A_Little_Harmless_Fascination (18 page)

“Well, since I accidentally walked in on them having sex,
I’m pretty sure they are.”

He chuckled. “I guess that would prove it.”

“Are you hungry?”

He smiled. “Yeah, a little.”

“I’ve got the makings for pizza.”

“Yeah? I heard from Maura it is the best around.”

“Prepare to be wowed.” She leaned up and gave him a kiss
that had her body and her mind humming by the time she pulled away.

“Come on, you can help.”

And the big bad Dom smiled, took her hand, and let her lead
him into the kitchen.

*
 
*
 
*
 
*

"You're worried about this guy?" Micah asked him.

"Yeah. It's weird, but she's right. Jillian has made it
virtually impossible to find her. Seriously. I never knew anyone worried about
his or her privacy this much, and I handle private security. So the fact that
someone has found her, and has had the ability to rattle her, is more than a
little disturbing."

Micah studied him for a moment. The stoic Native American
definitely could make anyone squirm.

“What?” he asked.

"You sure you're not blowing it out of
proportion?"

Conner shook his head. He might be a little over the top but
he knew better. His gut was telling him this was not something to ignore.
"You didn't see the pictures."

"Okay, that is creepy as shit. There were some of them
of you two alone?"

He nodded. "I have another worry I didn't tell
her."

Another silent study from Micah. "That you think this
has more to do with you than her?"

Conner should have known he would pick up on it. Micah had
been a bounty hunter before he opened the premier BDSM club of the islands. When
Dee ran away from Hawaii, it took Micah less than twenty-four hours to find
her. His instincts would have made him a superb FBI agent, but Micah would have
never fit in at the bureau. And there was that juvie record.

"Yeah. I don't know of anyone who would have a hard-on
for me this long other than Dee's family. They’re still pissed at me."

“I’m sure they are. Having any problems with them?”

“No. Since several of them gave testimony, they are in
hiding, so I doubt they would have the time or the money to do it. But, I did
piss quite a few people off.”

"You're going to have to go back through your
cases."

He grimaced, thinking about it. "And, I either need the
FBI to help—"

"Which will take forever."

Conner nodded. "Yes, or I need to get outside
help."

"Use your resources."

"I can't. I do and Jillian will know."

"Talk to that business partner of yours."

He shoved his hand through his hair in frustration.
"Who will do anything Maura tells him because unfortunately, as Maria
pointed out, he is trying to get my sister back into bed."

Micah sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Damn, you're going to make me talk to my brother-in-law."

"If you could?"

"He's actually here for the wedding and in a shit mood.
Maybe this will help. The only time he’s nice is when he’s around Dee"

"Why is he in a bad mood?"

Micah shrugged. "I've learned with that family you
don't ask about bad moods unless you’re in the mood for a fight, and there’s a
good chance something is going to get broken." He sighed theatrically. “Those
Italians have world-class tempers on them.”

Conner laughed. Dee and Devon's father had been organized
crime, and both of them had gone into hiding when he'd put a hit out on them.

"I guess so,” Conner said.

“I think it's more of one of those freaky-genius things.
Devon has a through-the-roof IQ. He can't just sit around and not do anything.
He's trying for Dee's benefit because they are attempting to rebuild their
relationship, but you can feel him fighting it. Sitting in one spot just isn't
good for him. So, if I give him something illegal to do, he might be in a
better mood. Which in turn will make Dee happy."

"Which is a benefit to you."

He smiled. "But of course."

He shook his head. “What does she see in you?”

“I’m the man of her dreams.”

As soon as he said it, the phone rang. Micah looked at the
number and his expression softened. Conner didn’t have to be told that it was
Dee on the other end.

“Hey, babe. I was just talking to your FBI man.”

He listened for a while and glanced at Conner. “Yeah, I guess
he might be taken now. He has a job for Dev, so you can be free of him.”

