A_Little_Harmless_Fascination (6 page)

He nodded as she handed him the bag that had the salt in it.
"The salt is for your sister. Although, she could easily order it
online."

"You really are like a local."

Jillian shook her head. “Don’t let them hear you say that.
I’m still a
haole
like you.”

“You’ve lived here for years.”

She shrugged. "I came here a few years ago because
Maura wouldn’t shut up about it. Family was starting to get on my nerves, and I
just didn’t have the patience to deal with them anymore. So, I took a break.
Then I fell in love. It was the first place in years where I have fit in, where
when I said home, it felt right."

He knew what she was talking about. Or he thought he did.
Many would look at her life and say she was lucky. The daughter of parents who
loved her, and when the worst thing that could have happened did, she found
herself living with rich family members. But he knew better. He knew that she
had been taken on as the child that no one wanted, and while they had raised
her, he knew from her comments that she hadn’t had a great teenage experience.
They were not only strange, but they were not welcoming. Apparently, she found
her place to live.

They stopped at a food stand and she ordered them both some
coffee. While she was paying for their drinks, it hit him that he didn’t
consider Miami home. Not really home. Sure, Maura made it more so, but there
was that connection he had been missing since he left home for college. Almost
forty and he still hadn’t found it.

“How about a tattoo?” she asked, pulling him out of his
thoughts.

He choked on the drink of coffee he’d just taken. The warm
liquid shot up his nose, and he winced. She handed him a napkin.

"What?" he asked.

She smiled and nodded to a tent on the other side of him.

"It's just henna. Don't look scared."

"I'm not scared. I'm just not into tattoos on me."

She pulled her glasses down on her nose so she could look
over the top of them. "What about on other people?"

He could tell from the sparkle in her eyes that she was
fucking with him. He looked down her arms at a sleeve of tattoos that must have
taken hours to get. "Depends on the person. I especially like yours."

"Really?"

"Yeah. That and your belly-button ring."

Her lips curved as she pushed the glasses back up and turned
to walk away. The woman moved like a freaking temptress. He knew it was innate
to her, like breathing. She didn’t do it on purpose. That didn’t mean he could
ignore it. His hands itched to touch, to tease, to spank. That full ass swinging
in her barely-there shorts...he was sure the lack of blood in his brain wasn't
good for his health.

He caught up to her. "So, is your belly the only place
you're pierced?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

He slipped his hand around her upper arm and gently tugged
her to the side of a tent at the end of one of the rows, out of the pedestrian
traffic. It was heating up, the air stifled by the arrangements of the vendors,
and the humidity was rising by the minute. The scent of her filled his senses.

"Yeah, I kind of do want to know where else you're
pierced."

She smiled up at him, and he could tell she was going to
brush him off. The Dom in him was already beating his way out. He had lain
dormant for months, but with Jillian around, those dominant tendencies were surfacing
again.

She patted his cheek. "I only share that with intimate
friends."

Jillian turned to leave, but he grabbed her arm again.

"Don't mess with me, Jillian. I don't like it, not that
way."

Her eyes narrowed as she looked down at his hand on her upper
arm.

"If you're not interested, just say ‘leave me the fuck
alone, Conner.’"

He waited, holding his breath. He hadn't meant to challenge
her, hadn't known this was so important right now. It was. More than he had
ever expected, it was beyond that now. Why this woman, right now, he had no
idea. But the need he had building in him was starting to take over any sane
thought he had. He knew right now if he didn’t have her soon, there was a good
chance he might just go a little insane. If she said to fuck off, he would be
screwed.

When she didn’t say anything, Conner let loose the breath
and nodded. "Good, then we understand each other. Just know that when I
ask you that question again, I will expect an answer."

With that he released her, waited for her to walk, and then
followed her into the path of the shoppers again.

She didn’t say anything for a few minutes as they strolled
through another set of tents. Then she said, “That wasn’t an invitation.”

“What?” he asked, knowing just what she meant.

