Craving Her (Keeping Her Series Book 4) (2 page)

Then he was gone, all
that heat, and fire, and
need
ripped away to leave her laying on the
hard ground alone, trying to relearn how to breathe.

***

Shawn wretched himself
away from Cleo and shifted before the look of all that golden beauty laid out before
him like a sultry feast distracted him from what he had to do.  He flew off
after the fleeing gunman, determined to end him as violently as possible, and
get back to Logan.  He would do his job and get out, before he did something
else as monumentally stupid as kissing Cleo Gibbs had been.  Unfortunately,
even in shifted form, he could still remember the taste he had discovered.  And
his hawk liked giving it up even less than he did.

CHAPTER TWO

Landing on the Lionsgate
helo pad aboard the Sahara was less of a relief than you would think.  Since
they still had to either cruise with the yacht up the coast to California, or
arrange the private plane to pick them up at one of the airports along the
route, she was still stuck in the presence of Shawn Ryan, who was doing his
best to be wallpaper.  The only good that she could see in this situation was
that he had been as involved in that kiss as her.  The old feelings of
embarrassment for wanting someone who did not reciprocate were at least washed away. 
He wanted her, she could still feel that on her lips.  He was just too much of
a pansy ass to take her, which should be a sign that she should walk away, let
this go, and find someone who wanted her back.  The problem was, she wanted
Shawn Ryan, and always had.

Logan made the call to
Lionsgate while she was powering down the Black Hawk.  Shawn took the injured
man to the doctor without so much as a word. She was finally stepping out of
the shutdown helicopter and heading for a shower when Logan showed up again. 

“Your father is sending
the jet to Agua Buena. He expects all of us to be on it.”  He sounded less than
happy. 

Cleo sighed, thinking he
was not going to be any happier than Logan and Shawn that she had not hid in
the jungle and let the guerrillas destroy their ride. 

Then Logan surprised
her.  “You did good today.  Kept your head, did what needed to be done.  That’s
what I told your father.”

She blinked up at those
hazel eyes, surprised beyond anything.  “Not that you gave me and order and I
ignored it?”

Logan shrugged those
broad shoulders and smiled.  “This is not the Navy, and you are not a soldier. 
It’s a job.  You’re the pilot.”  He cleared his throat, looking as abashed as
it was possible for a badass alpha wolf to look, which was not much.  “Anyone
else, my orders would have been to protect the helo.  You assessed the
situation and made a call.  It was the right one.”  She knew she was smiling
huge because he chuckled shaking his head.  “Don’t let that go to your head.”

Then he was gone, to
check on the target maybe, or if he was smart, to shower before the other team
showed up for whatever top secret government gig her father had them working
on.  Once they had turned over the package, they would be headed for the
airport in Panama to finish their journey on the jet.  Cleo headed for the
shower.  No way was she waiting that long for a shower.  Meanwhile she was
smiling, trying not to let it go to her head, but it was hard.  Her first
mission had been a success.  It almost made her forget that kiss at the end. 
Almost.

***

Lionsgate in Napa was her
father’s house.  He had a swank business office in Napa where he met clients,
but it was the estate they called home when they referred to Lionsgate.  It was
where the pack/pride gathered, and even after Cleo moved out the next day and
got her own apartment in town, this was always going to be home.  Especially
when they drove through the gates and everyone was there, wreaking havoc.

Her father had built his
home on the start of a mountain slope.  He owned about two hundred acres, part
of those acres going up the side of a mountain, where it was still wild.  On
the other side, they overlooked the soft rolling hills of the vineyards that
led to a small independent winery that had been in production long before
Lionsgate was built.  Since her father knew absolutely nothing about wine, he
left that part of his empire in the hands of the winery manager to everyone’s
satisfaction.

The house itself was all
one story and spread out in brick and glass.  There was a cobblestone inner
courtyard and covered breezeways that connected three separate units.  Vintage iron
accents and old antique doors gave the patinated brick building a historic
look, but the inside felt more modern, with high gloss stone tiles and a gourmet
kitchen.  All of the rooms were large with dark wood beams that added to the
rustic country feel of the high ceilings and bare stone walls.  Four fireplaces
a person could stand in, with a living room, dining room, library, and massive
kitchen. 

