Текст книги "Checkmate"

Автор книги: R. L. Mathewson

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"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.

A shrug.

"An extra week of vacation?" she asked, not really sure that she'd be able to survive even that long without him running things.

That offer earned her a killing glare, which of course was understandable since they both knew that she'd probably run the business into the ground in that short amount of time without him. Last year when he made the mistake of calling in sick two days in a row she somehow managed to screw up payroll, crash every computer in the office, order a thousand user manuals in Japanese for a copy machine that she didn't even own, and ran out of hot cocoa by mid-day on the second day, making her a tad difficult to work with.

"If you don't talk to me, I'll cry," she threatened even as she allowed her chin to quiver. It was low, but sometimes she just didn't have the patience for this kind of nonsense. Jacob was temperamental, but fortunately for her, he was also a big pushover.

She usually saved the crying act as a last resort, but today she just didn't have the patience to work her way up to it. They were already running behind, the basement was still considered a safety hazard and therefore off limits until the fire department cleared it, the deliveries that they needed were delayed, and to top it all off, she couldn't stop thinking about Connor. Somehow the man managed to worm his way into her thoughts and as much as she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about him.

Sadly it wasn't just his kisses, which were freakin' fantastic, that she couldn't get out of her head, but the man himself. Somehow he managed to get under her skin and not just in the annoying, man slaughtering way that he used to, but as a man that she actually enjoyed being around. If she wasn't eighty percent sure that the pain killers that she took a few days ago were having a lasting effect on her, she'd probably be panicking a bit right about now.

She knew Connor well enough to know that this was just a game to him and that once this project was done they'd go back to their old ways, earth shattering kisses forgotten. It was what she wanted, she reminded herself as she added a slight pout that she knew would break Jacob in a matter of seconds. This was just another game in a long line of games that they'd played over the years and one that she would win. If she had to endure his kisses and touches then that's just what she was going to have to do, she thought as she felt her lips tug up into a pleased little smile.

Okay, so this deal wasn't all bad. She got her project, through Connor, but she would change that as soon as she figured out what he was up to and turned the tables on him. She also had free use of his equipment and could use his men, which would save her a lot of money and time on the project. The only thing that really irritated her was having to let him call the shots, but she'd deal with it.

For now.

There was no doubt in her mind that it was only a matter of time until she found out what he was up to, took control and made him squirm. It was also just a matter of time before-

"What the hell is that?" she asked with a frown when something shinny to her right caught her attention. Jacob and his pouting quickly forgotten, she turned around and felt her brows damn near clear her hairline as she took in the very large and obviously expensive machine that now took up a good portion of her hot cocoa station.

Her confusion hit an all time high when she spotted a four foot tall, beautiful oak cabinet right next to it. She threw Jacob a questioning look, but he was still ignoring her. With an exasperated sigh and an eye roll that he definitely deserved, she turned her attention back to the cabinet. She walked over to it and opened it, not really expecting much so when she saw that all four shelves were overflowing with her favorite hot cocoa products, fluff, marshmallows, etc, she found herself stunned and wondering if this was all a dream, a wonderful hot chocolate fantasy filled dream.

"Do you like it?" the seductive whisper teased her ear as large, warm arms wrapped around her from behind and pulled her back into an equally warm body.

"Like it?" she mumbled as she ran her greedy eyes over twenty-five different flavors of hot chocolate, each one sounding yummier than the last.

"Mmmhmm," Connor murmured as he pressed a kiss that would have normally sent her body into overdrive against her neck.

She knew that she should play it off like she did with the flowers, but she couldn't. It just felt so wrong to lie in the presence of the most heavenly sight on earth.

"I love it," she found herself admitting like an idiot. If there was one thing that she learned from Connor over the years, it was to keep her mouth shut and never let him know what she liked otherwise she had to deal with the big jerk making her life a living hell, but knowing that didn't stop her from letting out a little content sigh as her eyes ran over hot chocolate heaven.

Yup, she was definitely going to pay for this little slip up.

Chapter 19

It shouldn't please him that she liked his gift so much, but it did. When Andrew called him a few hours ago to let him know that Brennagin's, the insanely expensive coffee shop that they renovated last month, was arguing over the bill, again, and that they were now refusing to pay, he decided to go down there and handle the matter himself.

Normally, well, in the past year at least, he'd been leaving that job up to Andrew, but the manager was trying to bullshit her way out of paying. It was causing too damn much drama and stressing Andrew out, which was the last thing the man needed. By the time Connor arrived, Cindy, the manager and all around pain the ass, was in Andrew's face and bitching him out. When she caught sight of him, her whole attitude turned from flat out bitch to flirty.

