Chapter 7
First his poor defenseless nipples and now his ass, Connor thought with disgust as he barely resisted the urge to rub the sore spot on his ass as he narrowed a glare on Rory’s retreating back.
If that wasn’t bad enough, her men were already causing problems for his men and cutting into the workday with their bullshit.
Oh, she was going to pay for this shit.
When his eyes landed on her old man, he knew exactly how to get the little brat back and out of his hair.
As long as he had the use of her men and equipment, he’d be able to get this project done on time.
What he didn’t need was the little pain in the ass getting in his way and he knew just the man to help him.
If there was one thing that he knew about Mr. James, besides the fact that the man absolutely hated him, it was that he took the job seriously.
Everyone in town knew Mr. James didn’t believe in bullshit at work and he stressed that rule big time on his kids.
It didn’t exactly take a genius to figure out that Mr. James was pretty pissed about what just went down, so of course, he had to cash in on that.
“If you can’t handle your men, then I suggest that you find someone that can,” Connor said to her back, loving the way that she suddenly went tense and stumbled over her own two feet.
He wasn’t at all surprised when she threw a murderous glare over her shoulder or mouthed a few unpleasant words in his direction as her father’s scowl intensified.
“We have a deadline that we need to make and we’re not going to be able to do that unless you get your men organized and under control,” Connor said firmly as he sent Mr. James a nod of acknowledgment before he headed off to see what his men were up to and, of course, to hide his shit-eating grin.
Was it wrong that he enjoyed making Rory’s life a living hell? He really didn’t think so. In fact, Connor decided that until he was able to get rid of the little pain in the ass, that he was going to enjoy every minute of this.
“This is a big project,” her father reminded her with a pointed look. “Maybe you should step aside and let one of your brothers handle this just to make sure that it’s done right,” he said, making her swallow hard at the realization that even after all these years, she still wasn’t good enough.
Why she thought landing this project would mean anything to him, she didn’t know.
She was neither a daughter nor a son in his eyes, but something in between.
When she was little, Rory hadn’t been girly enough to be treated like a daughter, and growing up, she hadn’t exactly been boyish enough to be treated like a son.
Nothing she did ever seemed to be good enough for him.
When she was a kid, she’d busted her ass just as hard as her brothers, but instead of telling her that she did a good job, he simply grunted and told her that she needed to move her ass faster.
When she’d mastered the skilsaw and far surpassed even his abilities, he’d made her practice more.
It never seemed to matter what she did, he always found a reason to push her harder. Nothing she did ever made him happy.
When she started Shadow Construction, she thought that he’d be happy that she was following in his footsteps, but instead of being proud of her, he’d sighed heavily and suggested that perhaps she should go work for one of her brothers instead.
Her brothers had all gone eerily silent at their father’s announcement.
Then, one by one, they’d each told her that they’d be working for her and that she damn well better not try bossing them around or they’d kick her ass.
It was one of the sweetest things her brothers had ever done for her.
“I have it under control, Dad,” Rory said, forcing herself to sound casual when all she wanted to do was scream at him.
“This is a big project, Rory,” he mused as his eyes shifted to follow the life-ruining bastard as he walked away. “Maybe you should let Connor take the lead,” he said, shocking the ever-loving hell out of her.
She couldn’t believe how much it hurt to hear her father say that.
It was one thing to constantly have him second-guess her, but another for him to suggest that the one person on earth that he knew that she couldn’t stand should take over her dream project.
In that moment, Rory realized something, in her father’s eyes, she might not be good enough, but Connor was.
“He’s got a great reputation and as much as I hate to say this, his work is some of the best that I’ve ever seen.
The boy has talent, Rory, and maybe it would be for the best if you let him take the lead on this one,” her father said, stunning her into silence because really, what else was there to say?
“Where’s your sister?” Connor asked as he stepped into the once impressive kitchen but now, was sadly nothing more than a room full of broken tile, trash, and debris now.
None of the James brothers looked at him, never mind paused in demolishing the large room.
