Page 48 of Harmless Secrets

Sean studied her. “I like it.”

“My life is now complete that I got your approval,” she said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her tone.

Sean smiled.

“And is there a reason you seem to need to keep your hands on her waist?”

She finally looked at Devon and frowned at him. She opened her mouth, but Sean just chuckled. “No worries, Stryker.”

“I didn’t know you’d moved back here. I heard you were working privately.”

“Now that you two have had time to catch up, I assume I’m here for a reason.”

She turned and realized Conner Dillon was there. “Sorry. It’s so nice to meet you, Mr. Dillon.”

“Please call me Conner, and the honor is all mine.”

“Yeah, Conner here has a security crush on you,” Sean said, slinging one arm over her shoulder.

“What?”

“Your designs. His heart went all aflutter over them.”

“Oh, well, most of that my father taught me.”

Conner didn’t exactly smile, but she had the impression that he was amused. “What I want to know is just how they found you in Seattle and broke through all those wonderful designs to keep you safe?”

“I would like to know that, but I had been there over two years. Maybe I stayed too long.”

He shook his head. “Is there anything you changed in the last few weeks, something that would draw attention to you?”

“No. Same routine, nothing different except…”

She trailed off and glanced at Devon.

His face looked like it was made of stone, then his jaw flexed. He was grinding his teeth. “Me. I’m the only factor that changed in your life in the last few weeks. Shit, I probably led them right to you.”

Fourteen

As they gathered around the table, Devon fumed silently, but not only because that big, stupid spy wouldn’t take his fucking hands off Ali. Most of it was directed at himself. He couldn’t believe he was acting like such an ass about this. Kaheaku was an old friend of her family. What’s more, he’d come to help. And now, dammit, he still wanted to beat the living shit out of Kaheaku. Instead of doing that, he concentrated on what was happening around the table.

Even dressed in a pair of shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, Conner still looked like an FBI agent. Short cropped hair, the perfect posture, not to mention the lean hungry gaze, made him appear to still be working for the FBI. He pulled out his computer and started to discuss what little he’d been able to find out.

“I don’t have your computer skills, but I pulled in Maura to work on it.”

There was something in his voice that Devon picked up on. “Pulled her in?”

Conner’s lips twitched. “Well, she pointed out that she’s smarter than I am. Several times in fact.”

Ali chuckled. “I think that’s why Maura and I get along so well.”

“You’re both smarter than Conner?” Kaheaku said.

Ali shook her head. “No, we don’t give a bloody damn about men’s egos.”

“Anyway,” Conner said, “I can’t seem to find any connection between you and Walter Hughes. I went through everything you gave me, and Maura played outside the lines. Nothing. There is nothing that either of you worked on, officially.”

“But I do know that my father was looking for him.” She looked at Kaheaku. “You know how he would get.”