Once Andrew made his escape, Cindy invited him into her office where she suggested that the two of them talk this little "misunderstanding" over at her house. He politely declined, but that didn't seem to make her happy so she became more blatant about it. When he declined her offer to make him breakfast in bed she flat offered him a little relief in the office. She was a beautiful woman and any other guy probably would have fallen at her feet and done anything and everything she asked, but he wasn't interested.

It didn't take her long to figure out that Rory was the reason why. Well, she was the main reason, but he would never accept a quick fuck to drop the price of a bill. He didn't play games and Cindy quickly learned that. After she gave up trying to get him off in exchange for a huge price drop she went back to being a bitch. She tried to argue her way out of their contracted price and when he wouldn't budge, she cried.

It annoyed the hell out of him and made him wonder why more women weren't like Rory. She wouldn't have cried or tried to play him to get out of the bill. If she didn't think it was right she would have argued it and backed it up with proof. If that didn't work, she would have tried reason, but not Cindy. Cindy tried to use every damn ploy that she could think up to get him to drop the price by five grand, but he wasn't about to budge.

He didn't work for free and neither did his men. He offered more than fair prices to his customers and didn't play games to jack up the price. The woman knew the price going in and had agreed that it was more than fair when she'd signed the contract. In fact, if she hadn't added a new office for herself and asked for a carport built at the back of the building to keep her car protected from the elements, the price would have been fifteen grand cheaper. After a half hour of her bullshit, he had enough and told her to deal with his lawyer as he headed for the door.

Apparently that was the magical phrase, because twenty minutes later he had a check for almost the full amount. It turned out that she'd spent the money set aside for renovations on new equipment for the coffee shop. When he spotted the large box with fancy writing in the corner of her office with the magical words, "Hot chocolate" printed beneath the picture of the product, he decided to take pity on the woman and do a little bartering. He was out a thousand bucks, but had a professional brewing machine and cabinet for Rory.

He meant to give it to her in front of the trailer as he made a big show of it so that her brothers could see how well he took care of her. He hoped to soften them up towards him, but at the last minute he changed his mind. He had five months to butter her brothers up to come work for him so there really was no rush, he decided. While her assistant pouted and glared at him, he hauled in her new cabinet and cocoa maker and did a little redecorating. Andrew arrived a short while later with every cocoa product known to man.

Unfortunately, ten minutes later he had to haul his ass out to the site to deal with the truck driver that was contracted to replace the dumpsters. The man tried to refuse to have all the dumpsters replaced today. He gave some bullshit story about construction materials being a problem and overtime issues. It took an hour to get the man to remove the dumpsters and replace them. They would have been screwed if he hadn’t dumped them. They only had half of the first and second floor torn out and they desperately needed to be able to finish ripping the roof off and if they didn't have dumpsters they'd be fucked.

As soon as he was done dealing with that bullshit, he hauled his ass back to the trailer, anxious to see Rory's expression when she saw his gift. He missed her initial reaction, but the way she settled back against him and sighed contently in his arms more than made up for it. When Rory laid her arms over his, he was glad that he'd saved this for just them. There was plenty of time to butter up her brothers, so he wasn't going to stress over a missed opportunity, not when Rory felt so damn good in his arms.

"What does it do?" she asked in a reverent whisper that had him smiling.

"The machine?" he asked, ducking his head to press a kiss against her jaw.

"Mmmhmm," she said as she absently tilted her head to the side in silent demand for more, which he was more than happy to give her.

He pressed another kiss against her jaw before he slowly ran his lips up to her ear and pressed a kiss just below it. "It makes hot chocolate even creamier."

"Are you sure?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

"Very sure," he said, pressing a kiss just below her jaw.

"And this is for me?" she asked slowly, cautiously.

"Mmmhmm," he said, pressing another kiss against her neck. "It's for you," he said, loving the way she felt in his arms. Hell, he could happily hold her for the rest of his life and never grow tired of it.

"Why?" she whispered, tilting her head back and to the side so that she could look up at him as he answered.

"Why what?" he murmured distractedly as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, unable to help himself.

"Why did you get that for me?" she asked quietly, following his lips as he started to make a slow retreat, but once he felt her lips touch his, he stopped moving back and simply enjoyed the way her lips teased his.

"I can take it back if you don't like it," he teased, his lips twitching against hers when she let out a cute little growl.

"Lay one finger on it and they'll never find your body," she swore against his lips and even though she sighed softly in pleasure, he knew that she meant it.

"Does that mean that you don't want me to show you how to use it?" he asked, leaning in for another kiss when he suddenly found his arms empty.

