Claiming Her (Keeping Her Series) (8 page)

Lucas chuckled, and
kissed her again, right on her tingling mouth.  “More likely they are checking
up on you.  But as I am appreciating more and more their lunch invitation, I
will try not to take it personally.”

“You mean you’re glad
we came?”

“Hell, no.  Would
rather be fucking you, but as a close second . . .,” his free arm swept the
view before them, while his other squeezed Isabella closer, “this isn’t bad.”

“Wow.  The romance
bursting from those words, I’m speechless.”  She laid her head on his chest,
while she laughed.  “Really.  I’m all aflutter.”

Then he leaned down and
nuzzled her hair, laying his cheek across it while he pulled her closer to his
heat.  “You fuckin’ will be,” he grumbled, his voice dropping low.  “As soon as
I get you naked, you’ll be fluttering plenty.”

Oh my.
 
Before she could melt into a puddle at his big lion feet, Jacob hollered from
the grill, “Grub’s up!” Then proceeded to goose his mate before she could scold
him on his manners, making her squeal and dance away.  He just chuckled when
she gave him a glare to behave.  Linc holding two plates led them to where
Griffin had already carried the grilled meat to the table and patted the place
beside him.  Rebecca sat and Linc kissed the back of her neck while Griffin
held on to her thigh under the table.  Isabella and Lucas took the other bench
with Jacob, who was taking the potato salad out of the cooler before passing
out the drinks.  “Beer, Gibbs?”

“Be fine.”

When everyone had a drink,
they dug into the mounds of meat.  Isabella was so used to how wolves ate that
she didn’t even blink at the quantities of food spread over the table.

“So how is the job
coming?” Griffin asked, his piercing eyes on Lucas.

“You spend a shitload
of money on caterers and I don’t like the current airport personnel rotation.”

Everyone stopped piling
on the food except Lucas, whom everyone was now staring at.

Isabella sighed and
kept eating in case they were kicked to the curb before the meal ended.

Linc ran security, so
he was the one that spoke up.  “We don’t have anything to do with the pilot
rotation at the airport; we just have to take it as it comes.  If any of us are
going off island, we do call Lionsgate and get a pilot we trust and security
for the flight, but we can’t do that for every guest.”

“Exactly,” Lucas said,
biting into a rib with gusto, then chewing slowly, his eyes on Linc while he
leisurely swallowed.  “Not cost effective.  Doesn’t change the fact that, security-wise,
it’s a breach waiting to happen.  There is no way to vet the pilots for an
airline or helicopter service you don’t own.  Because of that, they change too
often and with no security pull, so anyone can get on a bird and fly to the
island with a load of guests.  That makes me not happy.”

Griffin sat back in his
chair and studied him.  “What do you suggest the alternative is?”

“Open your own charter
service and hire your own pilots that can be vetted and would be on your
schedule.  In the long run, it will save you money and your guests’ time
because the schedule would be based on your needs, and so would the security.”

“And the catering?”
Griffin said mildly.  “We already have our own caterers; this one is for the
guests who insist on a name chef for their special events.  They want to pay
the exorbitant prices, I let them.”

“Yeah, that’s what
Miley said, but the contract is going to have to change.”

“I already suggested
that the security issues could be written into the contract we place with the
caterer,” Isabella spoke up, “so that no new people are brought to the island
without time to research them, and they will have to agree to be searched each
time they come.”

Jacob snorted.  “Can I
be there when you try to strip search Chef Arnold?  I would pay to see that
show.”

“If they don’t agree
they aren’t allowed on the island.”  Lucas grabbed another rack of rib, his
eyes going to Griffin.  “And incidentally, if you had your own charter service,
instead of using someone else, I never would have made it on the island this
morning without you knowing about it.”

Griffin studied him for
a moment longer, as Lucas went back to eating, well,
everything.
  The
man could put away the calories.

“We have a charter
service of our own on the books for five years out.  We can bump the timeframe
up and get that into the planning stage now.”  Then Griffin quirked his own
smile at Lucas across the table.  “Glad to see you are getting
some
work
done, after all.”  His eyes lost the frost and made the gruff wolf suddenly
handsome and approachable.  This time it was Isabella who waggled her eyes
suggestively at Rebecca.  The other woman snorted out a laugh and choked on a
bite of food.

The walk back from the
beach house was even better than the first one because Lucas was in a mellow mood. 
His hand soft in hers as they moved along the beach before they hit the jungle
path that would take them back to the resort.

“Doesn’t this sunshine
and sand make you want to wallow on the sand and just soak up the heat?”

“Are you asking in a
derogatory way because lions in the wild sleep all day?”

Isabella laughed. “No,
I’m asking because that’s what I want to do.”

He pulled her by the
hand he still held until she was pressed against his side when they entered the
path.  “What I want to do is get back to the suite, lock the doors, all of
them, and have my mate in every way it’s possible for a man to do.”  Then he
shrugged, looking back down the path.  “But some other time, yes.  We can find
a sandy beach and just wallow.”

“You are so full of it.”

He looked into her
twinkling eyes, and raised an arrogant brow at her tone.

She snorted out another
laugh.  “Yeah right.  Lucas Gibbs, king of the workaholics, is going to take a
day and laze about on the beach?  Not likely.”

“I can laze as well as
anyone.”

“You can do a lot of
things you won’t ever do.”  She tilted her head in thought.  “For instance, you
would probably kick ass at table tennis, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to
play.”

“Table tennis?”  There
was actually a disgusted curl to his lips that made Isabella laugh again and
wrap her arms around his waist and squeeze as they walked.

“Yep, and a whole day
lazing on the beach . . . doing nothing but relaxing, and playing in the water.”

