Checkmate

"I didn't," he snapped, unable to remember exactly what he'd done to piss her off enough to break into the boy's locker room and squirt superglue into his shorts, but he was sure that he hadn't done anything to deserve it. As far as he was concerned, the move was unprovoked and he was the i

"Now I remember why I did that," she said, looking angry once again. "You snuck laxatives into my food and then locked all the girl's bathrooms in the school with bicycle locks so that I was left with no choice but to use the boy's bathroom where you and your stupid friends locked me inside without any toilet paper or paper towels, you jerk!"

Huh, he'd actually forgotten about that one, he thought with a careless shrug. "Whatever. The point is, Rory, this is my project. I've busted my ass to get it and I'm not about to let you fuck it up for me."

"This is our project," she said, getting back in his face where she belonged, "and as long as you remember that we'll be fine, but the next time you try to stop me from doing my job I will kick. Your. Ass."

He leaned in closer. "Your job is to fetch my coffee, food and whatever else I need and as long as you remember how I like my coffee everything will be fine."

"You can shove your coffee right up your-"

"There's a problem," Rory's assistant said as he burst through the door.

* * * *

"We're not finished talking," Co

Rory didn't even bother slowing her pace or looking back as she shot him a one finger salute. His deep chuckle that followed did not send a delicious shiver throughout her body that had her fighting the urge to lick her lips.

It didn't.

She sighed heavily as she adjusted the tool belt around her hips. It really wasn't her fault that her body betrayed her the way it did when Co

"What's going on?" she asked as they stepped outside.

"Work has come to a halt," Jacob a

One look and she knew that the man hadn't exaggerated. There were no men ma

Great, she thought dryly, just what they needed.

When she spotted the familiar beat up red pickup truck parked near the coffee truck she nearly cried. Why did he have to come here today of all days? Why couldn't he have come when she had this situation under control? The last thing she wanted him to see was this or the fact that Co

"You pla

She looked to her left to find her father leaning back against one of Co

"Just give me a minute, Dad," she said, wondering when all this nonsense would end so that she could go back to focusing on Strawberry Manor. Right now she should be inside assessing the water damage in the attic, but thanks to Co

He nodded firmly as he pushed away from the truck. "I'll be in the building looking the old girl over when you're finally ready to get down to work," he said, making her inwardly cringe at the unspoken criticism. She wasn't handling the job right and her men were not only wasting her money, but they were also wasting time and that was something her father taught her never to do.

Relieved that he was going to let her handle this without an audience, she walked around the crowd, stole the bullhorn from one of Co

"You have exactly sixty seconds to go back to work or you're fired," she a

Her men noticeably startled amongst the large crowd. Not even ten seconds later they were shoving Co

With an a

"Try to keep your men in line, okay, cupcake?" Co

"Don't call me that," she bit out as she yanked out a pair of pliers from her tool belt and walked past him, careful to wait for just the right moment and when that moment came she didn't hesitate.

"Son of a bitch!" he snapped as she sauntered past him, whistling a jaunty tune as she returned her pliers back to her tool belt.

She sighed contently as she made her way past the men hustling to get back to work. It never ceased to amaze her how torturing Co

When she saw her father waiting for her in a half-gutted room with his arms crossed over his chest and his lips drawn into a frown she was tempted to hit Co

"Rule ten," Co

She glared at his back even as she wondered how he knew. Then again, they'd been at each other's throats since they were kids so he probably could sense these things.

Now that she thought about it, she realized that perhaps the sledgehammer was a bit of an overkill. The only thing he was guilty of today was a

Chapter 7

First his poor defenseless nipples and now his ass, Co