NFH 03 Checkmate (2 page)

"Uh huh, that's nice," he said absently as
he watched the asshole who'd been hanging around Rory for way too
long, wrap his arm around her shoulders and kiss her. "Now if
you'll excuse me, I have something very important to do," he said,
not caring if she heard him over the loud music.

"Connor!" she said, grabbing onto his arm to
stop him from leaving her. With an annoyed sigh, he gently removed
her hand from his arm and walked away. He damn neared rolled his
eyes when he heard her profess her undying love for him.

He couldn't help but wonder what the hell
was wrong with her. They'd had sex, not even good sex, once. There
had never been any promises or declarations of love, but for some
reason she thought that meant they were meant to be. Why in the
hell did women get so damn clingy? It wasn't as if he hadn't made
it damn clear that he'd used her for sex.

"Whoa! What the hell was wrong with Rick
inviting you and Rory to the same party?" Ted, a guy he'd gone to
high school with, asked, laughing as he held up his beer to Connor
in salute.

"No clue," he answered without taking his
eyes off his prey since he had about five minutes before Rick and
his buddies tried to remove him. Two hours ago he'd been too tired
to crash this party, but then he happened to stop for some gas and
a cold soda and overheard the prick in front of him brag to his
frat buddies that he was going to fuck a virgin townie tonight and
earn twenty points.

Normally he wouldn't have cared what one of
the asshole college kids did, but when he heard Rory's name, he of
course decided that he had to do something. She was his to screw
over, no one else's, especially not some fucking college punk's. It
didn't matter that they were no longer kids, she was still the best
part of his day and he'd be damned if he let some other asshole
cause her grief when it was still his damn job. Once upon a time
he’d hoped for something else, but…….

It was never going to happen and it was
pointless to wish for something that common sense told him would
never happen. He’d fucked up big time and made damn sure that there
would never be anything more between them a few years ago. For now
he’d have to settle for keeping an eye out for her and enjoying
their daily antics, which did entertain him immensely. Since this
was all they would ever have, he made damn sure that he enjoyed
himself.

A minute later he smoothly stepped in their
path, blocking them as they tried to leave. He ignored Rory as she
glared up at him since he had more important things to deal with at
the moment. His eyes dropped to their entwined hands before
settling back on the prick's face.

"Did you earn your twenty points yet, Mark?"
he asked, drawing everyone's attention and not giving a damn.

Mark's eyes widened. "I-I don't know what
you're talking about," the little shit said, lying.

"That must suck having a short term memory,
especially in college. Should I refresh your memory?" he asked,
barely aware that someone had shut off the music and not really
caring.

"I-I-I...," the man stammered nervously as
he dropped Rory's hand and stepped away from her.

"Mark?" Rory asked, glancing between the two
of them.

"I-I-I..," he continued to stammer.

"Good answer, Mark," Connor drawled,
wondering where she found these losers. The last one made this one
look like fucking Einstein, but he hadn't been this much fun to
fuck over.

Rory sighed long and heavy as she gestured
for him to get on with it. There was no drama or theatrics with
this woman. She knew the game as well as he did and wasn't going to
freak out over the impending blow. They'd screwed each other over
enough times that they were pretty much immune to public
humiliation by now. That didn't mean that she was going to take
this lying down. He fully expected some sort of retaliation.

"Seems your little boyfriend here is trying
to pop your cherry so that he can earn some points with his frat
brothers," Connor said, trying to hide how surprised he'd been to
find out that she was still a virgin. Then again, he did fuck up
her life on a daily basis so maybe he shouldn't be that surprised.
He'd lost track of how many losers he'd run off in the last five
years.

She was quiet for a moment before she
frowned at the man. "Is that true?"

Connor snorted at that. As if he'd lie. She
really should know better by now.

"I-I......it was," Mark noticeably swallowed
as he backed away from Rory with his hands up in a pacifying
manner. "It was just for fun, honestly. It's no big deal."