That really didn’t surprise him since the whole family seemed to hate him.
Not that he could really blame them. He did seem to go out of his way to make Rory’s life a living hell.
He was actually surprised that none of them had tried to kill him yet.
“She’s checking the attic,” came the deep voice that used to give him nightmares when he was a kid.
“She shouldn’t be up there by herself,” Connor said, ignoring the disbelieving snorts from her brothers.
“Oh? And why’s that?” Mr. James asked in a bored tone as he crossed his large arms of his over his chest while he considered him through blue eyes that matched his daughter’s.
“Because she could get hurt,” Connor said, only to have the James boys laugh their asses off. “She’s also getting in the way and holding back this project,” he said firmly, never taking his eyes off the large man in front of him.
He wasn’t an idiot after all.
“Oh, puhlease,” Brian said, chuckling. “You’re acting like she’s some chick.”
Connor blinked. “Because she is,” he said slowly, wondering what the hell was wrong with these men. Of course, her brothers laughed while Mr. James considered him with a hard glint in his eyes.
What in the hell was wrong with them? They overprotected her everywhere else in life except for when they should.
Hell, it was taking everything he had not to run up to the attic and drag her ass away from his job site before she got hurt.
She had no fucking business being here. He had several women working for him that could easily keep up with the men, but Rory. ..
For some reason, he just couldn’t stomach the idea of her doing this. He didn’t want to see the stubborn pain in the ass hurt. Sure, he liked to torture her and make her life a living hell for his own entertainment, but he never did any permanent damage and that was really all that mattered.
This was the biggest project of his career and if he could pull it off it would mean bigger and better things for Highland Construction, but that wouldn’t be happening as long as Rory James was around.
He still needed her men and Shadow Construction’s equipment if he had any hope of finishing this project on time.
With an inward sigh, Connor realized that he was going to have to make her life a living hell.
“Sunday,” Mr. James said, interrupting his thoughts.
“Sunday, what?” Connor asked, unable to hide his confusion even as he noted the looks of shock on the James brothers’ faces. They’d all stopped working to stare at their father in disbelief.
“Dad, you can’t be serious,” Johnny finally said.
Mr. James never took his cold eyes away from Connor as he addressed his sons.
“Last time I checked, I was still head of this family and if I decide that Connor needs to join us this Sunday, then he’s going to join us,” he said firmly, giving Connor the impression that he wasn’t exactly being asked to come, but commanded.
Since this actually worked in his favor, Connor didn’t argue. “What’s happening on Sunday?”
“Every Sunday, rain or shine, we go fishing as a family at six,” Mr. James said, only to narrow his eyes as he added, “no women allowed. We take our fishing seriously. If you bring a woman, you better make sure that she knows that she stays at the house with the rest of them. While we’re fishing, you can tell me about the plans that you have for this old house. ”
He nodded even as he thought that over. He’d be able to get her old man on his side and work on starting to convince the James brothers that their lives would be so much better if they came to work for him without having to worry about Rory getting in the way.
This could definitely work for him, Connor thought as he looked at the men in question and had to bite back a smile.
Oh yeah, the James boys were as good as his.
“We’re having Dad committed,” Bryce said as he climbed up the rickety old stairs to the huge attic that she had plans for.
The client wanted the roof fixed, a new attic floor, fix the stairs and update the utilities, but they were passing up a golden opportunity with this space and she was going to convince them to allow her to turn it into three large luxury suites.
It was going to be her signature touch to the hotel, the thing that drew people to this hotel, and it was going to be Shadow Construction that got all the glory.
She had a meeting set for this Friday with the hopes of convincing the board to stretch their budget just a little more to accommodate her dreams.
While other little girls dreamed about their wedding, Rory had dreamed about what she would do if she ever got a chance to work on Strawberry Manor, and now that she had the chance, she was going to make sure that it lived up to her dreams.
“Did you hear me? I said we’re having Dad committed,” Bryce said as he carefully stepped on the plywood, she’d laid down so that they didn’t have to worry about falling through the floor and glared at her.
