NFH 03 Checkmate (19 page)

"How many?" Amber asked, shooting a nervous
look over to Phil, the manager, who was acting as the backup
bartender for the night.

Rory nearly sighed with relief. Phil ran a
tight ship and had several strict rules when it came to them and
thankfully this was one of the fifty-seven establishments that
didn't allow them in at the same time. He was going to throw her
out on her ass and she couldn't wait. So when Phil only shrugged a
moment later she nearly stomped her foot in frustration. What the
hell kind of manager was he that he couldn't even follow his own
rules? Rules were made for a reason!

"Two," Connor said as he released her hand
and before she could sigh with relief or make a run for it, he had
his arm around her shoulders and was pulling her closer.

She felt her cheeks burn as every eye in the
restaurant watched that move. Oh, she was never going to live this
down. This moment of stupidity was never going to be forgotten.
Years from now people were still going to talk about this. She
couldn't do this. She couldn't go through with this farce. She
couldn't-

A collective gasp sounded throughout the
restaurant, but she couldn't really care about that, not with
Connor kissing her. One thing she could say about the life ruining
bastard, he sure knew how to kiss, and well, very well, she thought
as he moved his lips against hers one more time before pulling
away. He didn't go far before he leaned back in and pressed one
last rather sweet kiss against her lips and then one to her cheek
before he whispered in her ear, "Relax, Rory."

"This is so going on my Facebook page,"
someone said, drawing her attention away from Connor and his
surprisingly soft lips. She looked past the shocked hostess in time
to see several people put away their phones.

Great, her humiliation was about to go
viral, she thought with a little whimper that had Connor chuckling
as he once again took her hand in his and pressed a rather sweet
kiss to the back of it. Damn, the man was good, she thought as she
allowed him to lead her through the crowded restaurant towards a
back booth where the waitress waited, looking a little more relaxed
as she ran an appreciative eye over Connor.

Not that Rory could really blame the woman.
The man did look especially yummy tonight, she decided as she was
forced to walk behind him so that they could squeeze past a couple
of tables full of gawkers. She used the opportunity to run an
appreciative eye over the man.

She'd seen a lot of good looking men in her
life, but none were as hot as Connor. Of course, her brothers and
cousins would argue that since they were all arrogant bastards,
especially her cousins, she thought with a fond smile, but she
didn't care. Connor O'Neil was the first boy she'd noticed and he'd
only gotten better with age, she decided as she ran her eyes up his
long legs, over his firm behind perfectly encased in light brown
pants, and up his well defined back, wide shoulders and perfectly
combed honey blonde hair.

After she was done with her perusal, her
eyes dropped back down to his backside while she fought back a
groan of embarrassment. He was dressed up while she was wearing a
tee shirt and jeans and for the first time in her life she wished
she'd taken the time to find a pretty dress, shoes and done her
makeup instead of just taking a shower, blow drying her hair and
throwing on the first thing she found when she opened her bureau.
She knew that she was beautiful and normally she didn't really
care, but tonight she kind of wished that she'd played it up a
bit.

Not that this was a real
date. It wasn't, but that didn't mean that she wanted this to look
like he was going out with her out of pity. If anything, people
should be wondering why
she
was out with
him
, not the other way
around.

"You look beautiful tonight," Connor said
with a secret little smile as if he could read her mind and he
probably could by this point, she thought as he pressed a kiss to
her forehead before gesturing for her to slide into the small cozy
booth.

She fought the battle to look over her
shoulder and lost several times. Sure enough, everyone in the bar
was now watching them with rapt attention. Several people were
actually leaning forward, resting their chins on their fists as
they watched her and Connor like they were the best thing on
television. She was used to people watching them as they waited to
see if they were going to kill each other, but this was
ridiculous.

"Your waitress is, Susan," Amber said
distractedly as she threw Connor a wistful look.

Well, that was kind of insulting. As far as
everyone here knew they were on a date. Granted, it wasn't a real
date, but they didn't know that. She'd bet a huge cup of cocoa that
Amber was going to find a way to slip her number into Connor's hand
before the night was over.

"I'm not interested," Connor said, dragging
her attention back to him.

He leaned back in the bench across from her
and nodded towards Amber's retreating back as if she'd asked or
cared. She really didn't. He could kiss every woman in town and she
wouldn't bat an eye. Nope, it wouldn't bother her at all, she
thought absently as she considered kicking Connor beneath the table
and wiping that knowing look off his face.

"So, you want to tell me why you're really
doing this?" she asked, deciding that she'd had enough of his games
over the past week. She knew that he really wasn't worried about
how they were treated enough to force her to go through with this
farce. She believed that it probably aggravated him as much as it
did her and he'd probably be happy if it stopped, but she knew him
well enough to know that wasn't his real intention. So, the
question remained, what exactly was he up to?

"I told you why," he said, reaching out and
taking her good hand into both of his and for the moment she
allowed it.

For whatever reason, it was important to him
that people believed that they were together and she really had no
choice but to go along with it. Maybe if she figured out what he
wanted, she could turn the tables on him and get her project free
and clear.

"Fine. Don't tell me the real reason," she
said with a bit more attitude than she'd meant to, but she couldn't
help it. She was tired, her ribs and arm were still a little sore.
She’d missed her nightly hot chocolate fix when she got home, and
to make matters worse, the way Connor was looking at her, kissing
her and couldn't seem to stop touching her was seriously screwing
with her head.

