A Little Harmless Fantasy (16 page)

She opened her mouth to argue but Dee stopped her. “I do not
judge you. Seriously, I wouldn’t mind living out a fantasy. But
that’s how things started with Micah. I thought, I’d just
have fun for a while. Then I fell in love.”

Air backed up in her lungs and she suddenly found it hard to breathe.

“Maura, are you okay?”

Maura shook her head. “I’m not in love.”

Understanding moved over Dee’s features. She said nothing as
she took a sip from her water bottle.

“Okay, I love Zeke, I probably always will. But that isn’t
that important.”

“Really? Maura Dillon, who are you kidding? You are head over
heels in love with Zeke, and I’m guessing you’re falling
for that other big Irishman.”

She wanted to deny it, but she was really afraid it was true. Dee
looked behind her, and Maura turned to find out what had caught her
eye. All three men were walking toward them. Micah usually garnered
the most attention, but all Maura could see were Zeke and Rory. They
were both tall, strong, and undeniably sexy. And she was in love with
one and desperately falling in love with the second.

Shit, she was in a lot of trouble.

* * * *

Maura sniffed at the air and smiled. “God I love the smell of
plumeria. It's fantastic.”

Zeke couldn’t help but smile as they walked along the path next
to the Hilton. “Yeah, there is something here you can't get
anywhere else, especially on the mainland. It’s like being in
another country in a way, they’re so unique.”

She looked at him from the corner of her eye. “Don’t let
the locals hear you say that.”

“Hey, I thought they liked to be known as one of the most
original states.”

“They do, but I don’t blame them for having a little chip
on their shoulder about being considered the US. You hear people say
when I get back to the states…it is kind of annoying.”

“That’s the truth.”

“So, Rory, what meals do you plan to make for me.”

That was Maura. While her figure was trim, it wasn’t due to her
lack of eating. She’d been graced with a high metabolism. And
now that she knew Rory liked to cook, she would badger him until he
made her several meals.

“I don’t know. I thought we would be eating out more
often.”

She lifted her head and grinned at Rory. “That was before I
found out you could cook. Tell me, how are you at Italian?”

Zeke groaned. “Oh, god, she is going to have you making pasta
every night. I can’t handle the carbs.”

“Suck it up, Zeke,” Maura said. “So, what can you
make me?”

“Are you more of a Northern or a Southern Italian lover?”
Rory asked.

Maura let go of him to clap. “Anything, all, I want it all.”

“I’ll make a lasagna this week.”

“With béchamel sauce?”

“Of course,” Rory said.

“I will be your slave for life.”

Rory gave him a look then leaned closer to her. “I’ll
make sure to remind you of that next time I have you naked.”

Her face turned red, then she looked around them.

“What?” Rory asked. “You’re not embarrassed,
are you?”

She shook her head and shrugged. “I feel like someone is
watching me. Weird.”

Immediately, Zeke’s alarms went off. Maura wasn’t a woman
who worried about being followed on a regular basis. He knew Conner
didn’t get calls in the middle of the night from Maura.

“What?”

“When we got into Ala Moana, I felt it, but it’s gone
just like that. Might be my imagination.”

He looked back at Rory who was already looking around. The fact that
neither he nor Rory felt it was enough to satisfy him, or it should
be.

“You don’t have an imagination.”

She rolled her eyes. “Way to romance me, Zeke. The flattery is
going to make me faint.”

“Maura,” he said, lowering his voice in a warning.

She patted him on the cheek. “It’s probably because I’m
tired. It’s been such a long day. Even with a few cat naps, I
need some rest.”

“Yeah, that’s probably it,” Rory said, but Zeke
wasn’t too happy with it. He knew not to blow it out of
proportion and coming to Hawaii had only been a precaution, but
still, it was something he would have to think about.

“It
has
been a long day. Let’s head back.”

She sighed and set her head on Zeke’s shoulder as they walked.
“That sounds great.”

* * * *

By the time they got home, Zeke had mostly dismissed her worries. She
went to the bathroom leaving them alone.