“Just because I didn’t say it, it wasn’t an invitation.”

“Understood. Just as long as you know that from now on out,
I believe I have every right to work on getting that invitation.”

She stopped and looked up at him. She hid her eyes behind
those sunglasses, and it was still bothering him. With Jillian, he always felt
he was missing something she was hiding. Not on purpose, not really. But he had
a feeling she had spent a lot of her time hiding a lot of things from most
people.

“Pretty cocky, aren’t you?” she asked with humor threading
her voice.

He smiled. “What can I say? You bring it out in me.”

She groaned. “Oh, that was bad.”

“You gave me the setup, so you can blame yourself.”

“I might have, but it doesn’t mean you needed to go there.”
She opened the bag of pineapple bites. “Here, take one.”

He did and instantly knew why she called them pineapple
crack. Sweet, tart, and as soon as he finished that one, he needed another. He
grabbed a few more as they started to walk again.

“That should be illegal,” he said. “I think if I had those
every day, I might gain fifty pounds in a week.”

She laughed, and the sound of it had his heart doing more
than a little two-step. She never giggled or muffled her happiness. It was
always out there for you to hear…and see. “Yeah, I told you, crack. What are
you going to buy Maura?”

“Buy?”

“You have to take her something. You always did.”

Then he remembered making sure that he had something for her
each time he visited her at college. He heard the wistfulness in Jillian’s
voice but he wasn’t going to push anymore today. He didn’t want to scare her
completely off.

“I haven’t thought of it. I rarely go out on a job, so I am
sort of out of practice.”

She nodded. “We better get her something so you don’t
forget. She’ll whine if you come home with nothing.”

He chuckled as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his
shorts. “You do know my sister well.”

“Yep, but then I’m good at reading a person’s character. My
dad said I got it from him.”

She rarely talked about her parents, so any bit of
information she gave him, he was going to latch on to. “Your father?”

“Dad said he had to be careful when he got to the game.
People were trying to use him left and right. New people he met, old friends.
But, he said the moment he met my mother, he knew she was interested in him for
him.”

“Really, how?”

She gave him a blinding smile. “My mother had no idea who he
was.”

“Your mother didn’t know who he was?”

“Yeah. Until she met Dad, Mom paid little to no attention to
sports. Dad was a little put out that he had to try and woo her without what he
considered his biggest selling point.”

He chuckled. “I can imagine.”

“It took him a while, but he got her attention. Then they
were married less than a year later, I came two years after that.”

She eased him over to a tent that had a lot of little
knickknacks that Maura would love. It struck him then that this was the one
thing he wanted to do. He wanted to be with Jillian, looking through the
offerings and just having a lazy day shopping. She was smiling at him, teasing
him, and he knew this is where he needed to be.

“I think she would like this one,” she said, holding up a
hand-carved turtle, but he barely noticed it. Instead, he was looking at her
smiling at him, and he felt something shift inside his chest.

“Conner?”

He shook his head and focused on the turtle. “Yeah, I think
she would love it.”

The moment over now, he followed her into the tent as he
watched her dive into another haggling session.

*
 
*
 
*
 
*

“You think he’s okay, right?” Maura asked for the third time
during the five minutes they’d been on the phone.

Jillian started to rub her temple again and tried not to
scream. No wonder Conner was stressed. Just the short time she had been on the
phone with her old friend had Jillian’s blood pressure starting to rise. The
concern was not normal for Maura. She had always worried about Conner, but not
like this. Jillian had a feeling that this was not just because of what
happened. This had been building for a while, in Jillian’s opinion.

Yes, Conner worked in a high-stress job. He didn’t really
take time off. That was a worry for a man who was so tightly wound. Now,
though, Jillian was wondering just how much of the issue was caused by Maura.
Right now, she was ready to strangle her best friend.

“He’s fine. He’s been here for a few days, no problems. In
fact, I took him to the swap meet a couple of days ago. He had a great time.”

There was a pause.

