Checkmate (Neighbor from Hell #3)(44)
Author: R.L. Mathewson

"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 f**king 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.

If this project bankrupted her, she’d lose everything including her house and he wasn’t about to let that happen. She’d probably hate him for the rest of her life once this project was over and her brothers left her to come work for him, but that didn’t mean that he wanted her out of his life completely. Christ, he didn’t even want to think about going a day without seeing her. He still planned on having her come work for him, but it wouldn’t be the same if it was because she’d lost everything. There would also be no guarantee that she would come work for him or even stay in town if that happened.

That meant that he was going to have to figure out a way to finish this project so that they didn’t end up losing everything they had and unfortunately for Rory, he knew exactly how to do it. She was going to argue it, but in the end she would see that this was the only way.

"We’re not going to make the deadline with this new addition," he explained slowly, trying to figure out the best way to break the news to her.

"If you have any suggestions, I’m all ears," she said with a sigh as she removed her arm from around his neck, picked up the file and stood up. He almost stopped her, but decided that space would probably be for the best right now.

He waited a minute before he decided to just get it over with. "Rory?"

"Hmm?" she said, absently, never taking her eyes away from the file as she paced the length of the office.