Checkmate

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.