“I hate to tell you this since you’re already in a bad mood,” Jacob said as he stood up and approached her.
“I’m not in a bad mood,” Rory said tightly as she narrowed her eyes on the kettle, making all sorts of mental promises to sell it for scrap metal if it didn’t hurry up so that she could make her much-needed cup of hot cocoa.
“Then, why are you having a large hot chocolate during a workday, hmm?” Jacob asked, stepping up beside her and with an amused smirk that she could have happily bitch-slapped off his face, he reached over and plugged the kettle in.
She clenched her jaw tighter as she fought against the urge to release a frustrated scream. Jacob smartly said nothing about the kettle as he leaned against the paneled wall.
“I have some bad news.”
“Does it have to do with the life-wrecking bastard?” Rory asked, wondering just how much more she could take before she lost it. The fact that the first day wasn’t even over yet and she was close to a breakdown hadn’t escaped her notice.
“No,” Jacob said, shaking his head before frowning at her. “Are you ever going to tell me why you call him that?”
“No,” Rory said evenly while she continued to direct her focus on the kettle that was just now starting to release steam.
“Alrighty then. I guess this is the part where I tell you that your father just called to let you know that he’s on his way,” Jacob said, taking a healthy step back just as Rory’s glare swung from the kettle to him.
“This is how you tell me?” she demanded in disgust.
Jacob shifted nervously under her murderous glare. “He just called.” When she looked towards the door, wondering, heck hoping that she could make a run for it before her old man came, he added, “He was on his cell phone when he called and less than two minutes away.”
She couldn’t do this. Oh, God, she really couldn’t do this. Not today. Not when Connor already had her contemplating manslaughter. Her eyes shot back to the kettle just as it began whistling. Wasting no time, Rory picked up the kettle, filled the mug and stirred until the creamy concoction was perfect. She picked it up, gave it her customary thirty-second blow and sipped.
When she felt the hot creamy chocolate go down her throat and into her stomach, some of the tension in her body disappeared. Three long sips later, she felt close to being able to face the day. By the time half the cocoa was gone, she was in her special place, the place where everything was fine and she could face anything, including Connor and a visit from her dad. By the time she finished the rest of the cocoa, she’d be able to keep this calm façade going for the rest of the day, but of course, she was going to need a second cup. She quickly made another cup and was just about to take a sip when the trailer door flew open and Connor stormed inside, looking pissed.
“I told you that I needed to talk with you,” Connor said, tossing his hardhat on one of the guest chairs as he stormed over to her. Her lips barely touched the brim of her cup when she found the large mug suddenly ripped out of her hands.
For a moment, she could only stare in disbelief as Connor drank, more like chugged, her cocoa. When he was done, he handed the empty cup back over to her and gestured for her to go into her office, but she couldn’t move. She just couldn’t.
She looked down at her empty mug as her mind struggled with the knowledge that not only had he touched her mug, but he’d also drained her hot cocoa, again. All those calm feelings she’d had a minute ago quickly vanished as she looked up and glared at the bastard who dared touch her much-needed hot cocoa.
“You...bastard,” Rory bit out slowly in a harsh whisper as she took a step towards him, quickly closing the distance between them. “Do you have any idea how much I needed that?”
“She really did,” Jacob agreed, retreating back to the safety of his desk and for good reason.
“Too bad,” Connor said, moving impossibly closer to her as he leaned down until they were practically nose-to-nose.
Her fingers flexed by her side with the need to slap that smug look off his face. Just one slap, that’s all she was asking for. She really didn’t think that she was asking for too much. Connor’s smile became knowing and the urge to slap him shifted to the need to throttle him.
“I tell you what, Rory,” he said in a seductive whisper that would probably make other women tremble with need but only managed to set her rage off another notch, “if you’re really good, I might just let you make me hot cocoa instead of just fetching my coffee.”
That was it! She was going to kill the bastard, Rory decided just as Jacob cleared his throat. She glared at Connor for ten more seconds before she shifted her glare to her assistant, who had the balls to look amused.
“I probably should remind you that your brothers said that they wouldn’t bail you out of jail again for the next three years after what happened the last time and that if you kill him, then you’ll probably lose this contract,” Jacob reminded her, which of course, was the reason that she kept him around. He kept the business running smoothly and kept her from doing anything rash, most of the time anyway.
Fortunately, today was one of those days that he managed to stop her from doing anything particularly stupid like losing the contract for Strawberry Manor because she gave into the urge to kill the bastard.
“Fine,” Rory bit out, hating the fact that she’d have to resist the urge to throttle the man until the project was done. “Then, I’m going back to work,” she said, moving to step around the jerk, but he simply shook his head, grabbed her by the arm and hauled her ass towards the office.
“Let me go!” she snapped, trying to pull her arm away, but he refused to release her.
“Not until you and I go over a few things,” Connor simply said as he opened her office door.
“Let go!”
“No.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll hold your calls,” Jacob said, sounding amused, and if she didn’t rely on the man so damn much, she would have fired him then and there, but she did, so she couldn’t.
