NFH 03 Checkmate (6 page)

He thought of all the different ways to rub
it in her face as he drove his truck over the rough broken road.
The half mile road and parking lot would have to be replaced soon
so they could get equipment and materials up here safely. The thick
brush that hugged the private road would also have to be pruned
back, but not too much. His client wanted to keep the little trip
from the road to the hotel, beautiful. It wouldn't be too hard, he
thought as he took the last curve on the private road. They could
cut back the trees and shrub ten feet on each side to widen the
private road. Then they could-

"
Son of a bitch
!" he practically
shouted as the hotel and grounds came into view.

This was not happening! This was not fucking
happening!

A horn honking behind him made him realize
that he'd come to a sudden stop. Cursing Rory James to hell, he
pulled off to the side where an impromptu parking lot had been
created and parked between two pickup trucks. He jumped out of his
truck and looked around in disbelief as his crew found spots and
parked.

Not only had she managed to beat him here
this morning, but she had the entire construction site set up.
Where he'd planned to place his office trailer tomorrow, she had
one with tan vinyl siding that looked newer and larger than his.
Thanks to the overgrown vegetation and uneven terrain and large
equipment there was nowhere for him to place his trailer.

His eyes quickly ran over the rest of the
property. Her large trucks and equipment were lined up along the
west side of the property. There were four large dumpsters placed
close to each end of the mansion with a makeshift dirt road leading
to the cracked parking lot. Hell, she already had several equipment
sheds placed as well as latrines.

Was that a lunch truck?

"How the hell did she do all this?" he
mumbled to himself as he grabbed his hard hat, briefcase, and tool
belt before slamming his truck door shut and stormed off towards
the trailer.

When he wasn't even ten feet away, the door
to the trailer opened and Rory James stepped out looking innocent
as she sipped what had to be a cup of cocoa.

"Good afternoon, Connor," she said brightly
when her eyes landed on him.

"It's morning," he bit out as he stormed
past her and into the rather comfortable looking trailer.

"Oh, is it? It feels like afternoon, but
that probably has something to do with the fact that we've been
here for hours," she mused.

"I can see that," he said,
shooting her secretary, her
male
secretary he might add, a glare as he walked
through what appeared to be the waiting room and into the back room
that he figured would probably be the office and he was
right.

The office was large, but not large enough.
There was hardly enough room as it was for the large desk, drafting
table, chairs and filing cabinets that took up the majority of the
room. This wouldn't do.

Not at all.

He turned around, not at all surprised to
find the little cocoa addict leaning against the doorframe, sipping
the cocoa that he was tempted to snatch away from her.

"You need to have the trailer towed out of
here," he explained in what he thought was a reasonable tone.

"No," she simply said with a shrug.

"Move it or I'll tow it myself," he
snapped.

"Not going to happen," she said, taking a
slow sip of her cocoa.

"Yes, you will," he said, getting into her
face.

"It's so sad that you think that you can
push me around," she said, patting his cheek condescendingly before
she stepped past him.

"You're going to have to move your trailer,
Rory. I need my office," he bit out through clenched teeth.

"So do I," she said.

"What for?" he demanded, tossing his shit on
the small loveseat by the door.

"To work, what else?" she asked, throwing
him a frown.

"To fetch my drinks and be at my beck and
call?" he asked, shaking his head. "Nope, you don't need an office
for that. All you need is a little chair in the corner and I think
we can manage that."

"Be at your beck and call?" she asked,
sounding amused and pissing him off.

Why in the hell would she think he was
joking about something like that?

"Yup, and if you do a good job I might just
let you wash my truck," he said, feeling generous.

"How long exactly have you been delusional?"
she asked as she leaned over to grab something from one of her desk
drawers.

"About a month, give or take a few weeks,"
he mumbled distractedly as he watched one of the first fantasies
he'd ever had come to life.

