Checkmate

Chapter 12

"No," Rory said as she snatched the slice of mushroom and meatball pizza right out of his hand.

"What the hell do you mean by 'no'?" he demanded, snatching back his slice of pizza. He took a huge bite out of it, making his claim on the slice, but of course the damn woman snatched it right back and took a bite out of his pizza. If that wasn't bad enough, she washed it down with his Coke.

"I don't think that's going to work," Rory said, gesturing to his laptop's computer screen with his slice of pizza.

Glaring, he snatched it out of her hand and took a huge bite out of it as he pointed at the design he came up with while she’d slept. He still didn't know what he'd been thinking. He should have just sent it to McGill without showing it to her, but he needed her co-operation. If he was going to keep her under his thumb then he had to play nice, or at the very least pretend.

"What about the generator?" she asked, stealing the pizza crust out of his hand and nibbled on it as she gestured to the blueprint he designed earlier while she'd slept. Well, he did that and of course he had a look around.

He just couldn't resist. Not that he tried to resist all that hard. For years he'd been dying to know what her house looked like and when she conked out and he really had to use the bathroom after a few hours of holding her in his arms he may have taken a detour and explored her house.

The master bathroom had been a bit of a shock. It was a rather pleasant surprise after all these years to discover that there was a secret side to Rory, a very feminine side. Instead of having a straightforward bathroom that met minimal needs like his bathroom, a guy's bathroom, Rory's was without question a woman's dream bathroom.

The tiled wall was comprised of every shade of pink imaginable while the floor was a combination of light pink, dark pink and white tiles. Her shower could easily fit ten people, had four shower heads and a built in marble bench that lined the wall. She also had a two person light pink Jacuzzi bathtub. What really surprised him were her built-in shelves that held dozens of body sprays, lotions and a whole shitload of girly products.

He didn't check out her medicine cabinet or drawers since he wasn't a snoop or some weird pervert. There were some lines that he wouldn't cross even with Rory and snooping through her personal things was definitely one of them

The style was very close to what he'd chosen for his own house, which surprised him. He really thought she would have gone for a more contemporary look. Instead, it appeared as though she restored the house to its glory days with a few modern touches. He loved her den. It had a nineteenth century feel to it with an eighty inch flat screen built into the wall that surprisingly didn't wreck the effect. Somehow she managed to blend the television in with the rest of the decor. Now, the stack of chick flicks he found surprised him since he couldn’t picture her watching them, but he decided to ignore those.

Not that he would ever tell her, but he loved her house, maybe not as much as he loved his own, but hers was a close second. There were a few things he would have done differently, but overall the house was truly beautiful. She'd probably raised the value of the house by a hundred grand with all the work she'd put into it. He couldn't help but wonder how much of it her brothers were responsible for. Probably most of it, which was just another reminder that he had to get his ass moving and convince the James brothers that it would be in their best interest to come work for him.

"You know they want the 458, but you have the schematics set up for the 310," Rory said, pointing to the small computer monitor as she stole the last slice of pizza. Grudgingly, he allowed her to have it since she'd slept through lunch. Plus, he was a little distracted at the moment to really care.

"What the hell do you mean they want the 458?" he demanded, trying not to get pissed, but it was pretty damn difficult at the moment. He'd spent all day redesigning the wine room and the rest of the basement and now she was telling him that they wanted a refrigerating unit that not only would need a stronger feed, but it also wouldn't be able to fit in the space he'd designed for it. It also meant that he'd just wasted ten hours of his time for bullshit and that he'd be spending the rest of the night and early morning redesigning the basement to meet the rest of their specifications.

"It was in the fax," she said with a shrug as she took a big bite of pizza.

"What fax?" he asked as he considered snatching her slice of pizza away just on principal now. If there was a fax then he should have been told about it, especially before he wasted his day.

"They sent it yesterday morning," she said, taking another bite of her pizza before she continued. "There's about a dozen changes they want made," she said with a somewhat apologetic smile that did nothing to calm him down.

"Why the hell didn't you give me the fax?" he asked, giving up on glaring at her and stole the rest of the pizza out of her hand.

She rolled her eyes as she snatched it back. "Because you weren't there for one thing," she said, taking a huge bite and quickly finishing it off. "And I planned on having the new plans for the basement done last night so there really was no point in telling you."

"It's my project too, Rory," he bit out slowly.

