Checkmate anfh-3

by R. L. Mathewson

  * * *

  “Hands off, woman!” Trevor demanded, but she ignored him as she shoved him back against the brick wall. She threw a warning glare at Jason as the man tried to step away and head for the warehouse that promised unlimited free samples.

  She pointed her finger from one man to the other as she leveled a hard glare on them. “I am not going to jail for the two of you so listen up and listen good. You are only allowed to hit each sample cart ten times and that’s it.”

  “You bitch!” Trevor and Jason gasped in outrage.

  Ignoring them, she continued. “And while we’re at it, let’s get to the other rules.”

  “Rules?” Trevor repeated slowly, his eyes narrowing to slits on her.

  “You are not allowed to eat in any of the restaurants in town or within twenty miles of the town unless I am there with you.” At that announcement, Jason’s eyes narrowed on her, too. “Also, you are not to buy anything that requires you to show your driver’s license. If you hit the grocery store, you’re each limited to one carriage full. You can order in, but you’re only allowed to order enough for six people.”

  “I’ve always hated you,” Jason bit out in a huff as he turned his back on her and headed for the double doors of the warehouse.

  “Ditto,” Trevor said even as he threw his arm around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze or a warning, she wasn’t sure. The warning wouldn’t exactly surprise her since she’d basically just put them on a strict diet.

  As they walked through the double doors, she pulled her club membership card out of her pocket, hoping against hope that the ban the manager threatened them with seven months ago was just a warning. She really hoped it was, otherwise they were going to have problems keeping her cousins fed enough to follow her rules.

  She really didn’t want to spend another night in jail.

  “Good evening and welcome to Sam’s Club. Can I see your card please?” the smiling greeter holding the clipboard asked as they approached the entrance.

  “Of course,” she said, making sure to give the man a flirty smile, praying that he just gave her card a quick glance and let them be on their way.

  Before she could hand her card over, a large tan hand covered her good hand and stopped her.

  “They’re with me,” Connor said, holding her hand by his side as he handed over his card.

  “You folks have a good evening,” the greeter said, still smiling as he handed Connor’s card back.

  “You too,” Connor said, giving her hand a slight tug, effectively pulling her away from Trevor’s side so that she was walking with him. She heard her cousin’s amused chuckle, but ignored it as she walked with Connor to the oversized carriages.

  Once she was sure that they were out of earshot of the greeter, she asked, “What the hell was that all about?”

  Connor let out a long suffering sigh as he pulled a carriage loose. “You’re banned, Rory.”

  “I know that, but so are you, so what was that all about?” she asked, giving him a gentle shove out of the way and stealing his carriage.

  “I didn’t get banned, baby,” he said, swooping in and giving her a swift kiss as he deftly stole the carriage back, “only you did.”

  “How the hell is that possible?” she demanded, gesturing wildly towards the automotive department. “You were the one that started it!”

  His answer was a chuckle as he walked away and she considered running him down with a carriage for old time’s sake.

  “You got banned from a warehouse?” Trevor asked, coming up to her right side as Jason joined her on the left.

  “What kind of loser gets banned from a warehouse?”

  Chapter 31

  “Ow! Stop hitting us!” Trevor snapped, grabbing Jason and shoving him towards the slap happy Rory as the woman let loose on the men that turned her yearlong ban into a lifetime ban in less than twenty minutes.

  “How many samples did I tell you that you could have?” she demanded as she moved to kick Jason in the shin, but before she could make contact, Connor had her in his arms and over his shoulder. That didn’t seem to slow her down, not at all.

  “How many?” she demanded when her cousins didn’t answer her fast enough.

  “Ten,” they muttered sheepishly.

  “And how many did you take?”

  The men muttered their answers. Not that it mattered. Rory was too busy flipping out to actually listen to them. “You scared the hell out of everyone in that warehouse! You made men and women cry and run screaming for their lives! And thanks to you, my photo now hangs in front of the building next to the Recall Notice board, you greedy bastards!”

  “Hey! It’s not our fault that those samples were so damn yummy!” Jason snapped back.

  “We wouldn’t have had any problems if they hadn’t been so fucking cheap with the portions!” Trevor added.

  “That’s it. Put me down. I’m going to kill them,” Rory demanded as she struggled to escape from his hold, but he’d been prepared for her escape attempt and kept his arm firmly locked around her.

  He looked past the two pouting men towards the front of the warehouse where the manager and about twenty employees stood on the sidewalk, watching them warily. No doubt they’d already called the police. Not that he could blame them, but he really didn’t want to deal with having to tackle Rory when she went for the cop’s billy club to beat the shit out of her cousins.

  “Listen,” he said, pulling his keys out of his pocket and tossing them to Jason. “There’s an all you can eat buffet about thirty-five miles from here.”

  The two men’s pouts instantly disappeared as a predatory gleam took over. “We’re listening,” Trevor said, focusing on him.

  “It’s in Haverville. There’s a map book in the truck. The restaurant is on Copper Street. They close down at one in the morning so that should hold you over and keep you out of trouble.” Rory snorted at that announcement, not that he could blame her.

