A Little Harmless Fantasy(32)

“She thinks she has a lot to live up to,” Rory said. Zeke glanced at him somewhat surprised that he had picked up on that tidbit. “What? I pay attention.”

Conner sighed. “Maura has always been an over achiever. Even before Mom and Dad died, she seemed destined to blow through school. I always felt like I was trying to catch up with her.”

“You’re older,” Zeke pointed out.

“True, but the fact still remains that she read full books at the age of three, could do multiplication at the age of five. It was a bit daunting to be struggling with school myself, and she was showing me how to do algebra.”

Rory laughed. “You’re kidding.”

Conner’s eyes narrowed and Zeke knew why. There was something in Rory’s tone that wasn’t just being amused by a teenage Conner asking his sister for help on homework. A hint of admiration threaded Rory’s tone, and it wasn’t just admiring her math skills. It was almost intimate. They didn’t need Conner picking up on what was going on—not yet. If Zeke had his way, he would definitely like to continue the relationship, but he needed to be patient for that. And they definitely didn’t need Conner butting in.

“So, I think that we need to just keep an eye on the Peterson trial. He will probably take a deal and if he does, he’ll be the target,” Zeke said, trying his best to deflect Conner’s suspicious study of Rory. Of course it worked, because work always caught Conner’s attention.

“Yeah. The word I hear is he is about to cave. They’ve threatened him and his family, so that will probably push him to turn.”

The door opened. Jillian stepped in first, Maura followed behind her. She was smiling and already looked more relaxed. Her hair was already wavy from the humidity and her cheeks were rosy. Zeke always forgot how happy Maura was in Hawaii. She would never move there, but it was hard to ignore the way she was already flushed from the sun. You would never know they lived in Miami by the way she worshiped Hawaiian beaches.

“What have you two been up to?” Conner asked as he crossed the room to pull Jillian into his arms for a kiss.

“Just talking. Plus she was talking to Adam about his bike. Maura had a lot of questions about where to get a rental on the island.”

Conner leveled a look at Maura.

“No.”

She crossed her arms and frowned at him. Zeke knew then that Conner knew exactly what she had been thinking. It was odd that he used to feel left out when they did that. Now, though, he knew exactly how her mind worked.

“I can do what I want. I am an adult.”

“I do not want to get a call from Zeke about you being in a wreck.”

She made a face. “I don’t know why you think I would get hurt.”

Panic tightened his gut. Maura was good at most things, but riding a bike would be a disaster. She wasn’t all that great at driving her car because her mind was always on something else. Panic had him stepping in. Maura was exceptional at everything but balance. “No. I don’t think you should do that.”

Conner was now giving him that narrowed look he had just given Rory. He didn’t blame him. Zeke knew he had sounded proprietary but at least they had a longer history together.

Zeke shrugged. “I don’t want to deal with Conner. He’ll blame me.”

“And then, I’ll have to kill him.”

She rolled her eyes and huffed. “Fine.”

But he knew she was still working it out in her head.

“I think we need to get to the house, get settled. If we get some sleep, then we can go out tonight,” Maura said.

“Where do you think you’re going for the night?” Conner asked suspiciously. Of course he would know that Maura was going to want to pop into Rough ‘n Ready and while her brother might not have a problem with it, he wouldn’t want to be there for anything.

“I wanted to drive around later today. Rory saw little to nothing of the island when y’all got married a few weeks ago. So, if we can get some sleep right now, we can get out in this evening.”

Conner nodded. “Okay, but make sure you check in. I don’t want to hunt you down.”

“Don’t worry about it boy-o I think we take care of her,” Rory said.

“I can take care of myself,” she said, as she walked to Conner. He took her in his arms and gave her a kiss on the cheek then pulled her close. He whispered something that had her smiling, and she pulled back. Conner handed Maura the keys.

“Don’t goof off too much while you are on the island.” He looked at Rory and then Zeke. “Keep an eye out. I doubt they’ll come out this way looking for you, but be careful.”