Текст книги "Checkmate"

Автор книги: R. L. Mathewson

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Текущая страница: 21 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

Chapter 39

“What?” Rory asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper as all the color in her face slowly faded away.

A few days ago that hurt expression would have done him in and had him apologizing and saying anything and everything to make her happy, but not now, not after everything that she’d put him through. For three days he’d worried about her, missed her and all along she was less than five minutes away from their houses, shacked up in a hotel with another fucking guy.

When he needed her the most, she hadn’t been there for him. He could have used her support while he sat in that hospital waiting room, doing his best not to lose it as he waited for the doctors to tell him that Andrew’s body hadn’t rejected the bone marrow and that his best friend was going to make it, but she hadn't been there. She wasn’t there for him and now he knew why.

“You heard me,” he murmured as he walked over to the bed and ran his fingers over her sheet covered leg until his fingers touched the little toes that he loved to kiss. Slowly, he pulled the sheet away, revealing her body inch by inch until the sheet was pooled by his feet.

“What the hell is going on, Connor?” Rory demanded, not bitching that she was naked and for some reason that made him wonder who the other guy was.

The thought of another man seeing her body, touching her and making her tremble turned his stomach. He had to force himself to focus on something else or he wouldn’t be able to see this thing to the end and he would damn well be the one to end this. After twenty years of playing games with her, he was finally going bring the game to an end. Then he was going to walk away from her. After today she was just going to be his neighbor and the woman that he was going to run out of business. She was going to mean absolutely nothing to him.

“The transplant worked,” he said, reaching out to toy with one of her toes before he could stop himself.

“I know that. I called the hospital. He’s doing well, but he’s driving the nursing staff nuts with his bitching,” she said, shifting her foot to the side and robbing him of the contact. “Now tell me why you’re acting so damn bitchy and give me back my ring.”

He ignored her, because there was no way in hell that he was putting that ring back on the finger of someone who didn’t love him. He’d worked his ass off for that ring. He’d been so damned proud and excited when he bought that ring and couldn’t wait to give it to her, to the woman that he loved, but that wasn’t her. She cheated on him and he couldn’t fucking believe it. If anyone would have told him that Rory James would cheat on him, he would have called them a fucking liar and broken their jaw for trying to start shit. Now he just wanted to kill the bastard that had touched her and make love to her one last time to show her exactly what she'd lost and because he just couldn’t say goodbye to her without having her one last time.

“Where have you been for the last three days?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as he watched her, waiting for her to lie, needing for her to lie so that he could hate her enough to push her away.

For a moment Rory watched him, glared and then muttered a few words that he didn’t quite catch as she squeezed her eyes shut and said, “You know, don’t you?”

“Yes,” he said, deciding that if she was done playing games then so was he. “What I don’t know is why you lied.”

“I didn’t want you to get upset,” she said, shocking him into stunned silence.

“Upset? I’m going to fucking kill him!” he shouted, wondering if he’d ever really known Rory. Up until today he would have sworn that he knew her better than he knew himself. He never thought that she would do this to him.

She opened her eyes to frown up at him. “Kill who?”

“Oh, don’t play this fucking game with me now, Rory,” he said, somehow stopping himself from demanding the name of the bastard. He would find out, but later. Right now he needed to let Rory know that he was done with her. It was over and he was the one that ended it.

“Are you serious?” she asked, laughing without humor. “You tied me up, you jackass!”

“And you fucking cheated on me!” he shouted, regretting the loss of control as soon as the words left his mouth. He was a fucking idiot.

“You think I cheated on you?” she asked, sounding hurt, which he had to admit was a nice touch.

“Yes!” he snapped, hating her even more for trying to bullshit her way out of it once she got caught.

“Oh my God, you’re an idiot,” she mumbled, shaking her head in disgust. “I didn’t cheat on you, you jerk!”

“Bullshit!”

“It’s the truth!”

“If you didn’t cheat on me then why were you shacked up in a hotel room for the last three days with another man?” he shouted, moving closer to the bed until he found himself climbing on it and over her so that he could glare down at her, needing to look into her eyes as she lied to him.

He had to admit that she looked really pissed off as she glared right back up at him. “Because I was recovering from donating bone marrow!”

His automatic response was to open his mouth and call her a liar, but her words stopped him. “What?”