Another shrug as she finished off the pizza and his glare returned. It was one thing for him to keep her in the dark, but it was a different story when she pulled that bullshit on him. This was his project and he should have been told about the fax. Hell, she should have delivered the damn thing to him while wearing a smile and something skimpy, he decided. He forced himself to turn around in his seat and stare at his computer screen as he wondered how he was going to adjust the space for the refrigerating unit and not fuck up the rest of the plans.

"Look, it's really not a big deal. I can fix this," Rory said as she reached out to screw with his fucked up plans.

"No," Connor said firmly as he blocked her good hand with one of his.

"Don't be a baby about this, Connor. It's not a big deal. I remember what was in the fax. I can-"

"No," he said more firmly as he moved his arm to re-block her when the stubborn woman tried to reach past his hand and touch his computer.

With an annoyed sigh, she reached out once again and tried to touch his computer, but he was ready for her. It was an old move, but one that worked. He palmed her face and gently pushed her back. As she tried to slap his hand away he focused on his plans. Maybe he could readjust the storage unit next to it by a foot and-

He heard her loud gasp of pain before he registered the weak, yet hard, slap on his arm. He turned in time to see her hug her broken arm to her chest and double over in pain.

"Shit!" he groaned, feeling like an asshole. He should have realized that she'd forget about her arm when she got pissed enough. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now.

"Looks like it's time for bed," he announced as he stood and scooped her up.

"Bastard," Rory choked out between gasps.

"That wasn't very nice," he mused as he carried her into the foyer.

"Asshole," of course was the reply.

"Words hurt, Rory," he said with a heartfelt sigh as he carried her up the stairs. "Words hurt."

"I wish," she muttered as she turned her face and buried it against his chest.

Since she was in pain he let it go and focused on helping her on the bed. As soon as she was curled up on her side and burying her face against the pillow he released her and grabbed her bottle of pills.

"Open up for a happy pill," he said brightly as he held one of the pills in front of her mouth.

She opened her eyes to glare at him as she did just that. When she swallowed, he considered going back downstairs and calling the office to have that fax emailed to him, but one look at Rory had him crawling onto the bed next to her and pulling her into his arms. He was actually rather pleased when she didn't fight him. That is until she got her revenge for palming her face.

"Ow! Goddammit, leave my nipple alone!" he snapped, barely resisting the urge to rub it. The damn woman fought dirty, but then again that's what he liked about her, he realized with a smile. Rory James always managed to keep him on his toes and kept it interesting. It was a rather nice quality in an enemy.

"Why did you do it?" she demanded as she yanked back the curtain.

"What in the hell is wrong with you?" Connor asked as he grabbed the shower curtain and yanked it out of her hand, but not before she got an eyeful.

The man had a very delicious backside and she was tempted to pull the curtain back to get another glimpse, but she needed to focus.

"Answer the damn question," she demanded, waiting impatiently for him to finish his shower.

"How did you get in my house?" Connor asked instead, making her roll her eyes. It really was a stupid question. "I picked the lock. Now focus, why did you do it?"

Connor sighed heavily as he reached out and snagged the towel off the hook. "I knew you were crazy."

She impatiently waved that off as if it were a given. "Just answer the damn question."

"Couldn't this have waited until we got to work?" Connor asked as he pulled the curtain back and stepped out, forcing her to back up or brush up against him. It actually freaked her out a little that she momentarily considered holding her ground just to see if those glistening muscles felt as good as they looked.

Oh, this was so wrong.

She was not attracted to the bastard. Okay, so that was a lie. The man was incredibly good looking and he knew it. Normally her attraction for him was easy to ignore since her hatred of him usually overshadowed the rather frightening attraction. Since he'd been taking care of her and been nice to her, she'd been having some difficulty ignoring how handsome he was or how much she liked his body and his smile.

That was the reason she was here. She needed to confront him and find out what sick and twisted thing could make him do it. As soon as he admitted that he'd taken care of her to screw with her head, she'd be able to go back to loathing him so completely that she'd be unable to notice how hot he was or how much she craved his touch. Then of course, she'd kick his ass for making her think of him with anything other than revulsion.

"No," she said firmly as she moved to block the doorway and his escape, but then rethought the plan since it would most likely result in touching. So she marched into his room. Once she'd put some space between them she motioned for him to get on with his answer.

