“How could you?” Rory mumbled sadly as she looked longingly down at the now-empty coffee cup where her delicious hot cocoa had once been.
“Are you ready to admit that I’m the best part of your day yet?” Connor asked, leaning back against the banister.
She glared up at him before looking back down at the empty coffee cup in her hand and then back up at him.
“Aw, shit,” Connor muttered, jumping over the banister and crouched down on his porch as she let the coffee cup go flying.
When it missed his head by a few inches, she groaned. So damn close, yet not close enough, Rory thought as it slammed into the side of his house and shattered.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to continue this conversation tomorrow night when you’re in a better mood,” Connor said, standing.
“I’ll make sure to bring plenty of coffee cups,” Rory said sweetly.
“Good,” Connor said, sauntering towards his patio doors, “because I could really go for another cup of that delicious cocoa,” he said, laughing when his beer bottle sailed through the air towards his head.
“Damn it!” She groaned when she missed again.
When the hell was her luck going to change?
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.
