"Let me get this straight," she said, tossing the file on the desk. "You want me to wait until after all the renovations are done to build my suites?"
"It's the only way that we're going to get this project done, Rory," he explained, again.
She met his gaze head on as she said, "No, it's not."
Chapter 20
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Connor demanded.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" she asked as she picked up her tool belt and dropped it on her desk.
"You're not working," Connor gritted out, from what sounded like clenched teeth, from behind her.
"It's not your choice," she pointed out as she walked around her desk and pulled off her shirt, revealing a black sports bra. She dropped the shirt on her desk chair and leaned down to open the bottom desk drawer to grab a grey tank top when she suddenly found herself swept off her feet. Before she could so much as gasp, she was plopped down on the edge of the desk with her legs hanging over the side and Connor standing between them.
"You really think that's true?" he asked as he slapped his hands down on either side of her hips and leaned in. She almost leaned back, but fought against the urge, reminding herself just who she was dealing with here. She would never back down from Connor. Okay, so she did that one time, but that didn't count.
She forced herself to ignore the hard glint in his eyes, the clenched jaw and the fact that he looked close to throttling her and moved into him. The move put their faces a few inches apart and heaven help her, but she wanted to close the distance and kiss that firm line away from the lips that she found herself thinking about more than she should.
This was just supposed to be a deal between them, just one more game. He shouldn't be affecting her like this. No, she should be royally pissed that he pulled this crap on her and part of her was, but there was another part of her that was glad to have the excuse to touch and kiss him. This whole thing was crazy. Only yesterday she was contemplating murder and now it was a struggle to stay mad at the man and not wrap her arms around his neck and pull him in for the kiss that she was craving.
There was no doubt in her mind that more than two decades worth of hate was responsible for this. They say there's a fine line between love and hate and for the first time in her life she truly understood what that meant. As much as she hated him, and she really did, she tried to tell herself, she also loved being close to him, touching him and kissing him. As long as they had this deal, she was free to do all those things and last night she decided that for the sake of her project and to put an end to the town drama that she would have to do just that. That didn't mean that she planned on allowing the man to call the shots.
"We might have a deal for the project," she said, placing her hands on his chest and ignoring just how good the man felt beneath her touch, "but that doesn't mean you have the right to tell me what to do, Connor, and if you think it does then you're going to be in for a surprise."
She kept her eyes locked on his as she pushed him back, getting to her feet in the process. He allowed it, but she did notice his eyes narrowing even further as his jaw clenched until the vein in his jaw was doing double time. Deciding that she'd made her point, she turned around, grabbed a shirt out of the bottom drawer and moved past him, not even sparing him a look as she headed for the door.
"Then let's make a new deal," he said, drawing her attention.
"A new deal?" she asked, slowly turning around even as she prepared herself for the next blow. Oh, she had a pretty good idea of where this "new deal" was heading and knew that it would probably cause her to go for his nipples. If he tried to use this project to control her, she was going to-
He cut off her slightly murderous thoughts with a soft kiss and a chuckle that she refused to find sexy. "Hear me out before you go for the pliers," he said, taking her hand into his and giving it a slight tug that had her grudgingly following after him.
"I was planning on going for your nipples, not your ass," she felt obligated to point out.
"That's good to know," he said, sitting down in the middle of the couch and with another slight tug that had her rolling her eyes, she climbed onto his lap.
"If you want to talk then why do I have to sit like this?" she asked, sighing in exasperation as Connor's eyes dropped to her sports bra encased breasts and stayed there.
"Cause I think better with you in my arms," he murmured, letting out an appreciative little sigh that had her lips twitching.
"They're just breasts, Connor," she said, pretending that she didn't like his answer. She loved being in his arms, she shouldn't, but she did. She only let him pull her onto his lap for the plan of course. She really didn't want to sit on his lap as she looked into his handsome face.
She really didn't.
"That's blasphemy, Rory," he said, sounding pleased as she moved closer, for safety sake of course. Falls from this height could be very dangerous, she decided as she moved forward until she was sitting directly over his lap, her hands resting on his chest and his warm breath fanning her skin. For a moment, she forced her mind away from just how good he felt and focused on the issue at hand.
"What's this new deal, Connor?"
With a sigh, he looked up and met her eyes, but immediately looked back down, sighed heavily again before finally looking back up. Once his attention was on her face she couldn't help but notice that his expression became even more pleased, looking as though he was truly happy with what he saw.
"Put all the focus on the main project for three months and I promise you that we'll get those suites built by the deadline," he swore softly as he wrapped his arms around her.
For a moment all she could do was to stare at him in shock. Finally, she managed to choke out, "Are you high?" as she tried to climb off his lap, but he wasn't having that. He tightened his arms around her, keeping her right where she was.
"Just listen to me for a minute, Rory. If we put all of our extra resources towards your suites right now, we'll screw ourselves over and even if you manage to finish them on time it won't mean a damn thing if the rest of the hotel isn't completed by then," he explained, making sense.
Damn it!
"You know that I'm right, Rory."
She let out a frustrated groan as she once again settled into him. She'd always hated it when he was right and this time there was no question about it. It didn't matter if she got her suites built. Without the hotel being fully functional in time they would mean nothing.
"Give me three months," Connor said, leaning forward and brushing his lips against hers, "and I will make sure that you have everything that you need to get those suites done, Rory."
"Fine," she whispered against his lips.
She'd give him three months to get the hotel going and when the time came he better keep his word. Until then she should focus all of her attention on the job, she decided as she tilted her head to deepen the kiss even as her brain screamed at her to stop. This was just a deal. She shouldn't be doing this. They had to stop, she reminded herself, moving to get off his lap, but she couldn't do it.
It didn't matter that none of this made any sense and that they hated each other, always had, always would. The only thing that she cared about at the moment was that she wanted this man so much that just the thought of putting space between them made her body want to scream in agony.
Why did it have to be him? she wondered, threading her fingers through his hair as she struggled not to press down and take what he was offering. She'd always been attracted to Connor. Over the years she'd been able to ignore it thanks to the animosity they shared, but now she was struggling not to give in and take what she wanted.