This whole thing was crazy but knowing that wasn’t stopping her from wanting him. She’d never been this turned on by a man before and if she didn’t stop now, she knew that she’d cross a line and she’d end up hating herself. It didn’t matter that over this past week, she’d come to enjoy spending time with him, found him funny, charming, and surprisingly sweet. She just couldn’t push past the fact that this was the man who’d changed her entire life in one night with his typical bullshit. She was also reminded of one very important fact.
This was all just a game to him.
Not that she could or even would cry or complain about that since she was a willing participant in this game of theirs, but that didn’t change things. This didn’t mean anything and as long as she remembered that, then everything would be fine.
It would help her deal with the changes in Connor that she admittedly liked but were unnerving. He was just getting into character, Rory reminded herself as she slowly slid her tongue across his, earning a sexy growl that left her aching for more. Perhaps that was the way to look at this.
She needed to kiss, touch, and enjoy every inch of his incredible body, for their deal. Not that she was dying to run her hands over him or anything. She had to do this for the good of the project, Rory thought, releasing a little gasp of pleasure as she allowed herself to settle more comfortably onto his lap. Not only for the project but to stop the town drama, Rory reminded herself with a moan as she adjusted herself on his lap.
“Have dinner with me tonight,” Connor murmured, brushing his lips against hers as his large, warm hands ran over her back.
It actually surprised her how badly she wanted to say yes, but she couldn’t. “Can’t. I have plans tonight,” she said against his mouth because she really saw no reason to stop kissing him, so that they could have this conversation.
“Break them,” Connor said, pulling her bottom lip between his lips and gently suckling it while his hands slowly learned every inch of her back, shoulders, and arms.
“I can’t,” Rory grumbled against his lips, sounding truly disappointed, which kind of frightened her a bit so she just assumed that she was doing a wonderful job of getting into character. That was good, she thought as she ran her hands down his chest, loving the way that his crisp cotton shirt felt over his impressive chest and stomach but loving his groan a lot more than she probably should. She didn’t even think twice about releasing one of the buttons on his shirt and slipping her hand inside so that she could enjoy running her hand over his warm skin.
“You really can,” Connor said, his muscles rippling beneath her touch.
“No,” she said on a sigh when Connor broke off the kiss and trailed his mouth down her neck, “I really can’t.”
“We had a deal, Rory,” Connor said as his mouth trailed lower. The thought of stopping him never even crossed her mind as she sat up on her knees to make it easier for him. She could feel his heart start to race as his lips caressed the top swells of her breasts.
“And I’m upholding my end of the deal,” Rory managed to get out as she had to remove her hand from Connor’s chest to get it out of his way. She slipped her good hand beneath his shirt collar and held onto his shoulder as Connor kissed his way to her cleavage.
“No, you’re not,” he said hoarsely before he ran his tongue between her breasts, earning a choked, “Oh, God” from her as her grip on his shoulder tightened.
Unable to help herself, she looked down and met his beautiful emerald eyes as he did it again, robbing her of the ability to think beyond what he was doing to her. He kept his eyes locked on hers as he removed his hands from her back and slowly brought them around, giving her plenty of time to stop him. The problem was that she didn’t want him to stop.
Her body literally shook with need as he reached up and pulled the front bra clasp together before he started to open it, clasp by clasp and making it impossible for her to remain on her trembling knees for much longer. Even as she lowered herself to sit on his lap, he didn’t take his eyes away from hers. When her bra was finally undone, she’d expected him to drop his eyes down to see what he’d revealed, but he kept his eyes locked with hers as he held the two ends of her bra together, keeping her covered.
“What are these plans of yours? A date?” he asked in a bored tone that didn’t quite match the way that he was watching her.
Was he jealous? Rory wondered, but just as quickly shoved that thought away. Connor O’Neil didn’t get jealous, especially not over her. There was no question that they were attracted to each other. The large erection pushing against his zipper was more than proof of that, Rory thought as she allowed herself to settle more comfortably on his lap. The way he licked his lips hungrily as she did that had her doing it just one more time, for comfort’s sake, of course.
“It’s Saturday night,” she reminded him even though by now he should have known exactly what she had planned. Every Saturday night, she met her brothers at Luke’s for dinner, drinks and just to relax. It was a tradition they’d started over ten years ago and she still looked forward to every week.
She liked going to Luke’s on Saturday when the music was live and the beers were ice-cold. She could relax and have a good time without worrying about some jerk hitting on her. On Saturdays, she was untouchable. If she wanted to talk to a man, she would. Her brothers weren’t that overbearing, but if some guy made the mistake of hounding her, he would find himself being dragged out back and meeting the fists of at least one of her brothers before he could so much as mutter a half-assed apology.
“Luke’s,” Connor said on a sigh with a nod of understanding.
How he could have forgotten about her Saturday night ritual, she would never know. He went there most Saturday nights, most everyone in town did. It was also the one place that they had an unspoken agreement about. They didn’t so much as acknowledge the other one while they were there, too afraid of getting banned.
“Fine,” he said, using his grip on her bra to pull her forward, “I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Um, I go there at eight, not seven and who said that I was going with you?” Rory asked as she wrapped her arms back around his shoulders.
“We have a deal, Rory, so that means that you’re going with me and you’ll be ready by seven,” he said, leaning in to kiss her as she felt his grip on her bra loosen.
“Eight,” she said just as his lips touched hers, not even bothering to try and argue.
What was the point? They did have an agreement. It had nothing to do with wanting to spend more time with this man. She hated him, Rory reminded herself as she felt his hands move up her sides. He repulsed her, she thought as she opened her mouth in welcome and shifted on his lap, rubbing against the large, hard bulge that was driving her crazy and leaning into him as his hands slowly moved over the sides of her breasts.
Her body trembled as her nipples hardened in anticipation. She’d never craved a man’s touch as much as she craved his and if he didn’t move his ass and touch her, she was going to-
“Rory! The fire inspector is here!” Jacob announced from behind the protection of the door. Not that the door would keep him safe for long. Once she managed to catch her breath, fix her bra, and pull on a shirt, she fully planned on strangling him, and judging by the vicious growl that escaped Connor’s throat, he was probably having a few violent thoughts of his own.
“Seven,” Connor said tightly, averting his eyes to the side as he carefully helped her climb off his lap.
