Goose and the Ocelot Read online

  He shifted back into his ocelot form and waited for her to shift into her goose form before he led her to his plane. The clumsy bird followed him through the jungle, taking to the air whenever she could, and being plenty vocal about how she felt about the abundance of branches in her way.

  He was sure the goose was quite graceful when in open skies or on a nice lake, but damn if she didn't make a lot of honking noises behind him while being swatted by limbs or pelted by jungle bugs. They were treated to disgruntled sounds as they passed other birds, small primates, and reptiles who were none too pleased to be disturbed by the goose.

  When they came upon his plane, he shifted back into human form, and she followed, jumping right in to give him an earful. “Were you trying to take the most complicated, crowded, chafing path? Because if so”—she started to golf clap, a slow and annoying noise—“then good job, Tarzan, you did it.”

  “It’s Andrés, duckie, in case you forgot,” he said, ignoring her other comments and punching in the digital key to unlock his plane while trying not to get another eyeful of her delicious body.

  He did manage to catch the daggers she shot out of her eyes at him. “Okay, how about I won’t say Tarzan again if you don’t say duckie again. Because, so far, I’ve been one of the only Goosbys without a kill count, but if you say that word again, my leaderboard is going to change.”

  He laughed but agreed. “Okay, fair enough. I’m guessing turkey is also off the table?”

  This time she took a swing at him, but he danced out of her reach. “Cat-like reflexes—”

  “Say turkey again, I fucking dare you.”

  She was playing, right? Andrés wasn’t entirely sure, based on the deadly look in her eyes, and he decided he better not continue to test her. He really didn’t want to go back to his superiors and have to explain that he’d failed his mission because his flirting irritated the target into flying away without him.

  “Truce, okay, I’m sorry, truce… okay?” Despite the apology, her face didn’t soften. “I’m sorry, Dedra, you marvelous Canadian goose, the most majestic one I’ve ever been blessed to set eyes on.” In both human and goose form.

  That did the trick. The murder faded from her eyes, and he swore she preened at the compliment. It was too much for him; he had to turn away. The lady looked damn sexy when she basked in compliments like that. He could just imagine her in his bed while he worshiped her with his tongue—verbally and orally.

  “I need your satellite phone.” She interrupted his dirty thoughts. “I need to call Kailee.”

  He also needed to check in with his team, but he had a feeling that it was more important to let mother goose use the phone first, so he handed it over. He used the time while she was talking to get dressed and found it especially amusing when he heard Dedra ask her daughter, “Is your agent a hottie too?”

  So she thinks I’m a hottie. Of course she did. All the ladies did. Men too. They couldn’t resist the tan skin, the dimple, the elegant black coif that was starting to become salted in the most distinguished way. But the confirmation that Dedra thought of him that way seemed extra important to him. Was it because she was the first woman in a long time that he found not only very attractive but also interesting?

  He’d have to save those thoughts for later. Once she was delivered to the FUC academy, his official mission was over. Till then, he’d keep it all in his pants.

  After that… a cat could hope.

  When she finished her phone call, he tossed her a FUC agent field package. “I brought you clothes.”

  “What the hell is this?” Her face scowled as she looked at the grey cotton shorts and matching grey tank top.

  “The emergency clothes we keep for shifters in need of a quick cover.”

  “Granny panties?” She pulled them out from between the other clothes and held them up pinched between fingers.

  He shrugged, trying to look serious, even though her offense to the items highly amused him. “It’s the FUC-issued hot weather clothing kit. I didn’t pick any of it.”

  “Well, you need to tell me who did, because I’m going to have a talk with them.” He caught the wad of panty material she threw at him and didn’t look up till he was certain she was dressed. How could someone look so sexy in such a simple set?

  “You sure you don’t want these? It will be a long flight?” he asked, squeezing the panties in his hand while trying not to think about the feel of the material on her velvety nether region.

  “I’m good,” she said while leaning into some downward-facing yoga pose.