“I was recovering from donating my bone marrow, you jackass! If you don’t believe me then you can call my doctor or look at the bruise on my ass!” she snapped, sounding really pissed.

“Then who was the guy that was spotted going into your hotel room?” he demanded.

“Bryce! Someone from the hospital called him to check on me and he put two and two together and hunted me down. He helped me out the first day and checked up on me, making sure that I had food and that I was okay,” she snapped and he knew, just knew that if she was loose that she would be going for his balls, but he really couldn’t care less.

He was too damn happy to care.

“You didn’t cheat on me?” he asked, knowing that there were a few other things that she said that were important, but he could give a damn about them at the moment.

“No!”

“Oh thank fucking God,” he said, sighing with relief as he leaned down to kiss her only to get her cheek instead of those lips that he’d missed.

“Get off me, Connor,” she said evenly.

Oh he knew he fucked up, but he was just as stubborn as she was and he wasn’t about to back down, not when there was a good possibility that he might lose her. Nope, the best defense here was definitely going on the offense.

“I forgive you, Rory,” he said, making damn sure to sound putout as he leaned down again to get that kiss that she owed him.

This time she was too stunned to move so he got his kiss. Granted, he would have preferred her lips a little softer and perhaps a little more responsive, but he’d take what he could get right now.

Wow, had he fucked up big time……

Not that he was going to admit it, because he wasn’t. Her father had been right. If he admitted that he’d fucked up then Rory would just focus on that and the fact that she had every right to be pissed at him and dump his ass for being such a moron. Since that wouldn’t work for him, he decided that fucking with her head until she apologized to him was definitely the way to go.

“Forgive me?” she repeated in a tone that really didn't bode well for his plan so he kissed her again.

“Yes, I forgive you, Rory,” he said against her lips, but the stubborn woman refused to respond.

“For having a needle shoved into my hip to save your friend?” she asked, obviously clarifying what she needed his forgiveness for.

“Yes,” he said, deciding that perhaps she needed to be distracted so he kissed his way down to her throat.

She choked out a laugh as he kissed her neck. “You can’t be serious!”

Oh, but he was. Damn serious. He raised his head to glare down at the woman who really did deserve a spanking. “You lied to me. No one knew where you were. Do you have any idea how scared I was that something happened to you?”

He expected her to shout at him, but instead her features softened as she looked up at him. “I’m sorry that I lied to you, Connor.”

“Why did you do it, Rory?” he asked, his tone softening as he finally allowed himself to think about what she’d done.

She’d saved his best friend’s life. Lied to do it and did it all alone. From what the doctors said, the procedure could be difficult and a bit painful. Unfortunately for people like Andrew, not a lot of people volunteered to donate because of that. The discomfort usually came after the procedure when the medicine wore off. He hoped that she hadn’t been in too much pain. He hated the thought of her being hurt and not being there for her.

“I didn’t want you to hate me if it didn’t work, Connor,” she admitted quietly.

Connor sighed as he moved to lie down on his side, facing her and placed his hand on her bare stomach as he said, “That is the dumbest fucking thing that you have ever said.”

Her eyes narrowed to slits on him as she gave her restraints another tug. “As soon as I get out of this, your nipples are mine!”

“Not really giving me a reason to let you go, now are you?” he mused as absently ran his hand over her stomach.

“I hate you,” she muttered, but he knew that she was lying. She wouldn’t have gone through such great lengths to protect him and make sure that he didn’t hate her if she wasn't in love him. This woman loved him and he wasn’t letting her go until she admitted it.

“No, you don’t,” he said with a shrug.

“Yeah, I really do. So, since you decided to call off the engagement then we’re over so let me go, Connor,” she bit out, once again looking pissed, which wasn’t really working for him.

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about,” he said as his focus shifted to her very naked body. Now that his anger was gone, he took it all in and what he saw had his dick hard enough to cut through diamonds, his breaths coming faster and his body breaking out in a sweat.

Before Rory, sex was just that, sex. It was something he did to get off and get his mind off of things for a while. Since they started having sex his interest in all things sexual had grown. They’d experimented a lot, but he’d never tied her up, never did anything like this and right now he couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to take Rory this way. Not that she’d ever go for it. Rory liked to be an active participant and would hate giving up any type of control.

