NFH 03 Checkmate (21 page)

By the time the fire inspector showed up and
cleared them to continue to work, it was already late and their men
were exhausted. She wasn't happy about the lost time, but there
wasn't anything that she could do about it now. She just wished
that someone had told her. Starting off a project of this size and
two days behind this early in the game was not a good sign. As she
looked down at the paperwork authorizing overtime, she was tempted
to authorize work on Sunday, something she'd never done before.

Sunday was supposed to be a day for rest.
That was one of many rules that her father shoved down their
throats over the years and one that she'd never been able to
ignore. Her men worked hard, sometimes too hard. Working seven days
a week would not only kill her budget, but it would also exhaust
her men, make their work sloppy and increase the chance of
accidents. So as much as she would love to make up for those two
lost days immediately, she couldn't.

"Anything else?" she asked, handing the
clipboard back over to her brother and pulled on the sling that her
doctor demanded that she wear when she worked so that she wouldn't
do anything stupid like trying to use her arm.

"No, that's it," Bryce said with a careless
shrug, immediately drawing her attention and making her
nervous.

As far as her brothers knew, she was dating
Connor, a man she'd despised since she was a child. Sure, he idly
threatened to have her committed, but he'd sounded more amused than
anything. Besides, if they were really going to have her committed
he wouldn't have said anything. They would have just tied her up
and dropped her ass off on the front lawn of a mental hospital with
a few grunted "good lucks."

Since they hadn't said anything or even
threatened to beat the shit out of Connor as a standard warning,
she was understandably concerned. They always threatened the guys
she dated, even if they liked the guy he was well warned, but as
far as she knew they hadn't done that to Connor. The fact that she
was supposedly dating Connor really should have elicited some kind
of rage fueled response, but so far nothing had happened.

Her eyes narrowed on her brother. "You're up
to something."

"Damn straight," Bryce said with a shit
eating grin.

"Are you going to give me a warning?"

"The only thing that you need to know is
that we have your back and we figured out a way to make up for the
time we lost," he said dismissively as he headed for the coffee
truck, leaving her with no choice but to follow after him.

"How?" she asked a minute later when she
managed to catch up to him.

"Don't worry your pretty little head, Rory.
We took care of everything," Bryce said with a smug little smile
that did not bode well for her or the project.

It was bad enough that she'd made a deal
with the devil and was apparently addicted to his kisses, but now
she had her brothers going behind her back and orchestrating
something that couldn't possibly end well for her. When did her
life start spiraling out of control? she wondered as she turned
around and headed for her trailer and a much needed hot
chocolate.

Chapter 18

"What's going on with you and Rory?" Andrew
asked as soon as they were out of listening distance of the rest of
the men.

"We're dating," Connor said with a shrug as
he dragged the large barrel the rest of the way to the shoot they
had installed after they had the window torn out.

"Since when?" Andrew asked, moving to grab
the bottom of the barrel and help him dump the barrel full of
plaster and old horse hair insulation down the long shoot, but a
warning glare from Connor had his friend sighing with aggravation
and backing away. The man knew better and if Connor caught him
pulling that bullshit again he would kick his ass.

"Why does it matter?"

"I'd like to know when you became suicidal,
that's all," Andrew said as he grabbed the empty barrel and pushed
it to the side.

"What are you talking about?" Connor asked
as he walked over to the large blue cooler that he had filled with
ice and bottles of water since the last thing they needed was for
someone to pass out from this heat or get sick from breathing in
all the dust.

"Her brothers are going to kill you," Andrew
explained, shaking his head in disbelief.

He simply shrugged as he drank his water.
Since they hadn't tried to kill him when they caught him kissing
Rory behind the coffee truck a few hours ago he doubted that they
were going to kill him. Kick his ass? Absolutely, and they probably
planned on doing it tomorrow when he joined their old man for
fishing and Rory wasn't around to get in the way.

That was more than fine with him. He'd take
a few hits if it meant that he could prove that he was serious
about Rory, which he wasn't. It was all part of his plan and so far
his plans were moving along rather nicely. He'd use her and
then-

"Honestly, I never thought Rory was that
desperate," Andrew said, grabbing his attention.

"What the hell are you talking about?"
Connor asked, tossing the empty water bottle in the barrel as he
glared at one of his oldest friends.

"Well," Andrew mused as he crossed his arms
over his chest, "she hates you, she's hot, and did I mention that
she hates you?"

"She doesn't hate me," Connor said with a
snort.

"Then what do you call it?" Andrew asked,
grabbing a bottle of water for himself.

"Severely disliking me to the point that
she's actually considered doing me bodily harm?" he suggested,
chuckling when his friend flipped him off.

"It makes me wonder why she'd agree to go
out with you," Andrew mused as he lightly tossed the bottle of
water and caught it.

Connor had to snort at that as he reached
out and caught the bottle of water. He opened it as he explained,
"Because she's desperately in love with me."

Andrew simply shook his head as he said,
"No, that's why you're with her."

Connor couldn't help but laugh at that
little announcement. "Yeah, okay, buddy," he said, taking a
sip.

"Wow, did you actually think that I was
going to forget about that faithful little trip of yours to Canada
all those years ago?" Andrew asked, cocking a brow in question as
Connor choked on his water.

Yeah, he actually had.

"A good friend would forget moments of pure
stupidity and never bring them up again," he pointed out with a
scowl as he tossed the half-empty bottle of water in the barrel. He
was heading back towards the rooms on the far side of the mansion
where his men were working when Andrew's next words stopped
him.

"She doesn't remember, does she?"

"There's nothing to remember," he said,
forcing his mind away from one of the most painful and dumbest
moments of his life.

"You never did tell me what happened. Did
you end up telling Rory?"