“What’s bothering you?”

He looked at Rory. “Maura doesn’t have things like that
happen to her.”

Rory shrugged. “So, she felt someone staring at her. She’s
probably tired.”

Zeke thought about it and realized he might be blowing it out of
proportion. How much of it had to do with their relationship?

“I see those wheels turning, so what the hell is going on in
there?” Rory asked.

“Nothing.”

But he was lying. He was in love with two people who made it very
hard to choose. Not that they had asked him to, but he could feel
them dancing around each other trying to figure out the relationship.
There was a small part of him...okay a bit part of him that wanted to
make it permanent. He wanted both of them forever.

That thought hit him hard. He blinked.

“Zee, are you okay?”

Rory’s concerned voice reached him. He nodded.

But he wasn’t. Shit, he had promised himself that he wouldn’t
get bogged down on what would happen when they returned home, but
somewhere in the back of his mind, he had been. He had been hoping
that they could be together forever.

“What’s up with him?” Maura asked as she walked
into the kitchen.

“Not sure.”

“We just need to get to sleep.”

Maura smiled, but it wasn’t her usual brilliant grin. Zeke
realized just how exhausted she was. He patted her shoulder.

“Come on, love, let’s get to bed.”

She nodded and he practically carried her up the stairs to the
bedroom. By the time she was in PJs, she was almost asleep. He tucked
her into bed then looked up at Rory.

“She’s wiped out,” he said.

Zeke nodded and waited. It was going to be a real test if he wanted
to sleep with her. Zeke wanted to, but Rory tended to avoid sleeping
with other lovers. The intimacy was something he could not handle.
Zeke was pretty sure he was the only lover Rory had ever really slept
beside.

Rory pulled his shirt up over his head, and dropped his pants. He
climbed into bed with Maura as if it was the most natural thing in
the world to do. Zeke was so happy, he didn’t even mention that
Rory had left his clothes on the floor.

Zeke undressed and then brushed his teeth. When he walked out of the
bathroom, he stopped and just looked at the scene on the bed. Maura
had rolled all the way over to Rory. Both of them were fast asleep
and she was snuggled up against him. Rory had his arm wrapped around
her as if to protect her.

Zeke’s heart melted. The two of them probably didn’t even
realize what it meant to him to see them like that. In their sleep,
they accepted each other. He slipped into bed behind Maura, snuggled
up close to her and sighed as he closed his eyes.

It wasn’t a huge step, but it was at least a step in the right
direction.

Zee was already dressed by the time Rory and Maura crawled out of
bed. Rory was glad to finally have a partner with them who enjoyed
snuggling in bed rather than getting up and going to work. Zee always
berated him for it. Rory was just sitting down at the kitchen bar
when Maura came stumbling in.

“There has to be some coffee, and it better be hot.”

Zee sighed as he poured her a cup, handed her sweetener and retrieved
the creamer from the refrigerator.

“She takes it black, Zee.”

Zeke looked at him and there was a flash of irritation in his eyes
before he hid it. He put the creamer back in the fridge.

“You two are pathetic.”

Rory opened his mouth and laughed. Maura flipped Zee off.

“Well said, love. Anyone who wants to work with the ocean view
like that one out the window is an idiot anyway.”

Zee frowned at him. “I’m just going to spend this morning
going over some figures with Conner. I don’t know when we’ll
be able to sit down in person again.”

Maura snorted. “You can do a teleconference any day.”

“And for some reason, I don’t want to hang around with
you two this morning. Not that your shiny personalities don’t
do it for me, but I am not in the mood to deal with two grumpy
lovers.”

He picked up the keys and walked around the counter. First, he kissed
Maura on the cheek, then gave Rory a kiss.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Zee said,
as he walked out the door.

“What the hell is it with morning people?” Maura asked as
she laid her head down on the counter. “Conner’s always
freaking chipper, all smiles and shit. Well, not smiles. Conner
hardly ever smiles, except sometimes at me and more when he is around
Jillian. He should thank me for that, dammit.”

