Safari Island Shifters: The Complete Collection(50)

She looked like she would be more at home on the pages of a men’s magazine than Good Eats. Long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, long, thick legs, curvy hourglass figure, and an inviting smile. It appeared that she’d won a cooking reality show and wasn’t an actual world-class chef. Her star had risen thanks to the show, but she still wasn’t proven. That helped him, but not by much. She was the much more famous chef at the moment. Having Clementine Blue cater an event this year was going to be much flashier than getting Parker Travers.

Jasminda was right. He was old news. He was going to have to depend on his food and not his celebrity status.

He couldn’t get Clementine out of his head as he drove home. From the looks of her, she was just his type. He would have to see if her show was on Netflix so he could watch a few episodes and really get a feel for what she was like. Ostensibly, he’d be watching so he could gather some business information. Jasminda wouldn’t be too happy if he was watching the show and enjoyed looking at Clementine. She hated it when he even looked at another woman. She wouldn’t even come to Wild Eats because she got annoyed when women talked with him.

When he got home, he went inside with his phone open. Jas would get a kick of his competition being a reality TV star. “You’ll never guess what happened to me today,” he called out.

There was no answer. He called her name and then went to the kitchen to get a drink. He was surprised to find a naked man standing in front of the fridge, pulling out a can of beer. The man looked surprised when he saw Parker but didn’t move to cover himself.

“Hey, dude.”

Parker recognized the man but couldn’t figure out why he was naked in Parker’s house. His name was Shane, and he worked security at the amusement park. They’d drunk together at Club Safari a few times. “What are you doing here?”

“Your guest invited me over for the night. She’s a real looker. Sorry if you were trying to get out of the friend zone, man. I couldn’t turn down a hottie like her.”

Parker nodded. Everything made sense. “I’m going to go get some work done at the hotel bar. Tell Jasminda I’d like her to be gone by the time I get home tonight.”

Shane’s eyes opened wide and he put down the can of beer. “Dammit, I’m so sorry. Look, I didn’t know. She said you guys were just friends and you were living together until they got her a place of her own. I’m sorry, okay? I would have never come home with her if I knew.”

Parker put out his hand and smiled. “No hard feelings. It happens.”

Shane shook his hand with a pained look in his eyes. “You’re a real class act. I’ll do whatever I can to make this up to you.”

“Just give her my message.” Parker grabbed his tablet and went back to his golf cart. He wasn’t even upset. He’d brought it on himself. When you weren’t with your mate, the relationship was bound to have an expiration date. He knew Jasminda wasn’t his mate, and he’d kept dating her long past that realization.

He would probably feel bad about it later, but right now, he had a menu to plan.

***

Clem was on a bus into Safari Town, on her way to meet with Ward Langston to talk about the upcoming tasting. He’d offered to pick her up at her hotel, but she’d refused. She liked taking the bus and getting to see the sights like a real tourist.

So far, her trip had been great. Her ma had managed to talk her cousin Polly into being her assistant. Polly lived on a commune and drove an ice cream truck for a living. They had been best friends growing up and were still close, even though they didn’t get to see each other nearly enough. Polly was a lot more laid back than Clem, but she was a great assistant. She would be getting to the island later that night.

Something was up with the tasting. Ward hadn’t wanted to tell her over the phone, so Clem knew it was something not so good. Maybe they’d decided to go with another chef, or they’d called off the wedding. It probably wasn’t that serious, but she had to prepare herself for the worst. She’d amused herself on the plane by thinking of all the outlandish things that could go wrong. With Safari Island track record for weddings, she couldn’t rule anything out.

She fought her way through the crowds in Safari Town. It was seven at night, but the place was still packed. There were lots of tourists leaving for the various resorts and people getting home from work. There was also construction, which blocked off the simplest route for her and everyone else. Instead of walking the few blocks from the bus stop to Ward’s home, she was corralled with everyone else to walk in the opposite direction and then double back. She was mighty annoyed by the time she knocked on Ward’s door.

He held a bottle of sparkling water out to her as he opened the door. “Sorry about the walk. The construction is a pain, I know.”

She took a long drink of water. “It sure is. You could have warned me about it.”

“It’s been a part of my daily commute for over a year. I don’t even notice it anymore. Forgive me?”

“I do. So, what did you want to see me about tonight?”

“I thought you’d want to meet the wedding planner.” Ward led her to the living room, where a man with dark purple hair stood up from the couch to greet her. He was wearing a neon green Hawaiian shirt and navy board shorts. “Clementine Blue,” Ward said, “this is Montgomery Venzil.”