Craving Her (Keeping Her Series Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

growled.  Watching him walk away.  Again.  “Yet. ”

CHAPTER
THREE
     
    She made it to her father’s
office only to find Logan and Shawn standing outside the library door blank-faced. 
Cleo understood as soon as she was close enough to hear what was happening
inside.  Then, she wanted to both roll her eyes and curl her lip at the same
time.  Instead, she smiled to herself before bypassing the men to bang on the
door. 
    “Just so you know we’re
standing outside the door,” she yelled, “listening.”
    They all heard the shriek
and shuffle from inside, not to mention the angry roar of a lion being denied.
    “Only you and Ian can get
away with that shit,” Logan muttered, shaking his head and trying to hold back
a grin.
    A minute later, the door
was practically pulled off its hinges and her father’s pink-cheeked mate was
looking at them, her usual pristine and girly outfit disheveled.  Seeing her
bright, hazel eyes looking more blue than green and mussed golden-brown hair,
Cleo laughed.  Miley rolled her eyes and stepped out to give her a hug,
ignoring the state of Cleo’s wet clothes.
    “I am so glad you’re
home.”
    “Sure you are,” Cleo
teased.  She hugged her back, and then hearing the chuff of a lion, she turned
to see father looking particularly ferocious.  “Wow, must have been at a good
part.”
    Miley snorted a laugh
before she could help it and pulled away, giving Cleo another view of reddening
cheeks.  Her father huffed and pulled Cleo into his own arms, and like every
time her father wrapped her in his huge arms, she felt like she was home.  Then
he spoke, and also as usual, she wanted to walk right back out the door.  “Was
it really necessary for my baby girl to take out a band of guerrilla drug
runners on her own?”
    She pulled back and
glared.  Her dad was looking over her shoulder at Shawn and Logan.
    “Dad!” She heard Miley
sigh behind her, but was too busy glaring at her father to note the exasperated
sound.  “Are you really going to talk over my head at the guys like I’m still a
child and they’re my babysitters?”
    Her father was a 6’ 4”
powerhouse of a lion-shifter.  He was also alpha of their pack and owned the
security company everyone worked for, not to mention he had been their SEAL
team commander when they served together in the Navy Special Forces.  To say he
was used to being in charge was an understatement.  He switched his glare from
his men to Cleo.  “That’s not what I’m doing.”
    “Really?” she asked, the
doubt a sarcastic counter to the word.  “Because that’s what it sounds like.”
    He chuffed out his
annoyance, taking her in with a belligerent look in his eyes.  “You aren’t
hurt?”
    “I’m not hurt and the Black
Hawk is safe and sound.”
    “Fuck the Hawk,” he
grumbled.  “You were never supposed to be in the thick of the fighting on this
one.”
    “You would have preferred
we humped our way out of the jungle to the coast.  That would have taken days
dragging the target and we would have been in danger the whole way.”
    He narrowed his eyes and
looked her over.  “You put some thought into this discussion.”
    “I know my father,” she
said simply.  He grunted and released her finally, moving to motion them all into
the office.  Since Lucas and Shawn had been silent throughout the exchange, she
had almost forgotten they were there until they followed her into the room and
took up places on either side of her.  The show of comradery was not lost on
her or her father.  Cleo might have been blinking at the surprise move on their
parts, but her father just raised a brow and looked thoughtful.  Miley stood at
the open door behind them.  “I’ll go check on the pool party, shall I?” she
asked, and then closed the door and exited at speed before her father could say
anything.
    “Always running,” he
muttered, his eyes narrowed and shifted to gold while he looked at the closed
door and his quickly