Safari Island Shifters: The Complete Collection(63)

“What do you do here on the island?” she asked him.

“I work in public relations,” he said, not taking his eyes off her mouth. It was unnerving.

“PR. That must be fun.”

He shrugged. “It can be. Right now, it’s grueling. This is the first time I’ve had a weekend off in months.”

“Because of the big celebration?”

“Yup. Is that why you came here?”

She was about to answer, but all the pieces suddenly clicked in her head. “Wait—are you Ward Langston?”

He looked nervous. “I am. Why?”

Oh, geez. It really was her lucky day. “I’m here to interview you.”

He visibly relaxed now. She hoped he was sure she wasn’t crazy. “Ah. Who do you work for?”

“Travel Log. I work with Mitch.”

“You must be the intern.” He looked her up and down. “I guess Travel Log gets all the pretty ones.”

“Thank you.” She swallowed a large piece of sandwich and crammed the rest in her mouth. “I actually need to go. Thanks for breakfast and taking care of me last night.”

“No problem.” He showed her to the front door. “I guess I’ll be seeing you again.”

“Yeah. Could we not tell Mitch about this, though?”

Ward’s eyebrows knitted together. “About us meeting? Nothing happened.”

“I know, but I don’t think Mitch will think it was so funny.” Especially not after the big talk he’d given her. Being late to an interview because she’d been sleeping on Ward’s couch wasn’t going to endear her to anyone.

“If that’s what you want.”

She smiled brightly. “Thanks. See you on Monday.”

Joan took out her phone as she walked. She typed the Gallows’ address into her GPS and waited for it to calculate her route. It was only five blocks away.

She studied the homes along the way. They were different than the ones on the edge of town: they were smaller and older. The town had clearly undergone a big transformation. She had never been to the island before and she wondered what it used to look like. In ten years, it might be even more different. And Ward had a big part in all of it.

What an idiot she’d been. She should have known who he was the moment they met. Though, in her defense, he looked different in person. There was a coldness about him in pictures that wasn’t evident in real life. You also couldn’t see his great body in the photos. It was a shame she couldn’t see more of that body. His sweatpants and tank top had shown a lot but she wanted to see all the covered parts. There were rumors about shifters that she was dying to confirm. It was a reporter’s job to get to the facts of the story, after all.

By the time she knocked on the Gallows’ door she was starting to get herself worked up. No more thinking about Ward. From the sounds inside the house, she figured it wouldn’t be too hard. Young children never made her want to hop into bed with anyone anytime soon.

Joan knocked again when nobody came to answer. She double-checked the address and then tried to call Chet Gallow’s phone. She could hear it ringing inside but no one picked up. She was starting to worry when a frazzled woman came to the door. Her short blonde curls were covered in flour. “Yes?”

“Hi, I’m Joan Marin from Travel Magazine. I’m here to interview Addison and Chet.”

The woman’s blue eyes opened wide. “Oh, shoot. I’m Addison. Please come inside.”

Joan stepped into the living room. It was clearly a well-lived-in space. There were toys everywhere and a play mat on the floor.

“I’m so sorry. I forgot all about the interview prep this morning.” Addison pointed to her hair. “Things got a little out of hand at lunch.”

“Breakfast,” Joan said.

Addison laughed. “I mean lunch. We eat breakfast at five-thirty here.”

Joan grimaced. She wondered if there was a way to get babies to wait to wake up until after sunrise. “My niece and nephews are all the same.”

They walked into the kitchen, where a handsome man with grey eyes and black hair was holding a squirmy little boy. The little one was wearing only a diaper and was covered in flour too. Yet the man only had flour on his shirt and the top of his khaki shorts.

“Joan?”

“Chet, I presume.” Joan nodded at him in lieu of shaking his hand. She stepped around him in a wide circle and stood near the sink. “And that little guy must be Will.”

The boy waved and then hid his eyes behind his hand.

“He’s a little shy,” Addison explained.

“And probably embarrassed by the mess he made,” Chet said. He put Will on the floor and grabbed a towel to wipe down a chair. “Please, have a seat. There won’t be any more flour bombs going off.”

He gave his son a stern look and then began cleaning the counters. Addison sat down next to Joan. “So, how can we help you?”

Joan took her notebook out of her purse and started her list of questions. The goal of the pre-interview was to make sure that Chet and Addison were prepared for the interview itself. This ensured that Mitch wouldn’t be surprised by their answers and that everything would run smoothly for their segment.

They were the first couple who had been married at the new resort on Safari Island. It had been a big splash because of an attempted murder that happened during the rehearsal dinner. After asking all the questions about the wedding and how the couple felt about Safari Corp, Joan couldn’t help but ask about the murder attempt.