NFH 03 Checkmate (31 page)

“
Yeah, that’s why I’m
smiling,” she said, dryly, realizing that she was indeed smiling
and surprised that it was because of Connor. Not that she hadn’t
found herself smiling recently when she thought of him, but that
was for the sweet, funny Connor that she was starting to care too
much about. This was the first time that she’d ever been able to
think of the pain in the ass Connor who used to live to torment
her, and smile.

“
I know,” Jason said on a
drawn out sigh as he flopped over and curled up so that his head
was resting on her lap and he could curl back up into the fetal
position.

“
Are you going to tell me
what you ate?” she asked, settling back and resigning herself to
being Jason’s pillow.

“
Pumpkin pie,” Jason
grumbled on a groan as he curled up into himself.

“
For the last fucking time!”
Trevor snapped. “That was a fudge brownie, asshole.”

Rory couldn’t help but frown at that
announcement, because the big baby curled up on the couch was a
Bradford and if there was one thing a Bradford knew, it was food.
It didn’t matter what color you dyed it, if it was burnt, squished
or ten weeks past its expiration date and was growing a fuzzy blue,
white and green habitat, a Bradford would figure out what it was by
the first bite and by the second bite he would know if it would
make him sick. Not that they would stop eating it if they figured
out that it was going to make them sick, because they wouldn’t. A
true Bradford would take the risk.

“
It was orange, gooey and
smelled like pumpkin and nutmeg!” Jason snapped at Trevor before
turning a glare on her. “Would it kill you to rub my back? I’m
dying here!”

Knowing that he wouldn’t stop bitching until
she did it, she gave in. After about ten seconds, Jason decided to
get a little more comfortable and flopped over onto his stomach and
sprawled out on the couch. When she didn’t recommence with the back
rubbing fast enough he cleared his throat and just in case she
didn’t take the hint, the bastard reached down and pinched the back
of her calf.

“
Ow!” she yelped, but she
moved her ass and started rubbing his back, knowing that the big
jerk would only keep bugging the shit out of her until she gave in
and did what he wanted. “Demanding bastard,” she muttered as she
rubbed his back.

“
Nice to see that you’re
still a bully,” Jason grumbled, silently demanding that she rub
faster by wiggling until she got the damn hint.

“
How am I the bully? You
pinched me, you bastard!” she snapped at him, but wasn’t foolish
enough to stop rubbing.

“
Because you called me a
naughty, naughty name,” Jason said on a huff that was quickly
followed by a little sigh of pleasure as she rubbed between his
shoulders.

“
Called you a naughty name?”
she repeated in disbelief, foolishly pausing in her labor and
earning another pinch. “Ow! Stop doing that, asshole!”

“
Again with the name
calling,” Jason sighed.

“
She was always so mean to
us,” Trevor mused just as an odd crunching noise caught her
attention.

She moved her glare away from the large
bastard using her lap as a pillow to the large bastard sprawled out
in the chair across from her and snapped, “Oh my God! Stop eating
that!”

“
Your trail mix tastes
funny,” Trevor said with a cringe.

“
That wasn’t trail mix, you
bastard! That was potpourri!”

“
Well, that explains a lot,”
he said, giving her a sheepish smile as he returned the large
wooden bowl back to the side table. She didn’t need to look to know
that he’d already eaten half the bowl of potpourri. She didn’t even
bother asking him what the hell was wrong with him since she knew
the answer.

The man was a Bradford.

Enough said.

It was also the reminder that she needed to
find out why they were here and throw their asses out before she
got caught harboring Bradfords. She really needed to find out what
they did to get banned in the first place, but that was a problem
for another time. Right now she needed to deal with them, and
hopefully she could do that in less than twenty minutes so that she
could get a quick shower in and take care of Bunny before she met
Connor, and enjoyed her night of unlimited hot cocoa.

“
There’s that smile again,”
Trevor said, sounding amused.

“
Why are you here?” she
demanded, deciding to ignore the fact that she couldn’t help
smiling when she thought about Connor.