When he spotted her standing in front of the machine, gesturing impatiently for him to get on with it, he couldn't help but chuckle. How could such a sexy woman be so damn cute? he wondered as he dutifully walked over to get the little addict her next fix, pausing only long enough to press a quick kiss against her lips that earned a gagging sound from her assistant.

Rory didn't seem to notice. The woman was too focused on her cocoa machine, barely able to stop herself from fidgeting as she ran her greedy little eyes over the machine. Since she seemed too distracted at the moment to handle her assistant, he decided to give her a hand.

"Ow!" Jacob whined when the small canister of Belgian cocoa powder bounced off his head.

Connor couldn't help but shake his head in disgust as he started the machine, pausing only long enough to steal another kiss from Rory. As she returned the kiss he wondered if she was even aware of how quickly they'd settled into this level of intimacy. Kissing her felt like the most natural thing in the world to do and he wondered if it was the same for her.

"Cocoa," she murmured against his lips, making him chuckle.

After pressing one last kiss against her lips, he gave into the addict's demands and showed her how to use the machine. He didn't miss the way her assistant watched his every move and shot him murderous glares each and every time he touched Rory. It wasn't too hard to figure out that the man was in love with Rory.

Not that he could blame him. He didn't. But, that didn't mean that he was going to step back and let the man have a shot at Rory. Oh hell no, that shit wasn't happening. He was not about to step back, even though he wasn't really dating Rory, and give some prick who'd already proved that he couldn't protect Rory a chance to hurt her. Wasn't happening and the sooner the man realized that, the better.

"Is it done yet?" Rory asked, shifting from foot to foot as she tried to keep herself from reaching out and snatching up the large tan coffee cup as the flow of hot cocoa slowed down to a drip.

He reached out and picked the cup up, afraid that she'd burn herself, and gestured towards her office. "You can attack it in there while we go over some paperwork," he said, smiling when she pouted. When she reached out for it, almost as if she couldn't help herself, he raised the cup higher and moved to step around her.

Rory being Rory, of course tried to reach up and take it away from him, but he simply shook his head and sighed as he raised it higher and moved past her. He didn't bother to look back to make sure that she was following him since he knew that the little addict wasn't about to let the cocoa out of her sight. As he stepped around her desk he placed her mug of cocoa down and sat in her chair.

His ass barely touched the chair when Rory was climbing onto his lap, sitting sideways as she picked up her mug of cocoa and took a slow sip as she settled against him. As he put his arm around her and gently cupped her hip, he couldn't help but wonder if she even realized how comfortable she was around him. Considering their history, the woman should be a nervous wreck whenever he was within a fifty foot radius of her. Then again, Rory James never reacted the way he expected her to, he thought with a smile as he leaned in and pressed a kiss against her neck, chuckling when she let out a little moan of pleasure.

"That good, huh?" he asked, keeping his hand on her hip as he leaned forward, careful not to disturb her, and opened the manila folder that McGill sent over earlier.

When Rory settled herself more comfortably on his lap and threw her injured arm around his shoulders so that she could turn slightly and look over the files with him, he had to force his mind away from how good it felt to have her here like this with him. Granted, she was only doing this because he was blackmailing her, but that was just a minor detail and he chose to ignore it.

"Did you see this?" she asked, pausing mid-sip to nod in the direction of the file.

"No, I didn't get a chance to look at it yet," he said, pulling the file to the edge of the desk so that they could both get a better look and when he saw McGill's new request he forced himself to go back and read it again, sure that he was mistaken. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"He wants us to rearrange the entire wine cellar again and-"

"Turn the subbasement room that you fell down into another storage room for wine," Connor finished for her, letting out a frustrated breath as he sat back in his chair.

"That's going to make things a little more difficult," Rory grumbled, taking another long sip of her cocoa.

"Just a little," he said, dryly, mentally calculating the time and cost this addition just added to the project. The materials would be covered by McGill, but this new request could kill this project.

"We're going to have to go overboard on the overtime just to meet the deadline," Rory said, worrying her bottom lip as she placed her mug, which he didn't need to check to know it was empty, on the desk.

With all the other things that needed to be done in under five months that was an understatement. Even with all the men their companies employed, they were already going to have to bust their asses to make that deadline. He already figured the amount of overtime that his company could afford on a weekly basis that would allow them to finish this project and not suffer a loss. With this added little project they'd be lucky to break even. They'd get paid more, that wasn't the problem. The problem was labor. That was if they managed to make the deadline.

If they missed the deadline.......

Hell, he didn't even want to think about that. They both had so much invested in this project. Not only would they lose the bonus, but they'd also lose their reputations. The only thing that would save his company's ass would be his plan to steal the James brothers. Even though he planned on running Rory out of business, he didn't want to do it this way.