“You took my ring back! Tied me up and acted all pissy!” she snapped, clearly hell bent on rehashing something that really should be done and over with by now. He’d forgiven her, hadn’t he?

“The ring’s yours and we’re getting married in less than a month so stop trying to get out if it,” he said as he teasingly skimmed his fingertips over her stomach and between her breasts, mesmerized by the movement and the way goose bumps suddenly covered her skin.

“Okay, good. That’s settled then,” she said, her breaths coming faster. “Then you can just go ahead and let me go and we’ll um, we’ll forget this whole thing.”

“Then you apologize?” he asked as he ran his fingertips between her large breasts, watching as her nipples hardened.

“Yes!” she damn near shouted.

“I see,” he murmured, sitting up so that he could lean over and press a kiss against her stomach.

“W-what are you doing?” she asked, her body trembling as he continued to press kisses down her stomach until he came to her navel.

“Touching you,” he said before he pressed a kiss against her navel, flicking his tongue out and teasing the spot that usually earned a cute little giggle from Rory, but this time she let out a low keen, needy moan that had him cursing and flicking that spot with his tongue again before he forced himself to move away from it.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, preparing himself to do just that even as he ran the tip of his tongue from her navel to one of her large nipples and circled it before he pulled the rosy tip between his lips and sucked it.

“I-I-I-oh God!” she screamed, her back bowing as he used his teeth on her nipple, scraping it lightly before he licked it better.

“Want me to stop, baby?” he asked, licking a line to her other breast and giving it the same attention.

Her breaths sped up and he couldn’t believe how badly he wanted her to say no, but she wouldn’t. Rory James loved being in control and she would never-

“I don’t know!”

* * * *

What the hell was she doing? She wasn’t into this kind of thing. She liked regular, normal sex with Connor. Sure they’d spiced it up and she’d done things with him that she'd only dreamed of before she welcomed him into her bed, but she could honestly say that she’d never dreamed of being tied down to a bed while Connor took his time licking and kissing her body.

She should be telling him to stop and demanding that he untie her, but God help her, she didn’t want him to stop. She wanted him to do a hundred naughty things to her body while she was like this and then she wanted him to do it all over again.

“Tell me stop and I will, Rory,” Connor said, his voice husky as he flicked her nipple with his tongue while he moved a hand between her legs.

Now, she should tell him to stop now! She opened her mouth to do just that when an embarrassingly loud moan escaped her. Why did every touch and kiss feel so much more powerful like this? She hated men taking control in bed and she should hate this, but she didn’t and she realized that she didn’t really care. She wanted to experience this with Connor. For once she wanted to let go and let someone else call the shots while she got to lie back and enjoy herself.

Closing her eyes, she took a slow steadying breath, trying to steady her nerves as her cheeks burned with embarrassment and said, “Don’t stop.”

He stopped.

“You want this?” he asked in a sexy whisper that made her shiver.

“Yes,” she said, hating the way her voice shook.

“Open your eyes and tell me that, Rory,” he said, cupping her breast.

“I think you can hear me just fine,” she said, not sure that she could look him in the eye and say that. She wanted this, more and more with each passing second, but she was actually scared. She wasn’t used to feeling like this and she really didn’t like it.

“Do you trust me, Rory?” he asked, stroking her breast and making it difficult for her to give into her embarrassment and demand that he end this.

“You know that I do,” she said quietly, keeping her eyes shut as she moved to turn her head away, but he wasn’t having that.

He released her breast to gently cup her face, caressing her cheek with his thumb as he said, “Then look at me, Rory and let me know that this is really what you want.”

She turned her head and somehow found the strength to open her eyes. “I’ve never done this before,” she admitted, softly.

“Neither have I,” he said with a slow sexy smile that was sweeter than his usual bad boy smile.

“But you want to?”

He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. “Yes.”

His admission turned her on more than she ever thought was possible. “Then yes, I want this.”

“I want you, Rory,” he said against her lips. “Forever.”

“I want you too, Connor,” she said on a soft moan as she felt one thick, long finger slide inside her.