“
To help you, you ungrateful
bastard,” Jason grumbled, snuggling his head near her knees and she
was tempted, oh so tempted to shove him onto the floor and give him
that wedgie that he was practically begging for.

“
How exactly is having you
bitch and whine helping me?” she demanded, rubbing faster when she
felt his hand move near her calf.

“
I wouldn’t be bitching and
whining if that bastard’s Red Sox loving wife hadn’t tried to
poison me!” Jason bit out harshly and she knew without asking that
her cousin was more pissed off about the fact that Trevor’s wife,
Zoe, had a soft spot for all things Red Sox than the actual
poisoning.

She still cringed when she thought about
last Christmas’ family gathering. All she had to say was that Zoe
had guts showing up at a Bradford gathering with her twin baby boys
dressed in matching Red Sox jerseys. She could still remember the
stunned silence that took over the house when Zoe pulled the baby
blanket off the twin’s and revealed those damn jerseys that her
brothers, cousins and she may have accidentally smeared pudding,
chocolate and cold gravy on within minutes of the unveiling.

It hadn’t mattered that they’d
“accidentally” dropped the small jerseys in the fire place when
they offered to clean them, the damage had already been done. She’d
never seen Trevor look so angry before. Instead of yelling at Zoe
like she expected, he just became deathly silent and walked away
from Zoe. It was actually kind of frightening. For the rest of the
night he sat silently in the corner of the room, never taking his
glare away from his wife. It wasn’t until Zoe complimented Aunt
Janice on her table arrangement that he reacted. He was up and out
of his chair and across the room in seconds, shoving aside anyone
that was foolish enough to get in his way. Without a word, he
grabbed Zoe’s hand, yanked her out of the room and disappeared down
the hall. She’d like to say that she hadn’t heard her cousin having
sex and that those sounds didn’t still haunt her to this day, but
she couldn’t. The rest of the family found it amusing, but they
knew better than to say anything about it.

Everyone pretended that the incident never
happened, partly because they knew that Trevor would beat the hell
out of them if any of them gave his wife any shit, but mostly
because they were all deathly afraid of Zoe and her baked goods. So
far the small, plain woman, who made her laugh her ass off, had
managed to send a total of twenty-nine Bradfords to the emergency
room to have their stomachs pumped. Speaking of Bradfords and
emergency rooms…..

“
Should we bring him to the
emergency room?” she asked, throwing Jason a nervous look and
noting the slightly green color marring his normally healthy tanned
skin.

“
No, he’ll be fine. He only
took one bite of the brownie,” Trevor said, sounding unconcerned.
She opened her mouth to argue, but then with a sigh and a shrug she
reminded herself that Trevor would know the danger signs of eating
Zoe’s baked goods better than anyone.

“
Fine, then tell me how the
two of you breaking the ban is helping me out?”

“
Let us worry about the
ban,” Trevor said with a shrug as he reached for the bowl of
potpourri, but one look from her had him pulling his hand back and
shooting her a sheepish smile.

“
Are you going to tell me
why you’re here?” she asked, absently as she threw another glance
towards the clock. She might have to skip the shower and take one
later with Connor, she realized as she calculated the odds of
throwing her cousins out, feeding Bunny and at the very least
brushing her teeth before Connor showed up. She had to admit that
the odds weren’t very good.

“
We’re here to help you with
your project, Rory and we’re going to help you build your suites,”
Trevor announced, grabbing her attention in a big way.

“
What?” she asked, dumbly,
not sure that she heard him correctly.

“
He said that we came to
help you with your project. Now, move your ass and get back to
rubbing, woman!” Jason grumbled testily, wiggling around in an
attempt to get her to recommence with the rubbing, but she couldn’t
do anything more than sit there like an idiot as her mind quickly
wrapped around that announcement.

“
You’re here to help?” she
asked, making sure that she’d heard them correctly.

“
Yes,” Trevor said with a
nod and a shrug as if he hadn’t just solved most of her
problems.