  Again, he had to look away. Shit. The goose is going commando.

  That would make for quite an interesting distraction over the upcoming hours. How easy it could be to put on some autopilot and reach over to her lap…

  “Can I see what info you have about MUFF and why they’re targeting my family?” Once again, she pulled him out of his dirty thoughts. “I want to learn what I can about this weirdo cult.”

  He pulled out a tablet and tapped around on it before turning it over to her. She looked over the file as he warmed up the plane engines and called into the office. Alyce, his boss and the academy director, answered right away.

  “Just checking in, target acquired, and we’re on schedule to make it to our stopover safe house tonight.”

  The safe house was already booked for him. Even with the extra FUC tech that made his plane go faster and farther on less gas, they would still need to make a few fuel stops and would definitely need to stop for the night. Andrés could fly for only so many hours before he needed to take a break. Despite the advances of FUC technology, they still hadn’t come up with a way to make people not need any sleep, and Andrés didn’t play with safety by flying while tired.

  “Good work, Sosa. Any problems?”

  “It’s been pretty smooth sailing.” The Creed boy wasn’t worth mentioning; neither was their flirty banter. His boss just wanted to know if there was any movement from MUFF.

  “Great. Our contacts in air traffic control will make sure to track you and to clear you through borders. Have a safe flight.”

  He’d barely ended the call when Dedra asked him, “Where are we landing tonight?”

  “That’s need-to-know information,” he told her, opening the passenger door for her to hop in.

  “And I need to know.” She didn’t budge.

  “For what?” he asked. “It’s a safe house. People aren’t to know you’re there.”

  “Because I’m not wearing this for two days and overnight. If you don’t want me to disclose the safe house location, then let me know where one of the fuel points will be. They’ll drop my package there.”

  “Postmates isn’t going to just wait around for you. You’ll just have to deal.”

  “Postmates?” She laughed. “Oh, honey, we don’t use anything that mundane. I’m a NAKED girl.”

  The statement conjured an image of Dedra nude. He didn’t even need to use his imagination. The picture was perfectly clear in his mind, no matter how hard—exactly, hard because I didn’t try at all—he’d tried to not look at her.

  “Hey.” She clapped her hands, bringing him back to their clothed reality. “NAKED is the Network for Apparel and Kit Express Delivery. It’s the way we geese can fly across the country and not get caught in our birthday suits. We set up an order, indicate a drop point, and it’s hidden there waiting for us when we arrive.”

  It made sense, and even though he’d much rather have her in the tiny pieces of fabric for two days, he relented and gave her the satellite phone and their first US-based fueling location.

  Dedra wasn’t happy to be heading back to Canada so early in the season. This was her time for sunshine. She never forced herself to be around a cold winter if she could help it.

  She kept her mind occupied with thoughts of the weather because, otherwise, she didn’t like how dark her thoughts could go. It was one thing to mess with the factory. She’d been raised a businessperson and was ready t
o take on whatever trouble happened, but her father hadn’t prepared her for what it would feel like to have a kid in danger.

  Had he felt like this when she was being held by strangers, bingeing on chocolate and regaling strangers with her Little Orphan Annie songs?

  She had to sit tight and just not think about it. She couldn’t do anything about it. She’d talked to Kailee, heard her voice, been assured she was fine and was in good hands. They were both on their way to the safe house and would be together soon. Now Dedra just had to think about other things.

  There was one easy thing she could focus on… like how sexy Andrés looked when examining the lights on his console or tapping stuff into his tablet. She’d mentioned the mile high club, but so far, he’d acted disinterested. He’d told her that he was a good pilot and flying them safely was the only job he was doing while in the air.

  Really! A job? The nerve!

  The responsible-aviator routine only made her hotter for him.

  At least Andrés’ Cessna was beautiful on the inside, full leather and luxury. It had extra bells and whistles, so he told her, which meant that they’d make it in half the time with fewer stops to refuel. It meant that at least she could be comfortable physically, even if, inside, she was trying to bury a stampede of fears.