“You’ve got me,” he said, giving her one last kiss before he moved his mouth down her neck, kissing and teasing her as his finger began to slowly thrust inside her. She tried to push down, but she couldn’t move. It both frustrated and excited her. She was completely at his mercy and she loved it. It made her feel wanted, desired and that was absolutely perfect for her.

When he licked his way down her stomach, she relaxed and allowed herself to enjoy what he was doing. A scream escaped her lips seconds later as his tongue joined his finger in driving her out of her mind. She dropped her head back, closed her eyes and simply lay there, enjoying his touch. She didn’t have to worry about pleasing him or worry that she was doing something wrong. She simply let go.

“I love you, Rory,” he murmured minutes or hours later, she wasn’t sure and didn’t care as she struggled to catch her breath. The man took his time, enjoying her body as he touched and explored her at his leisure.

“I love you too, Connor,” she said as he carefully settled himself between her legs.

“You damn well better,” he said hoarsely, entering her in one slow thrust as he leaned down to kiss her.

“Uh huh, and why is that?” she asked, licking her lips as he filled her.

“Because I’m never letting you go,” he swore against her lips.

“Good, because I would have to go for the pliers if you did.”

Chapter 40

November

“I can’t believe we did it,” he said, pulling into a spot on the freshly paved and painted parking lot of the newly renovated Strawberry Hotel

“And one week ahead of schedule,” Rory said, beaming with excitement as she looked at the beautiful new hotel. He had to admit that it was beautiful, but that wasn’t what he was talking about.

He chuckled as threw the truck into park. “I meant, I can’t believe that we’re married.”

“Well, I really didn’t have much of a choice,” Rory said, smiling that pleased little smile that she’d been wearing since the shocked and admittedly nervous Justice of the Peace announced them husband and wife about an hour ago.

After the initial shock, the man decided that they needed a little fatherly advice and explained that he believed that they were making a mistake and that perhaps they needed to take some time and come back on December 2nd. At first, Connor had been pissed that the man was interfering, but by the time the JP mentioned December 2nd for the third time, it became clear that the man had placed a bet that they would get married on that day. Once the man resigned himself to losing two hundred dollars, he married them, scowling at them the entire time until the deed was done and he could storm off.

“You didn’t have a choice, huh?” he mused, reaching for his wife as she unclipped her seatbelt and moved to straddle his lap.

“No, not at all,” she readily agreed with an impish smile that had him wishing that they could skip the final inspection and start their wedding night early.

“And how’s that?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her.

“I had to do it for our deal of course,” she said solemnly, looking so damn serious that he couldn’t help but laugh.

“For our deal, huh?” he asked with a chuckle, leaning in and stealing a kiss.

“Mmmhmm,” she murmured, returning the kiss. Before he could deepen the kiss, Rory opened his door. She pulled away and climbed out of the truck, laughing and jumping back when he moved to grab her and drag her back into his arms.

“We need to clear the site so that we can start that insanely expensive honeymoon that you promised me,” she said, heading for the manor.

“That wasn’t part of our deal,” he pointed out as he climbed out of the truck.

“It is now,” she said, sounding happy.

“Do I get a veto?” he asked, following after her.

“Sorry. You’re a married man now, Connor. Your job is to fulfill each and every one of my needs,” she explained, throwing him a wink over her shoulder.

“And you need an insanely expensive honeymoon?” he asked, chuckling as he veered off to the right towards her trailer.

“I really do,” she said, sounding happy, really happy and for a moment he was content with just watching her as she made her way inside the hotel.

How had he gotten so lucky? he couldn’t help but wonder as he turned around, hoping to get this done quickly so that he could move onto the insanely expensive honeymoon that his beautiful wife was demanding when he realized that he had one last problem that he had to handle before it bit him in the ass.

“I heard you tell Andrew that this was all a game,” Jacob, the surly assistant from hell, said numbly as he looked at Connor with what could only be described as disgust. “I kept my mouth shut because I thought Rory could handle herself, but apparently I was wrong.”

“It’s not what you think, Jacob,” Connor said, taking a step towards the man only to have him take two steps back.

“Then you didn’t just marry Rory so that you could take over her company?” Jacob demanded.

Connor opened his mouth to tell the guy that he had it all wrong, that it wasn’t like that anymore when he realized that this simple misunderstanding had just blown up into a huge fuck up in under sixty seconds.