“I heard you,” Rory mumbled absently as she took in the ceiling and frowned when she spotted the structural beams that were going to have to be replaced.
She’d hoped that they could salvage some of the beams to cut costs, but it looked like they were going to have to tear the entire roof off and start from scratch.
Actually, that could work for her because-
“Don’t you even want to know what he did?”
“Nope, just tell me where to sign,” Rory said, wondering if she would be able to convince some of Connor’s men to do a little side work for her, only the ones that met her standards, of course.
She didn’t tolerate sloppy work and she sure as hell wouldn’t tolerate anything but the best on this project.
Unfortunately, she already had a feeling that she was going to need her guys to double-check Highland Construction’s work.
“You really don’t care?”
“Not at all,” Rory said as she considered using skylight windows and just as quickly dismissed the idea.
The whole point of this project was to give it that eighteenth-century feel and placing modern skylights on the roof would wreck the effect.
No, it was better to go with her original plan, she decided.
“Fine. Then, I won’t tell you,” Bryce said, clearly fighting back a smile as he crossed his massive arms over his chest.
“Uh-huh,” Rory mumbled absently, earning a grumble from her brother.
“Shouldn’t you be working?” Rory asked as she checked her watch. It was a quarter to five. Not that she’d planned on calling it a night anytime soon and she doubted that her brothers would either. They’d probably put in another three or four hours until hunger forced them to head home.
“Probably,” Bryce mused.
“Is there a reason why you’re not?” Rory asked as she turned to face him.
He shrugged. “We wanted to know if you wanted us to handle Connor’s men the next time that they pulled any bullshit or just let him deal with it,” Bryce said, reminding her of the earlier mutiny that she’d been forced to handle in front of their father.
“What the hell happened?” Rory asked as she grabbed her bottle of water off the make-shift floor. “And more importantly, why didn’t you guys handle it?”
Bryce gave her a “duh” look as he said, “We had our hands full with the fire inspector.”
“The fire inspector was here?” When he nodded, she could only stare at him as she asked, “Why didn’t anyone come get me?”
“Because they were all fighting over petty bullshit. It wouldn’t have been that bad, but Connor’s foremen are incompetent and started bitching about who was in charge.
We got sick of their bullshit and decided to let them beat the shit out of each other while we made sure that we weren’t shut down. ”
She bit back a groan. Being shut down this early in the game would kill their schedule. They needed to get off the ground running. “Did he shut us down?” Rory asked, worrying her bottom lip between her lip as she struggled not to panic.
Bryce snorted. “He almost did, but lucky for you, Dad showed up.”
“Shit.”
“Yup, seems the fire inspector wasn’t too happy having to jump out of the way of the morons shoving each other.
Lucky for you that Dad took him aside and convinced him to ignore the bullshit.
He’s coming back Monday, so I suggest that you and Connor come to some sort of an agreement before this bullshit gets us shut down. ”
Rory sighed heavily as she ran her hands down her face. “I don’t want to have to deal with Connor. Can you do it?” she asked, knowing that she was whining and not really caring.
Bryce chuckled as he reached out and hooked his arm around her neck, pulling her tightly against his side as they headed for the stairs. “Relax, Rory. I don’t think it will be that bad.”
“But I hate him,” she mumbled pathetically. “He makes my life a living hell.”
“I know, but if it makes you feel any better, I think that you do a better job of making his life a living hell,” Bryce assured her.
Well, that was something, Rory thought as she carefully stepped over a missing step.
“At least you’ll probably get a break for the next five months from all of his bullshit,” Bryce said, sounding hopeful. “He’ll be too busy with this project to give you a second thought.”
“Oh, I’m sure that I can make time for you,” Connor drawled from the bottom of the stairs.
Their gazes locked, and in that moment, she knew, just knew that there would never be a break from the daily bullshit.
In fact, if that wink he sent her way before he sauntered off was any indication, she could count on it getting worse and there wasn’t a damn thing that she could do to stop it.