A_Little_Harmless_Fascination (16 page)

"Isn't he cute? I just couldn't keep my hands off
him."

He shook his head. "How did you meet?"

"The Dom case. I put myself undercover."

"Of course you did.”

"He liked women who looked like me.” She shrugged as if
it were no big deal. “It worked."

And in her mind, that was what was important. It was one of
the reasons he’d walked away from the FBI. Anything to win the case wasn't his
way anymore. He was relentless, but he definitely wasn't a man who would think
putting himself into a trap was a good idea. Not when he’d had his sister to
take care of at the time.

"And so you met with Carino when you came here to
work?"

She smiled at him. "Yes. He wasn’t too happy about
having to play with the FBI, but then he started to like it. A lot.”

The conversation was starting to metamorphisize into
something he knew would embarrass him. She might have been his trainee, but
Maria had been almost like a younger sister to him.

“Do you know what you’re doing with him?”

“He’s marrying me, isn’t he?” She laughed. “Oh, my God, your
expression. Yes, I do know what I’m doing with him."

He let one eyebrow rise as the waiter set the plates in
front of them.

She laughed. "I do. He lets me be myself, and I like
that. He was the first person in my life who didn’t really look at me as
Callahan’s daughter.”

“I didn’t see you that way.”

She shook the salt over her scrambled eggs. “No, you saw me
as a little sister, and I saw you as a big brother as soon as I got over my
crush.”

“Crush?” he asked.

“Yeah, when I was about sixteen, I had a major crush on
you.”

He felt his face heating, and she laughed. “I got over it
when you told me I wasn’t that smart. I was a little crushed, but then I proved
you wrong.”

He remembered the case then. Maria had been convinced the
killer was a woman, and they all told her she was crazy. She had been proven
right.

“You have to come to the wedding," she said, breaking
into his thoughts.

"I didn't get an invitation."

She frowned. "I sent you one a month ago."

Shit
. He probably
did get one, but he missed it thanks to his work. "Well, then I'm
coming."

"I'm registered at Macy's.”

“Who said I’m buying you anything?”

“I did, and it better be nice or I’ll tell Maura. It’s this
Saturday at the Hilton chapel. Dress is Hawaiian formal, which means anything
can go,” she said with a laugh.

"Yeah? Can I bring a date?"

"Sure, especially if it's Jillian Sawyer. I had no idea
you knew her. I would love to pick her brain."

"Why?"

"You do realize she is considered one of the smartest
authors out there, right? She always hits the
New York Times
and
USA Today
.
She had a huge contract with NY publishers and walked away from it. She was one
of the first authors to sell a million downloads. I would love to talk to her
about it."

And it was then that he realized he didn't know. He never
asked her about her work. It was a habit of his because there was so much of his
job that he couldn't talk about, so he tended to not discuss it at all. But now
he realized that he should have.

"Well it is, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind. Since you
both live here, it would probably be easy for you to hook up. How about next
week?"

She laughed. "You haven't changed.”

“What?”

Maria shook her head and swallowed a sip of coffee. “Conner,
I'll be on my honeymoon."

He chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you would be on a honeymoon.
Where does someone who lives in Hawaii go for a honeymoon?"

"Tahiti. I have always wanted to see it, so Rome made
it happen.”

From the looks the cop had been giving her the other night,
Conner was pretty sure if she asked for a trip to Venus, Carino would probably
figure out a way to do it.

“I don’t have to ask you if he makes you happy, because he
apparently does.”

“He makes me feel whole. That’s all that matters.”

And that is when it hit him. When he had been in bed with
Jillian that morning, he had felt something squeeze his heart. Instead of
comfort, it had felt like something had grabbed him by the balls. He was
desperately falling for Jillian. There was a part of him he held back from
everyone, but not Jillian. She might have to tug it out of him, but he could be
himself with her. He just didn’t know what the fuck to do about it. Laying it
on the line would leave him vulnerable, and he wasn’t about to do that.

“Conner?”

He shook his head and noticed that Maria was staring at him
with concern. “What?”

“Are you okay? You look a little odd there.”

He shook off the feeling and smiled at her. “Yeah. Just
realized something, but I will work it out.”

She opened her mouth, but he held up his hand. “No, really,
I’m fine. Tell me about your book.”

And, he did his best to concentrate on her and not his
worries about Jillian. Although, he had a feeling that no matter what, Jillian
would always be there in his mind. And that scared him more than anything he’d
faced in his life.

*
 
*
 
*
 
*

Jillian returned from her run on the beach a little more
exhausted than usual. It had been a few days since she’d ran, and truth was,
she hadn’t been pushing herself during the last few days of her last book. The
edits had gotten to her, along with the worry of Conner coming to stay with
her. Now that he had been there a week, she knew she had been bad about getting
out. Plus, add the sex to the equation and she was a little more worn out than
she had expected.

As she approached her front door, she saw a package sitting
on her doorstep. She frowned at it and then looked around the area. She saw Mick
working on his bike.

"Hey, Mick have you seen anyone around here?"

He looked up from his bike. "No, love, sorry. I was out
on the bike."

It was just a plain manila envelope with her name scrawled
across the front of it. Gingerly, she picked it up between two fingers and
shook it. It didn’t sound like there was a lethal toxin in it, she thought with
grim humor. She opened her front door and kicked it shut behind her. She walked
over to her kitchen and opened the envelope. Glossy pictures spilled out onto the
table. Her heart stuttered to a stop.

They were pictures of her. On the beach, on her lanai, with
Conner. Jesus, there was even one with her in her bra and panties. The front
door opened and she whirled around, a scream lodging in her throat when she saw
Conner. He was smiling until he saw her face. The happy look dissolved.

"What's wrong?" he asked and rushed to her.

