Checkmate (Neighbor from Hell #3)(44)

A collective gasp sounded throughout the restaurant, but she couldn't really care about that, not with Connor kissing her. One thing she could say about the life ruining bastard, he sure knew how to kiss, and well, very well, she thought as he moved his lips against hers one more time before pulling away. He didn't go far before he leaned back in and pressed one last rather sweet kiss against her lips and then one to her cheek before he whispered in her ear, "Relax, Rory."

"This is so going on my Facebook page," someone said, drawing her attention away from Connor and his surprisingly soft lips. She looked past the shocked hostess in time to see several people put away their phones.

Great, her humiliation was about to go viral, she thought with a little whimper that had Connor chuckling as he once again took her hand in his and pressed a rather sweet kiss to the back of it. Damn, the man was good, she thought as she allowed him to lead her through the crowded restaurant towards a back booth where the waitress waited, looking a little more relaxed as she ran an appreciative eye over Connor.

Not that Rory could really blame the woman. The man did look especially yummy tonight, she decided as she was forced to walk behind him so that they could squeeze past a couple of tables full of gawkers. She used the opportunity to run an appreciative eye over the man.

She'd seen a lot of good looking men in her life, but none were as hot as Connor. Of course, her brothers and cousins would argue that since they were all arrogant bastards, especially her cousins, she thought with a fond smile, but she didn't care. Connor O'Neil was the first boy she'd noticed and he'd only gotten better with age, she decided as she ran her eyes up his long legs, over his firm behind perfectly encased in light brown pants, and up his well defined back, wide shoulders and perfectly combed honey blonde hair.

After she was done with her perusal, her eyes dropped back down to his backside while she fought back a groan of embarrassment. He was dressed up while she was wearing a tee shirt and jeans and for the first time in her life she wished she'd taken the time to find a pretty dress, shoes and done her makeup instead of just taking a shower, blow drying her hair and throwing on the first thing she found when she opened her bureau. She knew that she was beautiful and normally she didn't really care, but tonight she kind of wished that she'd played it up a bit.

Not that this was a real date. It wasn't, but that didn't mean that she wanted this to look like he was going out with her out of pity. If anything, people should be wondering why she was out with him, not the other way around.

"You look beautiful tonight," Connor said with a secret little smile as if he could read her mind and he probably could by this point, she thought as he pressed a kiss to her forehead before gesturing for her to slide into the small cozy booth.

She fought the battle to look over her shoulder and lost several times. Sure enough, everyone in the bar was now watching them with rapt attention. Several people were actually leaning forward, resting their chins on their fists as they watched her and Connor like they were the best thing on television. She was used to people watching them as they waited to see if they were going to kill each other, but this was ridiculous.

"Your waitress is, Susan," Amber said distractedly as she threw Connor a wistful look.

Well, that was kind of insulting. As far as everyone here knew they were on a date. Granted, it wasn't a real date, but they didn't know that. She'd bet a huge cup of cocoa that Amber was going to find a way to slip her number into Connor's hand before the night was over.

"I'm not interested," Connor said, dragging her attention back to him.

He leaned back in the bench across from her and nodded towards Amber's retreating back as if she'd asked or cared. She really didn't. He could kiss every woman in town and she wouldn't bat an eye. Nope, it wouldn't bother her at all, she thought absently as she considered kicking Connor beneath the table and wiping that knowing look off his face.

"So, you want to tell me why you're really doing this?" she asked, deciding that she'd had enough of his games over the past week. She knew that he really wasn't worried about how they were treated enough to force her to go through with this farce. She believed that it probably aggravated him as much as it did her and he'd probably be happy if it stopped, but she knew him well enough to know that wasn't his real intention. So, the question remained, what exactly was he up to?

"I told you why," he said, reaching out and taking her good hand into both of his and for the moment she allowed it.

For whatever reason, it was important to him that people believed that they were together and she really had no choice but to go along with it. Maybe if she figured out what he wanted, she could turn the tables on him and get her project free and clear.

"Fine. Don't tell me the real reason," she said with a bit more attitude than she'd meant to, but she couldn't help it. She was tired, her ribs and arm were still a little sore. She’d missed her nightly hot chocolate fix when she got home, and to make matters worse, the way Connor was looking at her, kissing her and couldn't seem to stop touching her was seriously screwing with her head.

Connor laced their fingers together as he gestured for Susan, a pleasant woman in her late forties, who used to teach the fourth grade until an unfortunate incident involving the two of them and a fire hose during a school assembly years ago ended her career. Rory had to admit that it was nice to see the woman smile again and the limp was barely noticeable these days. Not that she took the blame for the woman's injury. She didn't. To this day she still didn't know why the woman took off screaming when she spotted them.