Chapter 4
Connor couldn’t help grinning as he took the turn for Strawberry Manor.
His eyes darted to his rear-view mirror to check on the long line of employee trucks and equipment following him before flickering to the dashboard clock.
It was almost seven o’clock and there hadn’t been any sign of Rory or her team.
When he snuck out of his house an hour ago, he’d been shocked to find her Jeep still in the driveway.
He thought the eager little thing was going to give him a run for his money this morning, but so far, there had been nothing.
Hell, she hadn’t even rigged his truck so that it wouldn’t start this morning.
After he let the air out of her tires, he’d left for work, wondering if he even had to worry about her getting in his way after all.
As far as he was concerned, this early bird definitely caught the worm, the worm being Strawberry Manor, of course.
Clearly, he wanted this project more than Rory.
If she wanted it half as badly as he did, she would have had her beautiful ass up at the crack of dawn, getting everything set up, and making an official claim on the project.
He couldn’t wait to see her face when she realized that she’d lost.
He thought of all the different ways he could rub this in her face as he drove his truck over the broken road leading up to Strawberry Manor.
The half-mile road and parking lot would have to be replaced soon so they could get equipment and materials up here safely.
The thick brush that hugged the private road would also have to be pruned back just enough to make room for his trucks.
The client wanted to keep the trip from the road to the hotel looking beautiful.
They could cut back the trees and shrubs ten feet on each side to widen the private road. Then they could-
“Son of a bitch!” Connor shouted as the hotel and grounds came into view.
This was not happening!
This was not fucking happening!
A horn honking behind him made him realize that he’d come to a complete stop.
Cursing Rory James to hell, Connor pulled off to the side to where an impromptu parking lot had already been created and parked between two pickup trucks.
He jumped out of his truck and looked around in disbelief as his crew found parking spots.
Not only had she managed to beat him here this morning, but she also had the entire construction site set up.
Where he’d planned to place his trailer tomorrow, she had one with tan vinyl siding that looked bigger than his.
Thanks to the overgrown vegetation and uneven terrain and large equipment that they were going to need to pull this off, there was nowhere for him to place his trailer now.
He quickly took in the rest of the property.
Her trucks and equipment were lined up along the west side of the property.
There were four large dumpsters placed on each end of the mansion with a makeshift dirt road leading to the cracked parking lot.
Hell, she already had several equipment sheds set up as well as latrines.
Was that a coffee truck?
“How the hell did she do all this?” Connor muttered in disbelief as he grabbed his shit before slamming his truck door shut and made his way to that trailer that wasn’t fucking staying.
He was barely ten feet away from the trailer when the door opened and Rory James stepped out, looking innocent as she sipped what he already knew was a cup of hot cocoa.
“Good afternoon, Connor,” she said brightly with a satisfied sigh.
“It’s morning,” he bit out as he stormed past her into the rather comfortable-looking office.
“Oh, is it? It feels more like afternoon, but that probably has something to do with the fact that we’ve been here for hours,” she mused.
“I can see that,” Connor said, shooting her secretary, her male secretary he might add, a glare as he walked through what appeared to be the waiting room and into the back room that he’d figured was the office and he was right.
The office was large but not large enough. There was hardly enough room as it was for the large desk, drafting table, chairs and filing cabinets that took up the majority of the room. This wouldn’t do.
Not at all.
He turned around, not at all surprised to find the little cocoa addict leaning against the doorway, sipping the cocoa that he was tempted to snatch away from her.
“You need to have the trailer towed out of here,” Connor explained in what he thought was a reasonable tone.
“No,” she simply said.
“Move it or I’ll tow it myself!” Connor snapped.
“Not happening,” Rory said, taking a sip of her cocoa.
“Yes, it is,” he said, getting in her face.
“It’s so sad that you think that you can push me around,” Rory said, patting his cheek condescendingly before she stepped past him.
“You’re going to have to move your trailer, Rory. I need my office,” Connor bit out through clenched teeth.
“So do I,” she said.
“What for?” he demanded, tossing his shit on the small loveseat by the door.
“To work, what else?”
“To fetch my drinks and be at my beck and call?” Connor asked, shaking his head. “Nope, you don’t need an office for that. All you need is a little chair in the corner and I think we can manage that.”
“Be at your beck and call?” Rory repeated, sounding really fucking amused and pissing him off.
Why in the hell did she think that he was joking about something like that?
“Yup, and if you do a good job, I might just let you wash my truck,” Connor said, feeling generous this morning.
“How long have you been this delusional?” Rory asked as she leaned over to grab something from one of her desk drawers.
“About a month, give or take a few weeks,” Connor mumbled distractedly as he watched one of the first fantasies he’d ever had come to life.
Was he dead? Connor wondered, but quickly decided that he really didn’t care as Rory pulled off her black tee-shirt and tossed it aside like it was nothing, revealing a flat, lightly tanned stomach that he’d love to lick, kiss, and caress.
He swallowed hard as he took in the tight-fitting black sports bra with the large breasts that threatened to spill out.
He should probably care, or at least, wonder why she was stripping in front of him, but he didn’t. The only thing that mattered was that she was, in fact, stripping in front of him and none of the fantasies that he’d had over the years about her body were even close to the real thing.
“Rory, I-” her secretary started to say as he walked into the office.
With a muttered curse for interrupting his fantasy come to life, Connor shoved the man out of the room and slammed the door shut in his face before turning a glare on Rory.
She frowned at him as she pulled on a gray Shadow Construction tank top. “What was that about?”
“What the hell is wrong with you stripping in front of your employees like that?” Connor demanded, barely resisting the urge to yell at the woman.
