A Little Harmless Fantasy (26 page)

“Then, your brother was being a butthead and said that he
didn’t want me going to the Big Island.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?”

“I want to go learn how to ride a horse on the Big Island.”

“Let me guess. Eli St. John has something to do with this.”

“He invited us over for a visit and Conner went all stupid Dom
on me and said no. Wait, you know him?”

“I met him last night. I met him when I came over here before,
but I didn’t remember. Anyway, he talked to me, the guys
freaked and Zeke—of all people- came over and acted like an
ass. Then, well, Rory…well, let’s not go into that.”

Jillian studied her for a second. When she said nothing, Maura asked,
“What?”

Then, slowly, her lips curved and that one hundred watt smile
brightened her face. “Nothing. Just…well, I think there
may be more to this trio than you think.”

Maura shrugged. “I don’t want to think about it.”

Because when she did it made her so sad to think that she only had a
few days left with the guys. Things had been so wonderful that
morning, having breakfast. It had been as if they had been doing it
for years.

“Maura,” Jillian said. She looked at her oldest friend
and had to blink rapidly against the tears. “Do they know?”

“Zeke knows I love him. I’ve never hidden it.”

“What about Rory?”

This time when she blinked, the tears fell. “I’m not
sure.”

“Oh, honey, don’t cry. Being in love should make you
happy.”

“It does, when I’m with them.” She pulled in a
breath and closed her eyes. She could not be seen on the street in
Kailua Town crying like some fifteen-year-old. When she opened her
eyes, she had her emotions somewhat under control. “When we’re
together it’s great, but then I don’t think about what
will happen when we return to Miami.”

“Does Zeke know about your feelings?”

“Which ones?”

The gentle smile she gave her took her back to her first horrible
week of college, being the underaged geek and tormented more than she
had been in high school. Jillian had been the calm in the storm of
pain.

“Well, first, does Zeke know you love Rory?”

She shrugged. “I haven’t even decided for sure if I love
him.”

Jillian chuckled. “Oh, honey you do. I just never thought you
would because he seems kind of abrasive.”

“He is, but there are a lot of things in his past, and,
well…he’s a sweetheart.”

“Rory McAllister? The man you just left. The one who knows how
to kill people with his bare hands? Hell, both of them do, but Zeke
hides it better.”

“I know,” she sighed and smiled. “Rory made me
French toast.”

Jillian studied her for a moment before saying, “I want you to
think about saying what you want from them.”

“I don’t want to cause problems here and seriously, I’m
not sure I could do this long term. There is so much emotion
there…I’m overwhelmed.”

Jillian reached across the table and gripped Maura’s hands in
hers. “You deserve whatever it is you want. Don’t ever
settle for less because you think you haven’t earned it.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t think I know just how exhausted you were when
you got here? You’ve been trying to keep everything going and
it isn’t for you. You have to tell Conner no every now and
then, and you need to tell the guys what you want.”

“I don’t know what I want,” she said.

“When you figure out what you want you demand it from them. If
they aren’t men enough to give it to you, tell them to fuck
each other and you go find someone who is. Because honey, you deserve
to be happy.”

She opened her mouth, but Jillian stopped her. “No, don’t
tell me you’re happy. I know you are. Hell, I don’t think
I have ever seen you laugh as much as you have in the small amount of
time I’ve seen you while you’ve been here.”

“So, why can’t you just let it be?”

“I will. I just want you to remember that if this doesn’t
continue when you return to the mainland, then the problem isn’t
you, it’s them. Remember that.”

“Okay.”

“Now, I need chocolate because this book has been a pain in the
ass.”

“That’s sounds fabulous.”

But as she followed Jillian to the store, Maura wondered if she would
ever have the nerve to ask the guys for what she wanted, or if she
would be left alone again?

She shoved those thoughts aside and concentrated on buying some
chocolate because if there was one thing she knew, it was that
chocolate would make her feel a little better…even if it was
only for a little while.

“How do you like your steak cooked?” Rory asked Maura.

