A Little Harmless Fantasy(2)

Most people would be upset with that comment, but not Maura. She was a nerd and proud of it. It was one of the many things Conner had taught her. On top of it, she knew he was lying.

“First, you’re lying. Big lying, but I love you for it so okay, I’ll come see you and Jillian.”

“And I want Rory and Zeke with you.”

That made her to pause. Going to Hawaii would be a great escape. She could forget her problems; spend some time recharging her brain. Bringing the source of her problem with her wouldn’t give her a break. Her concentration was already shot and now she had to deal with them dressed in trunks and all oiled up? She shivered.

“But who will run the office?” she asked.

“Jennifer is well trained and former FBI. I’m sending a few of the new hires from here to be trained in the office with her.”

Which made sense, but it didn’t explain why she needed to be in Hawaii. Maura knew she could definitely help with that and keeping the office running while Jennifer was training. Maura could also help with part of the training.

“The Petersen case is going to trial next week. Don’t you think one of us should be here?”

“No. The federal prosecutor said he didn’t need you. Which is for the best.”

She frowned. She didn’t think so. They did all the legwork and found out that Petersen had been funneling millions of dollars through the company he was CFO for. The owner had thought there was something hinky, so he brought Dillon Securities in to look it over.

They just didn’t know Petersen had been working for the Columbians.

“Are you trying to get me out of the country?”

“Hawaii is part of the country. And when you get here, you would be smart to remember that.”

She rolled her eyes. Conner had become more Kama’aina than Jillian who had lived there for a several years. Heck, he even took off early every Friday to celebrate Aloha Fridays. That was so not like Conner—and she was glad for it. Jillian had definitely loosened her brother up. Before falling for her best friend, Conner had been uptight—and he still was to a point. But now he had someone to tell him to take a break when he got too intense.

“Sure, sure. But, why do Rory and Zeke need to come with me?” she asked and then cringed at the whiny tone in her voice. It was worse that she didn’t know what her brother’s motives were. There were times she knew him better than she knew herself, but lately, he’d been acting very un-Conner like. If he wanted to talk about feelings, there was something very wrong. The idea that she had to spend a week with them in Hawaii didn’t appeal. Okay, that was a lie. It did. But in the wrong way.

“Because they are associated with the case too. It would be best if you three are unreachable.”

“So, Hawaii isn’t connected to the rest of the world? I think the Hawaiians would be more pissed about your comments than some stupid haole tourist made.” she asked.

He ignored her question. “And, there’s that house I rented for us during the wedding crap—”

“Oh, how I love to hear my husband say our wedding was crap,” Jillian said in the background. The amusement in her voice had Maura smiling.

“Now you did it, Conner. And I’m not helping you with Jillian.”

He grunted and Maura imagined that Jillian had plopped down on his lap. It was something that she did on a regular basis.

“I don’t need help with Jillian. I can handle her all on my own.”

The tone in his voice left little to figure out just what he was talking about.

“Ugh, ew. I am going to bleach my brain after that image suggestion.”

He chuckled. “It’s your fault. You sent me over here.”

“Okay, moving onto other things, you said you had the house that you rented?”

“Yes. I found out someone backed out of the week’s rent for it, and I jumped on it. Use the jet.”

She wanted to argue with him, just for the fact that she didn’t want to be with the two men while they were together. Zeke and she had mutually decided he could not give her what she needed, so they had split. It was hard enough working together, but seeing him with his old lover Rory, knowing the two of them were living together now, was a little too much to take. Worse, she was attracted to both of the men. Having them in the same house, day in and day out, might just be the death of any sanity she had left.

Before she could talk to Conner about not inviting the guys, Zeke walked through her office door, and of course, Rory followed behind him.

“Has Conner talked to you about this trip?” she asked.

“No I haven’t,” Conner said on the phone.

“Trip?” Zeke asked, his brow furrowing.