  And at their first US stop, Dedra collected her NAKED order. She didn’t care if Andrés would call her a diva for getting so much stuff. She had the resources, so why not use them? She needed clothing, toiletries, makeup, not to mention a new phone and a few good romance novels to make the ride go by faster. She’d even ordered a pretty little passport wallet for the identification FUC had provided.

  Even with the big haul, she didn’t bother changing yet. She wanted to shower before she put on her new stuff, and she didn’t want to take the extra time at their first stop. She could wait till they got to the overnight safe house.

  Plus, she kind of liked hanging out in the skimpy shorts and tank. Even if he was playing hard to get, she still caught the way his eyes got stuck to certain areas on her body.

  As she pulled the large suitcase, makeup case, and purse to the plane, she heard him call over to her. “That was all hiding for you somewhere here?”

  She shrugged. “Yep.”

  “We’re in a tiny Cessna! You can’t have all that!”

  She rolled her eyes. “Sure I can. Your plane would seat five, and there’s just two of us. You’re lucky I didn’t ask for them to put a puppy in here too.”

  He made a face.

  “Ah, right, you’re a cat person. Well, dogs are more fun to travel with.”

  “I take offense to that!”

  Oh, how much she was tempted to move in close to his offended body and make up for it with a kiss… She wondered if he thought the same. Not that he’d tell her, being Mr. Business and all, but she had a feeling that the two of them might be some kind of magic if given a chance.

  Andrés was like no man she’d dated before, yet he was just her type. He wasn’t just a stuffy rich guy who wanted to pay top dollar for concierge. Andrés was adventurous, sexy, bold, daring, did she mention sexy? She’d never had a man fly her—in his own aircraft!—for their travels. Andrés was the kind of guy that she could have only hoped would walk across her luxury resort view.

  If only they weren’t heading back to Canada.

  Maybe she could convince him to fly them back to Brazil once MUFF was taken care of.

  And at least she could enjoy one last night of warmth since their safe house stop was in California. One final night before returning to Canada’s icy embrace.

  The safe house was at a FUC private airstrip. They went directly there after landing. Dedra was ready to stretch her legs by that point but also ready to wash off the cabin air.

  “Do you want to shower?” she asked Andrés, knowing his answer but still hoping he’d give in.

  “You can go first.” He was hauling in her luggage and barely sparing her a glance.

  “California has a water crisis. We can do our part for the environment by showering together.” She dropped her eyes and smiled at him.

  “Xuxu, make no mistake, I care about the environment, but the two of us in the shower”—he walked over to her and brushed a strand of hair from her face—“will not be water-saving. It will be long and hot.” He trailed his hand down her neck and hovered at her collarbone before he abruptly turned away.

  She caught her breath. “Well, then you go first. I don’t like sitting around, ready to go but having to wait on the other person.”

  He looked back at her, shrugged, but said nothing as he grabbed his bag and went to the bathroom.

  Dedra took her time to examine the room they were staying in. It had a separate living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom area but was decorated as simply as an ordinary hotel room. It didn’t seem to be fancy at all, but Andrés had told her that it was bomb-proof and completely off all radar. That, plus it was clean. That was the important part. Whoever maintained it had made sure they had clean sheets and coffee, which was all anyone really needed from a stopover point.

  She was flipping through the TV channels when Andrés emerged from the bathroom. She’d hoped she’d be able to see him half-naked and wet, with just a towel around his waist, and she wasn’t disappointed. What she wasn’t prepared for was her body’s reaction to the scent of him. He was now clean of all the airplane and jungle smells, and the mixture of body wash, deodorant, aftershave, pheromones, whatever, was just a glorious cocktail of sexy man that made Dedra want to throw him down on the queen-sized bed and take him all in, head to toe.

  But he barely spared her a glance as he dressed. “It’s all yours. I’m going to check in with FUC and go over the post-flight plane check. Don’t open the door to anyone while I’m gone.”

