Authors: Lola Kidd
Rhino You Love Me
Rhino You Love Me
(Safari Shifters Book 1)
Lola Kidd
Copyright 2015 by Lola Kidd
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced without the express consent of the author.
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Addison Little just got the chance of a lifetime. Her best friend won an all-expenses paid trip to Safari Island and she’s asked Addison to join her. Addison’s always wanted to visit the shifter-run vacation spot but it’s always been out of reach financially. This post-college trip is the curvy girl’s last chance to have try and let loose and she’s determined to let her hair down and go wild.
Chet Gallow is one of the best workers on Safari Island. He’s been driving tour buses since the island first opened and he loves his job. After eight years, he’s beginning to think it’s time for a change. He wants to settle down and is sure the best way to find his mate is by leaving the island. But there are always surprises on Safari Island.
When he meets Addison, he knows she’s the one for him. The curvy girl isn’t so sure. Chet is brass and full of himself. There’s no way she wants anything to do with the egotistical rhino shifter even if he is drop dead gorgeous. But Chet won’t give up so easy. He’s found his mate and he’s going to do whatever it takes to win her over.
This is the first book in the Safari Shifters series. This short novella contains a HEA. NO cliffhanger!
“Pack your bags!” Lily Aris bound into Addison Little’s room.
Addison didn’t look up from her book. “You didn’t knock.”
Lily sighed and left the room. There were three rapid knocks on the door and Lily flung the door open again. “You’re going to die when you hear what I just got for free.”
Addison still didn’t look up. “I didn’t say come in.”
Lily scowled and left the room again. She knocked three times. “May I come in, Princess Addison?”
“Yes, you can.” Addison knew she was being picky, but she had to break Lily of that habit. There had been some very awkward moments thanks to Lily’s spontaneous visits. Addison would actually die if Lily caught her while she was having alone time looking at her favorite male model’s fan pages. And that happened a lot more than liked to admit these days.
“Try to guess what I won,” Lily crowed. She bounced up and down, throwing her head side to side.
“Was it free sandwiches for a year?” Addison guessed.
“Nope.”
“Darn. I was really hoping it was the sandwich contest.”
Addison couldn’t think of any other contest Lily had entered. They used to apply to all kinds of different contests together. It was how they had met. They were competing in a hotdog eating contest during freshman orientation and made it to the final three. They’d lost the game to a girl who was half their size and had beat them by a hefty margin. Lily had made jokes about the irony of the situation afterwards. Another contestant had overhead and told Lily off for making offensive jokes. Addison was a very curvy girl, but she wasn’t ashamed of her size and thought Lily’s jokes were hilarious.
The pair had become friends instantly. It also didn’t hurt that she and Lily were the same size and Lily never minded sharing clothes. They were inseparable for the rest of the year. By junior year they had moved into an off-campus apartment together.
“I’m going to give you a hint,” Lily said. “Lions, tigers, and zebras.”
Addison knew what it was right away. She tossed her book on the bed and got up. “Oh, Lily! I didn’t know you entered that contest.”
Lily nodded, and her grin got even bigger. “Yup. I didn’t just enter. I won that baby!”
Addison started jumping up and down too. “I can’t believe this. We’re going to Safari Island! Lily, have I ever told you how much I love you?”
Lily grabbed Addison’s hands and they jumped around together until they were out of breath. Then they lay on the floor staring at the ceiling together.
“We’re going to have so much fun,” Lily declared. “I’m going to buy a whole new wardrobe. I’m thinking Out of Africa chic. Lots of khaki and orange.”
Addison put her hands over her stomach. “I think I’m going to cut my hair.”
“No way. A cute little pixie?” Lily had been wanting to cut Addison’s hair for years. Her blonde curls reached down to the middle of her back.
“Not a pixie. I was thinking maybe something a little more nineteen-twenties.”
“You’re going to look like a blonde Betty Boop!”
“She had a pixie.”
“Whatever. You’re getting closer to your cartoon doppelganger. We’re going to get you a sexy little sparkling number for the club.”
“What club?”
Lily rolled over and propped herself up on her elbow. “Didn’t you hear that Safari Island has a new attraction? They just opened a massive nightclub on the beach. It’s part of their new singles imitative. That’s why they were giving away tickets.”
“Oh.” Addison had heard nothing past “free tickets to Safari Island.” She had applied to the giveaway without reading any of the terms and conditions or anything else. She had wanted to go to Safari Island since it had opened. There was no place like it on Earth.
A company had bought an island in the South Atlantic near Africa with the intention of opening an exclusive club for big game hunters. Once word had gotten out about it, the public wasn’t happy. A group of shifter investors bought out the company in a hostile takeover. Then, instead of a hunters’ club, they turned it into a giant vacation island. But there was a special twist to this one: the island was staffed mostly by shifters. There were different areas of the park, including a safari-themed amusement park, an actual safari tour, Safari Town where the staff lived, and a five-star beach resort.
The hunky shifters were a big draw for people. There was nowhere else you could be on safari and the lions would stroll over and turn out to be one of the tour guides. It was wild. As a poor kid turned even poorer college student, Addison could never afford to go. She didn’t think she’d be able to wait the week until they left.
“You deserve this, Addison,” Lily told her. “After the crappy two years you’ve had, you need a little holiday. I’m really proud of how you’ve handled yourself. I don’t think I’ve said that before, but I am.”
