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  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.

  He noticed that she wore a little bit of makeup today, interesting. She looked good, but then again, she always looked good. He especially liked her hair, always had, even when it used to be pulled up into pigtails. There was just something about wavy caramel hair with natural golden blonde highlights and those sky blue eyes that drove him nuts.

  Connor watched as Mary informed her that Mr. McGill was running behind and gestured for her to sit in the waiting area. Rory didn't look happy about the wait, but she looked decidedly pissed off seconds later when she spotted him. Her eyes narrowed on him as she walked, stumbled, over to the complimentary table all while glaring at him. He sipped his cocoa, watching as Rory searched for her precious hot chocolate.

  "Mary, is there any hot chocolate?" the little addict asked, sounding anxious for a fix.

  "Sorry, hun, if it's not there, then we don't have it."

  Sighing, she nodded and carefully walked the ten steps over to the waiting area only to stop abruptly and glare at him.

  "Is something wrong, Rory?" he asked, acting as if he didn't know what had her panties in a twist.

  "You're sitting in the middle," she bit out.

  He made a show of looking down around where he sat and then at each chair beside him. "Hmm,
look at that so I am," he said in an amused tone.

  "Move." She gestured impatiently at him.

  Sighing, he took a sip of his cocoa. "I can't."

  "You can't or you won't?" she demanded.

  "Both."

  Rory glared at him, then at each empty chair before looking around desperately for another chair. When she couldn't find any means to distance herself from him, which he knew she was dying to do, she sat down as far as she could in the chair to the right of him.

  Sighing loud and long to annoy the shit out of her, he stretched his right arm out and then dropped it along the back of her chair.

  "Do you mind?" she asked, looking pointedly at his arm.

  He shook his head. "No, not really."

  She opened her mouth, probably to tell him off for the millionth time, shut it and shook her head, muttering, "I don't have time for games today."

  That was too bad, because he rather enjoyed their little battles. He made a show of sipping his drink. "Mmmm, that's good cocoa."

  Rory first glared at him then at his cup.

  "You took the last hot cocoa?"

  "Uh huh," he answered, taking another sip.

  She nodded slowly. "I see."

  "I'm sure you do."

  Just as he went to take another sip of that rather creamy cup of hot cocoa that tasted better and better with each passing second, she jabbed him in the side with a finger the same time she made a grab for his cup. He tried to pull the cup away, but she just dug that damn finger harder into his side.

  Shit! That really hurt!

  Deciding that it was better to give up the cocoa than to let her make his eyes tear up, he released the cup. Rory twisted her finger harder into his side, digging deep for good measure before backing off. Glaring at her, he rubbed his side while she happily sipped his cocoa.

  Damn, there were a lot of things in life he regretted and right now showing her that little trick in sixth grade when she wouldn't let him cut her in the lunch line was one of them. He winced as he rubbed the sore spot. Well, it looked like she'd perfected that move.

  "I spit in that you know," he lied.

  She simply shrugged when most women would have probably screeched, gagged, and shoved it back at him. Not Rory James. She made a show of taking a huge sip of the cocoa.

  "I think I've been immune to your germs since the ninth grade," she pointed out, making him smile.

  Ah, good times. For six months he'd found ways to spit in her food and drinks without her or her little band of geeks, nerds, and dorks finding out about it. His friends did their part by distracting her so that he could break into her locker and they also took pictures of the act.

  On her birthday, he placed all those lovely pictures into a small box, gift wrapped it, and placed it inside her locker. Then he leaned against the locker across from hers and waited with all his friends and half the school for her to open it. Everyone watched as she opened her locker, waiting for her reaction. She looked surprised at first to find a present in her locker and of course that look turned to horror as she flipped through the pictures. As hard as she tried she just couldn't hide the little gag sound she made.

  Everyone laughed.

  He remembered standing there, cocky as hell, waiting for her to finally react like a girl and cry. Instead, she calmly put the pictures back in the box, gagged louder, and returned it to her locker. She grabbed the lunch that he and all his friends spit in, hey it was her birthday after all, and walked over to him.

  Instead of crying and screaming at him or even threatening to tell her daddy and her rather large brothers about what he did, she kneed him in the balls. When he was down on the ground she forced half her lunch down his throat while his friends fell over themselves, laughing their asses off, but it had been worth it. Even the month of detention that followed couldn't take away the joy he received from that little prank.

  "Mr. O'Neil? Miss James? He's ready for you."

  Chapter 2

  Rory sat in the padded chair, trying to hide her annoyance at being seated next to the bastard. She didn't understand why Mr. McGill was handling their bids this way. She'd known a month ago when she placed her bid that Connor was going for the same job. It hadn't been a big deal then, because they usually bid for the same job unless one of them was already busy.

