A_Little_Harmless_Fascination (4 page)

"Are you going to leave someone in charge, or are you
going to run yourself into the ground again?"

He smiled. "You have no filter, do you?"

She laughed, this time a little louder, and it gained some
attention from the group of military men sitting a few booths down. They had been
throwing looks their way since the four men had been seated. He hated to admit
it but he didn’t like that. He frowned at them, and they ignored him.

"I don't. I used to, but then I said fuck it. Life's
too short not to let people know what you think."

"Ah, well, yes, actually, I hired an old buddy of mine
from the FBI to head it up. He just retired and has a lot of experience in
surveillance."

She nodded. "And so you’ll stay in Miami? I hate that
town.”

“Why?”

“Too many people.”

He chuckled. “You live on Oahu. There are over three
quarters of a million people on the island.”

“You saw where I live, right? Not a lot of people around
there.”

She was right about that. It was sort of in its own little
corner, without many people around. There were locals, but not many tourists
that he had seen.

“What are your plans here? Seeing that you've never been
here before."

"I've been here before."

That caught her off guard. It took her a couple of seconds
to recover and the waitress returned with their meals. She set down a generous
helping of ravioli in front of him. The salad Jillian got was enough for a
small nation to eat.

When they were alone, she said, "I thought this was
your first time?"

She sounded disappointed by it for some odd reason.

"No, I had to come for a job a couple of years
ago."

Her eyes lit with comprehension. "Oh, that old case of
yours. Okay. That was right before I moved here. Well, what did you see last
time?"

He thought about the trip to Rough ‘n Ready, then the race
to follow Dee and Micah back to the mainland. "Nothing really."

She stopped eating. "What do you mean?"

"I was here for work. I didn't have time."

She set down her fork. "This is Hawaii. You make
time."

He shook his head. He knew it was easy to say something like
that when you were only responsible for yourself. But he had people depending
on him.

"I had to leave right away when Dee's brother stole her
away."

She shook her head. "Well, then I can take you around.
It’s fun to show someone the island. I did it with your sister a few months
ago."

"You act like you don't have a lot of visitors."

She shrugged and dug into her salad again. "Not really.
I don't invite my family because, well, because they don’t know where I live.
Friends in the industry, a lot of them are married and can't run to Hawaii at
the drop of a hat. And again, a lot of them have no idea where I live."

He knew there was more to it than that. Something bigger was
there. Maura had told him that although her family lived in Atlanta, Jillian
had not gone home that often when they were at college. No one really visited,
and he uncovered a lot of contempt from everyone in the family when he had her
checked out.

"So, you think to use me as a guinea pig?"

"It'll be fun. I just turned in a book, so I have some
time on my hands. I can show you all kinds of things."

He wouldn't doubt that. Maybe he hadn't had enough sleep, or
maybe he had been too long without a woman, but he couldn't fight the heat that
seemed to flare now every time she was near. When she was in college, she had
been attractive. Now over the age of thirty, she was stunning.

"Okay."

"Do you want to do the touristy things, or do you want
to see things like a local?"

"Local. I don't need glittery tourist areas. I do
better in normal surroundings."

She laughed again, and there went the dance in his blood.
Damn, the woman was a bit intoxicating, and he was feeling light-headed. He
knew it wasn’t from the issues he was having before, but from the woman he was
spending time with.

"Tell you what. We’ll hit the important tourist spots,
but then I’ll show you places the
kama’aina
like to go."

"The what?"

"The
kama’aina
,
the locals. We're
haoles
, newbies to
the island."

"You've lived here for almost two years."

"For the Hawaiians, that isn't long enough. So, being
that it's past time for the swap meet, we can go up to Sunset Beach. The surf
report was good today."

"I didn't bring my trunks."

"Of course you didn't, we were just going to
lunch."

He shook his head. "No, with me. I didn’t bring any
with me to Hawaii."

"You came to Hawaii without any swim trunks?"

He felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him.

"I just didn't think of it."

"Well, first things first. We'll hop on over to
Pearlridge and grab you a pair, then we'll head on up. Then, we can have some
fun on the beach."

Jillian in a bathing suit was going to be a hard thing to
ignore, but he couldn't turn her down. She looked so happy, and dammit, it had
been a long time since he'd taken a day just to play in the sand. So, he
agreed.

"Sounds good."

She gave him another brilliant smile, and he felt as if he
owned the world. Now all he had to do was keep his hands off her while they
were there.

Jillian sighed as she leaned back on the sand and enjoyed
the heat of the sun on her skin. The salty scent of the Pacific tickled her
nose as did the sweet aroma of the coconut oil the sunbathers wore. From the
moment they had stepped on the beach, she had felt her body start to relax.

“You look like you’re in your element,” Conner said. She
glanced at him and then closed her eyes. If she looked at him too much without
a shirt on, she might do something crazy. All that hard muscle, lean and
sculpted…It made her want to run her tongue all over him.

"I do like the beach. I love that I can walk down the
street from my house and out onto a beach."

"You could do that in Miami."

She glanced at him. "Yeah, I could. But then, it isn't
this pretty."

He studied the landscape. "I guess that's true. I don't
know if there is a beach on the mainland that is this pretty."

"California has some nice beaches, but I just love it
here. The Hawaiians make it just that much better. They appreciate what they
have."

He looked like he didn't believe her, but he said nothing.
He had been like that for as long as she had known him. Now, though, it was
bothering her. Since she’d put on the white bikini, she hadn't been able to
shake the feeling that he was looking at her weirdly. It was as if he was
trying to figure something out about her.

"The waves aren’t that big today."

She shook herself out of the stupor. "They'll grow
later today. And you have to admit, they’re bigger than what you have in
Miami."