She looked so…cute. Grumpy as Zee had pointed out but cute.
Her hair was a mess, her face was still flush from sleep and she had
her hand on her coffee cup as if she were afraid someone would steal
it. This was a side of her he had never seen. She had always been so
put together at the office and she was there early every day. He
would have never thought he would see her like this and it made her
even more tempting. Seeing the soft side of such a buttoned down
perfectionist turned him to goo.

“So what should we do?” he asked.

She yawned, took a sip, and put her head down again, closing her
eyes. “Pretend we are sleeping.”

“No really. There’s gotta be something to do.”

“With Mr. Sunshine out of the picture, I think we should go
back to bed,” she said. It wasn’t said coyly, as if she
were trying to entice him, and that made it all the more arousing.
She still didn’t understand her appeal to him or even probably
to Zee.

“Yeah?” he asked. She opened one eye and looked at him.
He didn’t blame her. His voice had already deepened at the idea
of a little play with her. She was one of the most amazing subs and
they had just started.

“I thought…”

Her voice trailed off and she frowned. Now he knew what Zee meant
about her brain. It got her into trouble.

“You thought?” he asked as he reached out to toy with her
hair.

“Well, I just thought it was the threesome. I mean, I know you
and Zeke do things together, but I thought for the week, it was going
to be the three of us.”

He smiled. “There are no rules here on how we do things. And, I
will point out that you and Zee had sex without me yesterday.”

She didn’t return his smile and he started to worry. Did she
mean she didn’t want to be with him without Zee?

“Maura, is there some reason you wouldn’t want to play a
bit this morning, just tell me.”

“No, there isn’t. I just didn’t know if you would
want me without Zee around. I understand that a lot of the excitement
is having him watch you.”

“That is part of it. The other part of it is you.”

She studied him for a few seconds, the serious expression in her eyes
made his stomach clench. He knew he could order her to the room and
she would do it. But in this, he wanted her to decide on her own,
their D/s relationship out of the equation.

A shy smile curved her lips and his heart did that little tap dance
he was getting used to when he was around her.

“Yeah?” she asked. He was amazed she didn’t
understand just how much a man could want her. She might be a genius,
but apparently she didn’t understand her appeal.

“Yeah. So, love, what do you say? Wanna play?”

Her smile turned into a grin. “Yes.”

He took her hand and pulled it up to kiss her fingers. Without a
word, he led her into the bedroom they had all been using. He
couldn’t believe the way his body was already begging to take
her. When it came to sex, Rory had complete control, but with Maura,
he seemed to lose part of it. He needed to remember what she needed
from him.

Rory dropped her hand.

“Take off your clothes, lay down on your back, and spread your
legs so I can see my pussy.”

She hesitated for a second and he swatted her behind.

“Get a move on.”

She did as ordered and he drew in a deep breath. How could he resist
a woman who was so damned submissive, and one that Zee loved?
Impossible.

He went to the drawer where he had stashed the toys and pulled out a
pair of nipple clamps. She wasn’t large on top, but that was
fine by him. Her breasts were sensitive, that much he had figured out
last night.

He walked over to the bed, sat down beside her, and clamped them on
her nipples. She drew in a breath.

“Hurt?”

“A little.”

“Remember your safe word.”

She nodded. He knew she did but it never hurt to remind a sub about
her options. Maura had been trained but he was pretty sure he was the
first Dom she had taken on outside of that training. He would be
lying if he didn’t say that part of their relationship didn’t
give him a little thrill. He had never really taken on such a novice,
although he wouldn’t have been able to tell from the way she
behaved.

“You know, when I first met you, I was surprised that Zee had a
thing for you. Not because of your looks because you are beautiful.”
Her face flushed and he found it slightly endearing. “But,
well, Zee has never liked prudes and I pegged you as one. After
yesterday, you proved me wrong.”

He gave the chain connecting the nipple clamps a little tug. She
shuddered.

“Like that, huh?”

“Yes.”

He tugged on the chain again.

“Yes, Sir.”

“I think we need to see just what some of your boundaries are
so we know where to push you.”