Chapter Four
Heidi was both nervous and excited when she woke up on Monday morning. The previous day’s shopping venture had been an enormous success, sending her home with several bags of clothing. The rest of her booty was smuggled by Julie in her own suitcases—which turned out to be a genius idea, as both Hector and her father had been curious about what she’d purchased and couldn’t keep their noses out of her luggage as she packed.
“Kiddo, Julie’s here,” Carson yelled up the stairs as she tried to lug her bags all in one trip down the hallway, grunting when the top one kept slipping off.
Her brother laughed and shook his head. “Honestly, Heidi,” he peered at the wobbly tower of suitcases stacked precariously on top of the one that had wheels, “what were you going to do when you got to the stairs, just push them all down and hope for the best?”
“Lucky for me I have lots of in-house muscle.” She winked at him as he grabbed them all and carried them out the front door for her, just as her dad walked up to see her off.
“Pop the trunk, Jules.” Carson cringed at the beat-up hatchback sitting in the driveway. “Can this hunk of junk even make it the two-hour drive to Chapple?”
“Hey! Don’t judge the ride, this little car has gotten me through a lot of crap.” Julie came around to use the key on the trunk lock—since the release latch was long gone—only to have about a dozen old Starbucks cups tumble out onto the ground when she opened it.
“Jesus, you have more luggage than Heidi.” He blew out a breath before trying to figure out a way to fit all the bags in the trunk. “You know you’re only going for a week, right?”
“You guys have no idea what we have to pack to look this good.” Heidi kissed her dad goodbye and dropped her purse in the passenger seat. “Two of those bags are hair products and makeup alone.”
“You don’t need any makeup to look beautiful, baby,” her dad gave her one more big hug, “now remember to be careful if you leave the ship when it docks, and don’t go anywhere alone, and make sure that you call me every day.”
“We will, Daddy, love you.” She kissed him on the cheek and could’ve sworn she saw a tear in his eye.
“Love you, too, baby girl,” he gently closed her door and gave Julie his stern Alpha-look, “and mind your speed on the highway, Missy. This car is barely held together by duct-tape and coffee cups.”
“I will, Mr. Jennings. I promise.”
Heidi was finally able to exhale as they drove out of town, her family none the wiser that she was on her way to a week full of much-deserved hedonism. One hour and forty minutes later—speeding aside—they were almost through their second round of singing along to the entire Burlesque soundtrack when they finally arrived at the Wild Desires terminal.
It was quite a sight out here in the middle of nowhere. Chapple wasn’t a large city by any means, but it was shifter-run. So naturally, it made sense to build the terminal for the only full-shifter cruise line in a place where humans weren’t likely to go poking about. The building was all glass, sitting right along the water's edge, the huge docking terminal extending far out into the ocean. There were three ships docked at the moment and Heidi’s excitement rose even further as she recognized the newest ship in the fleet—the one they would be boarding for their vacation.
The brochures for The Wild Side boasted tons of amazing amenities: shopping, spas, restaurants, theaters, and three dance clubs … not to mention the clubs designated for more specific fetishes. Her blood heated at the thought of finally getting to indulge her curiosity when it came to sex. This would be the safest place to let go and leave her inhibitions behind, not having to worry about who knew her father or her brothers. She could finally have the anonymity she’d always craved while growing up in the small town of Blue Valley.
“Are you ready for this, girl?” Julie threw her a grin as they gathered their bags on a trolley and made their way inside.
“I’m so ready.” She smiled back.
“Oh, yeah! Come on, Lindy says the volunteers have to register at the staff security gate.” Julie steered them to a smaller gate on the right side, away from the larger crowd that was lining up. “To infinity and beyond!”
Heidi laughed at her enthusiastic cheer that got them a few chuckles from those close enough to hear it.
“I’m not sure that particular phrase is appropriate considering what we’re going to do this week. What would Buzz Lightyear think?”
“Ah, come on,” Julie winked. “You know under that cute little space suit he’s a super freak—his best friend’s name is Woody, for crying out loud.”
There was a little bit of a lineup for the staff gate, and while they waited their turn, Heidi noticed another gate that was in between theirs and the one that was for the general passengers. She saw a small sign declaring it the VIP security gate, and when her gaze wandered to the much smaller lineup, it stopped abruptly on a set of extremely broad and muscular shoulders.
Her breath caught in her throat and her heart began to pound as she took in the wavy jet-black hair that reached his collar, the golden skin over strong, taut forearms, and the way she could see the delicious muscles moving under his dress shirt as he loaded his suitcase onto the conveyor belt with ease. Then suddenly, as if he’d felt her gaze upon him, his head slowly turned toward her until she could finally see the deep golden-hazel eyes set in a classically handsome face.
Their eyes locked for a second, and the lioness inside of her almost knocked her to her knees in her enthusiastic response to this unknown male. When a slow smile tipped up one side of his lips, Heidi couldn’t help but send a shy smile back, wondering what in the hell was going on that had her cat pacing inside her from just a flirty smile. Then all too soon the spell was broken as he turned his attention to the security attendant. He looked back at her once, then briefly spoke with the employee processing his luggage, seeming to nod in her direction. When the attendant answered, the handsome stranger’s smile returned, and he turned back to wink at her before moving through the gate beyond her sight.
“Holy balls,” she whispered, catching Julie’s attention. That single confident wink from him had things tingling in her lower extremities that hadn’t tingled in a long time.
“What’s up?” Her friend looked at her and frowned. “Are you okay? You’re all flushed and—panting.”
“What?” she snapped back, a little embarrassed by her reaction, “I’m not panting.”
That only received a smirk and an eyebrow raised in question from Julie.
“That guy.” She was desperately trying to get control of herself, but her cat still wasn’t calming down. “Did you see him?”
“What guy?”
“Over at the VIP check in.”
“Oooh, I see that guy and he’s super-hot.” She followed Julie’s leer back to the VIP lineup just in time to see a second man laughing with the attendant as he lifted his bag onto the counter. His hair was a little bit lighter than the first man’s, but it was longer, reaching his just-as-wide shoulders. He was as equally mesmerizing as the first man, but in a different way. He seemed more rugged, more relaxed.
“I’d take a bite out of that fine ass any day.” Julie pretended to bite and instantly a low growl came bursting out of Heidi’s mouth and she slapped her hands over her lips in shock. Julie’s eyes went wide, then she burst out laughing. “Oh, my God, Heidi! Since when is your lioness such a stingy bitch? No sharing, huh?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me! I think my cat is having a hormonal breakdown from lack of sex or something.” She was mortified at her reaction—she’d never lost control of her other side like this. What was it about those two men that had her so wound up?
“Well, get control of that pussy, my friend.” Julie winked at the handsome young man who’d laughed as he overheard their conversation while loading their luggage. “We’re going to the perfect place to cure what ails you.”
Heidi almost died of embarrassment when they cleared security and Julie yelled out, “Sex-starved lioness coming through! Clear a path or risk losing your important dangly bits.”