For a second, he didn’t say anything. Then he asked,
"What?"

"The waves, they're bigger than in Miami."

He relaxed. "Oh. Yeah. I was never a big surfer,
though."

She nodded and lay back again. "I usually try and come
out here with someone because I tend to fall asleep in the sun."

"Mick or Adam?"

She nodded. “I’m such a sound sleeper when I’m warm enough.
Someone could probably come up to me and steal everything I have here,
including my bathing suit, and I wouldn’t notice.”

"I think I'll hit the water," he said abruptly.
Without waiting for a response, he jumped up and walked out to the water. She
rose to rest her weight on her elbows and watched him. The man was put together
like a freaking god. Hell, she found his legs attractive. And, just like most
good-looking men, he was getting better looking with age. There were a few little
wisps of gray in his hair, but for the most part, he looked like he was just in
his early thirties, not approaching forty.

Totally wrong for her.
So
wrong
. But she couldn’t help thinking that there was a hint of attraction
in the way he looked at her. She was pretty sure he liked the way she looked in
a bikini, but he wasn’t like other guys. He considered her off-limits for a few
reasons. Number one was his sister. And then there was the issue that he liked
to have every day planned out. Jillian did that with writing, but in her
personal time, she liked to go with the flow.

She brushed the thoughts of Conner and his feelings about
her away. Thinking about him was just going to cause her troubles, and she had
enough of those to keep her busy.

*
 
*
 
*
 
*

Conner welcomed the cold water as he jumped into it. He dove
under, praying it would help him get himself under control. He came up for air
and deliberately did not look toward the beach. If he did, he wouldn’t be able
to do anything but stare at her.

Jillian was an attractive woman. There was a spark within
her that he was sure no heterosexual man could ignore. But for some strange
reason, he felt drawn to her like never before. Was it because of his recent
problems? It could be. Conner knew he had been called a control freak. Hell, he
was
a control freak. It was one of
the reasons he was good at his job, and why he ended up in the hospital.

With Jillian, he didn’t seem to have much control. It had
been less than a day and he was already becoming obsessed. When she had donned
that little white excuse for a bathing suit, his first instinct had been to
cover her up. Every bit of the moisture had dried up in his mouth. All that
cocoa skin exposed made his fingers itch to touch. She wasn’t a skinny woman, thank
God. She had hips and an ass—lord did she have an ass. Her breasts were full
and firm. And, dammit, the tattoos were killing him. Along with the
belly-button piercing. He had never gone for a woman with piercings and tats,
but with Jillian, he wanted to trace his tongue over her ink then work his way
down her stomach.

Off-limits.

He had to keep repeating the phrase over and over in his
head. At some point, it might sink in. Getting involved with her would cause
more problems than he could even fathom. She was one of his sister's best
friends. Maura didn’t have a lot of girlfriends, and he had an idea that
Jillian was the same way. Also, what if things went wrong before he left? That
would be an issue. Dealing with a breakup could really ruin his relationship
with Jillian.

He needed to keep his hands off her. That was all there was
to it.

He looked back up at her lying on the sand and watched two
big guys approaching her. She smiled up at the men, and all the ideas he had
about steering clear of her evaporated when one of the men reached down and
yanked her up into his arms. She screamed then laughed as the behemoth headed
to the water with her. A flash of anger, mixed with the sharp taste of
jealousy, whipped through him and had Conner marching to the shore.

"I think you need to put the woman down," he said
as he approached them.

The two guys blinked at him. Jillian smiled. “No worries,
Conner. These are my friends, Mick and Adam. This is my new tenant, Conner
Dillon.”

The idiot holding her said, “Oh, Maura’s brother. Your
sister is a sweetheart.”

He narrowed his eyes at the Neanderthal. He didn’t know if
he was more irritated with the fact that he smiled when he said Maura’s name or
that he thought he could manhandle Jillian. That it might be the latter
bothered him more.

“I said you might want to put the lady down.”

The brute shared a look with his friend, who was trying not
to smile. Then he turned back and faced Conner. “No harm done, I just know how
Jillian is about water.”

“What do you mean how I am about water? Is this some kind of
racist thing?” she asked.

He could hear her laughter, but Conner ignored her. He just
didn’t like the fact that the asshole hadn’t put her down. With another look at
his friend, he set her down on the ground.

“See ya later, Jill,” Mick said and walked away. His friend
Adam, though, kept smiling at him, and then gave Jillian a kiss on the cheek
and followed after Mick.

She crossed her arms under her breasts. “That was stupid.
Mick was only fooling around.”

He said nothing because he was starting to realize how
stupid he looked now. Her friend had been fooling around, and he could tell
from the easy friendship between them that they knew each other well. The
problem that gave him was that he had a feeling they might have slept together.

“I didn’t know that.”

He was pretty sure she rolled her eyes, but she had her
sunglasses on again. “And, what did you think he was doing?”

Okay, now that he had to explain himself, it sounded
idiotic.

She huffed out a breath and turned around to walk back up
the beach. Thanks to her irritation and the sand, her hips swung even more than
usual. Her tiny bikini bottom wasn’t much of a cover for her generously curved
ass. All the anger he had felt now dissolved into lust. Jesus, the woman should
come with a warning sign. Men’s heads turned as she walked past them, but she
paid them no attention.

“I can understand Maura’s comments now. Please tell me you
aren’t like this with her? Do you see me as your little sister you have to
protect?”

“Good God, no.” The idea she thought that left him slightly
ill. No way in hell did he see her as a little sister.

She glanced at him before bending over to grab her towel and
her beach mat. His eyes almost crossed.

“We don’t have to leave.”

“Actually, I think we should. You really haven’t had enough
sleep, and I need to work on a few emails to my PA.”