A_Little_Harmless_Fascination Read Free Page B

her. From what Conner could tell, she’d
had little to no contact with her family since her grandmother had died three
years ago.
    “You’re not mad?”
    “That you snooped? Naw. I probably would have done the same
for a younger sibling. And, well, Maura was...kind of naive.”
    “Kind of?” he asked.
    “Really. I worried about her. But, she hasn’t changed much.”
    She hadn’t. Maura and he were more than ten years apart in
age. It hadn’t been easy taking on the task of raising her while chasing an FBI
career. When she’d graduated from high school a year early, it had been a
blessing and a curse. A year younger and years behind her peers in social
development, she had been a lamb among wolves, but she’d had Jillian. Who,
despite what some people would think about her appearance, was dependable.
    “She was lucky to have you as a roommate.”
    She slid him a look out of the corner of her eye. He
couldn’t tell what she was thinking because of the glasses, but the side of her
mouth kicked up.
    “That was sweet of you. Just for that, I’ll take you all the
way down into Pearl City for some Italian food.”
    “Not Hawaiian?”
    She shook her head. “We’ll do that later. Today, and always
when I finish a book, I head on down to Bravo’s. It is sort of a superstition
for me to follow.”
    “Sounds good.”
    “It sounds better than good; it sounds like a feast coming
on. I just realized I forgot to eat lunch and dinner yesterday. It will be nice
to linger around a restaurant and get the latest gossip on one of my best
friends.”
    “There isn’t much to tell.”
    She glanced at him. “Really? What’s going on with that Zeke
guy?”
    “They don’t like each other.” He shrugged.
    “Uh, you really have been working too much if you haven’t noticed
that they are either hooking up or preparing to.”
    He had worried about that but thought it was only his
imagination. His best friend and his sister were opposites in every way. But
knowing Jillian had picked up on it meant that it was more than just a weird
feeling he had. He really didn’t want to contemplate it, but he didn’t have a
choice. Working with the two of them made it his business. If things went
badly, it could affect the company. Mainly because he would have to kill his
best friend and business partner for hurting his sister.
    “Oh, no. Don’t get that look.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Your ‘I am the big brother in charge’ look. Maura is an
adult and thankfully, no longer a virgin.”
    He grimaced when she said it, and she laughed. “I would
rather not think about it.”
    “Sorry, but true. I bet you’re thinking you shouldn’t be
here, that you should have stayed on the mainland to protect your sister from
Zeke.”
    “No. Okay. Maybe. Part of the problem is that I work with
them.”
    “I got a piece of information for you, Conner. I think you’d
have more work protecting Zeke. You know how Maura is when she wants something,
and I have a feeling she wants your best friend. Let it go, relax and enjoy
Hawaii.”
    “I don’t do vacations.”
    “You do now,” she said with a laugh as she eased onto an
elevated highway. “Now let me tell you about H-3, which is what we’re on right
now. Did you know that it’s the most expensive highway in the US?”
    “No, really?” he asked with a sarcastic edge to his tone.
    “If you’re going to be a jackass, I’m not telling you one of
the main reasons they built it.”
    He glanced out the window at the tall mountains, the
seemingly endless green of the rain forests. Fog clung to the tops of the
mountains, so unlike what he’d expected of Hawaii. He had been here for a short
time when hunting for Dee a couple of years before, but he hadn’t done any
sightseeing. When he thought of Hawaii, the first things that came to mind were
beaches, Elvis, and Mai Tais.
    This was different. Jillian had settled here, in the shadow
of the mountains and some of the most beautiful scenery he