The furniture was
over-sized soft leathers and rich earth colors, with aged wood accents.  The
master suite was in the main area and Cleo’s soon-to-be vacated rooms were in a
branching section, while her brother Ian’s was the same in the other
direction.  Everyone was together, but at the same time, had plenty of their
own space if they wished it.  All the sections opened up to the family pool and
a view of the rolling hills and vineyard.

Another aged brick
building a good distance away was where the pack slept when they were around. 
It was set up for the amusement of all the big men that came and went on pack
business.  On the other side of the large cobbled courtyard was a converted
barn, their garage that housed all the pack vehicles.  The road from the
massive property gates ended there.

Cleo got out of the black
Explorer with more than a little relief.  Without waiting for the others, she
headed for the familiar sound of the pack.

The second pool next to
the pack building was a new addition, her father’s bid to keep his own
territory sacrosanct.  Right now it was filled with large muscled shifters and
their pretty mates, plus one little wolf-shifter.  Seeing a giggling seven-year-old
Roxanne flying from Demon’s arms into the pool while Clytie screamed at him to
be careful, Cleo smiled.  It was good to be home.  She was so glad they stayed
on a few extra days; it would have sucked to miss spending time with everyone. 
Especially since she had spent the first part of their visit kidnapped by breed-crazed
lions.  From the look of the pool party she was walking into, they were
enjoying their extra vacation days quite a bit.

“Cleo!”

Cleo smiled when Roxy,
abandoning the pool, came running across the wet concrete towards her.  There
was more than one hiss and shriek of warning when the small golden child seemed
on the brink of a skid and tumble, but Cleo was already on the move.  Catching
the child in her head-long rush before she could do herself a damage, she might
survive just fine, but was guaranteed to send her adoptive parents into a
tizzy.

“Come play in the pool!” the
child yelled even though she was now plastered to Cleo and no longer needed to
shout to be heard above the others.  Cleo laughed, ignoring the water soaking
her side and partially the front of her shirt and khaki shorts.

“Roxanne! I told you
never to run by the pool.”  Clytie was suddenly there, her one-piece bathing
suit a bold red and trailing nearly as much water as her hair with each step. 
She had a sweet face, a short but voluptuous figure that carried an extra twenty
pounds in all the best places, big green eyes, and long hair she carelessly
slicked back from her face without a thought to the largely male audience.  Her
only concern was the young child she considered hers.  “You could have cracked
your head open!”

Then Demon was looming
over the three of them and glaring daggers at both Clytie and Roxanne.  “Woman,”
he growled, his eyes on his mate, “your head may be hard as granite, but it is
not likely to bounce off the concrete any less than Roxanne’s will.”  He
pointed a big finger down at Clytie, nearly touching the tip of her nose.  “No
running by the pool.”  Then he pointed it way, way down, at the little golden
child; even wet, her hair fairly glinted gold in the sun, her big blue eyes
showing not a hint of fear for the seven-foot warrior towering over them with a
dark scowl on his scarred face.  “You mind, runt, or no more pool time for
you.  Get me?”

Clytie snorted her
disbelief even as Roxanne began to chatter like a little squirrel in the face
of his warning. Roxy was talking so fast that Cleo understood about two out of
fifty words, while having wrapped her wet-suited body around Cleo’s long legs. 
She finally ended with, “Cleo’s here!” her little arms going up and her head
tilting as if that explained everything.  Cleo would have been unable to hold
back her laughter just from the earnest look on Roxy’s face, but add in the total
concentration on Demon’s face, and she was lost to the total cuteness of them.

“I get you,” Demon
finally said, shaking his head and looking stern, which for Demon read more
homicidal if you didn’t know him.  Then he pointed again, this time his finger
gently tapping her tiny nose.  “But no running, no matter what. 
You
get
me
?”

Finally, Roxanne opened
her eyes really wide and nodded her affirmation.  Demon immediately picked her
up and hoisted her to his shoulder, pretending to pitch her crazily to the
side, making Roxanne giggle and Clytie growl.  He smiled at Cleo, and as usual,
Demon smiling made him look twice as sinister, but Cleo was used to it and just
smiled back, giving Roxanne a wink.

