Prelude to a Fantasy: Prequel to Harmless Book 8 by Melissa Schroeder

 
     
    Prelude to a
Fantasy
    A prequel to A Little Harmless Fantasy
     
    Zeke breathed in the warm Hawaiian night air
as he pulled Maura out of Rough ‘n Ready trying to cool his
irritation. Anger boiled in his gut and his hands itch to hit
something. Zeke couldn’t remember the last time he lost his temper,
but he was dangerously close tonight. Conner wouldn’t have been
happy if he had to bail Zeke out of jail because he beat the shit
out of some Dom with an Aussie accent.
    Zeke was known for his cool head, but Maura
knew just what fucking buttons to push. Hell, it was like she sewed
them.
    “Zeke, wait,” she said struggling against
his hold.
    He ignored her plea. The best thing he could
do was get as far as he could away from the BDSM club. The moment
she had walked out into the common area of their shared suite, he
had been ready to kill. Damn her for wearing a dress that clung to
every small curve of her body and damn him for spending the last
three hours looking at those long legs. He had studied her so
closely he was pretty damned sure she wasn’t wearing panties.
    His cock twitched. Shit. He was lucky to
have any kind of ability to walk a straight line at the moment. He
had spent the night trying to fight every hormone in his
body—especially the ones that were telling him to get a cab and
make love to her in the backseat.
    What the bloody hell was the woman doing to
him?
    “Your brother sent you here to check out the
woman, not be checked out.”
    It wasn’t easy dealing with his feelings
toward Maura. He had been protective of her from the moment he met
her several years earlier. She was Conner’s sister and that made
her part of his family in a way. They had been working closely the
last few months and now…he couldn’t get her out of his mind. Each
date she talked about had him ready to go mental on men he had
never met. Tonight, he’d been damned close to beating the living
shit out of a guy just because he’d tried to pick her up. It was
bad enough she apparently thought she was into BDSM, but now she
thought she could play.
    Not while he was within grabbing
distance.
    She huffed pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Well, I’m pretty sure he didn't want us to leave before we have
the information."
    A growl threatened to explode. The woman
just would not let it go. "We found the girl. All we have to do is
call Conner. He'll come over, we'll go back to Miami."
    And I can find someone to clear you out
of my system .
    He had to or he would go insane. From the
moment they landed in Hawaii his body had been humming. He wanted
to touch her, taste her; he wanted to fuck her until she couldn't
walk.
    And that was not something a guy did
to his best friend's sister.
    Right?
    Right.
    "Really, I just wanted to look around. I
thought it might be interesting to talk to one of the owners."
    He stopped abruptly and she stumbled into
him. His body reacted immediately. Hell, he was already half
aroused, and now that she had her entire body against his, he
barely had enough blood in his brain to function.
    Zeke turned and crowded her up against the
wall.
    "And just what the hell do you mean by that?
What are you looking for woman?"
    She settled her hands on her hips and raised
her chin slightly. Oh, fuck. It was hard enough to resist the woman
but when she got argumentative, it made him want to kiss her. "I
just wanted to talk to him. I've been thinking about exploring my
needs."
    The thought of her walking up to a Dom who
was bold enough to own a BDSM club and asking him to help her with
her needs had Zeke ready to scream.
    Zeke didn’t play, never got into it. Not for
himself. He didn’t actually play. He had another kind of need in
the bedroom, but, well, Rory was off somewhere on assignment.
Besides, Zeke wasn’t sure he wanted share her with his lover. Rory
wasn’t the settling down type, no matter how much Zeke wanted him
to. Not to mention, Conner wouldn’t be happy if Zeke slept with
her. If he shared her