For a few seconds, he considered threatening not to put out, but then he remembered who he was dealing with and decided that it would probably be best not to take a chance of her calling his bluff. Instead, he carried her the rest of the way to his truck as he said, “You will.”
“What if I pick the most expensive restaurant in town?” Rory asked, tilting her head slightly to the side, studying him as she waited for his answer.
“That’s fine with me, Rory,” he said, leaning in to steal a quick kiss before he carefully set her on her feet. “You can have whatever you want.”
“For the deal, right?” she asked, eying him curiously as she held onto him until her feet touched the ground.
“Yes,” Connor answered, knowing that was the only way that she would accept what was going on between them right now.
“Of course,” she mumbled as she looked away.
It was hard to tell in this early morning light, but he could have sworn that she looked a little disappointed. He should just let it go, especially since he couldn’t risk her figuring out just how much she was coming to mean to him, but he couldn’t do that. He didn’t want her to think that she wasn’t worth everything that he could give to her and more.
“I would take you anyway, Rory,” Connor admitted, feeling like an idiot.
“Why?” she asked, sounding as though she couldn’t understand why any sane man would happily die for the chance to put a smile on her face.
“Because you’re worth it,” he simply said, cupping her face as he leaned in to kiss her, but her next words gave him pause.
“Because I’m beautiful?” Rory asked with a touch of acid lacing her words.
He didn’t even want to imagine how many times she’d heard some asshole compliment her on how beautiful she was. They probably thought that’s what she wanted to hear. It wasn’t. Not for a woman like Rory, who knew that she was beautiful and didn’t care. They really were fucking idiots.
“Yes,” Connor said with absolutely no hesitation and when she tried to pull away from him, her expression a combination of hurt and disgust, he held onto her and continued to move in to kiss her. “But I’d take you because you’re the best part of my day, Rory. Always have been and always will be.”
He planted a quick kiss on her stunned lips before pulling away from her and opening the passenger side door. “You can decide where we’re going while I drive,” he said, gesturing for her to climb in and she must have still been stunned because she did just that. By the time he’d climbed into the truck, carrying her bag and thermos, she’d worked her way out of her shock.
“I have somewhere to be,” Rory said, taking her things as he turned the truck on.
“I know,” he said with a shrug. “Buckle up.”
“I can drive myself,” she pointed out, only looking slightly confused now as she reached for the door handle.
“You’re going to your father’s, right?” Connor asked, throwing the truck in reverse and taking the matter out of her hands.
“I go every Sunday,” Rory said, frowning, but she did buckle up.
“Well, today you’re going with me,” he explained, taking her injured hand gently in his.
“Umm, why?” Rory asked, carefully lacing her fingers with his.
“Because your father invited me.”
“What the hell are you doing, woman?” Connor demanded, chuckling like she was playing around.
She wasn’t.
“Oh, my god, Connor, turn around! It’s a trap!” Rory demanded, desperately looking around for somewhere to turn the truck around.
“Relax, Rory. It’s just fishing,” he said, throwing her a wink as he took a left on Chestnut Road.
“No, Connor, you don’t understand,” Rory said, trying not to panic, but this was bad, very, very, very bad. “Only family is allowed at my dad’s house on Sunday.”
“Afraid they’ll kill me?” he asked teasingly.
“Yes!” she snapped, wondering what the hell was wrong with him. He’d known about her father’s family-only Sunday rule since he was a kid. He used to get a kick out of sneaking onto the property and tormenting the living hell out of her on most Sundays. She’d lost count of how many times he got her butt in trouble just by letting her father see him. To this day, she still couldn’t figure out why her father punished her over Connor when he knew how much she hated him, which brought her right back to the problem at hand.
“Connor,” she said calmly, trying not to panic, “you cannot go to my father’s house. Do you understand? Just bring me home and let’s pretend that this never happened.”
