Chapter 13
“What the hell did I just do?” Connor muttered as he leaned back against his truck.
Bunny barked his answer, finishing it off with a growl of disapproval.
He sighed heavily even as he nodded his agreement. “Exactly. Women fuck with your head, buddy. Remember that,” Connor told the dog who’d given up his search for the perfect spot to mark five minutes ago so that he could make sure that Connor didn’t do anything to piss off his mommy.
“It was a dumb move,” Connor felt compelled to say as he scrubbed his hands down his face, wishing like hell that he could take the kiss back almost as much as he wished that he’d never let her go.
There was no denying that he wanted Rory, had since the first moment he saw her, but he’d always known that there would never be anything between them.
This strange relationship of theirs pretty much guaranteed it.
Even knowing that there would never be anything between them hadn’t stopped him from fantasizing about her over the years.
There probably weren’t many men in town that hadn’t fantasized about taking Rory James to bed.
She was a beautiful, desirable, incredibly sexy woman and he would have been concerned if he hadn’t been attracted to her.
It didn’t matter how badly he wanted her though, there would never be anything between them.
There was just too much history and bullshit between them to take things further, but apparently, that hadn’t stopped him from doing something incredibly stupid like kissing her.
One minute, he wanted to take her over his knee, and the next, he wanted her in his bed and before he could stop himself, he’d kissed her.
He’d never been a big fan of kissing before.
It was one of those things that he did to get a woman to spread, but with Rory, he could have happily kissed her all day.
Her lips were warm, soft, and felt so damn good against his that it had taken everything he had not to tilt his head and deepen the kiss.
He wanted to do that and more, but he knew that she would never let it happen.
Rory James didn’t want him and the knowledge managed to knock some sense into him.
It also hadn’t hurt that she hadn’t kissed him back.
She was probably going to kick him in the balls for that lapse in judgment the next time that she saw him, which would probably be any minute now, Connor mused as he glanced down at his watch.
It was almost six in the morning and if they didn’t move their asses, they’d be late for work.
Maybe he should do his poor balls a favor and let her fend for herself, but just as quickly as the thought flashed through his head, he shoved it away.
Her arm was broken and she really had no business driving.
His gaze shifted to her Jeep and he considered yanking a few cables out of the engine to take the choice out of her hands, but knowing Rory, she probably had some backups in the garage.
Then again, she might have called one of her brothers to pick her up, Connor realized as he shot a look down both ends of the quiet street.
When he didn’t spot one of their trucks coming their way, he settled back against his truck door and waited.
A few minutes later, Rory came walking out of her house with a backpack slung over her left shoulder and a large metal thermos that was no doubt filled to the brim with hot chocolate in her good hand.
When she spotted him leaning against his truck, she noticeably swallowed.
Was that a blush creeping up her beautiful face?
It was hard to tell in the early morning light, but he was pretty sure that it was a blush.
Great, he thought dryly. She was embarrassed about what happened.
Nothing like the woman who hated you finding out that you wanted her.
He’d been a fucking idiot to think that she’d settle for kicking him in the balls, although she still might.
She was probably going to use her newfound knowledge to bring him to his knees and make him wish that she’d just taken it out on his poor balls.
He really was a fucking idiot, Connor decided as he walked over to her.
“What do you want?” Rory asked cautiously as she continued making her way over to her Jeep.
With a sigh, Connor gestured to his truck. “I’m driving you to work this morning.”
She shook her head stubbornly. “No need. As you can see, I got my Jeep back,” Rory said, giving him a pointed look. “Turns out that there was a glitch in the system.”
He simply shrugged it off. “You can’t drive with a broken arm, Rory,” he pointed out.
“I’m pretty sure that I can,” the stubborn woman said.
Connor prayed for patience as he stopped himself from throwing her over his shoulder and tossing her ass in the back of his truck.
“You just broke your arm, Rory. It probably still hurts, which means that you probably took a painkiller and you shouldn’t be driving,” he explained with forced patience.
Rory paused a few feet away from her Jeep, pursing her lips up as she thought it over. Finally, with a heavy sigh, she reluctantly nodded. “I’ll call one of my brothers for a ride,” she said, placing the thermos on the hood of her Jeep so that she could dig around in her bag for her cellphone.
“No need,” Connor said, snatching up her thermos and headed for his truck, knowing that’s all it would take to get her to follow him and sure enough, it worked.
“Hey! Give that back!” Rory snapped as she followed him, but of course, he just ignored her as he walked around the truck and opened the passenger door for her.
“Get in or I drink it,” he promised.
With a glare, she snatched the thermos out of his hand and climbed in. When he tried to help her with her seatbelt, she slapped his hands away. He let it go since she hadn’t rubbed the kiss in his face yet and quickly made his way around the truck and climbed in.
She didn’t say anything as he started the truck and backed out of the long driveway.
Maybe the kiss hadn’t meant anything to her and she’d already forgotten about it, he half-hoped, inwardly cringing as he drove towards the site.
Then again, maybe she was just waiting until her brothers were around so that they could get in a good laugh at his expense.
He opened his mouth to ask her about it, but snapped his mouth shut.
If she was willing to pretend that it never happened, then so was he.
“Can I ask you something?” Rory asked, destroying all his hopes that she’d forgotten about his little act of stupidity.
“No.”
Of course, she ignored him and asked anyway. “Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked, confusing the hell out of him.
“What are you talking about?” Connor asked as he held back a sigh of relief. As long as she didn’t talk about the kiss, they could have any asinine conversation that she wanted.
“What do you mean by ‘what am I talking about’?” Rory demanded, sounding frustrated. “You took care of me after I fell, held my hand, kept my brothers from making things worse, spent the last couple of days playing nursemaid to me and you really have to ask what I’m talking about?”
Connor shook his head as he took a turn onto Slade Road, a normally busy road, but at this time of morning, there were only a few cars on the road.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” he said, wondering why she was latching onto it.
Obviously, it was bugging the shit out of her if it had driven her to break into his house this morning.
“It’s a very big deal!” she snapped.
“Why?” Connor demanded, taking his eyes off the road so that he could look at her.
“Because you’re confusing me!”
He had to chuckle at that. “You’re acting like no one’s ever been nice to you before, Rory,” Connor said, only realizing after the words left his mouth that there might be some truth in that. The dark blush that stained her cheeks and the way that she suddenly averted her eyes only confirmed it.
“That’s bullshit, Rory,” Connor said as he thought it over, trying to think of someone or something that would prove her wrong.
He knew that her family loved her, adored her, but they tended to treat her like a weaker brother.
The only time that they really watched out for her was when some guy stepped over the line, and then, they simply beat the shit out of the loser.
Her father was pretty much the same way.
From what he’d seen over the years, the man obviously cared for her, but he didn’t seem to have a clue about how to show it.
There was no point in asking about boyfriends since he knew that they either treated her like shit or like a fuck buddy.
He’d never seen anyone act sweet on Rory.
Sure, they’d flirted with her and were obviously attracted to her, but they’d never treated her like she was anything special.
While other women were treated to romantic dates, jewelry, gifts, and expensive meals, Rory was given sensible gifts, brought out for a beer or a burger and treated like a guy.
They were all fucking idiots.
Rory deserved to be pampered, spoiled, and worshiped, and any man that was lucky enough to earn her notice should make sure that he did all of those things and more.
He didn’t give a damn what she wore, she was still one hundred percent woman and should be treated like one.
He’d never gone out of his way for any of his ex-girlfriends, but at least he’d treated them a hell of a lot better than any of Rory’s old boyfriends had treated her.