NFH 03 Checkmate (22 page)

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.