That had his smile dissolving. “Point taken.”
She nodded. “I brought my laptop and we have a change of clothes so we can stay the night.”
“We do?” Conner asked.
“Yes. The only way I will let you stay is if you promise not to give either men, or your sister, crap tonight. And if they all want to go up in that bedroom to be near her, you will allow it.”
For a second, Rory was sure Conner would refute her. There was no doubt the former FBI agent was a Dom. The fact that he allowed her to order him around was something Rory didn’t think he would see.
Conner nodded. “If that’s what she wants.”
She snorted. “Oh, I’m pretty sure she does. The stuff is in the car. You can get it now.”
Conner hesitated then stepped forward. He kissed her then whispered something in her ear that had Jillian smiling.
“You go ahead and try that, big boy.”
“You can bet on it.”
When they were finally alone, Jillian’s smile dimmed and she crossed her arms over her breasts. Now she didn’t look like the loving wife of a Dom who knew how to keep her in line—at least in the bedroom. This woman was ready to kick some ass. Mainly theirs.
“Now, you guys need to take care of her. Conner will try and drag me back to Miami if he thinks you aren’t up to the task, or she isn’t comfortable with y’all. I hate the mainland. Mainly because my family lives on the mainland, but also because it involves disrupting my work schedule. I am an author and the world revolves around me and my work, so I will become your worst nightmare if I end up back there dealing with that crap. Understood?”
They both nodded. “Good. Now I am going to go find one of the guest rooms and get ready to write. I have a scene I need to get done and I don’t have any more patience to calm male egos.”
With that, she turned and left them alone.
“She’s kind of scary,” Zee said.
Rory laughed. “Yeah she is, but now I know how she can put up with Conner.”
Zee sighed. “I guess we should go check on her. You don’t think we’re wrong on this do you?”
“On our relationship?”
Zee rolled his eyes. “No, on the attack. Maura seems very adamant that it was someone else outside of the Petersen case.”
“You know when you’re scared the adrenaline is pumping through you that you can mistake things. The voice could have been anything and she could have heard Irish.”
“We’ll need to make some calls, check out things in our past just in case,” Zee said.
“Okay. And we agree. We don’t let her out of our sight.”
Even if she doesn’t like it.
Chapter Eighteen
In the ten days since they returned from Hawaii, Maura had yet to talk about the attack. It worried Zeke on so many different levels. Worse, she was barely talking to anyone. She was talking at them, but not to them. And she had cut off Rory and him. Rory was off licking his wounds being an ass and Zeke was left to try and piece it all together.
His phone buzzed and he rolled his eyes when he saw the 808 area code.
“Yes, Conner?”
“Wrong, this is Jillian.”
“Oh, sorry, Jillian. How are things going there?”
“Well, living with a grizzly has been so much fun the last few days. How’s our girl?”
“Our?”
“I guess I should say your, but she never mentions you when I call. In fact, she never talks at all.”
“That’s the problem. She’s not talking to anyone.”
There was a pause. “That’s not good with most people but it is a disaster with Maura.” She sighed. “Maybe we should make a trip.”
That bothered him. Conner was barely talking to him except about business and to check up on Maura. Other than that, they weren’t talking at all.
“I don’t know if that would help or shut her down more.”
“Hmm, that’s true. Have you talked to her about the attack?”
“Yes. Well, I tried. She refuses to accept that this might have anything to do with the Columbians and the Petersen trial.”
“And Conner said they can’t find anything on that. Even Jennifer can’t get an answer from anyone. It’s odd how that has all shut down.”
“So, the last time we talked about it was two days ago and now she refuses to discuss it.”
That was the nicest way of saying it. She had screamed at them. He didn’t know how to deal with that. She didn’t do things like that, and she didn’t just walk away and ignore people she cared about.
“Have you and Rory looked into anything else. I know the mule I live with isn’t ready to do that, but have you guys found anything?”