Was he dead? he wondered, but decided he
really didn't care as Rory pulled off her black tee shirt and
tossed it aside like it was nothing, revealing a flat, lightly
tanned stomach that he'd love to lick, kiss and caress. He
swallowed hard as he took in the tight fitting black sports bra
with the large breasts that threatened to pop out.

He should probably care or at least wonder
why she was stripping in front of him, but he didn't. The only
thing that mattered was that she was in fact stripping in front of
him and none of the fantasies he'd had over the years about her
body were even close to the real thing.

"Rory, I-" her secretary started to say as
he walked into the office.

With a muttered curse for interrupting his
fantasy come to life, Connor shoved the man out of the room and
slammed the door shut on his very surprised face before turning a
glare on Rory.

She frowned at him while she pulled on a
grey Shadow Construction tank top. "What was that about?"

"What the hell is wrong with you stripping
in front of your employees like that?" he demanded, barely
resisting the urge to yell at the woman.

Rory rolled her eyes as she fixed her
ponytail. "It's just a sports bra, Connor. Nothing to get excited
about," she said and he just barely stopped himself from correcting
her.

"You shouldn't be stripping in front of your
employees. What if he sues?" he demanded, barely reigning in his
temper when all he wanted to do was throttle the woman for covering
up.

"I would never sue!" her secretary yelled
from behind the door. "I'm willing to sign a waiver!"

"Go away!" Connor snapped in no mood for
this bullshit. They had work to do and if Rory decided that she'd
be more comfortable wearing something else then he would just have
to suck it up and be a gentleman while she changed her shirt
again.

"I need to get to work," Rory said, stepping
around the desk and walked towards him, "so unless you can walk and
bitch at the same time, I'd say this conversation is over."

He leaned back against the door, blocking
her only exit. "You're not leaving until we get a few things
settled." He crossed his arms over his chest as he glared down at
her, hoping that for once she'd act like a damn woman and be
intimidated enough to do as he asked, but of course he was an idiot
for thinking that. With a small sigh, she reached up and latched
onto both of his flat nipples and twisted.

Shit!

That was definitely one trick he hadn't
showed her. No doubt she'd learned that from watching her brothers
beat the shit out of each other. Biting back a pained groan, he
quickly moved to the side, deciding that he'd let her have this
round. When he was well out of the way of the door, she gave him a
smug little smile and another twist that threatened to drop him to
his knees before releasing him.

With a contented little sigh, Rory grabbed a
tool belt off the small couch and put it on as she sauntered out of
the room. When the pain in his nipples subsided he went after her.
He caught up with her at the coffee truck.

"That was a violation of the code, woman,"
he bit out, barely resisting the urge to grab a handful of ice and
press it against his poor abused nipples. The woman fought dirty
and he'd been a fool to forget that.

A little smile tugged at her lips at the
reminder of the “Code.” Neither one of them had been happy to call
a temporary truce to their little war, but they'd had no choice
after the eighth grade dinner dance when things may have gone a
little too far.

No matter what the cops said, he really
didn't think it warranted the two of them being placed in adjoining
cells all night. Yeah, had everyone left the gymnasium screaming,
there were one or two dozen minor injuries, but he really didn't
think what they did justified being charged with inciting a riot.
It had all been a simple misunderstanding that went horribly
wrong.

So while they waited in their cells for
their parents to kill them, well her father to kill her and his
mother to bail him out, they'd come up with a few rules to help
avoid a repeat of that night. They’d made up the “Code.” When they
were done they decided to add a few extras into the mix.

"Your nipples are not protected by the
code," Rory simply said as she grabbed the last Milky Way and a
bottle of water and stepped up in line to pay the vender.

"Well, they are now," he said, deciding it
was better late than never to protect his poor nipples.

"Sorry, veto," Rory said with a shrug, not
sounding sorry at all as she paid for her snack and drink.