She said nothing, just kept looking out over the water from their
lanai. He shared a look with Zee. She’d been quiet since she
returned from her trip with Jillian. It wasn’t that it was
alarming but she seemed a little more subdued.

“Maura?” he asked again.

She shook herself and looked over at him. It took a second for her
eyes to focus on him. “I’m sorry, what?”

“How do you like your steak?”

“Oh,” she said then smiled. “Medium rare. I like a
little blood.”

He threw the steaks on the grill trying very hard not to freak out.
The openness he had grown accustomed to over the last week was no
longer there.

“Did you have a good time with Jillian?” Zee asked.

“Yeah, we did a little shopping, had a snack.”

She said it absent-mindedly as if she were thinking about something
else. She had been of course. Something had been bothering her since
she got back to the house.

“Maura, are you going to tell us what’s bothering you?”

She looked at him. “Nothing’s really bothering me.”

“You’ve been quiet since you got back from shopping.”

She shrugged. “Okay. Something was bothering me a little but I
mostly dismissed it. Doesn’t seem that important.”

“You can tell us,” Zee said, his voice as worried as Rory
felt.

Sighing, she said, “Well, it felt like someone was watching me
again. It was really odd but then, that happens sometimes with
Jillian. She gets a few people who recognize her. She’s also a
striking woman. She stands out so she does draw a lot of attention.”

“That’s all that was bothering you?” Zee asked, but
Rory could tell that even he was suspicious.

“Yeah.” She smiled. “I had to work it out in my
brain.”

Zee took her hand and brought it to his lips.

“Oh, are you romantic,” she said.

Zee laughed with her. “You’re rarely quiet with us.”

She shrugged. “You know sometimes I have to work things out in
my head. Once I do, everything is okay. I’m going to wash up
and fix a few lazy man’s lava flows. Anyone else?”

“Naw, I have a beer,” Zee said. She gave him a kiss then
touched Rory’s back as she walked by.

It was something he had grown accustomed to the last few days. For
someone who seemed so singular, she seemed to always want to touch
them.

“Stop worrying,” Zee said.

Rory glanced at him. “I can worry if I want to.”

Zee smiled and leaned closer for a kiss. After brushing his mouth
over Rory’s, he said, “I thought I would never hear the
day that Rory McAllister would worry about a woman.”

He shrugged. “I’m used to seeing her be open with us,
especially you.”

“Don’t worry, love. You’ll see after dinner, she’ll
be fine.”

But, as he watched her through the meal, he knew there was something
else going on. She was a woman with a healthy appetite who never
tried to pretend she wasn’t hungry.

“You only ate half of your steak,” Rory commented.

She laughed and it relaxed him a bit. “It was a sixteen ounce,
Rory. You might have a man-sized appetite but there is only so much I
can eat. Plus, this way, there is some left for tomorrow morning for
breakfast. I’m going to go wrap this up because I do like steak
and eggs. And just for reference, I like my eggs over medium.”

She picked up her plate and went inside the house.

“I’m not buying it,” Rory said.

Zee shook his head. “You need to let it go. Sometimes Maura
gets like that. If you push, she’ll just close down. I’ve
seen her do it.”

He sighed trying to gain control of the emotions raging inside of
him. He hadn’t been able to come to terms with his own
revelations earlier that day. He had never been so tangled up about a
woman, but Maura had him tangled up good.

“Hey, do y’all mind if I take a bath. I bought some great
bath stuff I want to try out.”

“No, go ahead, love,” Zee said.

She gave them each a kiss and then headed back into the house.

“Rory?”

“I think she’s having second thoughts.”

He was proud of the fact that he kept the panic out of his voice. It
was crawling down his spine.

“She’s not having second thoughts.”

He didn’t say anything trying to keep his worries to himself.
He had already said too much. Of course, Zee didn’t let it go.

“Rory.”

He sighed. “How do you know she isn’t having second
thoughts?”

“Because, with Maura, if she truly was thinking about us she
would say that when asked. You keep looking for some kind of hidden
agenda from her, but there isn’t.” He stood. “Now,
I think we clean up—because if you notice, she left us with the
dishes again—and join her up in the tub. Of course, if you want
to sit out here and brood, go right ahead. I’ll take advantage
of having Maura to myself.”