  “Let yourselves into the house and be ready to work your asses off by five,” he said, determined to keep her cousins busy and out of his way.

  He wasn’t an idiot. He knew why they were here. They were definitely here to help them with Strawberry Manor, but he knew that the main reason for their presence was him and Rory. It wasn’t difficult to guess that her brothers were behind this one. They probably thought their cousins would manage to scare him off. They wouldn’t, but he appreciated the effort.

  That didn’t mean that he’d put up with this bullshit. He’d keep her cousins busy with work and food so that they didn’t come between him and Rory. He had less than five months to convince Rory to spend the rest of her life with him and he wasn’t about to let anyone fuck that up.

  “Put me down, Connor. I need to kick their asses,” Rory demanded, but he simply ignored her as he headed for her Jeep.

  “You can kick their asses later, Rory. Right now we have to get out of here before the cops show up,” he said, placing her on her feet and stealing her keys out of her pocket. He had the door open and her inside before she could put up much of a fight. Not that he expected her to put up much of a fight, not with the police on the way. They’d been in this situation enough times to know that it was time to haul ass.

  “Fine,” she said, sounding tired as she buckled up. “Can we please stop for a cup of hot chocolate before we head home?”

  “That’s a good idea,” he said, not mentioning that he’d already planned on doing just that.

  To be honest, he was exhausted as well. It had been a very long night and it was barely eight-thirty. All he wanted to do was enjoy this quiet time with Rory, steal her hot cocoa and hold her in his arms for the rest of the night, but he knew that the night wasn’t over quite yet. There were a few things that they needed to clear up before any misunderstandings formed and screwed with his plans to make Rory his wife.

  Keeping his eyes on the road, he reached over and carefully took Rory’s broken hand into his. When he felt his ring o
n her finger he couldn’t help but smile. It had been a long time coming and to be honest, he never really expected this day to come. Granted, he had to earn her agreement to marry him, but he would. Now that he knew that she cared about him, nothing was going to stop him, not even the stubborn woman that he loved.

  “We’ll move your stuff into my room tomorrow night,” he said quietly, hoping that she was too exhausted from the hell her cousins put her through to catch what he said, but of course this wasn’t going to be easy.

  “Why would I do that?” Rory asked, pulling her hand away from his so that she could toy with her new ring.

  “I just thought it would be easier,” he said offhandedly as he took a right on Oak Street.

  “Why would that be easier?”

  “I just thought it would be easier if you started to move in with me now. That way we wouldn’t have to worry about moving you out and selling your house after we get married,” he calmly explained as he pulled into Brennigan’s parking lot.

  “Ah, I’m not selling my house, Connor and I’m not moving in with you,” Rory stubbornly argued.

  “Rory,” he said, sighing heavily as he shut the Jeep down, “keeping two houses after we get married doesn’t make sense. I suppose we could rent it out, but that’s a pain in the ass.”

  “I love my house, Connor. I’m not selling it,” Rory said, shooting him a glare as she threw open her door and jumped out.

  He chuckled darkly as he climbed out of the truck. “I know that you don’t expect me to sell my house,” he said, shutting the door behind him and moving to join her on the sidewalk.

  “That’s exactly what I expect if you want me to marry you,” Rory said with a shrug, effectively dismissing him and headed for the small coffee shop, leaving him to trail after her as he did his best to reign in his temper.

  He should sell his house?

  Bullshit.

  That was not happening. He’d worked his ass off for that house. He’d taken on extra jobs to pay for it and to fix it up. Did she have any idea how hard he worked to restore his house? She had help, he hadn’t. He’d worked his ass off and he wasn’t about to sell his house. But for now, he’d drop it. There was plenty of time to deal with the simple misunderstanding after they were married. Right now it was more important that he convinced her to take a chance on him and if that meant biting his lip and keeping his mouth shut until she was his, then that’s exactly what he was going to have to do.

  * * *

  “Large hot chocolate?” Beth, the senior barista, asked as Rory stepped up to the counter.

  “Make it an extra-large please,” Rory said, pulling a ten dollar bill out of her pocket and tossing it on the counter. “I’ll be right back,” she said, fighting back a yawn as she headed for the bathroom.

  As soon as she got home, she was going straight to bed. She’d deal with Connor and her cousins tomorrow. Normally she’d be worried that her cousins were hitting a buffet so close to home, but tonight she just didn’t have the energy to care. She’d worry about how she was going to keep them in line tomorrow. Tonight she was-

  “Oh my God, did you hear the news?” a vaguely familiar feminine voice asked, sounding excited and drawing Rory’s attention as she went to push open the women’s bathroom door. She looked down the small hallway and realized that she was alone and that she was hearing a private conversation coming from the manager’s office behind her. Deciding that it was none of her business and that she really didn’t care about the latest town gossip, she moved to open the bathroom door when the next words stopped her dead in her tracks.

  “Connor proposed to Rory!” the excited woman practically squealed, making Rory cringe as her eyes shot down to the ring on her finger. She should have taken it off before she went out. She cursed softly when she realized that her father and brothers probably already heard the news. That was just great.

  “No, he didn’t,” a voice that she knew all too well said, laughing off the news.

