“I’d rather bond over cupcakes,” Zoe mumbled, rubbing her stomach and Rory could sympathize. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like carrying Bradford twins. Trevor let it slip that it cost twice Jason’s monthly food budget to feed Zoe. That was frightening because during that week that Jason stayed with them, he must have gone through-
“Ah-ha! I found it!” Rory said, cutting off her own thoughts as she pulled out a rather beautiful handheld skilsaw with what looked like a fresh blade out of the toolbox. It would be perfect as long as she got the angle just right and the saw didn’t shake too much.
“I-I really don’t think this is such a good idea,” Haley mumbled nervously as Zoe nodded in agreement.
Rory opened her mouth to point out once again that she knew what she was doing when two large arms suddenly wrapped around her from behind and yanked her from the truck, making her drop the saw and had all three of them screaming a bit hysterically. Before she could put up much of a fight, she found herself pulled tightly against a body that, under normal circumstances, she would have loved to touch, but the jackass had scared the living hell out of her, and for that, he had to pay.
Unfortunately for Rory, Connor had her in a pretty good hold on her, but she wasn’t worried because she knew that her cousins had her back. They would kick his ass and make him pay for scaring them. She didn’t even bother to bite back the smug smile that played on her lips at the thought of the three of them kicking Connor’s ass. He more than deserved it and it would serve him right to get his ass kicked by three women.
Any minute now, her cousins would come to her defense, Rory told herself as she waited for the ass whooping to begin. When a minute passed and she still didn’t see any movement in the back of Connor’s truck, she started to wonder what was holding up her rescue.
“A little help here would be nice!” Rory snapped, ignoring Connor’s rich chuckle as it teased her senses.
“Um,” she heard Zoe clear her throat as she tried to make the woman out, but it was too dark to make out much of anything other than a few shadows, “about that. I can’t really move. In fact, I think I’m stuck here, so you might be on your own for a few minutes.”
She’d prefer Zoe’s help since the woman knew how to kick some ass, but that was okay. She still had Haley and even though Haley wouldn’t have been her first choice in a fight, she always had her friends’ backs, so Rory knew that she was all-
“If someone could help me find my glasses, I would be more than happy to kick some ass for you, but I seem to have dropped them when Connor scared the hell out of me and I can’t see a thing without them,” Haley explained and Rory knew that this battle was over and that Connor won.
She really hated it when he won.
Connor chuckled as he pressed a kiss against her nape and let her go, making sure that she didn’t stumble. “If I help you find your glasses, would you promise not to kick my ass?” Connor asked, sounding deeply amused and making her smile, damn it.
Haley let out a long-suffering sigh before she grudgingly said, “Fine. I won’t kick your ass.”
“I really appreciate that,” Connor said dryly, laughing as he climbed onto the back of the truck from the sound of it.
“As you should,” Haley said with a sniff.
Feeling like an idiot just standing there, Rory quickly climbed back into the truck, thankful for the dim moonlight that stopped her from stepping on someone, and carefully joined the search. Zoe did her best to stay out of everyone’s way, only making a sound when she thought someone might step on her. Five minutes later, Haley had her glasses back and decided to commit the ultimate betrayal.
She ratted on Rory’s ass.
“She was going to cut her cast off with a saw!” Haley said, smartly moving behind Connor, who she really couldn’t see that well, but was guessing wasn’t happy with the news.
“Was she, now?” Connor asked, sounding thoughtful seconds before a small flashlight was turned on. When the beam of light landed on the toolbox that she may have broken into, she may have made a move to make a run for it. Before she could manage to turn around, Connor had her good hand in his, effectively holding her prisoner.
Haley, on the other hand, did manage to make a run for it.
Traitor.
“Um, if someone could help me up and off the truck, I’d really like to make my escape now,” Zoe said softly.
Not that she could blame her friends for ditching her ass. She really couldn’t. She just wished that she could join them and get away from Connor before he flipped out on her for doing something that he probably thought was stupid.
“I’ll help you down in a minute, Zoe,” Connor said before his attention shifted right back to her. “Don’t move,” he warned her as he released her.
For a moment, Rory considered her chances of making a clean getaway, and, although they were pretty good, she couldn’t just leave Zoe here. So, with a sigh, she nodded, wondering, hell hoping, that Connor would at least wait until he helped Zoe off the truck and she had a chance to waddle away before he laid into her.
“Could you hold this light and keep it pointed on the toolbox?” Connor asked Zoe.
Admittedly curious, Rory watched as Connor reorganized his tools while searching through them. When he managed to pull out a smaller skilsaw with an even sharper-looking blade, she had to smile. He’d bitched a few times over the last couple of weeks about allowing some quack that specialized in runny noses going near her arm with a saw. He was so damn protective of her and she loved that about him.
“Do you trust me?” Connor asked, closing the lid on the toolbox as he double-checked the saw’s battery and blade. If it had been anyone else, even her brothers, who she loved and knew would never hurt her on purpose, she would have said no. But this was Connor. The man that she loved and the man that she was just starting to realize would never do anything to hurt her. So, to answer his question, she placed her arm on top of the toolbox.
Connor leaned in and kissed her. “That’s my girl.”
“Just be quick. I want to go swimming,” Rory said, hoping to do a little more than that actually.
