Craving Her (Keeping Her Series Book 4) (3 page)

Cassandra lost her
smile.  “No . . .” she said as she started to back up, her eyes still laughing
held a note of panic now, “I do not need a cooling off . . .” but it was too
late, Mac had already bent and folded her over his shoulder.  She was flailing
and arguing, laughing despite herself, but it did no good as she was carried
toward the pool.  Ben smiled his toothpaste ad smile at Cleo and Clytie. 

“Cleo, good to have you home.” 
He nodded behind her.  “Shawn.”

When Mac got to the pool
with his now shrieking prisoner, he wasted no time in jumping them both into
the deep end of the Olympic-size swimming pool.  Ben dived gracefully in after
them and Cleo laughed at the ruckus.  “Since when is Mac playful?” she asked,
shaking her head. “Ben I get.  He has always been a card, but Mac . . . ?”

“He’s happy,” Clytie said
with a sigh, as she watched Cassandra trying to get her revenge by dunking Mac
and knowing she had no chance against her two mates united.  Sure enough, Ben
grabbed her by the waist and pulled her laughing against him.  Her back to his
chest, he wrapped her arms across so that all she could do was squeal when Mac
came back at her like a seal through the water.  There laughs mingled.  No one
was surprised when it ended in a kiss that Demon had to break up.

“Midget present!” Demon
yelled from the other side of the pool with a glare, sending a wave of water
over the always amorous threesome.  Since Roxy was presently attached to his
head, her big eyes on the couple as usual all-seeing, they broke it off.  With
an easy caress of Cassandra’s cheek by Mac and an underwater grope from Ben,
they had her laughing as she moved away.  The water she sent splashing at Ben’s
head did nothing to remove the wicked smile he directed at his mate.

Clytie laughed and turned
back to Cleo, who quickly wiped the envious look off her face.  She was sure
Clytie had seen it anyway, but while she envied her pack members their mates,
this did not mean that she was not thrilled that they had found that.  It was
just a closeness she craved for herself.  Even as she sent a smile Clytie’s
way, she could not help but be aware of the silent presence at her back.  Shawn
seemed to be waiting for something, but as far as she was concerned, he could
wait indefinitely.

“We need to go in,” he
finally said, just when it looked like Clytie was going to speak.  “Lucas will
be waiting for our report.”

Cleo ground her teeth,
aware as she did that her eyes were flashing to lion-gold.  Of course, he was
not waiting around because he wanted to clear the air about the kiss; he was
waiting to make sure she made her father’s meeting. 
Typical.

She turned slowly to
spear the man with her eyes.  “Please, don’t let me hold you back.  I don’t
need or want a guide to my father’s office.”

He narrowed his eyes at
her tone looking none too pleased, but then with Shawn, it was not an unusual
look. Around her, he seemed forever unpleased.  But, also typical, Shawn merely
gave her a warning glare and moved around them.

“Clytie,” he said by way
of greeting, tipping his head in the barest nod as he passed.  His locked jaw
was granite hard.  His eyes hawk bright and piercing when he gave Cleo one last
warning look.  Then he was gone and Clytie turned back to her with wide eyes.

“What did you do to
Shawn?”

“I haven’t done anything
to him,” she growled.  Watching him walk away.  Again.  “Yet.
”

CHAPTER
THREE

She made it to her father’s
office only to find Logan and Shawn standing outside the library door blank-faced. 
Cleo understood as soon as she was close enough to hear what was happening
inside.  Then, she wanted to both roll her eyes and curl her lip at the same
time.  Instead, she smiled to herself before bypassing the men to bang on the
door. 

“Just so you know we’re
standing outside the door,” she yelled, “listening.”

They all heard the shriek
and shuffle from inside, not to mention the angry roar of a lion being denied.

“Only you and Ian can get
away with that shit,” Logan muttered, shaking his head and trying to hold back
a grin.

A minute later, the door
was practically pulled off its hinges and her father’s pink-cheeked mate was
looking at them, her usual pristine and girly outfit disheveled.  Seeing her
bright, hazel eyes looking more blue than green and mussed golden-brown hair,
Cleo laughed.  Miley rolled her eyes and stepped out to give her a hug,
ignoring the state of Cleo’s wet clothes.

“I am so glad you’re
home.”

“Sure you are,” Cleo
teased.  She hugged her back, and then hearing the chuff of a lion, she turned
to see father looking particularly ferocious.  “Wow, must have been at a good
part.”

Miley snorted a laugh
before she could help it and pulled away, giving Cleo another view of reddening
cheeks.  Her father huffed and pulled Cleo into his own arms, and like every
time her father wrapped her in his huge arms, she felt like she was home.  Then
he spoke, and also as usual, she wanted to walk right back out the door.  “Was
it really necessary for my baby girl to take out a band of guerrilla drug
runners on her own?”

She pulled back and
glared.  Her dad was looking over her shoulder at Shawn and Logan.

“Dad!” She heard Miley
sigh behind her, but was too busy glaring at her father to note the exasperated
sound.  “Are you really going to talk over my head at the guys like I’m still a
child and they’re my babysitters?”