She handed him the pictures. She watched his face harden
even more, his eyes steel when he looked at her.

"Where did you get this?" he asked. His voice had
gone cold. A chill ran down her spine, and she had to cross her arms to try to
warm herself.

"It was sitting on the front step when I came back from
a run."

He carefully set the pictures down on the table and pulled
out his phone.

"You're the only one who touched it?"

She nodded.

“Did you see anyone, anyone at all?”

She shook her head. “Mick was here when I got home, but he’d
been out on a ride.” Plopping down onto a chair, she shivered. "It's
creepy."

"It's criminal is what it is.” He was already dialing a
number before she could stop him. She didn’t want to, but there was a little
part of her that worried. It would cause a ruckus, and she definitely didn't
want it getting out to the public. She didn’t want anyone to see the sickness
in the pictures.

He apparently read her expression. “Don’t even think about
shrugging this off. Your name is on the front, and it wasn’t mailed. Someone
knows you live here.”

She hesitated the barest of seconds then nodded. It was
stupid not to have it checked out. Still, maybe they could keep it under wraps
and she could keep her location secret. She enjoyed being another transplanted
mainlander.

"Hey, Maria, I was wondering if Rome was around. We
have a situation here with Jillian."

He was quiet for a second. "Rome, yes, it seems that
Jillian might have a stalker. Sure." He rattled off the address.

He hung up and looked at her. "Thanks for not fighting
me on this. I have a feeling we would lock horns, and while I would win, you
wouldn’t be that happy with me.”

She rubbed her arms again. She had been so hot just minutes
before, and now she couldn’t seem to get warm. "That would be stupid. I’m
just not that happy about having a cop in my house. They tend to stick their
noses into things.”

He gave her a grin that damn near stopped her heart.
"What about me?"

She stared at him for a second then said, "You don't
count. You're not FBI anymore, and well, you are kind of good in bed. So, I can
forget about the cop thing. Unless you have some handcuffs we can use."

“Later,” he promised as he reached for her and pulled her
into his arms. His body heat warmed her, and she started to shiver. The
enormity of the situation hit her then. It seemed like such a simple thing, a
plain envelope. But it had changed everything. Now she thought about everything
she had done the last few days and wondered how much of it the creep had
watched.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice vibrating
against her ear.

She nodded and snuggled closer, taking the comfort he
offered. The raw scent of him tickled her senses and somehow calmed her. She
sighed. "I hate to say it, but I kind of missed you today."

He brushed his mouth against her temple. "I missed you,
too. Did you keep yourself busy?"

"Wrote a few thousand on the new project. Then needed a
run. I've been bad about that lately."

"You run?" he asked with enough surprise that she
looked up at him.

"Yes. Do I look like I am out of shape?"

"No, it's just that running just doesn't seem to fit. I
just thought you were naturally this shape.”

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, what does that mean?"

He sighed. "You’re so ‘go with the flow.’ Living in the
moment."

"Most of the time. But, with my career, I can't be too
lazy. I find running keeps my mind focused. And I do spend most of my day in
the chair. At the rate I eat, that could lead to disaster."

"Yeah, your career…"

She looked at him, but there was a knock at the door. She
walked over and had her hand on the knob, but Conner stopped her. He gave her a
look that told her it was stupid to even think of opening it.

"Who is it?" Conner asked.

"Mick and Adam."

He sighed with a hint of irritation and opened the door.

"We just wanted to check on Jillian."

Conner was blocking her from stepping in front of him. She could
feel the testosterone rising in the room. "Why would you do that?"

"Because of the envelope," Adam said.

"What do you know about it?" Conner asked, and she
heard the accusation in his voice.

With a groan she smacked him on the ass. He glanced over his
shoulder at her with a look that told her she was pushing it a little too far.

Jillian rolled her eyes. "I asked him about it. He was
working on his bike in the yard. God."

She pushed Conner aside. "Conner's already called the
police."

She could tell that Mick wanted to ask more, but he glanced
toward Conner and decided against it.

"Well, if you need anything, you have our numbers. We
asked Jamie if she saw anything, and she didn't."

"Thanks, guys."

They were walking down the steps when a dark sedan pulled
off Kam Highway and into her driveway.

"I guess that’s your friend and her cop. That was
quick."

"They live in Laie and were on their way home. They
weren’t very far away when I called." He watched them get out of the car.
"Oh, and two warnings. Maria wants to ask you about writing, and we're
going to their wedding this Saturday."

With that, he walked down the steps to greet his friends.
The grim expression on his face was mirrored by the cop. He didn’t look very
happy. She didn’t know if it was the situation or the fact that he had been on
his way home. It was then that she realized Conner hadn’t asked her to go to
the wedding, he’d ordered her.

She didn't mind taking orders in the bedroom. If she had any
doubts, last night and this morning had taken care of that. In fact, thinking
about what he might do next time they were in bed had her body humming with
need. Still, it didn't mean that she was going to accept him telling her what
to do outside of the bedroom.

They would have to talk about it later because that wasn’t
really important right now. She followed him down the stairs and went to talk
to the detective and his fiancée.

But they would talk about it. She might be a submissive when
sex was involved, but the man needed to learn that she ran her life and no one
else.

Conner watched as Rome looked over the letter. He might not
be who he expected Maria to end up with, but Conner was damn happy he was on
the HPD. Anyone with that determined look in his eye would definitely be of
some use in this. He’d pulled a pair of gloves out of a box in his car and
slipped them on before touching the pictures. Maria had brought in a plastic
bag that Rome was now slipping the pictures into.

"I can have the lab take prints off it, but my guess is
that the bastard didn't leave any." He looked up at Jillian. "Have
you had issues with stalkers before?"

She shook her head.