Checkmate (Neighbor from Hell #3)(95)

“You were too young and headstrong to see that,” Mr. James said, nodding in agreement.

He turned a glare on the older man. “You could have just said that instead of going for the gun!”

“My way was easier,” Mr. James said, his lips twitching with amusement.

“For who?” Connor asked, glaring at the man.

“For me,” Mr. James said, chuckling as he took another sip of his beer.

“And that’s really all that mattered?” Connor demanded, seeing so much of Rory’s Bradford cousins in the man at the moment that it actually frightened him a little bit.

Mr. James chuckled. “It’s the family way,” he said with a wink.

Connor took a sip of his beer as he turned his attention back to the lake. For a few minutes neither one of them spoke and he should have been fine with that, but he had to ask, “Do you have a problem with me marrying your daughter now?”

“Absolutely none,” Mr. James said, sounding like he meant it.

“Then why have you been glaring at me and pretty much ignoring Rory since you found out that we're engaged?” he demanded, wondering if he’d ever understand this man.

“I can’t let Rory know that I’m actually pleased,” Mr. James scoffed.

“Why the hell not?” Connor asked, thinking that Rory would probably be happy to hear that her father was happy about something in her life.

Mr. James sighed heavily. “And here I thought that you knew my daughter.”

“I know her better than anyone,” Connor argued, finishing off his beer and chucking it into the barrel.

“Then you know that she’s stubborn as hell and will become suspicious if she knows that I actually like you,” Mr. James explained, once again shocking him into silence.

The man actually liked him? That was surprising since he’d done nothing but glare at him since they first met. Of course, he couldn’t forget those times when their little misunderstandings went to court and the man had volunteered to beat some sense into him, at no charge of course.

“I learned very early on that my daughter doesn’t like doing things the easy way. She likes to argue, put her foot down and do the opposite of what’s expected of her. Anytime I’ve tried to support her, she’s either shut down or has given up. It’s only when I’m a cold bastard that she ends up following her heart. It’s what makes Rory, Rory and I wouldn’t change her for anything in the world. I’m banking on you marrying her and making her happy.”

“I will,” Connor promised, hating to admit that the man did have a point. That was also what he loved about Rory, but her stubbornness was also what made him want to bend her over his knees and spank her beautiful ass most days. She was the most frustrating woman that he’d ever met.

“I know you will, because if you don’t, I’m going to give in and let my boys do what they’ve been dying to do for the last twenty-five years and kick your ass.”

Chapter 35

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Haley, Jason’s wife and the cutest little thing she’d ever seen, said, again, as she pushed her glasses back up her nose and shot another nervous look around the dark parking lot.

“Relax,” Rory said as she continued to search through Connor’s rather impressive collection of tools that he had stored in the truck bed’s huge toolbox. “Aunt Megan just had the seventh set of desserts put out. We’ve got a good twenty minutes before they’re done eating.”

“Actually, we should have thirty,” Zoe said, Trevor’s wife and one of the most entertaining women that she’d ever met, said as she risked a glance from their crouched position in the back of Connor’s truck.

“You didn’t put out any of your baked goods, did you?” Rory asked, trying to mask the fear in her voice as she shot Zoe a look only to find the woman rolling her eyes.

“I’m not allowed to bake while I’m pregnant,” she muttered, lovingly rubbing her very large stomach as she gave up crouching and carefully dropped to a sitting position with Haley’s help.

“Trevor’s afraid of the babies getting food poisoning,” Haley explained, shooting Zoe an apologetic smile and a shrug when the woman gasped in outrage.

“My baking isn’t that bad!” Zoe argued.

“Sweetie,” Rory said, pausing in her search to reach over and give Zoe’s hand a quick squeeze, “there isn’t a Bradford alive that will willingly touch your baked goods.”

“I overheard Jason and Trevor telling everyone that you baked my cupcakes so that they wouldn’t have to share,” Haley added softly as she took Zoe’s other hand into hers. “Not one single Bradford will touch them. In fact, they actually demanded that everything the guys claimed that you baked be taken away and given its own section.”

“Oh,” Zoe mumbled, her shoulders sagging in defeat. “That would explain why Bradfords kept blocking me from going to the table overflowing with cupcakes, cookies and brownies and telling me that they weren’t good for the babies. I thought they were just afraid of the babies getting fat.”

“Nope, Bradfords don’t get fat,” Rory said with a shrug as she once again turned her attention back to the task at hand.

“Lucky bastards,” Zoe muttered and she couldn’t help but agree.