Another pause. “I have no idea if it’s illegal, but I don’t
think we need to worry about it. Conner will take care of him.”

Conner rolled his eyes. Like that family worried about
legal. Granted both of them were somewhat legal now, although Devon still hid
behind a fake name and persona. Conner didn’t want to know the reasons. It was
a constant reminder that he was on the run from something or someone, and
Conner didn’t want to get involved. One thing he knew, Devon could handle
himself.

After Micah hung up, he looked at Conner. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

Micah rose and started to shut off lights.

“My house. Devon has his own equipment and doesn’t want to chance
getting me in trouble here. Lord only knows what he does with those laptops he
brings.”

“Laptops. As in more than one?”

“Yeah. He has his own plane so he doesn’t have to worry
about any security.”

He hesitated, and Micah smiled at him over his shoulder.
“You might want to stop being worried about the legality of it. When someone
you care about is in trouble, you throw all the rules out the window.”

Conner nodded and followed him out of the office. He knew
right now he would do anything to keep Jillian safe. And if it was someone from
his past, Conner would make sure that none of the ugliness from his FBI past
ever touched her.

Conner accepted the beer from Micah as he watched Devon’s
fingers play over the keyboard. The sharp-eyed man missed nothing, and that was
probably the reason he had been recruited into the CIA at such an early age. He
glanced at Micah then faced Conner.

"I can do it. It will actually be easy for me to
handle. FBI isn't that hard to hack. First question though, don't you have all
your cases?"

Conner nodded. “It’s on the drive I gave you."

Devon glanced at Micah again, then back to him. "Why
don't you just look it up?"

"What I have in there is just the cases. I don’t know
what happened to them after I left. Hell, convicts have been known to work out
deals years later when they get sick of prison. So if the government made a
deal, I wouldn’t know. A lot of times they are listed on the official records
as dead.”

"It's been years since you were an agent," Micah
pointed out.

"Like I said, it doesn't matter. They think they can
get good testimony off someone, they will give them a deal. One guy was in for
ten years and got a deal."

"Which you don't like?" Micah asked.

Conner shrugged. "It's a necessary evil that I
understand. Unfortunately, many criminals know and will use what little they
know to work one out. Many times the feds get fucked over. And I always loved
working my ass off to get someone in prison only to have them back on the
streets."

"What kind of meeting is going on in my house without
my knowledge?" Dee asked as she walked into the living room.

Conner watched Micah's fierce expression soften as he rose
to walk to his wife. It wasn’t hard to see the Native American Dom was still
madly in love with her after over a year of marriage.

“Your husband and his friend are trying to convince me to
break the law.”

She laughed. “Devon, really, I know you better than you know
yourself. You would break the law faster than I can say luau.”

She was glowing with the pregnancy. Just a few months along,
she was barely showing. Of course, she was wearing some yoga pants and a shirt
that looked to be Micah’s, so it would be hard to tell. She had allowed her
hair to go back to its natural dark color and had it in a ponytail on top of
her head. If he didn’t know her, he would expect she was a college coed and not
a married woman approaching thirty and pregnant with her first child.

She gave her twin a kiss then did the same to Conner.

“So, what’s going on?”

He glanced at Micah, who rolled his eyes. “If you don’t tell
her now, Devon will tell her. Those two tell each other everything.”

“Not everything, thank God,” Devon said with mock disgust
dripping from his voice. “But if I didn’t, you’d tell her, marshmallow.”

Micah just smiled. “And happy to be one.”

Dee settled her hands on her hips. “I ask once again, what
the hell is going on?”

“Dillon wants me to make sure that no one he put in jail is
out after a deal with the FBI.”

She nodded as she took a seat on the couch. Micah sat next
to her. “Why?”

“I’m afraid someone might be stalking Jillian.” He gave her
a rundown of the events of yesterday.

“Oh, that’s horrible,” Dee said. “What’s Devon got to do
with it?”

“I want to make sure it isn’t from one of my old cases.”