With a sigh, he closed the bathroom door and locked it, leaving her fuming. "That lock won't keep me out you know!" she said loudly even as she had to admit to herself that the likelihood of her breaking into the bathroom a second time while he was naked was very unlikely. She needed to keep her wits about her and checking out his ass no matter how yummy it was, wouldn't help her do that.

"You going to tell me what has your panties in a twist?" Connor demanded from the other side of the door.

"You going to tell me why the hell you took care of me?" she snapped back, ignoring the panties comment since she knew that she wasn't overreacting. The man was up to something and she wasn't leaving until she figured it out.

"I think," Connor said, opening the door and stepping into bedroom wearing only a pair of cargo khaki pants that he left unbuttoned and may have drawn her attention for a moment before her eyes roamed up over a set of well defined abs before she forced her eyes away, "that the better question is why weren't your brothers here?"

"Because I was fine," she said, waving off the comment in hopes that the man would just focus and answer her damn question so that she could go back to hating everything about him.

"Fine?" he repeated in disbelief, shaking his head as if he couldn't quite believe what she just said. "You weren't fine, Rory."

"Of course I was," she lied, but the truth was, she was grateful for Connor's help. She would have hated asking for her brother's help mostly because they wouldn't have had any clue on how to go about taking care of her. They were great brothers, but they didn't know a damn thing about taking care of anyone.

If she needed her car fixed, help moving, or a million other things she wouldn't have hesitated in asking her brothers for help, but nursemaids her brothers definitely were not. They wouldn't have the first clue as to how to take care of her.

It wasn't their fault. That's how they were raised after all. Each and every one of them was self-reliant. They learned early on how to take care of their own scraped knees and how to threaten the monster hiding in their closets with baseball bats. Their father made damn sure that they could take care of themselves and would never need or expect a handout from anyone. They knew how to manage their money, pay their bills, cook, clean and work with their hands.

She knew that if she'd asked her brothers they would have tried to help. Actually, if she'd asked her brothers they would have rushed her to the hospital, thinking that she was dying or something. No one in the James family asked for help when they were sick or hurt. It just wasn't done, which made what Connor did for her special.

No one had ever taken care of her before. It made her feel uncomfortable. She owed him and she hated that almost as much as she hated the fact that she liked being in his arms. It was unnatural and she was here to put an end to it.

He walked towards her, not stopping until they were practically chest to chest, but she didn't back down. She never would and he knew it.

"Fine?" he asked, looking down at her as if she were crazy. "You had a concussion, five bruised ribs and you broke your goddamn arm, Rory. You weren't fine and you sure as hell shouldn't have been left to fend for yourself," he snapped, sounding truly angry, which only confused her more.

"Why do you care?" she asked, propping her hands on her hips as she did her best to out glare the bastard.

"I don't," he snapped. "But I am seriously considering beating the shit out of your brothers for leaving you alone the other night. What were they thinking?"

"Well, they-" she started to defend them, but the man apparently wasn't done yet.

"You shouldn't have been left alone, Rory. They should have made sure that you had your pills and that you were okay!"

"They called several-"

"That wasn't enough!" he snapped, getting in her face and backing her up. She was so stunned by his outburst that she didn't even realize what happened until her back hit the wall and he was caging her in.

"Instead of coming over here and getting pissed at me for something your family should have done, why don't you try saying thank you, huh?" he demanded as he got right in her face and before she could tell him to back off or come to her brothers' defense his mouth was on hers, hard and demanding and god help her but she didn't want him to stop.

But he did.

Before she could do something stupid like kiss him back or wrap her arms around his neck he was pulling away, jaw clenched and he looked even more pissed than before. Without a word and before she could think beyond what just happened, he grabbed her by her shoulders and steered her out of his room and onto his patio where the cool morning air brought her to her senses.

"Thank you!" she snapped, irritated with him and pissed at herself because coming over here hadn't helped one damn bit. Instead of clearing her head of him all she wanted to do was go right back in there and kiss the bastard. That was wrong, so very, very wrong.

"You're welcome!" he snapped back before slamming the sliding glass door shut and irritating her even more. Would it really kill him to let her have the last word, she wondered as she made her way back to her patio.

"Stupid, toe curling kissing bastard," she grumbled as she marched into her room, slamming the sliding glass door shut behind her with her broken hand, which of course started a five minute owie dance and a mad search for her bottle of pain killers. By the time she popped a pill into her mouth she was no closer to figuring out what Connor was up to than she had been when she stormed over there. One way or the other she would figure out what he was up to and then she would put an end to it.