Claiming Her (Keeping Her Series) by Kelly Lucille Read Free Book Online Page B

moron playing it
safe.”  He took her hand from his cheek and kissed the back of it.  “Losing you
again is not saving me baby. That’s a cold fucking place to be and I will not
go back there.”  He kissed her hard on the lips.  “And neither will you.”  Then
he let her chair fall back to four feet and backed up, standing tall.  It
forced her to crane her neck to meet his eyes.  “The rest of the team will be
here tomorrow.  We work this job and then we face whatever comes after, but we
do that together, Miley.”
    She blew out a breath,
shaking her head at the same time, but strangely enough, she no longer felt
close to tears, despite the fact that he was determined to throw himself and
his people into trouble.  “I knew you were going to be like this.  Arrogant
freakin’ lion.  Thinks he’s invincible.”  She stood up while she talked, and
she was still ranting on his lack of sound judgment when she wrapped her arms
around his waist and rested her cheek on his chest.  He immediately wrapped his
arms around her shoulders, his hand going into her hair to hold her closer.  “Going
up against these odds is just stupid, but you think you can handle anything
with your mighty lion teeth and giant paws.”  She burrowed her face into the
soft linen of his shirt.  “Never mind that you make an enemy of the most
powerful wolf pack alpha in America.”
    “And when he finds out
you belong to Lionsgate, Miley, his own people will be telling him one thing.” 
He kissed the top of her head and she could hear the cold promise in his
voice.  “Do not fuck with the Lionsgate pack, because those cold motherfuckers
are insane .”
    Right then he sounded a
lot like his son, Ian, and she knew he was trying to make her smile.  Isabella
just shook her head, feeling the warmth of his skin under her cheek and hoped
he was right, but she remembered the look of insanity when, enraged, Rickarts
had slapped her around.  She pushed closer to the strength that was Lucas
Gibbs.  She knew, no matter what he thought, it was not going to be that
simple.  But just then, standing in Lucas’ arms, a place she never thought she
would ever be, it sounded pretty darn good.
    ***
    Instead of ordering
another brunch, she just called for clean-up.  Lucas was back at his desk and
she knew from experience that it would be hours before he remembered he had a
stomach.
    “This catering company
is exorbitant.”  He spoke unexpectedly and Miley was tempted to roll her eyes
at the subject.
    “I know, but the guests
are aware of the bill and if they choose to pay it just so they can have a
professional caterer that’s their business.  They always have the choice of
that or the kitchen here.”  She looked over at him from where she had set up at
the small table with her laptop and phone.  “Is that in any way security
related?”
    He shrugged his massive
shoulders and plowed through the rest.  Really , Isabella thought with a
smile.  The man is incapable of not butting in.
    “I don’t like another
company being involved, because they are not going to be using the same security
measures we are,” he grumbled.
    Isabella shrugged.  “So
we will put it in writing, ‘no new employees without time to validate their
credentials’.  With as much as they are making, it should be no problem, and if
it is, we will find someone else who will follow our rules.”
    He grunted without
looking up from his screen.  “I’ll also want them checked physically when they
arrive at the island, in case of last minute issues they do not want to deal
with.”
    “Fine.  I’ll add it to
the standard agreement.”
    “Not sure what we can
do about poison,” he mumbled, and Isabella rolled her eyes and smiled.
    “Wolves,” she reminded
him.  “We can smell it, remember.”
    She felt the air still
around her and looked up to see him leaning back in his chair and studying
her.  “What?”
    “ We can smell it,”
he repeated back to her,