Her father was a 6’ 4”
powerhouse of a lion-shifter.  He was also alpha of their pack and owned the
security company everyone worked for, not to mention he had been their SEAL
team commander when they served together in the Navy Special Forces.  To say he
was used to being in charge was an understatement.  He switched his glare from
his men to Cleo.  “That’s not what I’m doing.”

“Really?” she asked, the
doubt a sarcastic counter to the word.  “Because that’s what it sounds like.”

He chuffed out his
annoyance, taking her in with a belligerent look in his eyes.  “You aren’t
hurt?”

“I’m not hurt and the Black
Hawk is safe and sound.”

“Fuck the Hawk,” he
grumbled.  “You were never supposed to be in the thick of the fighting on this
one.”

“You would have preferred
we humped our way out of the jungle to the coast.  That would have taken days
dragging the target and we would have been in danger the whole way.”

He narrowed his eyes and
looked her over.  “You put some thought into this discussion.”

“I know my father,” she
said simply.  He grunted and released her finally, moving to motion them all into
the office.  Since Lucas and Shawn had been silent throughout the exchange, she
had almost forgotten they were there until they followed her into the room and
took up places on either side of her.  The show of comradery was not lost on
her or her father.  Cleo might have been blinking at the surprise move on their
parts, but her father just raised a brow and looked thoughtful.  Miley stood at
the open door behind them.  “I’ll go check on the pool party, shall I?” she
asked, and then closed the door and exited at speed before her father could say
anything.

“Always running,” he
muttered, his eyes narrowed and shifted to gold while he looked at the closed
door and his quickly escaping mate.  Then he turned his eyes back to Cleo and
she wiped the smile off.  “Report.”

She did, as concisely as
she could, leaving out only the last bit of time with Shawn.  There are some
things her father would not react well to, and hearing that, after a battle,
her daughter nearly had sex with one of his soldiers on the jungle floor while
hostiles still roamed, was definitely on a need-to-know basis.  And some things
he
never
needed to know.
 Come to that
, she thought, aware every
second that Shawn Ryan was close enough that his heat seemed to scorch her
along her left side. 
Nobody ever needed to hear about that.

Cleo probably would have
stuck to the promise to tell no one if it had not been for the impromptu girls’
night celebration to honor her moving into her own place that happened later
that night.  And the many, many bottles of wine might have contributed to her
loose lips.  And possibly the whiskey sours.

***

It started out innocently
enough.  Shanghaied by Miley.  Cassandra and Clytie off somewhere shooing their
men from the house, Miley was left to deal with a narrowed-eyed Lucas who
glared at Miley and said, “We have things to finish in my office.” 

To which she answered
with a rolled eye, “We always have things to finish in the office.”

His chuff, blazing heat
look, and the emphasis on repeating, “No, we have
things
to finish,” was
less than subtle, even without Miley’s blush and suddenly flustered, “Later.”

But she held strong, not
looking at Cleo who watched their play from the kitchen island.  Miley shook
her head with big warning eyes aimed at Lucas, and cleared her throat while
trying to hide her heated cheeks.  Cleo felt bad for her; she was trying so
hard to be subtle about their sex talk and failing miserably.

“Yeah, Dad,” Ian said,
coming into the kitchen from the backdoor, “you and Miley can have sex in your
office anytime.”

Miley choked, glaring first
at Ian’s naked back and then Lucas.  Her words acquired a bite that had her
mate looking less than pleased.  “Girls’ night tonight, before Cleo moves out
tomorrow.  You two make yourself scarce.  And take all the other guys with
you.  This is strictly girls.”  She glared at Ian again, who was rubbing his
six pack while he grabbed the juice from the fridge.  “Quite frankly, we could
all use a testosterone-free night.”

Shirtless and shoeless,
his jeans hanging low on slim hips, he winked at Miley before drinking straight
from the bottle.   Disgusted by the show, it was with no small satisfaction
Cleo watched her father grab his only son by the back of the neck, making Ian
stop drinking and wince.

“Son, you and I are going
to have a talk,” Lucas rumbled, taking the orange juice out of Ian’s
unresisting hand, his words full of the promise of mayhem.  Lucas plunked it on
the counter, then led Ian out of the kitchen by his neck.  Cleo was not the
only one who watched their departure with satisfaction.

Sighing, Miley got out a
fat, black, permanent marker from the kitchen utility drawer and wrote
‘IAN’
across the orange juice before putting it back in the fridge.

“What is it about my
brother that makes me think of stabbing knives?” Cleo asked mildly.

Miley laughed, shaking
her head.  “Your brother has many fine qualities . . . I can’t think of any
right
now,
but I’m sure he has . . . at least two.”

Then they looked at each
other and Cleo snorted out a laugh and Miley chuckled at the same time.  Then
she suddenly looked serious.  “Soo, big day tomorrow.”

“Yep.”

“And you had your first
combat assignment.”

