Page 41 of Rough Fantasy

She fought the urge to look behind her as they walked into the shopping center’s food court. The place was filled with a wealth of locals and tourists. It was large, housing at least 20 places to eat. She didn’t pay attention to anything else. Maura made a beeline for her favorite Asian eatery. She heard Zeke chuckle behind her.

“What if we don’t want to eat that, Maura?” he called out.

“You can feed yourself, Zeke,” she said, but didn’t turn around.

He didn’t follow but Rory did.

He grabbed her by the arm. “Slow down, love. You sure do eat up the ground with those long legs.”

“What’s the use of walking slowly when you know what you want?”

He shook his head and his lips twitched. “To enjoy the journey?”

She rolled her eyes as she stepped into line to wait to give her order.

“So, you don’t eat all the healthy stuff?”

“I watch what I eat but I have been blessed with good genes. Zee’s father had all kinds of issues.”

“But he didn’t die because of that. He died in a bomb, right?”

Rory looked surprised that she knew. She tried not to take offense to it, and she really shouldn’t. Rory and Zeke had known each other for so long. She was pretty sure that Zeke rarely got involved with women the way he had with her. Their relationship was different for him…for her. They always seemed to have that connection, the ability to call each other in the middle of the night just to talk.

“What is going on in your head?” he asked.

She shook herself out of the funk. “What do you mean?”

“Zeke said that you have a computer in there,” he said smiling at her. She usually hated when people talked about her intelligence that way. But when Zeke did, it didn’t bother her. And, apparently, it included Rory now.

“When I get tired, I can’t keep my thoughts organized. I’m trying to do that right now.”

“Ah,” he said, but she knew he knew she was lying.

This was their first night in Hawaii and she didn’t want to ruin it with sad thoughts or regrets. Living in the moment…that’s what she told Jillian she would do. And dammit for once in her life, she would.

“Ready for the best thing on this island next to pineapple and malassadas?” she asked.

Rory studied her for a second then grinned. “Bring it on.”

sixteen

Rory finished off his second pork ball and realized that Maura had just finished eating one.

The sweet, savory taste lingered in his mouth as he tried to figure out just what went into the delicacy. When he had left Ireland, he had discovered an entire world of different tasting food. Granted, he did have a soft place in his heart for bangers and mash, but a lot of their food was really bland. Thanks to the job, he and Zee had travelled the world over. They’d eaten in dives starving dogs would avoid and five star restaurants that had served presidents and kings. He was always intrigued in the way to cook things up, how they were made up. It was one of the reasons he had been good at making bombs once upon a time. It was all about what went into it and the execution…just different ingredients.

When he licked his last finger, he nodded. “You’re right. Those are heaven. I need to figure out how to make them.”

Zee looked at them from across the table as he ate his salad. “You two are disgusting.”

“You’re just jealous, Zee,” Rory said, but his mind went back to the treat they had just eaten. “I’ll have to play with it a little, but I think I can figure it out.”

Maura smiled. “Then, I will do anything for you if you can. I love those things but I have yet to find a place in Miami that makes them this way.”

“Hmm,” he said. “Just what would I get in return for making you these?”

She frowned and then again, he was reminded how literally she took everything. “I could clean your house.”

“No.” Zeke said. “You are not cleaning our house. You don’t know how to clean.”

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