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?
Chapter 5
“What are you doing?”
Rory didn’t bother looking at Connor while she said, “Working. What does it look like?”
“It looks like you’re getting in the way of my men.”
She stopped what she was doing and looked pointedly around the large roof where four of her brothers were checking for weak spots and marking the area.