He was deep in thought
for a while down the trail.  “You’re forgetting something in this scenario
baby.  Mainly that you’ll be there with me.  Wearing a bikini.  You in a bikini
and a deserted beach?  I’m sure I can find something to while away the hours
while I . . . wallow.”  She blinked up at him.  He had wrapped his arm around
her shoulders at some point so she was pressed all along his side.  “In fact,
there are a few activities that would be made palatable by you wearing a
bikini, or even better, nothing at all.  Even table tennis.”  He squeezed and
released her waist, then leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her smiling
lips.  “Can’t guarantee how long the game would last.”

She shook her head,
still laughing.  “I bet.”

They walked that way
all the way back to the resort.  Isabella knew he was planning on taking a few
hours off and probably getting no sleep this afternoon.  Pressed up against him
under the tropical sun and smelling the lush blooms and press of heat all
around, she had a hard time remembering why she wanted to make stupid rules
against office sex in the first place.

They made it all the
way to the lobby of the resort before Lucas raised his head and sniffed, his
eyes narrowing to slits.  “Son of a bitch,” he muttered.

Isabella raised her
head and tried to smell what he smelled, but while she had a good nose, she was
not so great about distinguishing different scents.  That came with practice,
and her good nose had developed late in life, unlike her other surprise
genetics she kept a lid on.  The lobby always smelled like a hodge-podge to her
senses.  “What?” she asked.  “What do you smell?”

“The end of days,”
Lucas muttered darkly before hurrying her along to the elevator, ignoring the
rest of her questions.

It wasn’t until the
door opened on their floor that Isabella understood.  Here, there were less
scents to distract, she recognized all of the layers, including the fresh ones
leading right to their suite.  “Oh dear,” she said, her smile a shade painful. 
“Well, won’t this be fun?”  Lucas just looked at her as if she was insane, growled
and pulled her along.

He shoved open the door
to the suite as soon as they got close enough.  They both stopped when they got
a look at what awaited them inside.

“No,” Lucas muttered
low taking in the scene with flashing cat eyes.  “I would have to say, this
will not be fun.”

Hmm.  He might be right
about that.

“My hormonal teenage
son has come to Paradise Island,” he said flatly, looking around at the jumble
of luggage and decimated food wrappers and beer bottles strewn along the bar.

Isabella had to shake
her head.  “How long were we gone?”  Her voice did not hide the amazement she
was feeling at the carnage.

The door to one of the
bedrooms, not the master thankfully, opened and a lean six-foot man stepped out
of the room, one who was the spitting image of Lucas, except for the unruly state
of the hair and being half a foot shorter.  He wore only a pair of navy and
turquoise board shorts that road low over slim hips.  Arm muscles and chest
definition bulged.  His golden skin gleamed over ripped muscles and a defined six-pack. 
Good Lord. 
Isabella blinked at the sight.  She knew this was Ian, but
he did not look like any teenage boy she had known in high school, nor did he
have that awkward unfinished man look she remembered from a few years ago.  He
looked like a serious contender for hottest jailbait alive actually.  Clearly,
he had been working out.  Wowza.

“Yo, dad.”  He smiled
when he saw Lucas standing inside the door.  Then his eyes fell on Isabella and
she watched one side of his mouth shoot up in a sexy grin.  “Hel-lo sexy.”  
While Isabella was biting her lip to keep from laughing, Ian tilted his head
and narrowed his eyes on her.  He looked at the protective way his dad was
standing just in front of her, with her hand in his.  “Miley?”

She smiled full on at
him.  “Hey, Ian,” she waved.

“You’re my dad’s new
mate?”  The surprise in his voice was not exactly flattering.

“Yes,” Lucas said in a
dark voice before she could answer.  “She is.”

Isabella jumped when Ian
suddenly threw back his head and let out a “woo-hoo.”  Before she could blink,
he had Isabella up in his arms and was twirling her in circles.

“Ian.”  His father’s
voice snapped out a warning that Ian ignored.  His eyes and wolfish grin only
for Isabella when he dropped her feet back to the floor and stood way too
close.

“Shit.  Logan said you
were alive, but I didn’t know you were the new stepmom.”  He smiled over her
head at his fuming father.  “Figured he’d find some boring lioness with no
sense of humor and perfect boobs.”  He tugged on her hair when she laughed. 
Then he mock frowned, “Course, this means I’m going to have to feel bad for all
the perving on you and your sexy skirts I did over the years, but at least I
know my dad has good taste.”  He wiggled his brows suggestively.  “And hey, I
got the boobs right.”

“Ian.”  Lucas had
clearly had enough. He was pulling Isabella away from his son and into his arms
while her cheeks were still heating in embarrassment.  “What are you doing
here?”

“Had to meet the new
missus,” he said winking at Isabella.  “Especially as you are with her on ‘
A
Bene Placito,’
the island of
pleasure,”
again with the wagging
eyebrows,
“
or some shit like that.  Could not keep my ass out of here,
not after hearing Eli talk about it.  So I caught a ride with him and Logan,
and since I was told to sit this one out,” he looked to his dad before he
finished with a little bite to the words, “that’s what I’ll be doing while I’m
here.  Consider me on vacation.”

“
Eli
,” Lucas
snarled low, now knowing where to place the blame for his son’s presence.

“So, I’m off to find
some flagrantly promiscuous hotties in string bikinis.”  Ian made a wide circle
around them, slinging one of the plush hotel towels over his shoulder as he
went.  He turned with the door in his hand and smiled that suggestive half
smile at a still wide-eyed Isabella.  “Catch you later, Miley, unless . . . should
I call you mom?”  Since he was asking her breasts that question it was a little
disturbing.