“Married?” Johnny repeated, sharing a confused look with his brothers as they quickened their step towards him. As he watched the five large men make their way towards him, he realized that there was no way that he could explain any of this without landing in a body cast. They wouldn’t believe him, not that he really cared, but he did care if his wife believed him. As he watched them approach and listened as Jacob ratted his ass out, he realized something very important. He was out of options. So he did the only thing that he could think of.

He made a run for it.

“Get back here!” Johnny yelled as Connor shoved past several men and ran into the hotel and straight into the beautiful lobby.

“Where’s Rory?” he asked Andrew when he spotted the man sitting on the couch, going over paperwork and looking better than he had in months.

“In the ballroom. Why?” Andrew asked, but Connor didn’t have time to answer him, not with five seriously pissed off James brothers after him.

“You have some explaining to do,” Reese, one of the Bradford twins and a fucking cop, shouted, drawing his attention.

Scratch that, he had five James, a little prick bastard and two seriously pissed off looking Bradfords after him and he probably only had seconds to convince Rory that he loved her and wasn’t after her company before they beat the shit out of him. Not wanting to waste another moment, he made a run for the ballroom, shoving men aside as he ran down the long hallway. The entire way he heard the sounds of very large men chasing after him, and he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t a little weary of the ass whooping that he was about to receive, but he was more concerned about losing Rory.

He was just about to run through the open doorway of the ballroom when Rory stepped out, looking down at the clipboard in her hands and unaware of all the men barreling down on her. She’d barely looked up when he grabbed her arm and gave it a pull towards the elevators. He didn’t have a plan, but he hoped that this would at least buy him a few minutes.

“What the hell are you doing?” Rory demanded as he yanked her into the elevator, pushing her behind him as he slammed his finger against the “Close Door” button just as her brothers and cousins abruptly turned and headed for them.

“Come on, come on, come on!” he muttered, panicking as the door started to close, but not fast enough as her brothers got closer and closer until all they had to do was put their arms out to stop the doors from closing and take his only chance away. Just when he resigned himself to a trip to the hospital and losing Rory, something unexpected happened. The two Bradford twins reached out and grabbed Craig and Johnny just as they reached out to stop the elevator and yanked them back, allowing the elevator doors to close and confusing the hell out of him.

“What is going on?” Rory demanded.

“First things first,” he mumbled as he reached out and pulled the emergency elevator knob. The elevator shook hard once as it came to a complete stop. When the alarm began to blare, he flicked it off, took a deep breath and turned around to face the woman that he loved.

“I love you,” he said, needing her to know that. “I’ve always loved you and no matter what happens, I will always love you.”

“You son of a bitch!” Bryce shouted, reminding Connor that it probably wouldn’t take the brothers long to crack those doors open and kill him.

“I love you too, Connor, but what is going on?” Rory asked, shooting a nervous look past him at the closed doors.

“I need to tell you something,” he said, cringing when the banging behind him started.

“Yeah, looks that way,” Rory mused, shifting her gaze right back on him.

“Did I mention that I love you?” he asked, shooting her a nervous smile as he tried to figure out how exactly to explain the whole fucked up deal without Rory going for his balls.

“Start talking, Connor,” Rory said, arching an expectant brow as she folded her arms over her chest.

Since time was a serious factor, he decided to get right to the point. “I fucked up.”

“And…..”

“There was more to the deal than I let on,” he said in a rush. “I didn’t think it was worth mentioning because once I realized that I was still in love with you, I didn’t want it any longer.”

“What didn’t you want any longer?” she asked with a put out sigh, the same way she always did when he was telling her how he’d screwed her over. He felt himself relax, somewhat.

“The plan,” he said, searching desperately for the right way to explain his original plan to her without making her hate him.

“And why did Darrin and Reese attack my brothers?” she asked.

“Because of me,” Mr. James suddenly announced from behind him, making him curse when he realized that at some point during their conversation the doors had been opened.

At least the doors worked quietly and efficiently, he thought as several pairs of hands grabbed him and yanked him out of the elevator. As Craig pulled back his fist and let it fly, Connor hoped that they didn’t break his jaw so that he could beg Rory for a second chance. That’s if she came to visit him in intensive care.

