A Little Harmless Fantasy (6 page)

He said nothing. Rory needed something else, some kind of connection.
He leaned down and gave him a kiss. It was sweet and hot and he never
took his gaze from Zee’s.

“You know I love you,” he said. It was still hard to say
the words. Zee was the only person he had ever said them to. Each
time he did, Rory expected him to throw them back in his face.

Zee lifted his hand and cupped his face. “I love you, too.”

Rory let loose a sigh of relief and laid back on the bed. At one
time, the words would have sent him in a panic. Now, it was a
comfort.

“So where were you?” Zeke asked.

“I went shopping.”

There was a beat of silence. “For what?”

Right now, Zee wasn’t ready to go for the threesome. Strike
that. Zee was ready, he just needed a little push. Zee wanted it and
Rory wanted to be the one to give it to him. Rory knew watching Maura
submit was going to be the ultimate turn on for Zee. Even thinking
about it right now had his blood heating.

“For our trip to Hawaii. Easier to buy what I wanted here, than
trying to find a place there. Since we don’t have to mess with
the TSA, makes it even easier.”

Zee sighed again, this time it was filled regret. “She won’t
go for it.”

“She will.”

“How do you know that?”

Rory closed his eyes and remembered her reaction to him, to the
picture he had painted for her. “I talked to her about it.”

“You what?” Zee almost shouted and sat up. “I told
you to leave her alone.”

His reaction was over the top. It was one of the reasons that Rory
thought Zee needed to work the woman out of his system. “Hold
on, lover, I just talked to her. That’s it.”

Zee laid back down with a huff. “Do you ever listen to me? Do
you ever listen to anyone?”

“Not when I’m right. And buddy, believe me, I was right
about Maura.”

Zee said nothing for a moment. When Zee was quiet like that, Rory
knew his mind was working the issue. “What did she say?”

“I told her to just think about it. It’s a week where
there can be no rules.”

“She doesn’t need you tempting her into something that
would end up hurting her.”

That caught his attention. “What?”

Zee sighed. “I guess she heard a rumor about us and suggested a
threesome. She immediately took it back.”

“When were you going to tell me this?” Rory asked.
Silence. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

“I’m not sure.”

And that chaffed at Rory. He knew they both had secrets, but,
still…it rankled him.

“I don’t know,” Zee admitted. “You don’t
understand her very well.”

“How do you know that?”

“If you did, you wouldn’t be so flippant about this.
Bloody hell, anyone who knows Maura well knows she wouldn’t
handle this.”

“Explain.”

Zee shot him a look, but said, “She doesn’t like change.
You’ve seen how she is at the office. She doesn’t live in
the moment. She likes everything to go as planned. She probably
planned on hooking her brother and Jillian up.”

He filed that bit of information away. “Maybe she’s at a
point that she wants to make a change.”

“And what about when we get back, working with each other every
day.”

Rory shrugged. “I don’t think that will matter.”

“Of course you don’t,” Zee said, his voice sounding
weary. “You never think about the consequences of your
actions.”

Annoyance had his gut tightening, along with a healthy dose of worry.
And that aggravated him even more. He had never really worried about
the consequences of his personal life and now Zee had him worrying.
Dammit.

“Don’t make me sound like a shit. I might make a few
mistakes here and there—”

“You mean the mistake like in Tokyo where I almost got my
bloody head blown off.”

“That was five fucking years ago. I can’t believe you’re
bringing that up.” Rory drew in a deep breath trying to gain
hold of his temper. He didn’t want to fight about something
that happened when they were both so green they didn’t know
what they were doing in the field. “I have thought this
through. I left it up to her. You know you want it, Zee. I do too. We
haven’t done this in a long time.”

“Because every time we do, you disappear. It’s the sign
you are freaking out.”

“No it’s not.” Rory frowned. “Are you
serious?”

He huffed again. Zee was always kind of a huffy guy and most of the
time, Rory loved it. Not now though, not now that he was ripping his
character to shreds. “No. I’m making shit up. Of course
I’m serious.”