Addison teared up. It had been a tough two years. Her parents had lost their home and couldn’t co-sign for her loans anymore after mid-junior year. If it hadn’t been for Lily’s parents offering to foot her half of the rent and getting her a job at the local grocery store, Addison didn’t know how she would have stayed in school. The whole Aris family had been so kind to her and had helped her through her rough patch. It had taken her an extra year to finish school but she’d done it. She was proud of herself too.
This trip was the perfect way to celebrate her accomplishment. She was still working at the grocery store and had four weeks of vacation saved up. She and Lily were going to have a blast. Those shifters weren’t going to know what hit them.
***
“Thank you for the smooth ride.” A little old lady pinched Chet Gallow’s butt and winked at him.
“No problem. Have a nice night, ma’am.” Chet smiled down at her. After eight years on Safari Island, he knew it was just part of the job. They didn’t mean any harm and it didn’t happen very often.
“You too, dear.” The woman grabbed Chet’s arm and stepped off the van.
He went back inside and checked to make sure everyone and all their stuff was off his bus.
“I’m all clear,” Branch Durst said, coming onto the van. “They were all so sweet.”
“They left a big tip, didn’t they?” Chet came to the front of the bus. Branch flashed twenties at him. “Whoa. Can we take all that?”
“Who’s going to know?” Branch counted the money and then handed Chet half the stack. “We’re allowed to keep tips, man. That’s why we have the envelope.”
“I thought we were supposed to report anything this big to the front office.”
Branch laughed. “No way am I reporting this fat tip. I’m going to go out and buy some lovely ladies some drinks. You’re welcome to join me.”
Chet shook his head. “I don’t think so. Have fun.”
“Come on. You’re not still thinking about quitting, are you?”
Chet sat down on the hard plastic seat and nodded. “I think it’s time for me to find something new.”
“No way, man. You
are
Safari Island. You’ve been here longer than anyone else and you’re the best driver.”
“Anyone can drive a van.” Chet got back in the driver’s seat and headed for the garage.
“No, anyone can’t. We’ve gone through three idiots in the last month.”
Chet didn’t doubt it was true. All his job required was that he have a clean driving record, no felonies, and not drive the van under the influence. That was it. You could do drugs and drink as much you wanted off the clock as long as you showed up to work clean. Every summer, they’d have a rash of new recruits and without fail, many would show up to work drunk or stoned. It was infuriating.
Every day tourists put their lives in his hands and there was no way he’d ever take that lightly. He had been the very first shifter hire on Safari Island. He’d gone to high school with one of the investors. When he heard about the new tourist island, he’d jumped at the chance to work there. It was better than working his dead-end trucking job. He hated being cooped up in the rig all day and away from home for weeks at a time.
On Safari Island, he was never more than a few steps from the outdoors. Even when he was working, he was out in the fresh air. It was a dream job. Or at least it had been. Chet had started the job when he was in his early twenties. The endless nights of fun with his co-workers and the revolving door of hot tourists had been great. Now he was looking for something more.
He wanted to find his mate and settle down. He knew that none of the women he worked with were the one for him. The odds of one of the tourists being his mate were pretty slim. He still loved being on Safari Island, but he knew he’d need to leave if he ever wanted to find his mate.
“It isn’t going to be any easier if you leave,” Branch said as if he were reading his mind. Chet parked the bus and they got into his golf cart. It was the easiest way to move around the island and it made accidents almost nonexistent. No cars for tourists meant no drunk driving on the island. It was pretty ingenious of the Safari Corporation.
“At least I’ll be doing something,” Chet said as they drove across the dirt fields. “I can’t wait around here. Even Rapunzel had to leave her tower to get a date.”
“I’m pretty sure the man found her. You need to brush up on your fairy tales, man.”
“Yeah, well, whatever. I don’t think my mate is just going to waltz on through and find me.”
“It’s happened before,” Branch pointed out.
Chet shook his head. “It’s happened twice. It’s not likely to happen again.”
“But where are you gonna go? Back to your hometown, I bet. If your mate was there, you would have already found her. So if you go, you’re just gonna be trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
“I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“You aren’t doing nothing. You’re meeting ladies every day. You could meet new ones every night, too, if you’d come with us to the club more.”
“I’m sick of nightclubs,” Chet grumbled.
“You haven’t ever been to a nightclub. The bar in town has nothing on the Club Safari. A lot of the single women come to the island just for the resort and the club now. You’re missing a whole lot of hotties, man.”
Chet hadn’t considered that. The resort had rolled out all-new spa packages aimed at bachelorette parties right before Club Safari opened. It might be worth taking another look at the club. He’d only gone a handful of times and hadn’t really enjoyed himself. It had felt like a meet market instead of a fun night with the boys. The women were practically humping their dance partners on the floor, too. The whole thing was a little too debauched for him. The bar in Safari Town was no better, though. There just weren’t that many places to meet new women on the island.
Branch made it sound simple, but most of the women they met were with groups or their families. Not exactly prime pickings or open to meeting guys for more than vacation fun. Still, it was better than sitting home alone.
“Maybe I’ll go a few more times,” Chet relented.
“That’s my guy. You like it here, don’t you?”
“I love living in Safari Town. I think it would be a great place to raise a family with all the additions they’re doing to the town.”
Branch nodded. “That’s the whole point. They don’t want to lose talent because they all find mates. Plus, having more families around makes the place more family-friendly. Gotta balance out all the hedonism on the other side of the island.”
Chet didn’t know if you could ever balance out the hedonism of Club Safari. But he was willing to give the club another try. He didn’t think he would find his mate, but he wasn’t ready to give up his life Safari Island just yet. It was a one in a million shot but maybe he would find his mate on the island.