Where her brothers were good, really good,
her cousins were the best. They were bigger, stronger and fast,
very fast. Having one Bradford working for her would be like having
five extra guys.

“
Some of the others will
come out when they can to help, but for now it’s us,” Trevor
explained

“
Oh my God,” she mumbled,
feeling her lips pull up into a huge smile. “Really? This is
great!”

“
If you want, we can go have
a look at this project right now,” Trevor offered with a
shrug.

“
That would be great!” she
said, shoving Jason off of her lap and ignoring his whimpers and
muttered, “Bastard” as she jumped to her feet and practically raced
to the door. She was halfway there when one thought had her
skidding to a stop.

Connor.

She didn’t want to break their plans, but
she had to if she wanted to get her cousins caught up on what was
going on. She could always sneak into his room later tonight, but
she already knew that she’d be tired to do that. It didn’t help
matters that she had to get up early in the morning. Skipping out
on their plans also meant losing a night in his arms and she really
wasn’t sure that she could do that.

“
Where are you going?”
Trevor asked as she abruptly turned and raced up the
stairs.

“
I’ll be back in ten
minutes!” she yelled, hoping to be back here in five before her
cousins did something to give themselves away and land her ass in
jail for the night.

Chapter 27

"Connor?"

Speak of the devil, he thought, grinning as
he rubbed his hand down his face, wiping water out of his eyes.
He’d just been thinking about her, but that wasn't really anything
new. Granted, his thoughts used to run along the lines of screwing
her over for his own entertainment or revenge, but now he found
himself just thinking about her smile, the way she pouted when he
stole the last slice of pizza, and the way that she felt in his
arms first thing in the morning.

Fucking amazing

"How much longer are you going to be?" Rory
asked, sounding impatient and arousing his curiosity.

"I'm done," he said, stepping beneath the
water and quickly rinsing off the body wash that coated his body
before he shut the water off, ripped back the curtain and nearly
tripped as he stepped out of the shower and his eyes landed on
Rory.

"I need you," she said, giving her bare ass
a little wiggle as she looked over her shoulder at him. Blindly, he
reached out and slapped a hand against the shower wall. It was
either that or take the chance of his legs giving out on him as a
surge of lust tore through him, leaving him panting and struggling
with the need to step up behind her and take her, hard.

The image of Rory bent over his bathroom
counter and offering herself up to him was permanently etched into
his brain, but it was her little declaration that had him panting
and so damn turned on that he actually feared that his balls would
explode. The fact that Rory wanted him so badly that she couldn't
wait until the end of the night to have him had him struggling with
his sanity. That she was as desperate for him as he was for her
gave him hope and had him dropping his hand away from the wall and
taking a step towards her.

"Couldn't it wait until tonight?" he asked,
absently reaching down and running his hand over his painfully
erect shaft as he reached out and palmed one of her perfect cheeks
and gave it a light squeeze that had them both licking their
lips.

"No," she admitted on a needy moan,
surprising him and ramping up his hunger for her.

Never in a million years would he have ever
imagined that Rory would be so damn open and honest about how much
she wanted him. As he dropped to his knees and kissed one beautiful
smooth cheek, he realized that Rory was all his. He didn't need
this bullshit deal to keep her in his arms, not if she was this
desperate to have him. She obviously wanted-

"Hurry, Connor," Rory demanded with a little
wiggle of her ass that had him grinning like a fool as he pressed a
kiss to the other cheek.

"What's the rush, baby?" he asked, loving
how desperate she was for him.

"Does it really matter?" she demanded with a
groan, shaking her ass enticingly once again to get his attention
right back where it should be.

Did it really matter? he wondered as he
tilted his head just enough so that he could lean forward and press
a kiss against the small, moist, pouty lips that her position
revealed to him. He tried to force himself to be content with that
and give her what she obviously craved, a hard, fast fuck when she
let out a throaty moan that had his cock jerking and his mouth
watering for a real taste.