“I think you’ve been smoking weed again.”

“I haven’t had that in years. And you are avoiding the
subject I brought up.”

“And that is?”

When he spoke, Zee’s voice was weary. “Quit being a dick,
Rory. I’ve seen this pattern over and over. You’re
freaking out.”

He was, Rory knew that. But it wasn’t just a sign the he was
leaving. Wanting Maura with them was a preemptive strike. Zee was
infatuated with her and that infatuation was a bad thing in Rory’s
opinion. There was nothing but heartache on that path. It was better
that both Maura and Zee work out their need for each other and get
over it. He’d been waiting for an opportunity and this seemed
perfect.

He leveled a look at the man he’d loved most of his life. Sure
he had just figured it out, but better late than never. He would do
anything to keep them together now.

“Other than that, what are your other objections?”

Zee didn’t say anything for a long time.

“Zee?”

“I worry about Maura.”

Zee could have stabbed him in the forehead with a fork and it would
have hurt less that those four words. Rory knew Zee was half in love
with the woman. The fact that he was more worried about her than
either of them was enough to piss him off. He would never let Zee
know just how much it hurt because the way Zee was, it would make him
hurt too. He had never met someone who had so much empathy for the
people he loved. That’s the reason he had fallen in love with
the man.

“She’s important to you.”

Zee looked at him, searching his face. He hated that. Hated Zee could
pick his brain, but it was one of the things he loved most about him.
“She should be important to you too. She hasn’t had an
easy time of it.”

Rory snorted. “Yeah, I saw the house, looked tough.”

“You’ve always been cynical but you’re worse now
than ever before. When did that happen?”

It had nothing to do with being cynical. There was a deep-set panic
in his gut that told him that Zee cared more about Maura than any
other woman he had been involved with. That alone had him being
nasty, but Rory was having issues himself. The woman had drawn him in
before, but now…he was hooked. Other than Zeke, he couldn’t
get the woman out of his head.

He ignored his worries and smiled at Zeke. “I’m not any
more cynical than you are, my love.”

“Yes you are. Besides, money won’t bring her parents
back.”

Shit, he hated that admiring tone Zee got when he talked about Maura.
He knew he was jealous and hated that too, but there didn’t
seem to be a damned thing he could about it.

“She had Conner.” Fuck, now he sounded defensive. He
didn’t like when they had discussions like this. Zee always got
hurt and Rory ended up ticked off.

“Yeah, but she was in the car with them when they died.”

“She survived.”

“Just to watch her parents die.”

“Is that what she told you?” he asked, not able to keep
the snarl out of his voice.

“No. Conner told me she used to have nightmares. I do know she
was stuck in the car with them for three hours after. The bastard
drunk who hit them just sped off and left them there. When…”
Zeke glanced at him apparently not wanting to reveal too much. He
sighed. “When we were together, every now and then, she would
have the nightmares. She tried to hide it, but they disturbed her. If
she’s under a lot of stress, she tends to have them. It’s
another reason Conner probably wants her over there.”

Rory said nothing to that, mainly because now
he
was starting
to admire her. She never mentioned anything about it. And, she did
work like she was just like everyone else at work. Tonight had to be
one of the few nights she left before anyone else, and she worked as
if her brother didn’t own the company. That made him like her
even more. Not once did she act as if she expected something to be
done for her.
Dammit.

“Then, add in that she is a geek, a woman with a mind so sharp
it's scary. She was always an outcast. In college at sixteen...it
wasn’t easy.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Stop being an ass,” Zee said without much heat. “This
isn’t a one night stand or even just a week. If we pull her
into a threesome, then we just go on together without her, she’ll
be an outcast again. She doesn’t need that. No one deserves
that.”

Rory knew he spoke of his mother and father. Zeke’s father’s
family had never accepted the wife and child he had brought back from
Haiti. They were pretty much left on their own when his father had
died.

“Okay. We’ll be careful, but I already put it out there.
Besides, we don’t have to end it when we come back.”

It was dark but he sensed Zee’s glance. “What are you
saying?”