  Usually these things were handled more privately. She couldn't remember ever being in the room with her competition before when the client announced his decision. The only thing she could come up with was that the client was hoping to use their well known animosity towards each other to start a bidding war right here and now.

  It wasn't going to happen. As much as she would love to get her hands on Strawberry Fields Manor, she wasn't about to get into another embarrassing public confrontation with Connor. The one they had last month at the strawberry festival still made her cringe.

  Things probably wouldn't have gotten out of hand if their dates had just stayed out of it, but once Mary Lee decided to get in her face and Jeff took it as his cue to get into Connor's face, things kind of went downhill quickly. Okay, so she may have started trouble when she dumped the bucket of juicy mashed strawberries over Mary Lee's head, but in her defense, she could only hear '”stupid bitch” so many times before she snapped.

  She still didn't understand why the festival committee banned them for a year, especially after they paid for all those strawberries they'd wrecked. At least she was still allowed to have a booth at next year's festival for her business, Shadow Construction. Granted, one of her brothers would have to man the table and that probably wouldn't go too well, but at least her company would be represented during the town's biggest event.

  Connor shifted in his chair next to hers, probably just as nervous as she was. A thought occurred to her, annoying the hell out of her. If he actually went along with this and tried to outbid her, she was going pants his ass on the way out.

  Her lips twitched at the memory of the last time she'd done that. Granted, it had been a week after he did it to her, but at least she hadn't been wearing pink boxers with hearts on them at a bar like a certain someone. It really had brought such joy to her and her brothers' lives as they watched guys hit on Connor all night and send drinks his way. She'd been sixty percent sure that he was going to kill her with his bare hands that night.

  "As you both know," Mr. McGill started, bringing her attention back to him, "we've had problems getting permits and the heavy rain season pushed our plans back by six months."

  They both nodded.

  "I know you're both probably very confused as to why I've asked Shadow Construction and Highland Construction for a joint meeting." Thankfully, he didn't leave them in suspense. "My partners and I would like Strawberry Fields Hotel up and running by November."

  "That's five months," she blurted out before she could stop herself. Connor threw her an annoyed look, probably for stating the obvious. Not that she cared if she aggravated the bastard. She could care less about that. What she did care about was the fact that there was no way her company could get Strawberry Fields Hotel up and running in five months. A year? Yes, and that was after hiring ten extra men and going overboard with overtime. Five months was not doable.

  "Yes, it is," Mr. McGill agreed with a nod of his head. "As you know, Strawberry Fields Manor needs a bit of work." Rory just barely stopped herself from snorting her disbelief out loud.

  Strawberry Fields Manor was going to need a complete overhaul. It was going to have to be completely gutted, have an electrical and plumbing overhaul. Those were just a few of the major things that needed to be fixed. She had a fifteen page list in her office of all the small problems that needed attention.

  "I know this is highly unusual, but we'd like to hire both your companies to work together and finish the project," he said, shocking them both into utter stillness. She wasn't even sure she was breathing or knew how to at that moment.

  He really couldn't expect the two of them to work together? Could he? They'd k
ill each other! The entire town knew that. Hell, there were several betting pools over who would kill who and how.

  This could not be happening. As much as she'd love to work on Strawberry Fields Manor she really wasn't sure-

  "If you're both able to do this and meet our deadline, you will each be paid a bonus of fifty-thousand dollars on top of the twenty percent we already decided to add to your bids," Mr. McGill announced. "As long as you both believe that you can work on this together without any problems," he stipulated, giving them a hard glance.

  She looked over at Connor to find him looking at her. They narrowed their eyes on each other, deciding if that amount of money would be enough to stop them from killing each other. After several tense moments they both nodded, slowly.

  For that kind of money she was more than willing to do a lot of unpleasant things like let the life ruining bastard live.

  * * *

  Connor walked into O'Malley's tavern, grinning. He really couldn't help it. Not only had he landed the most sought after project of the decade, but he was going to be getting a very nice bonus at the end. He spotted five very large men sitting to the far right, glaring openly at him and he was reminded of the little problem he would have to quickly rectify.

  No doubt the little tomboy thought they were really going to work this project together. That was just sad, because really at this stage of the game she should know better.

  This was his project and the sooner she figured that out the better off everyone would be. Sure, he'd keep her around for appearances' sake. She could fetch his lunch or something to make herself useful, but she would be staying away from his project. The use of her men was certainly a nice little bonus.

  Even he had to admit that he hadn't been looking forward to hiring temporary workers. There wasn't time to sort through applicants right now and this project was definitely not something he wanted anyone green to work on. He needed seasoned workers and he'd reluctantly admit that Rory's crew was good. His eyes darted over to the five men, who looked torn between kicking his ass and eating their appetizers.