Rory sat there for just a few seconds because he pushed his worries
aside. There was one thing that would make him feel better for a
little while and that was being in bed with Zee and Maura.

* * * *

“How did I end up at a bleeding mall?” Rory asked

Zeke gave him a smile and glanced at Maura who was getting a pretzel.
“Not much you won’t do for her, huh?”

His smug tone irritated Rory. There were several things about Zee
that drove Rory crazy—and not in a good way. Zee had never
seemed to question his own feelings for Rory or for Maura. He also
had one of those work ethics that had him up at six in the morning
while he was on vacation. And, worst of them all was that Zee liked
being right. He always made sure to remind Rory of the times he was
right.

Sure, Rory practically wearing his heart on his sleeve with the
woman. Last night had been overwhelming, even for a degenerate for
him. It had been the first time in days there had been no real play
in the bedroom. He didn’t realize it until that morning, and it
scared the fucking hell out of him.

“Oh, now I know she has you by the short hairs because you
won’t even say anything about it.”

Rory gave him a mean look but Zee shook his head. “Not scaring
me, boy-o. I know what last night meant.”

“Yeah, why don’t you enlighten me, Einstein?”

Zee wasn’t deterred a bit by his nasty tone. “There was
no play, none. You don’t do that with women.”

“Apparently I do because I did last night,” he said
trying to quell the unease in his stomach.

“Exactly. Face it, Rory, you’re falling for her.”

He said nothing as he watched as Maura charmed the little Hawaiian
woman behind the counter. This wasn’t just worry about last
night. There was plenty there to keep him on edge, but this was
something that had his other senses on high alert.

“What did she say about feeling like someone was watching her?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

He glanced at Zee, then back at Maura. “I’m not changing
the subject. And it doesn’t matter. Here she comes.”

He still couldn’t shake the weird feeling. He’d been off
since last night, but it had only gotten worse as they approached
Kahala Mall.

“Face it, love. You’re in deep. That’s all that’s
bothering you.”

He shrugged as he looked around the area trying to detect if there
was someone watching them. It was afternoon on a weekday but that
didn’t mean anything there. Tourists flocked to areas like this
in the heat of the day. Kids screamed and ran through the area and
there was always a motley crew of teenagers around.

“Rory?”

He shook himself out of his funk and realized Maura was standing in
front of him holding a piece of pretzel out to him.

He forced himself to smile. “Thanks, love.”

She smiled as she sat down. “I got cheese,” she said as
she sat down.

“Woman, please, cheese on a pretzel? Did you get mustard?”
Zee said.

She tossed a packet his way along with the pretzel she bought for
him. “I have no idea what you have against cheese.”

“That’s not cheese, love. That’s processed crap.”

“And it tastes delicious.”

She dipped a piece of pretzel into the cheese and offered it to him.
Rory took it without thinking.

“I told you I didn’t need anything, love.”

She grinned. “I don’t mind sharing, but then you know
that.”

For a second he couldn’t believe she said that out loud. Then,
slowly the humor of the situation hit him and he smiled, and then
chuckled. All the worries he had dissolved and he leaned forward and
gave her a kiss.

“That you do, love. That you do.”

* * * *

Maura walked down the long hall to the bathroom. She hated mall
bathrooms. It always felt as if she were walking to the end of the
earth just to pee. The mall had been insane, but the hallway was
deserted. Then, she heard a scrape of a shoe against the floor. Alarm
bells immediately went off in her head. Before she could turn,
someone hit her hard against her back, shoving her into the wall. A
large male body smashed her against the wall as a large, sweaty hand
covered her mouth.

She was trapped.

“Your boyfriends let you walk down the hall by yourself,”
he said, the sneer in his voice easy to hear. There was a slight
accent, one that sounded almost Irish, but not quite. It sounded as
if he were trying to disguise it. Her heart was beating so hard
against her ribs. She drew in as much air as she could and then let
it out. The stench of his breath, along with cologne and a healthy
dose of sweat filled her senses. She felt bile rise in her throat.