“All the pictures were taken after you arrived?”

He nodded, realizing no one else had picked up on that right
away like Dee did.

“How sucky.” She looked at her brother. “You’re going to do
it?”

He nodded. “It should take me a couple of hours.”

“This is the FBI,” Conner said, feeling defensive of his old
profession.

“Yeah, so I might be giving them more credit than they
should get.”

And looking at the younger man’s smirk, Conner realized he
was probably right. The federal government was having a hard time staying on
top of cyber crime. Every time they got a handle on something, hackers figured
out another way to get in.

And now he was asking one of them to do just that.

“You have to let go of some of your hang-ups about the law, my
friend,” Micah said.

“I know. I understand that it has to be done this way, but I
don’t have to like it.”

“You skirt the law all the time, Conner,” Dee said with a
smile. “At least this time it is for a really good reason.”

He could tell by the look in her eye that Dee was making
more out of his romance with Jillian than there should be. He didn’t want to
face the fact that every time the idea of someone stalking Jillian came up, he
wanted to kill someone. It was natural due to his relationship with her.

And if he repeated that enough times, he might believe it
himself.

“Want another beer?” Micah offered as he stood and took
Conner’s empty bottle.

“No thanks. Jillian should be done writing by now, so I’m
going to head back.”

“We’ll see you tomorrow, right, at the wedding?” Dee asked.

“Sure.”

They followed him out the door and stood there as they
watched him drive away. Micah and Dee were a unit, together. His parents had
been like that. They had a deep affection and friendship that Conner had always
envied. He had never expected it for himself because he had seen too many
relationships go bad. It had never bothered him before. Now, though, he
wondered what he had missed out on.

He shook his head and turned onto H-3 to head back to Jillian’s.
He couldn’t think about those things, and he refused to regret his choices.
Conner had made some mistakes, but he lived with them and moved on. Wanting
more with Jillian was natural, but he couldn’t get caught up in that. He didn’t
know if he had the heart for it.

Jillian sank down below the bubbles and scented water. The
sigh that escaped was definitely well earned. Eight straight hours at the
computer. It had been long, but the story had flowed. With the craziness of the
past few days, she hadn't had a really good chance to write like that. Well,
since Conner had come to see her.

But that she couldn't regret. Since their first night
together, she barely was able to contain herself. She wasn't a woman who got
hearts and rainbows in her eyes over a man. She had learned at an early age
that people let you down. With Conner, though, she couldn't seem to keep
herself from doing that. In fact, more than once she would think back to the
way he’d touched her the night before and her heart would sigh.

She closed her eyes and tried to blot it out. Hoping that
she would have more to this relationship wasn't healthy. She needed to keep it
light and easy, and then she wouldn't get hurt.

She heard his voice outside and knew he had returned. Within
a couple of minutes, he was in the bathroom. "So, I go off to work and
here you are being lazy in the tub."

She laughed and opened her eyes. And just like that, all
those promises slid away. She didn't know what to do with a man that was this
yummy, not to mention dependable. He had worn a pair of shorts again, and the
tan that was now darkening his skin looked good on him. Healthy.

He was smiling at her, leaning against the doorjamb, and
right there she gave up running. At that moment, she knew there would be no
protecting herself.

"I worked hard today. Over eight thousand words, so
suck it."

His eyebrows rose. "Eight thousand?"

She shrugged. "I tend to get in a zone and just go with
it. It's a mess and needs to be edited, but I do better if it’s all on paper
rather than editing as I go."

He nodded as his gaze traveled down her body in the tub. It
was one of the things she had put in since she moved in. Everything was
utilitarian in the house except the tub. It was an oversized claw foot, and it
was her escape from work at times. He walked forward, his gaze on her face.
What she saw there had her mind going blank. His eyes were dark, heated, and
filled with a need she knew so well that it scared her. She felt a corresponding
hunger flare to life within her. He reached the tub and looked down at her.