Cleo raised a brow, her
head going to her palm as she studied Miley over the kitchen island, wondering
where this was leading.  “Yep.”

Miley shook her head, “I
thought we could have a talk.”

Cleo continued to study
her.  “Bernie gave me the sex talk when I was fourteen.”

Miley laughed and then
came around the island to sit down beside her.  “Not about that.”   Then she
seemed to think about it for a minute.  “Bernie, not your father?”

Cleo snorted.  “Dad’s
talk happened when I turned twenty.  He pointed his big finger at me and said,”
Cleo dropped her voice to resemble her dad’s on the one word, she giving an
approximation of her father’s belligerent face, “'Don’t’.”

Miley laughed.  “Why does
that not surprise me?  I wonder what he said to Ian,” she pondered out loud.

Cleo rolled her own eyes
in disgust.  “I can tell you that. He gave him a box of condoms and said, ‘Use
these or I will kill you’.  I think he meant it, too, because Ian swears he
practices safe sex to save his life, and not in the usual way.”

Miley laughed again, but
waved that away.  “I digress.”  She smiled at Cleo and Cleo sucked in a breath
at the open affection she saw there.  It was something she had always received
from Miley, and something she had dearly missed when she was gone.  “What I
wanted to talk to you about was your goals.”

Cleo blinked at the
unexpected opening.  “My goals?”

Miley sighed, “I am
making a muck of this.  I just . . .”  She cleared her suddenly tight throat.  “When
I left home, my mother took me aside and gave me some sound advice.  She asked
me a question, and I guess if you don’t mind, I’d like to do the same with you.”

Cleo sat up straighter in
her seat.

Miley went on hurriedly, “I
know I’m not your mother and I’m not trying . . .”

Cleo interrupted her.  “I
would be honored,” she said simply.

Miley’s smile was
blinding, then she sucked all the beaming light in and got serious, making Cleo
want to laugh at the quick switch, but her words distracted her from her
mirth.  “My mother asked me,” Miley continued, “‘What would you attempt to do
if you knew you could not fail?’  I guess I just want to put the question to
you.”

Cleo opened her mouth but
Miley held up a gentle hand.  “Just think about it, you don’t have to give me
the answer.  Just . . . I think the idea is not to be ruled by fear.  I want
you to always go after what you want without letting all the things that could
go wrong hold you back.  My mother told me that living a life without fear was
impossible.  The trick is knowing what you truly want and not letting fear of
failure stop you from going after it.”  Miley shook her head again, her gaze
going inward.  “I think I forgot that for a while, and it nearly cost me
everything.”  Then she turned back to Cleo.  She shrugged, her eyes lit as they
looked into Cleo’s.  “Once you really understand what you want, I hope you can
learn from my mistakes and go after it.  I have no doubt that whatever you set
your mind to, you can accomplish.”  She put her soft hand over Cleo’s on the
island and squeezed it, making Cleo’s throat close with her emotions.  “I am
already in awe of the woman you have become Cleo.  I have no doubt at all in
your ability to be great at whatever you set your mind to doing.”

She gave Cleo’s hand one
last squeeze.  “And I hope you know you can come to me if you ever need
anything, even if it’s just a shoulder to lean on.”  With a gentle hug that
Cleo fought herself not to hold to desperately, Miley gave her a soft smile and
left. 

Before she was out of
sight, Cleo cleared her throat.  “Hey, Miley?”

She turned back to the
room, her eyes as bright at Cleo imagined her own were.  “Yes?”

“Thanks.”

Miley smiled that big,
blinding smile again, and Cleo could not hold her own back.  But once Miley was
gone, she lost it.  Cleo sat there a long time, thinking of what she wanted,
and contemplating the wonder that was a mother-daughter talk.  It was
bittersweet.  It was amazing to have Miley back and feel that connection again.
 At the same time, she could not help but feel bitter thinking about her own
mother, and the fact that instead of imparting passed-down wisdom, she had sold
her children for money and never looked back.

Cleo shook off the raw
feeling brought on by too much emotion bombarding her in too short a time.  She
had a party to go to and a future to plan.  The past could stay where it was
buried.  Deep.  Tonight she was going to have fun, and not think about her
absentee bitch of a mother, or her yearning for a certain idiot male who had no
idea what he was throwing away by completely and utterly rejecting her.  Maybe
later she would take Miley aside and talk it over with her, but for now, she
was determined to keep a tight lid on it.  No sense airing her rejection for
the world.

***

“Then,” Cleo muttered,
her hands waving about unsteadily.  “Then! He had the gall to just get up and
leave.  Like a . . .”  She thought about it but nothing seemed to have the
right feel in her mouth for the way Shawn Ryan had
left
her.  “Well, he
left, and there I was naked and horny on the ground.  Alone!”

The silence finally
penetrated her drunken stupor and she looked up to see three pairs of eyes on
her, all in a seeming state of shock.  “I know! Right!”  She finally called
out, vindicated by their reaction. “Just like that.”  She snapped her fingers
unsteadily a few times before she was satisfied.  “Gone.”