“Ow! Stop hitting us!” Trevor snapped, grabbing Jason and shoving him towards Rory as the woman let loose on the men that had turned her yearlong ban into a lifetime ban in less than twenty minutes.
“How many samples did I tell you that you could have?” Rory demanded as she moved to kick Jason in the shin, but before she could make contact, Connor had her in his arms and over his shoulder. That didn’t seem to slow her down, not at all.
“How many?” she demanded when her cousins didn’t answer her fast enough.
“Ten,” they muttered sheepishly.
“And how many did you take?”
The men muttered their answers. Not that it mattered. Rory was too busy flipping out to actually listen to them. “You scared the hell out of everyone in that warehouse! You made men and women cry and run screaming for their lives! And thanks to you, my photo now hangs in front of the building next to the Recall Notice board, you greedy bastards!”
“Hey! It’s not our fault that those samples were so damn yummy!” Jason snapped back.
“We wouldn’t have had any problems if they hadn’t been so fucking cheap with the portions!” Trevor added.
“That’s it. Put me down. I’m going to kill them,” Rory demanded as she struggled to escape from his hold, but he’d been prepared for her escape attempt and kept his arm firmly locked around her.
He looked past the two pouting men towards the front of the warehouse, where the manager and about twenty employees stood on the sidewalk, watching them warily. No doubt they’d already called the police. Not that he could blame them, but he really didn’t want to deal with having to tackle Rory when she went for the cop’s nightstick so that she could beat the shit out of her cousins.
“Listen,” Connor said, pulling his keys out of his pocket and tossing them to Jason. “There’s an all-you-can-eat buffet about thirty-five miles from here.”
The two men’s pouts instantly disappeared as a predatory gleam took over. “We’re listening,” Trevor said, intently focusing on him.
“It’s in Haverville. There’s a map book in the truck. The restaurant is on Copper Street. They close at one in the morning, so that should hold you over and keep you out of trouble.” Rory snorted at that announcement, not that he could blame her.
“Let yourselves into the house and be ready to work your asses off by five,” he said, determined to keep her cousins busy and out of his way.
He wasn’t an idiot. He knew why they were here. They were here to help them with Strawberry Manor, but he knew that he was the main reason for their presence. It wasn’t difficult to guess that her brothers were behind this one. They probably thought their cousins would manage to scare him off. They wouldn’t, but he appreciated the effort.
That didn’t mean that he’d put up with this bullshit. He’d keep her cousins busy with work and food so that they didn’t come between him and Rory. He had less than five months to convince Rory to spend the rest of her life with him and he wasn’t about to let anyone fuck that up for him.
“Put me down, Connor. I need to kick their asses!” Rory snapped, but he simply ignored her as he headed for her Jeep.
“You can kick their asses later, Rory. Right now, we have to get out of here before the cops show up,” Connor said, placing her on her feet and stealing her keys out of her pocket. He had the door open and her inside before she could put up much of a fight. Not that he’d expected her to put up much a fight, not with the police on the way. They’d been in this situation enough times to know that it was time to haul ass.
“Fine,” she said, sounding tired as she buckled up. “Can we please stop for a cup of hot chocolate before we head home?”
“That’s a good idea,” Connor said, not mentioning that he’d already planned on doing just that.
To be honest, he was exhausted as well. It had been a very long night and it was barely eight-thirty. All he wanted to do was enjoy this quiet time with Rory, steal her hot cocoa and hold her in his arms for the rest of the night, but he knew that the night wasn’t over quite yet. There were a few things that they needed to clear up before any misunderstandings formed and screwed with his plans to make Rory his wife.
Keeping his eyes on the road, he reached over and carefully took Rory’s broken hand in his. When he felt his ring on her finger, he couldn’t help but smile. It had been a long time coming and to be honest, he’d never really expected this day to come. Granted, she hadn’t agreed to marry him yet, but she would. Now that he knew that she cared about him, nothing was going to stop him, not even the stubborn woman that he loved.
“We’ll move your stuff into my room tomorrow night,” he said quietly, hoping that she was too exhausted from the hell her cousins had put her through to catch what he’d said, but of course, this wasn’t going to be easy.
“Why would I do that?” Rory asked, pulling her hand away from his so that she could toy with her new ring.
“I just thought it would be easier,” Connor said offhandedly as he took a right on Oak Street.
“Why would that be easier?”
“I just thought it would be easier if you started to move in with me now. That way we wouldn’t have to worry about moving you out and selling your house after we get married,” he calmly explained as he pulled into Brennagin’s parking lot.
“Ah, I’m not selling my house, Connor, and I’m not moving in with you,” Rory stubbornly argued.
“Rory,” Connor said, sighing heavily as he shut the Jeep down, “keeping two houses after we get married doesn’t make sense. I suppose we could rent it out, but that’s a pain in the ass.”
“I love my house, Connor. I’m not selling it,” Rory said, shooting him a glare as she threw her door open and jumped out.