Yes, he had.

It was one of the most frightening moments
of his life, but he'd managed to get the words out of his mouth
without making a complete ass out of himself. When the words were
finally out, Rory gave him the sweetest smile seconds before all
the alcohol she'd consumed during the night made a second
appearance. After that rather momentous occasion he spent the rest
of the night helping her to the jail cell's toilet, helped her
drink water and waited for the moment the effects of the alcohol
wore off. When that moment came, the look on Rory's face said it
all. She didn't feel the same way and probably wouldn't appreciate
hearing that he was in love with her, so he kept his mouth
shut.

"It was just a childhood crush," Connor said
with a shrug.

It was a painful and gut wrenching
experience, but one he outgrew with time. He learned to appreciate
their little antics, kept an eye out for her, but the palm sweating
reaction he used to get just from thinking about her was long gone.
It probably also didn't hurt that he'd inadvertently ruined her
life that night.

There were a lot of things that he wished he
could change about that night, but following her out of that bar
was not one of them. If her brothers had been keeping a better eye
on her, they would have seen that asshole leading Rory, who could
barely stand at the time, out the back door. The only thing that he
regretted was not getting Rory out of there before the bastard
managed to pull a knife on him. If he had........

Rory's life would be a lot different than it
was now. He knew that much at least. He couldn't go back and change
things, but he could at least help make her life easier by keeping
her safe. He still planned on enjoying himself while he did it and
holy hell was he enjoying himself. There really were no words to
describe what it felt like to kiss and hold Rory.

He couldn't get enough of her. He must have
kissed her half the night last night and he'd been surprised to
discover that he didn't want to stop. He'd still love to get her in
his bed, but that wasn't going to happen and he had no plans on
trying either. This was more than enough for him. He'd enjoy
kissing and holding her until the project was done and then it
would be time to move on, for both of them.

"You don't really believe that, do you?"
Andrew asked, grabbing another bottle of water.

"It's the truth," Connor bit out.

"Then why did you buy the house next to
hers?" Andrew asked with a knowing smile.

"Because it was within my price range and it
was the only house on the market at the time that wasn't built in
the twentieth century," he explained, again. The fact that Rory
owned the house next door was only a bonus. He loved his house
almost as much as he loved giving Rory hell.

"Okay," Andrew said slowly. "Then why are
you dating her if you're not in love with her?"

"The last time I checked,
you didn't have to be in love with a woman to date her. Just want
her," he said, not bothering to point out that he
really
wanted Rory since
his friend probably already knew that.

"True," Andrew said, thoughtfully. "But that
doesn't explain why she's dating you."

"Is it so hard for you to believe that she
desperately wants me?" he demanded, offended that the man thought
so little of him. He was a great catch and the man damn well knew
that.

Andrew pursed his lips up in thought as he
asked, "Do you want an honest answer?"

"Yes!"

"Then yes, yes it is," Andrew said with a
shrug.

"I hate you," Connor snapped as he turned to
leave, but of course the man wasn't done yet.

"What did you do, Connor?" Andrew asked,
stopping him in his tracks.

* * * *

"She's going to kill you," Andrew said
hollowly twenty minutes later when Connor finished sharing his
brilliant plan with him.

"Probably," Connor easily agreed with a
chuckle as he grabbed another bottle of water.

"Normally, I stay out of the weird shit the
two you have pulled on each other over the years, mostly because it
entertains me, but I have to tell you that I think this plan is
going to come back and bite you in the ass," Andrew said, sounding
completely serious.

"It's just part of the game we play," Connor
said with a shrug. "She'll understand it." She'd be pissed at
first, but eventually she'd realize that he'd simply played the
game better than she did.

"Connor,-"

"It's fine, Andrew. Just let it go," Connor
said, feeling his patience begin to fray. The last thing he needed
was his friend getting on his ass about a plan that he knew was
going to work.

Andrew put his hands up in surrender. "Fine.
It's your life, but just keep that in mind when you fuck this
up."

"This is a done deal," he replied, heading
for the door and knowing that there was absolutely no chance of him
fucking this up.

* * * *

"You're still not talking to me?" Rory
asked, biting back a sigh when Jacob continued to ignore her.

"You're going to have to talk to me at some
point," she felt obligated to point out as she sorted through the
large stack of mail that he'd gone to town to pick up even as she
noted that Jacob hadn't picked up her customary extra large hot
chocolate and vanilla cream donuts that he normally picked up for
her every Saturday when he did the mail run.

Apparently he was still in a mood, she
thought with a little head shake as she tossed the bills and junk
mail on his desk. She really wasn't sure why he was mad at her. She
wasn't even the one that duct taped him to the chair. If he should
be mad at anyone it was Connor, she thought, ignoring the delicious
little shiver that raced through her body at the mere thought of
the man.

Granted, she could have untied him and she'd
planned on doing that after she made him sweat it out for an hour
or two yesterday. But, was it really her fault that she'd forgotten
all about him when she was busy trying to figure out how to get out
of the deal she made with Connor? She eventually remembered that
she'd left him taped to the chair and sent Bryce a text message to
release him. Jacob was probably still upset about the dress and
makeup her brothers threw on him. maybe it was the photos, she
mused with an inward shrug as she dropped the rest of the mail on
his desk.

"Did the supplies I ordered from Henderson's
come in yet?” she asked, wondering just how long the big baby
planned on giving her the silent treatment.

He shook his head.

"Uh huh," she said, sighing heavily as she
reached out and toyed with the pencils in his old Dunkin Donuts
coffee cup as she shot him a hopeful look, but the stubborn man
simply continued to type as he ignored her.

"Would you forgive me if I offered you a
raise?" she asked, wondering if groveling was going to be necessary
to get him to stop pouting.