Safari Island Shifters: The Complete Collection(9)

They walked for a half mile more before turning around. Addison hopped right in the shower when they got home. She was sweaty from the walk but she had a great tan. She wouldn’t need bronzer for the rest of the trip.

When she was drying off, Lily burst into her room.

Addison scrambled to pull up her towel. “Knock first!”

Lily ran out and knocked on the door rapidly.

“Come in.” Addison secured her towel. “What’s up?”

“That guy was for real,” Lily said. “He works in PR and has an office in Safari Complex. I guess it’s just past Safari Town. A photographer is going to meet us at the restaurant tonight.”

“What?”

“Our meal is going to be comped, of course, but we have to sign some releases beforehand.” Lily looked at her phone. “We’ll need to get there fifteen minutes early to sign all the stuff. Ward won’t be there tonight but he’ll be meeting us here tomorrow.”

“You agreed to do this without asking me.”

“He was so excited when I told him we were giveaway winners.” Lily continued, oblivious to Addison’s growing anger. “We’re going to get $750 each and almost everything is going to be comped. We may even make money from this trip.”

“Hello. I said I didn’t want to do it,” Addison fumed. “You should have asked me first. I don’t want to work on my vacation.”

“We don’t have to do anything special,” Lily whined. “You’re being unreasonable. We’re already going to be doing this stuff. Plus, and you’ll love this, we’re getting a private safari in addition to all the other perks.”

Addison kept her arms crossed but she was suddenly feeling less annoyed. “Tell me more.”

“Well, we’re going to get one this afternoon before dinner,” Lily said. “The guy who does the tour will take us back here to change and then drive us to dinner. That’s what I came in here to tell you. I know it’s short notice but there was no other time to schedule it.”

“Are you sure we won’t be late to dinner?”

Lily shook her head. “Nope. We should have tons of time. We’ll have lunch out there and everything. This is like the VIP deal. But we need to leave, like, now. The bus to that part of the island leaves in like twenty minutes.”

Addison threw on a pair of shorts and a light shirt. She took a long-sleeved top just in case it got cold. She pushed a headband behind her ears, threw a travel makeup set in her bag, and put on earrings. She was putting on her shoes less than ten minutes after Lily had told her about the trip. She was waiting on the front porch when Lily came outside.

“Someone’s a little eager,” Lily laughed.

They made the bus with minutes to spare. They snapped a few pictures for social media as they rode. Addison was excited. An all-day private safari was a dream come true. She was going to get to see the animals up close and they could ask the guide a million questions if they wanted. She hoped they’d get a shifter guide.

When they got to their stop, there were many vans and jeeps ready to take off.

“Which one is it?” Addison asked.

“He should have a sign with our name on it.” Lily scrolled through her phone notes. “Oh, we’re looking for jeep 17.”

They walked down the line looking at all the vehicles. Most of them were empty since there were a limited number of tours going at once. They had to walk all the way to the end of the row to get to their jeep. The driver was sitting in the car on the phone.

“Should I knock on the window?” Lily asked. “I’m going to knock. Maybe he doesn’t know we’re here.”

“You mean you aren’t going to just rip open the door?” Addison faked a surprised face. “Could you be learning?”

Lily made a face and poised to knock on the driver’s side window. The door popped open before her knuckles touched the glass. “Oh!”

Chet Gallow stepped out of the jeep. “Hello, again. Sorry I had to take that call. I picked up a shift today so I had to cancel an appointment. Ready to go?”

Addison debated turning around and leaving. She glared at Lily. “Did you know about this?”

She held up her hands. “I’m completely innocent. I had no idea who our driver was going to be.”

“No way she knew,” Chet assured Addison. “I didn’t even know I was going to be your driver until half hour ago. This is a favor for Ward. I didn’t even know it was you. I swear.”

He held open the back door. She slowly slid into the back seat. She wasn’t going to let him ruin the safari. But if he made one off comment, she was going to raise hell with the PR man who’d set this all up.





Five


Chet couldn’t believe his luck. He was trying to play it cool, but he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. When Ward found out what he’d done, Chet was going to owe him big time. He’d been more than a little pissed earlier when Ward had called in his chit. He’d been planning to get a haircut, and the wait list for his barber was two weeks long. But he’d gotten his ass over to the car depot and picked up his jeep.

It’d been a while since he had done a tour on his own, but all his anxieties had melted away when he saw the beautiful Addison heading his way. She looked so cute even with a scowl etched on her face. Her short blonde hair was held back by a headband, giving him an even better view of her face. It was going to be hard not to stare for the whole drive.