“No. Anything else you want to tell me, Rory?” he asked, reaching up and pushed a strand of hair away from her face.
“I hate you?” she offered with a sweet smile.
For a moment, Connor didn’t say anything as he studied her. Finally, he leaned forward and grabbed the folder he’d dropped on the desk only minutes earlier and handed it to her.
“What’s this?” Rory asked as she cautiously opened it. It was from Connor, after all.
“My bargaining chip,” he said, sounding pleased, a little too pleased for her comfort.
With a feigned casualness, she opened the envelope and pulled out paperwork. She ignored him as he shifted her on his lap and looked over the papers. With one glance, she knew that she was looking at a contract and a few seconds later, she realized that it was a contract from McGill. When her eyes landed on the third paragraph, she felt her brows pull together and her jaw pop.
“You son of a bitch!” Rory bit out with barely controlled rage as she jumped off his lap and turned on him.
“Checkmate, sweetheart,” Connor said with a wink and that sexy grin of his that had her seeing red.
“Checkmate?” Rory repeated in a strangled voice as she fought against the urge to jump him and go for those damn nipples that she was becoming so fond of. “You stole my project, you son of a bitch!”
“Did I?” Connor asked in a bored tone as he leaned back in the chair and appeared to think it over. “I think you just might be right about that, Rory,” he said with a careless shrug.
“You’ve gone too far this time, Connor,” Rory said, slamming the papers down on top of the desk as she continued to glare down at him.
“Oh, but I’m not even close to being done,” Connor drawled as he reached over and picked up the contract, making a show of looking it over.
“What are you talking about?” Rory asked, reminding herself that this was the way the game was played and that she couldn’t make her move until he’d laid out all the cards on the table. When he was done, she was grabbing her pliers and going for his balls this time.
He did a lot of horrible things over the years, but stealing her project was by far the worst thing that he’d ever done to her, besides ruining her life, that is. How was she supposed to explain to McGill that this was her project and that Connor had stolen it from her without sounding like a child and creating problems? There probably wasn’t a way to do it without destroying her reputation in the process, so she was just going to have to settle for using the pliers until Connor promised to back out of the contract so that she could take it over.
“You arranged a meeting and tried to go behind my back, altering my project. For that,” he paused, meeting her glare, “you’re going to have to pay.”
“It’s my project, Connor. I worked my ass off designing those suites and I had every right to go to McGill and present them. Those are my designs, Connor, and you had no right stealing them!”
“Do you want to yell some more or are you ready to cut the shit and get down to business?” Connor asked, and God help her, but she considered slapping that smug smile right off his face.
“Yes,” she grated out.
“The project is yours, Rory.”
“For what price?” she asked, already knowing that Connor was going to make her work her ass off for it and probably put her through hell while doing it. If she didn’t want this contract so badly, she would have just shrugged and walked off, but she did. She might have to share Strawberry Manor with the jackass that she’d mistakenly started to like, but this project was hers.
“I’m glad you asked,” he said with a heartfelt sigh that had her right eye twitching and her hand inching towards her tool belt.
“I have a few conditions, of course-”
“Of course, you do,” Rory said dryly, cutting him off.
“-but once you’ve completed them to my satisfaction, then you can start building your suites, have full use of my men and equipment and Shadow Construction will get full credit for it,” Connor explained as he watched her expectantly.
Having the use of his men, the ones she hand-selected, of course, would help as would having the use of his equipment. It would save her time and most importantly, money. This was a good deal and she’d have to be an idiot not to see that. Then again, she didn’t know what he wanted in return, so she wasn’t even sure that she could go through with it.
“And in return, you’re going to be my doting girlfriend,” he announced and just like that, he found the dealbreaker.
“I’m not sleeping with you, Connor. I’ll find another way to get my project back,” Rory said, shaking her head in disgust as she snatched the contract away from him and headed for the door. Maybe her lawyer could find a loophole, or she could just flat out sue the bastard and get an injunction to stop him from starting work on the suites. It would take time, but hopefully, she could get this cleared up in time before Strawberry Manor’s deadline.
“This has nothing to do with sex, Rory, so relax,” Connor said, making her pause as she reached the door.
“Then what is the point of this scheme of yours, Connor?” she asked, not even trying to hide her skepticism or her revulsion. This was a new low even for him.
He stood up and walked around her desk and leaned back against it as he explained, “I’m sure you’ve noticed that this relationship of ours has caused a lot of...” he pursed his lips up thoughtfully before he added, “problems.”