Damn. He'd forgotten about the veto rule.
They were only allowed to change the code if they both agreed.
Well, that was fine with him, he decided as he snagged her candy
bar out of her hand and ripped it open as he headed towards the
large hotel to make sure that Andrew was able to get all his men
set up.

"Give me that back," Rory demanded as she
walked by his side, not trying to attack him for the candy bar, he
noted with satisfaction. He already knew that she was trying to
keep up a professional appearance for the job. That was fine with
him, but only because it worked for him as well.

"Nope," he said, taking a huge bite out of
the candy bar. Maybe it was just him, but food stolen from Rory
always tasted so damn good. Even those plain peanut butter
sandwiches he used to steal from her when they were in preschool
were out of this world.

"Bastard," she muttered as she opened her
bottle of water and went to take a sip, but of course the chocolate
made him thirsty so he swiped it out of her hand and downed it.

"Shouldn't you be hauling your little ass
back to the office and arranging for your trailer to be removed?"
he asked as they headed towards her brothers and his men, who
appeared to be arguing.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that," she said
dryly as she sauntered past him.

His eyes dropped to her heart shaped ass and
he just barely bit back a groan that would probably get his ass
kicked by at least two of her brothers.

"What's the problem?" Rory demanded as she
neared the men.

"Tell your men to get the hell out of the
way so we can get some work done," David, a man he may have
mistakenly promoted, snapped at Rory.

As one, all five of her brothers stepped
forward as they scowled down at the much smaller man. "Watch how
you talk to our sister," Bryce said softly, but the threat was
clear.

David noticeably swallowed as he took a
healthy step back. He shot a look of panic Connor's way and as much
as he'd love to start shit just to piss Rory off, he couldn't. He
needed to keep the James brothers happy if he was going to have any
chance at getting them to come work for him when this project was
finished.

"With our companies working together this
might become a little difficult," he said to Rory, but his eyes
were on the James brothers who looked more than eager to teach his
foreman a lesson. That was one thing he learned early on, the James
brothers had a zero tolerance policy when it came to their sister.
They'd never gone after him, but that was only because Rory thought
she could handle him.

Ridiculous, but true.

"Until we figure things out, David and the
rest of my supervisors are going to check in with Craig and his men
since they were here first and have a better understanding of what
requires immediate attention," he said, shocking everyone into
silence.

Rory frowned, but he didn't really care what
she thought. As long she stayed out of his way, fetched his drinks
and food, he would tolerate her presence. David looked pissed and
ready to argue, but he didn't really care about that either. The
only thing he cared about were the five large men sharing
questioning looks.

He knew they hadn't expected him to give in
so easily. Hell, they probably expected shouting, arguments and a
lot of chaos, but they wouldn't get any. He wanted these men to
work for him, and what better way to convince them to come work for
him than letting them start now?

Chapter 5

"What are you doing?"

Rory didn't bother looking at Connor while
she said, "Working. What does it look like?"

"It looks like you're getting in the way of
my men."

She stopped what she was doing and looked
pointedly around the large roof where four of her brothers were
checking for weak spots and marking the areas.

"Exactly how am I getting in the way of your
men if none of them are up here?" she asked, leaning over to mark a
weak spot in the roof with a can of orange spray paint.

Connor glared at her as he stepped up onto
the arched roof. Rory cocked a brow as she looked him over from his
baby blue shirt with the dark blue tie pulled loose at the neck to
his dark tan cargo khakis to his black leather hiking boots. Only a
man as hot as Connor would be able to pull off that look, she
thought with disgust as she turned her attention back to marking
the roof.

They were going to have to replace the
entire thing thanks to poor upkeep, but they liked to know which
spots to avoid when it was time to rip it off. They'd learned that
lesson years ago when they still worked for their father and Brian
hadn't marked the roof before he started working. He fell through
the roof, broke his arm and got his ass chewed out by their father
in the ER while his arm was being set in a cast, scaring off more
than a few nurses.