates. He shuddered at the thought. It seemed like the only option was to find a girl of his own to settle down with and join the happy couples’ group.
The only problem was, he wasn’t looking to settle down anytime soon. He was happy with the way his life was going excluding the friend problem. He was making good money as a safari tour guide on the island and his job was very secure. The company couldn’t find qualified tour guides fast enough to keep up with demand for tours, so they fought hard to keep the tour guides they already had. That meant Branch made way more money than he’d ever expected to see from guiding tours. He wasn’t about to walk away from all of that to settle down and be boring.
“You want to come over to our place for dinner?” Chet asked.
“I’m good.” Branch opened his phone to text Shane and another friend Brent.
Chet stopped the golf cart in front of Branch’s rental home. “If you change your mind, you know where to find us.”
“Thanks, buddy.”
Branch hopped out and was already opening a text from Brent. Shane texted him back a second later. Both guys were down with going out. Branch suggested the bar in Safari Town, since they’d gone to Club Safari twice that week already and Branch didn’t feel like making it three. The table waitress outside was starting to think he had a thing for her. She was a nice enough girl, but Branch wasn’t about to ruin the club for them.
If he went out with the waitress, that date would end like all the rest. A night of bliss and then nothing. He had somehow managed to avoid getting a reputation even though he’d gone out with someone new at least once a month for the last nine years. Island living was great. There was always a new tourist to keep him company or a new crop of summer employees.
He changed out of his work clothes into a pair of workout shorts before going to his kitchen. He looked in all the cabinets and the fridge but nothing looked good. He debated going to Chet and Addison’s but decided against it. It was probably a fake invite just to be nice.
He put on a pot of water and made himself ramen noodle soup. It wasn’t his favorite meal but it was a frequent staple in his diet now. Cooking for one wasn’t much fun, and he couldn’t eat at a restaurant alone every night.
Branch got dressed in his favorite jeans and gray t-shirt before heading out to Shane’s. He might not have a mate, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still have fun. Marriage was for chumps when you could have a new girl all the time. The best cure for loneliness was a beautiful woman. He was going to find Mrs. Right Now tonight.
Two
“What’s it like to live here?” Maura asked Lily. They were on the bus from Blue Sky Resort to Safari Town. It wasn’t very crowded since they were leaving at an odd time.
“It’s pretty nice,” Lily said. “There’s always something going on and the scenery is to die for. It’s much nicer than my old life.”
She told Maura the story of how she had met her husbands, was almost murdered, and moved to Safari Island all in less than a year. It made Maura’s heart race. Max and Finn sounded very nice, unlike some of the stories she’d heard before. The workers on Safari Island had a bit of a reputation among PFA members.
“Two men? That sounds like a handful.”
“It’s much more than a handful, trust me.”
Maura blushed at Lily’s off-color joke. “I’ve never heard a more fantastic story. It could be a Lifetime movie.”
“It could. I never thought anything like that would ever happen to me. My life was pretty ordinary until I won that trip. Maybe you’ll have good luck here too. You already have a great backstory.”
“Man leaves fiancé for hot young thing. I don’t think that’s a very original story.”
“It doesn’t matter how original your past is,” Lily said. “It only matters what happens now. You’ve seen all the romantic comedies. You could meet a hot young rock star or something. Wouldn’t that be the best?”
“Not with my luck.” Maura shook her head. “I’ll probably meet someone who says he’s a rock star and it turns out he works as a mechanic.”
“As long as he knows how to use his hands, it’s still a win, right?”
Maura laughed at the joke. Clearly, innuendos were Lily’s thing. “I guess so. Do you do this often?”
“I take this bus every day. It’s always slow,” Lily assured her.
“No, I mean pick up other women at hotels.”
Lily giggled. “Oh. No, I don’t very often. You’re not my first or anything. Finn always says he’d glad we don’t have any stray animals on the island or we’d have a menagerie by now.”
“It’s a very nice thing to do for someone.”
“Not really. I need someone to go out with. My best friend is pregnant and can’t drink or dance right now. You’re doing me a favor, really.”
Lily was the nicest per
son Maura had met in a long time. Maura knew it was awful that she was tricking her, but it was for a good cause. Lily didn’t know how bad Safari Island was for the animals. Once she heard what Jimmy Tony had to say, Lily would be glad she’d inadvertently helped the PFA. The corporation kept a lot of secrets even from their own workers. Maura couldn’t wait to help Jimmy Tony spread the truth.
When they got to Safari Town, Maura was impressed. It was much bigger than the pictures she’d seen at PFA meetings. This wasn’t even a town anymore. It looked like a little city and there was construction everywhere.
“Is the construction annoying?” she asked Lily as they got off the bus.
Lily nodded and made a face. “Unfortunately. I can’t wait until it’s all done. They isn’t much more room. The hospital needed an upgrade and we needed a bigger school. I think that’s going to be the last of it for a while.”
“What do your husbands do?” Maura asked.
“Finn works with the animals and Max works at the airport. You won’t get to the meet them tonight, but if you come back for dinner tomorrow you can.”
“I couldn’t possibly put you out like that. You’re being too kind already.”
“Nonsense. It isn’t like you’ll be eating us out of house and home. You’re only here for a few days. May as well get the full experience. Where are you going tomorrow?”
“I’m doing the amusement park and the dinner theater.”
“That’s it? No safari?”
“I don’t like safaris,” Maura said carefully. She didn’t want to start a conversation about her feelings on the subject. It would only blow her cover or make Lily hate her. She would sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist. She felt too strongly on the matter and always got emotional while she was talking about it. Unlike Jimmy Tony, she could never make her case rationally.
“Lucky, since those are impossible to book.” Lily opened the door to her house. “Make yourself at home. I need to shower and change clothes. The satellite is a little spotty, but you can try the TV if you want. There’s water and pop in the fridge and snacks on the counter.”
“Thanks.” Maura sat on the couch until she heard the shower start up, then got up and looked around the small place. It looked like there was only one bedroom, which made sense, but the house was still small for three people to share. What if they had kids? Maybe she was used to American homes that were oversized. She’d heard that people all over the world lived in much smaller places. Not that she would know; Safari Island was the first stamp in her brand-new passport.
