“You’re welcome!” he snapped back before slamming the sliding glass door shut and pissing her off even more. Would it really have killed him to let her have the last word, Rory wondered as she made her way back to her patio.
“Stupid, toe-curling-kissing-bastard,” Rory grumbled as she marched into her room, slamming the sliding glass door shut behind her with her broken hand, which of course, started a five-minute owie dance and a mad search for her bottle of painkillers. By the time she’d popped a pill into her mouth, she was no closer to figuring out what Connor was up to than she had been when she’d stormed over there in the first place. One way or the other, she would figure out what he was up to, and then, she would put a stop to it.
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.