“Good to have you back,
Cleo,” Demon said, then turned, giving her a lovely view of his hard muscled
back in nothing but swim trunks.  Since Demon was a large well-muscled predator
with massive shoulders and a rock hard body, this was as pleasant as the front
view had been.  Cleo laughed again when he slapped Clytie on the ass as he
passed her.  She jumped with a little “eep,” and glared at him until he had
cannonballed himself and Roxy back into the pool, creating a tidal wave that
had more than one curse coming from the sunbathers.

She turned back to Cleo,
shaking her head.

“Who do you think you’re
fooling?” Cleo asked her, one of her brows arched, her voice full of teasing
mischief.

Clytie shrugged and
looked innocent.  “What do you mean?”

“You were totally glaring
at his ass,” Cleo said baldly.

Clytie rolled her eyes,
but could not keep the dimples of her smile from peeking through.  “Well . . . wouldn’t
you?”

Cleo laughed and went to
hug her much shorter friend, ignoring completely the water that finished
soaking her in the process.  “I’m so glad you’re still here.”

“I am, too.  We wanted to
stay to help you move into your new place, and see how your first official
combat mission went.”  Clytie was examining her face when her cousin, Cassandra,
joined them.  Her long sun-kissed brown hair was up in a messy bun, her hazel
eyes laughing.  She was wearing a teal bikini with flowers, and cut-off jean
shorts that rode low across curvy hips.  She was taller than Clytie, all of it
legs, and although thinner than her cousin, she was not lacking in the curves
department.  Standing next to them both, Cleo felt both tall and flat.  Her nearly
B-cups and slightly curved hips barely registered as female compared to these
two.

But hey,
she
thought,
at least my boob size doesn’t interfere with my shooting, because
that would be seriously annoying.

Cassandra looked Cleo
over as well, and then shared a knowing look with Clytie.  Cleo had the feeling
they could see more than she would like.  Before either of them could ask what
they clearly wanted to ask, they looked behind a stiffening Cleo.

She knew Shawn was behind
her even before Cassandra spoke.  “Hey Shawn, Logan.  You have fun storming the
castle?”

She heard Logan laugh and
turned her head to take in both Shawn and Logan, looking hot and relaxed in
their jeans and t-shirts in the Napa sunlight, and she was not only referring
to the temperature.  “You know me darlin’, fun is my life.”

More than one snort
proclaimed doubt at this statement.  Logan was known as a man of few words and
fierce intensity – he was all things competent, but fun?  Not the way anyone
would think of the alpha wolf.  He winked at the ladies while he sauntered by. 
They all turned to watch him go.

Cassandra sighed.  “There
is just something about a cowboy,” she murmured.  A second later she had two
shifters standing at her back.  She looked up and back at her mates.  At the
arched eyebrows and crossed arms she laughed.  Cleo shook her head.  Ben and
Mac were both shifters in her pack, and probably the men she knew the least. 
Mac because he rarely spoke, and Ben because when he spoke it was usually
outrageous.  Mac was a smoky-eyed, dark-haired wolverine-shifter who had a
streamlined body and moved like he had no sharp edges; Ben was a golden Adonis,
with a hard body and a killer smile, who was always just a shade on the wicked
side.  You would not think that they would fit together, but somehow with the
addition of their long-legged mate, they made a cohesive whole that just worked.

“Are you ogling another
man?” Ben asked, turning before she could answer and looked at Mac.  “It looked
like she was ogling another man.”

“Yes.  It did.”  Cleo
shivered a little at the cold promise in those few words from Mac, but
Cassandra just laughed.

“Ogling is such a strong
word,” she said.  Her own smile wide, the sparkle in her eyes turning a touch
wicked.  “I prefer ‘appreciating at a distance’.”  She looked them both over in
their swim trunks and her eyes lit up with the heat that had been absent from
her casual perusal of Logan’s attributes.  “Now, you two are definitely ogle-worthy.”

She was not wrong, Cleo
thought.  One of them was enough to get any red-blooded female thinking of sin,
but both of them half naked, hard bodied and warm from the sun?  Yeah, there
was a lot there to ogle
definitely
.  Catching her eyes on them, Ben
winked playfully at Cleo, making her blush before his eyes turned unerringly
back to his and Mac’s mate.  “I think a cooling off is in order,” he said.