It also hadn’t hurt that, for the first time in years, she’d been able to relax. She hadn’t been forced to get up before the crack of dawn, put in a twelve-hour shift, work herself into exhaustion to meet a deadline, take care of someone else, or run errands. She should have left the hotel as soon as the pain started to become manageable, but she hadn’t been able to force herself to face the real world.
She’d slept in late every morning, went to bed at a decent hour every night and set a world record for taking naps. She’d lounged in the bathtub, watched television while she’d pigged out on ice cream and junk food, and when she wasn’t relaxing, she was thinking about Connor. She’d missed him, and by this morning, she couldn’t take it anymore. She decided to end her vacation and come home to him. She loved him and she couldn’t wait to tell him. She was also going to marry him, Rory thought, smiling as she closed her eyes and just enjoyed the hot water. She couldn’t wait to see Connor’s face when she told him that she loved him.
“Time to wake up, baby,” that deep sexy voice that sent shivers down her spine said, pulling her away from one of the best dreams that she’d ever had and into one of the strangest moments of her life.
How exactly had she ended up in her bed? The last thing that she remembered was closing her eyes and enjoying a nice long soak in the tub that she decided was hers. It was possible that she’d climbed out of the tub and made it back to her room, but she doubted that’s what happened since she was still naked and she wasn’t the type to willingly give the neighbors a show. That and the fact that her arms and legs were tied to the bed, putting her in a spread-eagle position told her that she probably hadn’t got here on her own.
“What’s going on?” Rory asked, thankful that there was at least a sheet covering her naked body. She wasn’t normally shy around Connor, but something about this position made her feel a little vulnerable and she wasn’t exactly sure that she liked it.
“How was your nap?” Connor asked, sounding bored and drawing her attention to her left, where she found him, half-naked and lounging in a chair, watching her.
“Good,” she said absently, wondering if this really was a dream.
“That’s good, Rory,” Connor said, his eyes never leaving her face and she decided that maybe this wasn’t a dream since he looked kind of pissed and she wasn’t able to will the ropes away with a thought.
“Why am I tied to the bed?” Rory asked, giving her restraints a slight pull, hoping the knots were loose. After a moment, she came to the conclusion that Connor was definitely pissed and that he knew how to tie an excellent knot.
“No reason,” he said with a one-shoulder shrug, still watching her expectantly.
“I see,” she murmured as she looked around her room, but she couldn’t find anything out of place or something to clue her in on what was happening.
She did a quick sweep of the bed and was about to move on when something caught her eye and made her stomach drop. Her ring was gone. Oh, God, she’d lost her ring! She looked around the bed anxiously, but it was useless. She couldn’t see anything, couldn’t move and she was terrified that the ring had fallen off in the tub.
“What are you looking for, Rory?” Connor asked in that bored tone that she really didn’t appreciate at the moment.
“My ring! I lost my ring, Connor!” she snapped, yanking on her restraints as she tried to sit up, but she couldn’t move. “Let me go so that I can find it!”
“No.”
“You don’t understand, Connor. I think I lost my ring in the tub,” Rory said, letting out a frustrated growl as she struggled to break free.
“You didn’t lose the ring in the tub, Rory, so relax,” he said, leaning back in the chair, appearing even more relaxed.
“Then, where is it?” she demanded.
“It’s right here,” he said, gesturing lazily to the desk behind him.
“Why’s it over there? And why am I tied up?”
“Because I took it back,” Connor explained, getting to his feet.
“Why?” she asked absently as she tried to pull her hand through the rope, but it was useless.
“Because I’ve decided not to marry you.”
Chapter 39
“What?” Rory asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper as all the color in her face slowly drained away.
A few days ago, that hurt expression would have done him in. He would have apologized, said anything and everything to make her happy, but not now, not after everything that she’d put him through. For the last three days, he’d worried about her, missed her, and all this time, she’d been less than five minutes away from their houses, shacked up in a hotel with another fucking guy.
When he needed her the most, she hadn’t been there for him. He could have used her support while he’d sat in that hospital waiting room, doing his best not to lose it as he waited for the doctors to tell him that the Andrew hadn’t rejected the bone marrow, that his best friend was going to make it, but she hadn’t been there for him and now he knew why.
“You heard me,” Connor murmured as he walked over to the bed and ran his fingertips over her leg until his fingers touched the little toes that he loved to kiss. Slowly, he pulled the sheet away, revealing her body inch by inch until the sheet was pooled on the floor by his feet.
“What’s going on, Connor?” Rory demanded, not bitching that she was naked and for some reason that made him wonder who the other guy was.
The thought of another man seeing her body, touching her and making her tremble turned his stomach. He had to force himself to focus on something else or he wouldn’t be able to see this thing to the end and he would damn well be the one to end this. After twenty years of playing this game with her, he was finally going to bring the game to an end. Then, he was going to walk away from her. After today, she was just going to be his neighbor and the woman that he was going to run out of business. She was going to mean absolutely nothing to him.