“A great time shopping?”

“Yes. I needed to pick up some stuff, including salt for
you. It was kind of fun to get out of the house.”

“You went with my brother, right?” Maura asked.

Jillian laughed. “Yes. I really didn’t give him a choice.”

He had been stiff and formal at first, but soon she’d gotten
him interested in haggling prices and chatting with the locals. And he had made
her go gooey inside. When he had shown the dominant side of his personality,
she’d almost dissolved into a puddle of lust. On top of that, she was beginning
to realize that Conner was a man she wouldn’t just enjoy in bed. He was a man
she could enjoy hanging out with. That wasn’t that common of a thing.

“You need something to do to get your mind off your brother.
He is looking good, and he is having a good time. He bought you a present.”

“Wait, what did he buy me?”

“It’s a surprise.” And it had been sweet watching him trying
to decide what to buy Maura. It was hard not to admire a brother who loved his
sister so much. “Go find a guy to play with. What about Zeke?”

She sighed. “Rory’s in town.”

“And?”

“They’re lovers.”

That brought her up short. “Oh, I thought Zeke was
heterosexual. I mean, you’ve slept with him.”

“Once, and it was good, but he doesn’t like BDSM. Sometimes
he likes men. It’s an odd relationship.”

“So, he’s bi.” She shrugged. “That shouldn’t bother you.”

“No, but it’s like he wants to keep Rory and me separate. It
isn’t like they try to hide that they’re sleeping together, but he won’t leave
us alone.”

Odd. “What’s Rory like?”

Maura made a humming noise.

Jillian smiled. “That good?”

“Yeah. Worse, I know he’s a Dom. It makes me want to take a
big bite out of his ass every time I see him.”

“And I take it that Zeke disagrees?”

“Yeah. He’s so uptight. You should have seen his reaction
when I said something about a threesome. He was so pissed.”

Jillian had a feeling it was another kind of emotion. She
had gotten to meet Zeke a few times, and she was pretty sure that he was in
love with Maura. Now, with this old boyfriend who is a Dom…he wouldn’t have
brought him along if Zeke hadn’t wanted to at least try a ménage. But telling
Maura would be a waste of time.

“I don’t know what to do, and he makes me feel guilty for
wanting him. But, dammit, they both have those Irish accents, and it just kills
me.”

“I think you just need to let it happen. Don’t force it.”

“But you know I like a plan.”

Jillian rolled her eyes. Maura did like a good plan, and she
tried to plan everything out. From the time she got up in the morning until the
time she went to bed, Maura had her life planned. That was one thing brother
and sister had in common.

“Well, go forth and get some booty. I am taking care of your
brother. He is actually getting some relaxing time in, and he has a bit of a
tan. Which is odd because the man lives in Miami, and he looked like an albino
when he arrived.”

She laughed. “What are you doing tonight?”

“Conner’s going out tonight. He apparently knows someone
here from his FBI days. He left about an hour ago to meet up with him. I’m
heading into Honolulu to go to Rough ‘n Ready. By the way, thanks for hooking
me up with Micah Ross. He’s going to let me come in and observe for research.”

“You might find someone you like there.”

“I’m sure I will. But I told you, not my kind of thing.” Not
really. Jillian knew that she wanted—almost needed—a Dom in her bedroom. She
knew enough about the subject, but she also knew her one big hang up. Trust.

“Call me and let me know how things are going, and I want to
know what happens at the club.”

She had to promise three or four times before Maura would
actually hang up. With a sigh, she tugged her shirt and pants off. She’d
already slapped on a little makeup, so all she needed was clothes that fit her.
As she looked through her closet, her family cell phone rang. She thought about
ignoring it, but it was kind of late for an East Coast call.

She saw the number and sighed. “Hello, Blanche.”

“Have you talked to Charles?”

No hello, how are you doing? Just give me my fucking money.
Or rather, give me my son’s fucking money.

“I did, and he said Brent would just have to deal with it on
his own.”