Rory rolled her eyes as she fixed her ponytail. “It’s just a sports bra, Connor. Nothing to get excited about,” she said, and he just barely stopped himself from correcting her.
“You shouldn’t be stripping in front of your employees. What if he sues?” Connor demanded, barely reigning in his temper when all he wanted to do was throttle the woman for covering up.
“I would never sue!” her secretary yelled from behind the door. “I’m willing to sign a waiver!”
“Go away!” Connor snapped, in no mood for this bullshit. They had work to do and if Rory decided that she’d be more comfortable wearing something else, then he would just have to suck it up and be a gentleman while she changed her shirt again.
“I need to get to work,” Rory said, stepping around the desk and walked towards him, “so unless you can walk and bitch at the same time, I’d say that this conversation is over.”
Connor leaned back against the door, blocking her only exit.
“You’re not leaving until we get a few things settled.
” He crossed his arms over his chest as he glared down at her, hoping that for once in her life that she’d act like a woman and be intimidated enough to do as he asked, but of course, he was an idiot for even considering it.
With a small sigh, she reached up and latched onto both of his nipples and twisted.
Shit!
That was definitely one trick that he hadn’t showed her.
No doubt she’d learned that from watching her brothers beat the shit out of each other over the years.
Biting back a pained groan, Connor quickly moved to the side, deciding that he’d let her have this round.
When he was well out of the way of the door, she gave him a smug little smile and another twist that threatened to drop him to his knees before releasing him.
With a satisfied sigh, Rory grabbed a tool belt off the small couch and put it on as she sauntered out of the room. When the pain in his nipples subsided, he went after her. He caught up with her at the coffee truck.
“That was a violation of the code, woman!” Connor bit out, barely resisting the urge to grab a handful of ice and press it against his poor abused nipples. The woman fought dirty and he’d been a fool to forget that.
A little smile tugged at her lips at the reminder of the “Code.” Neither one of them had been happy to call a temporary truce to their war, but they’d had no choice after the eighth-grade dinner dance when things may have gone a little too far.
No matter what the cops said, he really didn’t think that what happened had warranted the two of them being placed in adjoining cells all night.
Yeah, everyone left the gymnasium screaming, there were one or two dozen minor injuries, but he really didn’t think what they did justified being charged with inciting a riot.
It had all been a simple misunderstanding that had gone horribly wrong.
So, while they’d waited in their cells for their parents to kill them, well, her father to kill her and his mother to bail him out, they’d come up with a few rules to help avoid a repeat of that night. They’d come up with the “Code.”
“Your nipples are not protected by the code,” Rory simply said as she grabbed the last Milky Way and a bottle of water from the coffee truck and stepped in line to pay the cashier.
“Well, they are now,” Connor said, deciding that it was better late than never to protect his poor nipples.
“Sorry, veto,” Rory said with a shrug, not sounding sorry at all as she paid for her snack and drink.
Damn. He’d forgotten about the veto rule.
They were only allowed to change the code if they both agreed.
Well, that was fine with him, Connor decided as he snagged her candy bar out of her hand and ripped it open as he headed towards the large hotel to make sure that Andrew was able to get all his men set up.
“Give me that back,” Rory demanded as she walked by his side, not trying to attack him for the candy bar, he noted with satisfaction. She was trying to keep up a professional appearance for the job. That was fine with him, but only because it worked for him.
“Nope,” Connor said, taking a huge bite out of her candy bar. Maybe it was just him, but food stolen from Rory always tasted so damn good. Even those plain peanut butter sandwiches he used to steal from her when they were in preschool had been out of this world.
“Bastard,” Rory muttered as she opened her bottle of water and went to take a sip, but of course, the chocolate had made him thirsty, so he swiped it out of her hand and chugged it.
“Shouldn’t you be hauling your little ass back to the office and arranging for your trailer to be removed?” Connor asked as they headed towards her brothers and his men, who appeared to be arguing.
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” Rory said dryly as she moved past him.
His eyes dropped to her heart-shaped ass and he just barely bit back a groan that would probably get his ass kicked by at least two of her brothers.
“What’s the problem?” Rory demanded as she neared the men.
“Tell your men to get out of our way so we can get some work done,” David, a man he may have mistakenly promoted, snapped at Rory.
As one, all five of her brothers stepped forward as they scowled down at the much smaller man. “Watch how you talk to our sister,” Bryce said softly, but the threat was clear.
David noticeably swallowed as he took a healthy step back.
He shot a look of panic Connor’s way and as much as he’d love to start shit just to piss Rory off, he couldn’t.
He needed to keep the James brothers happy if he was going to have any chance at getting them to come work for him when this project was finished.
“With our companies working together, this might become a little difficult,” Connor said to Rory, but his eyes were on the James brothers, who looked more than eager to teach his foreman a lesson.
That was one thing he’d learned early on, the James brothers had a zero-tolerance policy when it came to their sister.
They’d never gone after him, but that was only because Rory thought she could handle him.
Sad, but true.
“Until we figure things out, David and the rest of my supervisors are going to check in with Craig and his men since they were here first and have a better understanding of what requires immediate attention,” Connor said, shocking everyone into silence.
Rory frowned, but he didn’t really care what she thought.
As long she stayed out of his way and fetched his drinks and food, he would tolerate her presence.
David looked pissed and ready to argue, but he didn’t really care about that either.
The only thing that he cared about was the five large men sharing questioning looks.
He knew that they hadn’t expected him to give in so easily. Hell, they probably expected shouting, arguments, and a lot of bullshit, but they wouldn’t get any of that. He wanted these men to come work for him and what better way to convince them to do that than by letting them start now?