* * * *

“Mother fucker!” Connor gasped as Craig punched him in the stomach, causing his legs to give out, but before he dropped to the ground, Bryce and Sean were there, picking him right back up for more.

“Stop!” she cried, moving to help him, but her father blocked her and kept her in the elevator.

He kept his eyes locked on her as he told the twins, “She doesn’t get past me until we’re done and you make damn sure that no one interrupts us.”

“Sure thing, Uncle David,” Darrin said as he and his identical twin, Reese, stepped in front of the elevator and stood side by side, standing guard and blocking her view of Connor getting his ass kicked by her brothers.

“Shit!” she heard Connor groan a few seconds later.

“Dad, please tell them to stop,” she begged, panicking as she placed her hands on her face, struggling to keep it together.

“I’m sorry, Rory, but he has this one coming.”

“They’re going to kill him,” she said, trying to stay calm.

“Probably,” her father agreed with a shrug.

“Dad, please-“

“Why didn’t you call me when you were hurt? For that matter, why don’t you call me when you need help? And why the hell did you just get married without me there to give you away?”

“What?” she asked, taken off guard. “Why would I call you?” she blurted out before she could stop herself.

“Because I am your goddamn father!” he shouted, losing his temper for the first time in her life. While her father could get pissed, really pissed, he never lost control, never shouted, never at her.

“When you’re hurt or need someone, I should be the first person that you call! Do you have any idea how fucking scared I was when I found out that you’d been rushed to the hospital by ambulance? I had to hear it from the fucking mailman that my daughter was seriously injured because no one called me!”

“Dad, I-“

“Do you have any idea how it feels to have to sit outside your child’s house, scared to death that they were in pain or worse that they might not make it through the night? Do you?” he snapped, looking angrier than she’d ever seen him before.

“But, you taught us to be self-reliant. I didn’t think that-“

“That’s bullshit your brothers shoved down your throat! You are my daughter and there will never be a time when I don’t worry about you or want to take care of you. You were stubborn and didn’t want to let your brothers think that you were weak so you tried to act tough. You were my little girl, my little princess and you used run into my arms crying my name every day when I got home from work until you turned five and your brothers decided to treat you like a little brother. From that moment on, you thought that you had to be as pigheaded as they were and you stopped being my baby girl,” he said, his voice softening, his expression turning sad.

“You are my baby girl, Rory. I love you more than you will ever know, but you are so damn pigheaded,” he said with a sigh. “You need to know that you can always call me,” he said, stepping aside only to pause and shoot a glare at her. “And the next time that you’re hurt, sick or you need help, you better call me, because if I have to hear it through the mailman again, you and I are going to have words, young lady,” he said, shooting her a wink to soften his words, making her relax as he stepped back.

“I will, Dad,” she said, feeling close to crying. Her daddy loved her and she’d probably be rubbing it in her brothers’ faces if she wasn’t very much afraid at the moment that they were killing her husband.

“Step aside, boys,” her father said, reaching back and taking her hand into his and leading her off the elevator. The scene that met her had her heart skipping a beat and her stomach dropping.

Johnny and Brian held back a struggling and still weak, Andrew while Craig and Sean held Connor up as Bryce pulled back his fist and let it go flying, connecting with Connor’s face and splitting his lip.

“Stop!” she screamed, releasing her father’s hand and tried to go help him, but Reese grabbed her before she could so much as take a step and pulled her back. She went to elbow him, but the large bastard was fast, too fast and he had her arms behind her back and restrained before she could take her next breath with a simple hold, but a damn effective one.

“Okay, let’s clear this up, shall we?” her father said, gesturing for Jacob, who looked like he wanted to take a swing at Connor, to come forward. He didn’t look like he was going to listen, but one hard look from her father had him swallowing hard and stepping forward.

“Okay, tell her what you told my boys,” her father said, gesturing for him to get on with it. She was just thankful that Bryce had stopped punching Connor to listen.

“Connor’s plan was to use you to get your brothers. He was using the relationship to look good in your brothers’ eyes to win them over and when the project was finished, he was going to get them to come work for him and run you out of business,” Jacob said, shooting Connor a murderous glare, which explained why he’d been acting like such a jerk for the past couple of months. He’d known about the plan and knowing Jacob, he wasn’t happy about it, but he’d obviously trusted her to handle it on her own.