  So, he wanted to play it like that. Sure, he was on a mission and shouldn’t fuck his target. Fine by her. Waiting made it even better in the end.

  And the game alone was fun.

  Good thing she’d gone all out with her NAKED order. She had everything she needed to return her look to the Dedra Wakins standard. That included purple shampoo to brighten her platinum hair, her favorite makeup brands, the right bra to show off the twins, tight leather pants that she knew screamed “do me,” and an irresistible perfume that she only used for the most deserving men.

  She finished her look with a beige lace top with a plunging neckline and a long diamond pendant necklace to give her just a bit of extra sparkle. It was a sexy look, no doubt, but still elegant and dignified.

  The NAKED folks were used to extravagant orders from rich clients. She tipped them well when they did a job well done. And in this case, it was especially well done, based on the way Andrés ogled her when he came back and caught sight of her.

  She basked in his look of astonishment, trying not to look too smug. You like what you see, kitty? It was ironic that she felt like the cat who ate the canary, when really she was the fowl and he was the feline.

  “You were in there forever,” he said.

  She didn’t let her smile falter. She knew he just didn’t want to admit he appreciated the view. She’d noticed the movement in his pants. He was just a few beats away from looking up and howling “ah-oo-gah!”

  “I clean up nice, don’t I, Andrés?” She purred his name.

  His gulp was visible. “I’m impressed. You did a lot in a small amount of time with just my phone.”

  “I can do more with less when I need to.” She took a step toward him.

  “Yeah, but you looked tasty in the gray stuff too.” He touched her arm, sending a shiver through her body.

  “Honey, I molted those like last year’s down. I can only tolerate low-grade cotton-polyester mixes for so long.” She pressed close to him and felt his erection on her hip. “But I appreciate that you had me covered. You should let me repay you.”

  She tilted her chin and fluttered her eyes closed, willing him to break and kiss her.

  He didn’t.<
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  She felt his hands on her shoulders as he stepped back from her.

  Damn it. She wouldn’t show her disappointment though. “Where are we going for dinner?” she asked sweetly, changing the subject.

  “We’ll hop in a car and go down to a local seafood joint. You like seafood, right?”

  “Of course.” She walked by him, going for the door, letting him get a good view of her swaying backside. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure he was looking. “Coming?”

  4

  Jimmy and his co-workers at the Goosby Bedding factory had a plan, and everything was falling into place.

  Since Mr. Goosby had passed, his shrew of a daughter had changed everything at the factory. The workers’ frustration had been growing, and Jimmy finally took it upon himself to organize the dissenters, those who wanted to stand up against her.

  His group didn’t like the loss of values. The factory was a cultural institution that used to stand for something real and meaningful. Now they had new fancy machines that did more work than the people had to, and even the pillow stuffing was artificial.

  The writing was on the wall. Dedra was setting the factory up to run itself, with very little manpower. Soon there would be no need for more than half the staff. Just because she said now that they were all going to keep their jobs didn’t make it true. Hell, he was pretty sure she’d sell it all off, shut it all down, whatever. Anyone who could change from real down to fake was as imitation as they came.

  She couldn’t be trusted.

  Jimmy’s group had been able to stir up some of the public, but it wasn’t enough. Some folks got fired up and took to social media, but it didn’t get much traction. It seemed most people were in support of the changes Dedra implemented, which infuriated Jimmy. He was starting to think he was out of ammunition.

  Then the package arrived.

  It was a USB drive that had one file. A video.

  At first, Jimmy didn’t know what in the hell he was looking at. It seemed to be some kind of shaky home movie, filmed vertically on a cell phone. Dedra was in the middle of a field. You could see her face clearly, although she wasn’t looking at the camera; she seemed to be looking at someone near it. Then she took a few steps away, shedding her clothes, and then she disappeared. In the spot where she was, a large Canadian goose took off into the air.