"I see," Rory mumbled, but didn't move to
run away or cry like most women would do. She simply stood there
glaring at the man.

"You're not going to hit me, are you?" Mark
asked, sounding like a pussy.

Rory simply shrugged. "I don't have to.”

Mark frowned, dropping his hands. "Why
not?"

"Because they will," Connor answered for
her, grinning when five huge men broke through the crowd and
started to circle Mark, looking ready to tear him apart and they
probably would.

"But, it was just a-" Whatever he would have
said was cut off by one of Rory's brother's fist.

"Thanks for the head's up," Rory said as she
passed him.

"No problem," he said, following after her.
He was more than ready to go to bed and get some sleep. He was
exhausted, which was probably the reason he didn't see it, or
rather her, coming.

As soon as he stepped outside he realized
that Rory was nowhere to be seen. He really should have known
better, he thought as Rory dumped what had to be a gallon of piss
warm beer over his head.

"Thanks again," she said pleasantly as she
handed him the empty jug and headed towards her car.

"No problem," he said, fighting back a yawn
as he headed after her, only pausing long enough to snatch a large
bag of ice out of someone's hand.

Chapter
1

"Come on, come on, come on," Rory mumbled as
she waited for the only traffic light in town to turn green. Just
as it did, she sighed with immense relief which ended abruptly when
Mrs. Church, Golden, New Hampshire's oldest citizen, took the green
light as the signal to walk across the street, using her
walker.

Her eyes shot to the dimly lit clock on her
dashboard and she may have whimpered. She was five minutes late!
She could not be five minutes late. Not today. Normally it would
just irritate her, but today it felt like it was a matter of life
or death. She needed Mrs. Church to haul her ninety-six year old
ass across the street before the light turned red.

Rory tapped her thumbs against the steering
wheel as she stared intently at Mrs. Church in an effort to will
the old woman to move quickly. It only seemed to draw Mrs. Church's
attention. The older woman stopped right in front of Rory's new,
well new to her, Jeep and smiled as she waved to Rory.

Fighting back the urge to gesture for the
older woman to move her ass, Rory forced a smile and waved back.
After a few seconds, Mrs. Church slowly turned back around and
raised her walker, set it a few inches in front of her and
shuffled. Rory watched as she raised the walker again, gained six
more inches and shuffled.

The light turned red.

She groaned as Mrs. Church turned and sent
her another friendly wave. Rory debated getting out of the car and
helping her, but she knew that would only encourage Mrs. Church to
stop in the middle of the street and brag about her great
grandchildren.

All thirty-four of them.

Two red lights and three green lights later,
Mrs. Church was safely across the street and Rory was gunning it.
Two minutes later she was in front of McGill's main office on
Center Street, waiting for a minivan full of kids driven by a
woman, who looked like she was going to snap if she heard "The
wheels on the bus goes round and round" one more time, to pull out
of her spot.

As she waited for the van to pull out, Rory
put on her left blinker, officially declaring her claim on the spot
while she took the opportunity to calm her breathing. It probably
wouldn't look professional to go in there sweating and panting like
a woman who needed a cocaine fix, although she really could go for
a large cup of hot cocoa, her one true weakness.

Hmmm, she really could go for a nice large
mug of creamy hot chocolate with a large spoonful of fluff in it.
Yummy, maybe after this she could-

Her thoughts were cut off when she realized
that her spot was free and clear. Sighing contently, Rory started
to turn into the space when a black pickup truck cut her off and
took the spot.

Rory could only stare for a moment, shocked
that someone had ignored the universally agreed upon parking spot
rule of the blinker. Perhaps he hadn't seen her blinker?

All thoughts about this being a simple
mistake flew out of her head when he stepped out of the truck. She
ground her jaw as she pressed the “down” button for the passenger
side window. Once it was down, she politely asked the bane of her
existence to move his truck.