“Maybe we leave it up to her at the end?”

Even as he said it, it sounded so wrong...but so fucking delicious.
Having a sub that enticed Zee the way Maura did in the relationship
would be beyond anything they had done before. She wouldn’t go
for it probably, but there was always the slight chance she might.

“I have a feeling she’ll say no anyway.”

Rory said nothing. In their line of work, he had learned a long time
ago how to read people and what he saw today told him that there was
at least a good chance she would say yes. Of course, arguing with Zee
was like arguing with a brick wall. Once he set his mind on something
he just would not let it go. The only way to prove Zee wrong was
doing it in front of his face. He wanted it as bad as Rory did, he
was just afraid. Worrying about it tonight. They had an early start
to their day and there was no reason to keep debating what Maura
might or might not do. Rory turned toward Zee and slipped an arm over
his waist. With Zee’s even breathing filling the air, Rory
followed him into sleep.

Irritation slipped down Maura’s spine as she hurried along the
tarmac. She was late. She was never late, ever. It always made her
feel as if she had lost control. Her stomach clenched. Her head was
pounding, her eyes scratchy and her basic attitude was crap.
Seriously, if someone challenged her on something, there was a good
chance she would punch the person in the throat. This was not how she
wanted to start her day off. Normally she liked to be up with the
sun. Today, not so much. Maybe she would sleep for the entire seven
days she was in Hawaii.

Her phone buzzed with Zeke’s ringtone. She flipped it open.
“What?”

“Well, top of the morning to you, darlin’.”

She sighed. “Sorry, I’m on my way to the plane right
now.”

“Are you alright?”

No, she wanted to scream. She had spent most of last night thinking
about Rory’s invitation. When she had grabbed a few hours of
sleep, she had been haunted by the idea of having two sets of hands
on her, two mouths and two voices thick with an Irish accent as they
drove her crazy.

“Yes, just had some things that caught me off guard. I can see
the jet.”

He said nothing for a moment. She sensed he wanted to ask her
questions. About what? Did Rory tell him what he had asked her? Of
course he probably did. Those two shared just about everything.

And they wanted to share her.

Heat slipped through her blood and danced over her nerve endings. She
stopped in mid step and ordered herself to calm down. She had decided
not to allow it, right? She had thrown the idea out to Zeke when Rory
had moved in but it had been desperation. She had been scared of
losing Zeke once and for all—even as a friend. Knowing that
now, she would be beyond pathetic. Her emotional well-being would be
damned to hell if she agreed to it. She had thought about how it
would hurt when they returned and that had been the deciding factor.
She would never be able to work with both of them after that. Seeing
them together now was tough enough. After seven days in their bed, it
would be too painful.

She started walking again and watched as he stepped out onto the
steps.

“I can see you and this conversation is ridiculous.”

She didn’t wait for an answer; she just turned her phone off.

He was watching her, his gaze on her as she approached. At least, she
thought he might be, because he was wearing those aviator sunglasses.
God, she loved them. He looked so fuckable when he was wearing them.
If she had time to think about it, Maura would probably worry more
about her attraction to him as an authority figure. When he stood
there like that, those badass glasses on, it reminded her of a cop or
a military dude. What the hell was wrong with her?

He jogged down the stairs and Rory appeared behind him. Her heart did
a little jerk, then her stomach muscles clenched again. Dammit, how
was she going to be able to ignore the temptation that they
represented?

Zeke walked out to meet her and took her bag. “I’ll take
your bag around.”

She nodded.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just a little off. I have been the last few
days.” She didn’t want to talk about the insomnia that
seemed to be her constant companion these days. If she told him, he
would tell Conner. Then, there would be a talk. Lord help her if
Conner wanted to talk. “I think I just need a week in Hawaii to
rest. And see Conner.”

He nodded, then turned, taking her arm to walk her to the jet. Rory
was still standing there, waiting and watching. Heat slid down her
spine and it had nothing to do with the fact that she was on a Miami
tarmac. She could smell Zeke’s musky aftershave.