Mother - Hostile Makeover Ch. 05

"That's where they grow the Tiare," Chelsea explained. Seeing Lauren's puzzlement, she added, "You know, the flowers that Lib's made from? Um...Stefan said you were in business with his family. What do you two talk about?"

Lauren flinched.

"God, I didn't mean it to sound that way." Chelsea bit her knuckle. "I'm being a dick."

"No. You're fine. I knew that the stuff was plant-sourced, obviously. I just didn't know--

"The name." Stefan stood in the aisle, resting one elbow on the seat in front of them. "Tiare Aeaea. Awkward on the tongue, isn't it? We usually call them the orchids, though Mother says they're not." He stretched his arms in front of him, hands splayed as if he were doing a warm-up stretch. "Needed to walk a bit, and I wanted to check in on you two before we start our descent. So, what do you think?"

Stefan spoke to Lauren as if they were alone together.

"It's... stunning. You're missing your volcano."

Stefan blinked, took a long beat, and sighed theatrically. "Ah, the volcano! Yes, we're taking bids on that. Villains can't have a proper island lair without a volcano, can they?"

"And the missiles?"

"And the artificial lake, to camouflage them all," Stefan agreed. "I'll give that note to cousin Jakob. He's the one who deals with the contractors."

Chelsea followed their exchange with the secret delight of an eavesdropper.

"In the meantime, the only attraction we do have for you ladies this evening is an airport with but a single runaway, designed for Air Tahiti's older turboprops. We've lengthened it. Still no lights, I'm afraid."

That startled Lauren. "But it's already--"

"This will be a night landing, yes." Stefan's eyes twinkled. "Seatbelts, both of you."

He sauntered off back to the flight deck. Chelsea turned to Lauren with the smuggest of grins.

"Lady, you are besotted."

"Am not."

"Are too. And that's a bad idea. Like, historically poor."

"Hon, look at me. I am an old woman. What would I even do with him?"

"What haven't you?"

"Now, you're kind of being a dick."

Chelsea made a clucking noise behind her teeth. "Sorry. Again. It's just...see, you sincerely do not seem like an asshole, and to be honest that's kinda refreshing. So I'm telling you to be careful. It's not like Stefan's a user or means to be superficial. He's a sweetheart, an absolute doll. But where he comes from they don't think of relationships and sex the way we're used to." She waved her hand in the direction of the window, where Kai'ulau grew and rose to meet them. "You'll see soon enough. They're all mad, really.

"But that doesn't mean that we all can't have a lot of fun together while we're here." She leaned across Lauren's seat and kissed her, the lightest brush of lips against lips. Lauren opened her mouth and found Chelsea's tongue with her own. Her arms went around the actress's ridiculously slender waist to hug her close. It had to be residual effects of the Libidramine. What was the half-life of the stuff, anyway?

Chelsea's hand moved lightly along Lauren's ribs, down and over her hip, toward--her seatbelt. The young actress snagged the latch, buckled it for Lauren, then broke away and fastened her own. "You heard the pilot man," she said with a wink. "Buckle up."

Standing with Chelsea on the tarmac, Lauren shielded her eyes against the glaring high beams of the two ancient Land Rovers parked at the end of the runway with their engines running. True to Stefan's warning, those headlights were the only illumination on the runway. She counted half a dozen shadowed figures standing with the vehicles in the gathering dusk. One of them, a short-haired blonde woman, broke away from the group and ran toward the plane.

"I'm so glad you're here!" Janet exclaimed. She threw her arms around her friend as if they hadn't seen one another in a decade. Jan was wearing only sandals and a clinging floral sarong draped over her hips, leaving her naked from the waist up. She was as careless of her nudity as if they'd been alone together.

But they weren't alone. The rest of the group trudged toward the plane as Stefan descended the airstair: four big men in boots and fatigue shorts and little else, close behind a striking young man in a dark suit.

Lauren looked them over as they approached, and then back at Janet's carefree face.

"Where's Frank?"