"Move your ass, O'Neil! That's my spot!"

The bastard smiled. Smiled!

"Oh, is this your spot?" he asked, feigning
innocence, but Rory knew the man was anything but innocent. He was
a bad boy, even his looks gave him away, and that damn smile of his
let him get away with everything. The life ruining bastard!

"Yes!" she snapped. "You know damn well
that's my spot! Why else would I have been sitting here waiting
with my blinker on?"

He sighed dramatically. "Yes, I did see that
now that you mention it."

"Then move!" she said, not caring about
playing their usual game of pissing each other off today. She had a
huge contract to sign, damn it!

He nodded as he fixed his tie and leaned
into the cab of his truck. Rory tapped her thumbs against the
steering wheel once again happy that the man had enough sense to
skip the bullshit this morning. Maybe today would be-

"I'll move it," he said,
pausing as he stepped away from his truck with a folder in his hand
and shut his door, "
right
after my meeting."

Her mouth dropped as the life ruining
bastard walked away laughing.

* * * *

"Ah, good times," Connor sighed happily as
he stepped into the office. Taunting a woman shouldn't be so much
fun, but it was. It always had been where Rory was concerned. Hell,
he'd even enjoyed screwing with her back in preschool.

Sure there were about a dozen other little
girls he could have tormented with paint, paste and pushed down
into the mud, but why bother when there was always little Rory
James around? She was just asking for it with those two little
pigtails, tomboy clothes and a little know-it-all attitude. As the
school bully, it had been his job to make her life a living hell
and he had taken his job quite seriously all those years ago. Hell,
he still did.

There was just something about screwing with
her that brought a smile to his face. That was probably why three
years ago he bought the run down house right next to hers. Sure
there were other fixer-uppers that he could have bought for half
the price, but none of them would have provided him with the
entertainment of living right next door to Rory.

He ran a hand over the back of his head,
smoothing down his hair as he headed towards the little blushing
secretary that was trying to pretend that she wasn't watching his
approach.

"Good morning, Mary, how are you this
morning?" he asked in his most charming tone.

She nodded, shyly averting her eyes. "Mr.
McGill will be with you in a few minutes, Mr. O'Neil. Please have a
seat and help yourself to some coffee," she mumbled quietly while
she gestured to the small waiting area with three chairs lined up
against the wall and a gourmet coffee table with one of those
insanely expensive coffee machines that used mini cups of ground
coffee to make single servings.

Connor winked. "Thank you." He walked over
to the waiting area and decided a good cup of coffee would help
settle his nerves, not that he doubted that he was getting the job.
There was no doubt that he would get it this time. He'd put in the
time and had his work to back him up. No one within a hundred miles
could match the price. This job was as good as his.

He was reaching for a single cup serving of
gourmet French vanilla coffee when a single brown serving cup
caught his eye. Picking it up, he couldn't help but smile as he
held what appeared to be the last serving of gourmet hot chocolate
in his hand. Not that he was particularly fond of hot chocolate, he
really wasn't, but he knew a certain someone that was.

A minute later he was sitting down with a
cup of frothy hot chocolate in his hand. Not as good as coffee, but
not too bad. He placed his folder on the empty chair next to him
and sipped his drink while he waited.

He didn't even bother trying to hide his
amusement when Rory half stumbled into the reception area. She
quickly made a beeline for Mary's desk, almost falling over seven
times in the process. Why she tried to walk in those heels he would
never know. She was already tall, taller than most women in town
and a good majority of the men at five-ten. He was not one of them
since he had a good five inches on her. She really didn't need the
heels, but he rather liked what they did for those beautiful tan
legs of hers. Although, he would never admit that she looked good,
really good, in that little business outfit that accentuated her
size D's, and he would bet his life they were D's. He liked the way
that the high heels that she clearly didn't know how to walk in,
made her legs look even sexier. She was easily the sexiest woman
that he’d ever seen.