  Cindy, one of the most annoying women in town, was unfortunately the manager of this place. Not because she had a degree, had experience or had worked her way up to the position. No, Cindy became the manager of the best coffee shop in the area for one very simple reason, she screwed old man Webster.

  Rumor had it that old man Webster called Cindy into his office on her very first day, within the very first hour because customers and staff alike complained about her attitude and inability to get off her ass and do anything. As soon as old man Webster finished firing her, Cindy started negotiations to keep her job and kept it up until Mr. Webster stumbled out of his office a half hour later, smiling and looking more relaxed than he had in years. Cindy walked out of the office looking smug and still very much employed. A year later, Cindy was the manager and still hadn’t served a single cup of coffee and Mr. Webster no longer bothered coming to the coffee shop since Cindy started making house calls. Normally she didn’t pay attention to rumors, but a few years ago she’d walked in on Cindy giving the owner of the Donut Shack a reason to smile.

  “Megan called and told me that she saw Connor and Rory at Sam’s Club and that Rory was wearing this really tiny diamond engagement ring.”

  “So?” Cindy demanded with a sneer.

  “So? So, everyone knows that she’s been dating Connor! What do you mean so? This is huge! It’s also so sweet!” the other women gushed. “Don’t you think it’s sweet? I wonder how long they’ve been in love.”

  Cindy let out an indelicate snort as she demanded, “And what makes you think that they’re in love?”

  “How could you miss the way he looks at her?” the other woman asked, sounding confused.

  “Oh, and just how does he look at her?” Cindy demanded, mockingly.

  There was a slight pause before the other woman answered, “Like she’s everything that he’d ever dreamed of and he can’t quite believe she’s real.”

  “Oh my God, you’ve been reading too many of those romance novels! He doesn’t look at her like she’s anything special!” Cindy said with a sneer.

  “You’re the only one that doesn’t see it then.”

  “Really? If he loves her so damn much then why did he fuck me last week?” Cindy demanded.

  Rory stood there for another moment, feeling numb and barely registering the rest of the private conversation as her mind worked through everything she’d heard. When she settled on a decision, she turned around and walked back down the hall to confront Connor.

  * * *

  When he saw Rory walk out from the back hall, looking determined and pissed he knew that he was in deep shit. That was confirmed when Rory ignored the cashier trying to hand over an extra-large hot cocoa and headed for the door, not even looking at him as she passed him.

  “Great,” he muttered, sighing heavily as he walked over to the counter and took the hot cocoa from the stunned cashier, who was probably wondering if hell had frozen over. Everyone in town knew that hot cocoa was Rory’s weakness and as far as he knew, she’d never passed up a cup.

  He couldn’t exactly say that he was surprised to find Rory waiting for him when he stepped outside. They’d been playing this game for over twenty years so he knew by now what to expect when Rory was pissed at him and she was damn well pissed right now. That little murderous glare that she shot him as she gestured for him to follow her told him everything that he needed to know.

  She didn’t wait to make sure that he’d follow her as she walked over to her Jeep, climbed in the driver’s side and slammed the door shut behind her. Any sane man would probably walk the ten miles home instead of facing this woman’s wrath, but he was in love with this woman so that pretty much negated the sane part, at least for the moment.

  Resigning himself to whatever Rory had in store for him, he took a sip of her cocoa, walked over to the Jeep and climbed in. Without a word, he handed over her keys and settled back, sipping her cocoa as she started the Jeep and drove off. Still she didn’t speak and to be honest, he was in no ru
sh to have his ass chewed out right now. It had been a long day and an even longer night and all he wanted to do was go home, climb into bed with this cranky woman and-

  “Where are we going?” he asked when Rory suddenly took a right into their old high school’s parking lot, their old high school that had handed them each a No Trespass Order along with their diplomas on the day they graduated.

  Rory didn’t answer him as she drove around the back of the building and parked in the empty, dimly lit parking lot. He was in no mood to spend the night in jail and opened his mouth to tell her just that when she started to take her clothes off. Once she started to pull her pants down, he lost all ability to think, never mind talk.

  “You and I are going to have a little talk, Connor, and clear a few things up before I decide whether or not to take a chance on you,” Rory calmly explained as she hooked her thumbs in the sides of her panties and pulled them down, revealing chestnut curls between her legs that had his breath catching in his throat.

  “Are you going to answer my questions, Connor?” Rory asked as she straddled his lap just as she finished pulling her bra off and dropped it to the side, leaving her naked and gorgeous.

  When he didn’t respond fast enough, she settled herself comfortably on his lap and teasingly ground her pussy down against the erection that was begging to be freed from his pants. She didn’t bother asking him if he agreed again, but simply started asking her questions.

  “Do you love me?” she asked, cutting right to the chase which was part of the reason that he loved this woman. She didn’t play any of the bullshit games that other women played, didn’t use drama to get what she wanted. Granted, she was using his dick against him at the moment, but he was fine with that.

  “Yes,” he hissed out as Rory ground down hard on him.

  “Since when?” she asked, placing her bad hand on his shoulder to steady herself as she continued to rub her pussy against him, teasing him and driving him out of his fucking mind with pleasure.