R. Mathewson - Checkmate

Yes, unfortunately for her and her sanity, and not to mention her pride, she had missed him. Her brothers, who apparently were not speaking to her at the moment, spent most of the day glaring daggers at Connor and teasing her like she wasn't standing less than ten feet away from them. When Johnny started chanting, "Connor and Rory in a tree" she decided that it was time to go around and check up on the rest of her men, right after she tarred Johnny's ass to the roof.

"Nope," she lied, her focus moving to his lips, "not at all."

Slowly, his lips pulled up into the cocky grin that she had to admit looked good on him. "You missed me, Rory. Just admit it."

"It's just so sad that you think so," she said, reluctantly forcing her attention away from his lips as she released her hold on him and gave him a gentle push that got the point across.

With a chuckle, Connor stepped back, giving her, her much needed space, but he didn't go far. When she moved to the side to open the driver's side door, he was already there, opening it for her. Not that she was surprised or anything. Even when Connor was going out of his way to make her life a living hell, he always seemed to remember that she was a woman. It was something that used to aggravate her, but now she had to admit that she kind of liked it.

"I'll pick you up in an hour," Connor announced as she climbed into her Jeep.

She pretended to think that over. "That's really not going to work for me. Better make it eight," she said with a shrug, moving to turn around. By the time she sat down, Connor was there, resting his forearms against the hood of the Jeep as he leaned in and pressed a quick, too quick, kiss against her needy little lips.

"One hour," he said, moving to step away.

"Sorry, not gonna happen. I need at least two," she explained, which was true.

She really did need at least two hours to do everything. She had to take care of Bunny, clean up her house a little bit, take a long hot shower to relieve her sore muscles, enjoy a hot cup of cocoa on her patio, and get dressed. Actually, what she really needed was a night to herself so that she could get all of those things done plus run a few errands that she hadn't had a chance to do over the weekend like grocery shopping.

There was nothing to eat in her house, absolutely nothing. She ran out of cocoa last night and Bunny ran out of food this morning. If she was going to be ready in an hour, and she already decided that she was, then she was going to have to move her ass and take a chance with the convenient store down the street for Bunny's food. Sadly, her cocoa fix was going to have to wait until later.

"Be ready in an hour and I'll take you to Brennagin's for a cup of hot cocoa," he said, reading her mind or bribing her, not that she cared which one since Brennagin's had the second best hot cocoa in town. Hers was number one of course, but that didn't change the fact that just the thought of having a delicious, creamy cup of Brennagin's hot cocoa had her practically drooling.

"Extra large?" she asked, already planning on ordering two.

They were extremely expensive, but so worth it, at least to her, to her past boyfriends, not so much. They balked at the idea of spending eight bucks on a cup of cocoa for her. Not that she could really blame them since they weren't addicted to the stuff, but it would have been nice if at least one of them had acted like she was worth it.

Connor leaned in and gave her another one of those too quick kisses. "I tell you what, Rory. If you're ready in an hour, I'll buy you an extra-large cup of cocoa before we go out, one before we come home and as many as you want in between."

As many as she wanted?

Dear God, she was in heaven, she thought with a content little sigh before something occurred to her and when it did, her eyes narrowed dangerously on him.

"This isn't some sort of sick joke, is it?" she demanded, because really, this was hot cocoa and she didn't screw around when it came to her cocoa.

He sighed heavily as he shook his head in mock disgust. "So little trust."

"Is it?"

"You'll just have to wait and see, now won't you?" he teased as he moved in and tried to give her another quick kiss, but she was done being teased. When he tried to pull away, she laced her fingers through his hair and kept him right where he was, determined to get the proper kiss that he owed her.

They had to stay in character and by kissing him in a way that let him know exactly what she expected at the end of the night, and she damn well better be having him tonight, she did just that. It didn't matter that they spent most of yesterday and this morning making love, she wanted him again, right now. When he let out a sexy little growl as he moved to deepen the kiss she considered saying the hell with it and demanding that he take her back to his bed since Bunny would probably try to rip his balls off if he tried to join her in her bed, but she just couldn't pass up a chance at unlimited hot cocoa. It just wasn't humanly possible.

Breaking off from the kiss was more difficult than she thought. Even as she pushed him away, she followed after him, continuing the kiss that probably wasn't appropriate for public viewing. She didn't know when she climbed out of her Jeep or when Connor pushed her up against it, or even when she wrapped her legs around him, but she knew the moment that they drew an audience because that's when the catcalls began.

More annoyed than anything, she allowed him to break off the kiss and removed her legs from around his waist as she shot their audience, a mixture of his men and hers, a glare that had them moving their asses. The only one that lingered was Jacob. He sent her a hurt look that confused her and reminded her that she really needed to have a talk with him, just as soon as he stopped giving her the silent treatment.

She couldn't figure out what was going on with him. He'd never acted like this before. Jacob normally ignored the guys she dated unless he was making fun of them, but that was usually it. He never really reacted one way or the other, but it was more than obvious that he wasn't happy about Connor. The fact that he'd lied the other day about the fire inspector to interrupt them was proof enough that he had a problem. It was something that she was going to have to figure out, but not right now. Right now she needed to haul ass since she only had an hour to get ready if she was going to have an unlimited supply of hot cocoa tonight and she damn well was.

"One hour," she said in warning, not because she was worried that he was going to be late or stand her up or anything, but because in an hour and fifteen minutes she fully planned on enjoying her first sip of an endless night's supply of cocoa.

"One hour," Connor said evenly as his eyes narrowed on her assistant.

Realizing that she was wasting precious seconds, she climbed into her Jeep, biting back a pleased smile when she felt Connor's hands on her hips, guiding her inside and sat down. Connor leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek before stepping back and closed her door. She didn't waste any time in driving away. She knew what was at stake and wasn't going to waste another precious minute because she knew that if she was even a minute late that Connor would deny her, her much needed hot cocoa fix.

After hitting the convenient store and buying a small bag of dog food, a soda and the box of condoms they'd both agreed this morning that they should be using, she headed home, planning the remainder of the hour down to the minute. If everything went well, she'd have five minutes to spare, she thought with a content little sigh as she pulled onto her street.

A few minutes later, confusion took over as she was forced to park on the street because of the two semi familiar black trucks that were parked in her driveway. As she climbed out of her Jeep, frustration took over as she wracked her brain, trying to figure out who owned the trucks. The Yankees bumper stickers should have been a huge clue since most everyone around here was a Red Sox fan. Her family, Connor and a few other die hard Yankees fans were the exception so it really shouldn't have been too difficult to figure out who owned the trucks.