A Little Harmless Fantasy(15)

“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.