Connor laced their fingers together as he
gestured for Susan, a pleasant woman in her late forties, who used
to teach the fourth grade until an unfortunate incident involving
the two of them and a fire hose during a school assembly years ago
ended her career. Rory had to admit that it was nice to see the
woman smile again and the limp was barely noticeable these days.
Not that she took the blame for the woman's injury. She didn't. To
this day she still didn't know why the woman took off screaming
when she spotted them.

At least the woman was able to put her past
behind her and move on, Rory thought seconds before Susan noticed
Connor gesturing her over. Her smile quickly disappeared as an
expression of pure terror took its place. She shook her head in
disbelief as she stumbled back, mumbling to herself before she
blindly reached out for Amber as the other woman moved to walk past
her. Rory watched as Susan whispered something to Amber as she
gestured wildly in their direction. When Amber nodded, Susan tore
off her apron and took off running through the crowded
restaurant.

Rory really hated when that happened.

"Do you want to dance?" Connor asked,
drawing her attention as she watched Susan shove a couple out of
her way in her desperate attempt to get away from them.

"Dance?" she asked, shifting her eyes to the
right to find everyone still watching them, but at least now they
were trying to pretend that they weren't.

It really shouldn't bother her, but it did.
She didn't like being on display and although she would have
normally jumped at the chance to dance since she didn't get to do
it often, probably because no one ever asked her, she didn't want
to tonight. She wasn't a very good dancer, probably from lack of
practice and she really didn't feel like giving half the town
something else to talk about.

She was just about to tell him no when Phil
walked up to their table and sighed heavily with obvious annoyance.
"You have to leave."

"And why's that?" Connor asked casually as
he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Two of my waitresses just quit and the
other six are refusing to come out of the kitchen until I swear on
my balls that I won't make them serve you," he said with a
shrug.

"See what I'm talking about?" Connor asked
as he nodded and moved to stand, never releasing her hand as he
did. It didn't surprise her that he didn't argue with Phil since it
was pointless. They were being kicked out and nothing they said or
did would change that.

"It's only because we're in here together.
If I had come alone, I would already be on my second cup of cocoa
and making fun of you with the waitresses," Rory felt obligated to
point out.

Instead of glaring at her or getting pissed
like he normally would have, Connor simply shot her a grin and a
wink as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. They followed
after Phil, who was making damn sure that they left. He seemed
relaxed and carefree and heaven help her, but she actually liked
him this way, which of course only made her want to kick his ass
even more.

He was up to something, something big and
she wished he would just get it over with and stop screwing with
her head. She didn't want to like him and with every touch and
smile he was making that impossible to resist.

* * * *

"Please tell me that you're not actually
following me," Rory said, abruptly stopping and almost causing him
to crash into her since his eyes had been locked on her ass and not
on the stone walkway.

He caught himself just in time and even
managed to look up before Rory had the chance to turn around and
catch him staring at her ass, again. It didn't help that the effort
caused his eyes to roam over her chest and since they were there,
they may have taken a moment to appreciate what Rory had to offer.
What he wouldn't give to see Rory naked and have five minutes just
to appreciate the woman. She was so beautiful and he had absolutely
no doubts that her body was just as perfect. As his mind registered
Rory cupping his face, he couldn't help but wonder if his fantasies
over the years came close to the real thing.

"Care to explain why you're following me?"
Rory asked once his eyes moved the rest of the way up her body and
met her gorgeous eyes.

"To say goodnight," he said, frowning and
wondering why she even had to ask.

"Uh huh," she said, returning his frown.
"Didn't we say goodnight in the truck?"

"You mean when you climbed out of the truck,
slammed the door shut, and walked off without a word?"

"Yes," she said, nodding.

"How exactly is that a proper goodbye for a
date?" he had to ask.

"Because this isn't a real date," she said
in an exasperated tone that he simply chose to ignore since he was
too busy trying to hold back an annoyed sigh.

Why did she have to be so difficult?

"Of course it is," he said, taking her good
hand into his and gave it a gentle tug as he headed for her front
door where he planned on giving her a proper goodbye, for
appearance sake of course. He was not looking forward to taking her
into his arms.

Not at all.

He was only doing this for the neighbors
hiding behind their curtains and blinds as they spied on the two of
them and for the neighbors standing in their driveways and on the
sidewalks, holding flashlights as they openly watched the two of
them. Since they had to appear to be a couple in love, then he
really had no choice in the matter, he thought with a smile. He had
to kiss Rory James.

Poor him.

"No, it's not," Rory said, stepping up
beside him in front of her door as she shot a nervous look towards
their neighbors.

"Of course this is a date, Rory," he said,
drawing her attention back to him where it should be.

This was his time with her and he'd be
damned if he shared it with anyone else. He might need their
neighbors and the rest of the people in town to spread word to her
brothers that they were dating, but that didn't mean that he'd
allow them to fuck up their time together. Rory James was his for
five months and he fully planned on enjoying his time with her,
especially since she'd probably never talk to him again after he
stole her brothers from her and ran her out of business.

"How exactly was this a date, Connor?" she
asked, shooting another glance towards their nosy neighbors, who
were really starting to aggravate the hell out of him.

"I picked you up, took you out to
dinner-"

"We didn't actually eat," she mumbled
distractedly as she frowned at something behind him.

He looked over his shoulder and nearly
groaned when he saw several of their neighbors and some people that
didn't even live in their neighborhood, gathering in front of her
house and holding cameras trained on the two of them. With a sigh,
he shifted in front of her, giving them his back and effectively
blocking their view and bringing Rory's attention right back to
him.

"That's not my fault that I didn't get to
take you out to dinner, Rory," he felt obligated to point out. He'd
taken her to a restaurant, hadn't he? It wasn't his fault that they
were asked to leave because of some bullshit rule that better get
lifted and soon.