Checkmate

Joh

“Stop!” she screamed, releasing her father’s hand and tried to go help him, but Reese grabbed her before she could so much as take a step and pulled her back. She went to elbow him, but the large bastard was fast, too fast and he had her arms behind her back and restrained before she could take her next breath with a simple hold, but a damn effective one.

“Okay, let’s clear this up, shall we?” her father said, gesturing for Jacob, who looked like he wanted to take a swing at Co

“Okay, tell her what you told my boys,” her father said, gesturing for him to get on with it. She was just thankful that Bryce had stopped punching Co

“Co

“Don’t fucking listen to him, Rory!” Co

“And how exactly did you find out about that?” Darrin asked.

“Because I overheard Co

“When?” Reese demanded.

“In June I think,” Jacob said, looking thoughtful, “he was just using her. He wasn’t in love with her. As long as he didn’t hurt her, I stayed out of it. I didn’t know that marrying her was part of the plan. I thought he was just going to screw up and Rory was going to end their deal.”

“That’s bullshit!” Andrew snapped, but thankfully no one hit him, probably because none of them were mean enough to strike a man recovering from a life threatening illness.

“I heard every word!” Jacob said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I love her!” Co

“Then why are you after her company?” Jacob demanded.

“Okay, let’s get this over with, I have somewhere to be in an hour,” her father said, gesturing to her brothers to drag a bloody and panting Co

“I’m a little confused about something,” Joh

“He only kept telling us to fuck off,” Sean said, sounding confused.

“He punched me,” Bryce bitched.

“That’s because I didn’t want any of you!” Co

“What the hell do you mean that you didn’t want us?” Joh

“We’re a fucking catch!” Sean snapped.

“You’d be lucky to get guys like us! Lucky!” Bryce said, sounding pissed and insulted.

“I don’t want any of you!” Co

“You bastard!” Joh

“Rory?” her father said, drawing her attention, but not enough to look away from Co

“Yes?”

“Do you love him?”

“Yes,” she said softly with a small nod that had Co

“And what are you willing to do to prove to my daughter and my boys that you’re telling the truth and that you love her?” her father demanded, watching Co

For a minute, Co

Co

In that moment, she knew that their deal truly was a thing of the past. Co

She bit back a smile as she walked over to him, making a show of thinking it over. “What about the bathtub?”

“It’s yours.”

“Will you stop stealing my hot chocolate?” she asked, reaching up to cup his slightly bruised handsome face.

“No,” he said, turning his head so that he could press a kiss against her palm. “But I’ll learn to make it the way that you like it and make it for you.”

“Highland Construction is mine?” she asked, already having decided a month ago to combine the companies and run it with him.

“Yes,” he said with absolutely no hesitation.

“You’ll work for me?”

“Yes.”

“Fetch my drinks?”

“No.”

“Be at my by beck and call?” she asked, loving the way his poor abused lips kicked up into a grin.

“No.”

She sighed heavily as she said, “You really suck at interviews.”

“Do I have the job?” he asked, giving her that bad boy smile that she loved.

“I’ll have to think about it,” she said with a shrug as she turned to walk away.

“Uh, Rory, what do you want us to do with him?” Joh

“Give him the official welcome to the family,” she said, laughing as she walked away.

“Rory?” Co

She paused long enough to look over her shoulder and wink as she a

Epilogue

1 Year Later…..

“Who do you think we should call?” Rory asked as she snuggled closer to him.

“Your dad?” Co

“No,” Rory sighed, laying her arm across his chest as she did her best to get comfortable, but the bench in the holding cell made that pretty difficult.

“Why not?” he asked, pressing a kiss to the top of her still damp head.

“Because I’d have to explain to him why we got arrested,” she said with an adorable little pout.

Co

“This town sucks,” she muttered, making him laugh.

“You have no one else to blame but yourself,” he said, wincing when she poked him in the side, hard.

“You could have just said no,” she said, tilting her head back so that she could glare up at him.

“True, but you would have gone for my nipples if I had said no,” he said, laughing when she poked him again.

“At least it’s not the worst thing that we’ve ever done,” she muttered, giving up on trying to get comfortable on the wooden bench and moved to sit on his lap.

“Put some space between you both, now,” the police officer ma

Co

“I can’t do that and you know it,” the officer said, not looking too happy about having a pregnant woman locked up in a cell. Co