“They’re with me,” Connor said, holding her hand by his side as he handed over his card.

“You folks have a good evening,” the greeter said, still smiling as he handed Connor’s card back.

“You too,” Connor said, giving her hand a slight tug, effectively pulling her away from Trevor’s side so that she was walking with him. She heard her cousin’s amused chuckle, but ignored it as she walked with Connor to the oversized carriages.

Once she was sure that they were out of earshot of the greeter, she asked, “What the hell was that all about?”

Connor let out a long suffering sigh as he pulled a carriage loose. “You’re banned, Rory.”

“I know that, but so are you, so what was that all about?” she asked, giving him a gentle shove out of the way and stealing his carriage.

“I didn’t get banned, baby,” he said, swooping in and giving her a swift kiss as he deftly stole the carriage back, “only you did.”

“How the hell is that possible?” she demanded, gesturing wildly towards the automotive department. “You were the one that started it!”

His answer was a chuckle as he walked away and she considered running him down with a carriage for old time’s sake.

“You got banned from a warehouse?” Trevor asked, coming up to her right side as Jason joined her on the left.

“What kind of loser gets banned from a warehouse?”

Chapter 31

“Ow! Stop hitting us!” Trevor snapped, grabbing Jason and shoving him towards the slap happy Rory as the woman let loose on the men that turned her yearlong ban into a lifetime ban in less than twenty minutes.

“How many samples did I tell you that you could have?” she demanded as she moved to kick Jason in the shin, but before she could make contact, Connor had her in his arms and over his shoulder. That didn’t seem to slow her down, not at all.

“How many?” she demanded when her cousins didn’t answer her fast enough.

“Ten,” they muttered sheepishly.

“And how many did you take?”

The men muttered their answers. Not that it mattered. Rory was too busy flipping out to actually listen to them. “You scared the hell out of everyone in that warehouse! You made men and women cry and run screaming for their lives! And thanks to you, my photo now hangs in front of the building next to the Recall Notice board, you greedy bastards!”

“Hey! It’s not our fault that those samples were so damn yummy!” Jason snapped back.

“We wouldn’t have had any problems if they hadn’t been so f**king cheap with the portions!” Trevor added.

“That’s it. Put me down. I’m going to kill them,” Rory demanded as she struggled to escape from his hold, but he’d been prepared for her escape attempt and kept his arm firmly locked around her.

He looked past the two pouting men towards the front of the warehouse where the manager and about twenty employees stood on the sidewalk, watching them warily. No doubt they’d already called the police. Not that he could blame them, but he really didn’t want to deal with having to tackle Rory when she went for the cop’s billy club to beat the shit out of her cousins.

“Listen,” he said, pulling his keys out of his pocket and tossing them to Jason. “There’s an all you can eat buffet about thirty-five miles from here.”

The two men’s pouts instantly disappeared as a predatory gleam took over. “We’re listening,” Trevor said, focusing on him.

“It’s in Haverville. There’s a map book in the truck. The restaurant is on Copper Street. They close down at one in the morning so that should hold you over and keep you out of trouble.” Rory snorted at that announcement, not that he could blame her.

“Let yourselves into the house and be ready to work your asses off by five,” he said, determined to keep her cousins busy and out of his way.

He wasn’t an idiot. He knew why they were here. They were definitely here to help them with Strawberry Manor, but he knew that the main reason for their presence was him and Rory. It wasn’t difficult to guess that her brothers were behind this one. They probably thought their cousins would manage to scare him off. They wouldn’t, but he appreciated the effort.

That didn’t mean that he’d put up with this bullshit. He’d keep her cousins busy with work and food so that they didn’t come between him and Rory. He had less than five months to convince Rory to spend the rest of her life with him and he wasn’t about to let anyone f**k that up.

“Put me down, Connor. I need to kick their asses,” Rory demanded, but he simply ignored her as he headed for her Jeep.

“You can kick their asses later, Rory. Right now we have to get out of here before the cops show up,” he said, placing her on her feet and stealing her keys out of her pocket. He had the door open and her inside before she could put up much of a fight. Not that he expected her to put up much of a fight, not with the police on the way. They’d been in this situation enough times to know that it was time to haul ass.

“Fine,” she said, sounding tired as she buckled up. “Can we please stop for a cup of hot chocolate before we head home?”

“That’s a good idea,” he said, not mentioning that he’d already planned on doing just that.

To be honest, he was exhausted as well. It had been a very long night and it was barely eight-thirty. All he wanted to do was enjoy this quiet time with Rory, steal her hot cocoa and hold her in his arms for the rest of the night, but he knew that the night wasn’t over quite yet. There were a few things that they needed to clear up before any misunderstandings formed and screwed with his plans to make Rory his wife.

Keeping his eyes on the road, he reached over and carefully took Rory’s broken hand into his. When he felt his ring on her finger he couldn’t help but smile. It had been a long time coming and to be honest, he never really expected this day to come. Granted, he had to earn her agreement to marry him, but he would. Now that he knew that she cared about him, nothing was going to stop him, not even the stubborn woman that he loved.

“We’ll move your stuff into my room tomorrow night,” he said quietly, hoping that she was too exhausted from the hell her cousins put her through to catch what he said, but of course this wasn’t going to be easy.

“Why would I do that?” Rory asked, pulling her hand away from his so that she could toy with her new ring.

“I just thought it would be easier,” he said offhandedly as he took a right on Oak Street.

“Why would that be easier?”

“I just thought it would be easier if you started to move in with me now. That way we wouldn’t have to worry about moving you out and selling your house after we get married,” he calmly explained as he pulled into Brennigan’s parking lot.

“Ah, I’m not selling my house, Connor and I’m not moving in with you,” Rory stubbornly argued.

“Rory,” he said, sighing heavily as he shut the Jeep down, “keeping two houses after we get married doesn’t make sense. I suppose we could rent it out, but that’s a pain in the ass.”

“I love my house, Connor. I’m not selling it,” Rory said, shooting him a glare as she threw open her door and jumped out.

He chuckled darkly as he climbed out of the truck. “I know that you don’t expect me to sell my house,” he said, shutting the door behind him and moving to join her on the sidewalk.

“That’s exactly what I expect if you want me to marry you,” Rory said with a shrug, effectively dismissing him and headed for the small coffee shop, leaving him to trail after her as he did his best to reign in his temper.

He should sell his house?

Bullshit.

That was not happening. He’d worked his ass off for that house. He’d taken on extra jobs to pay for it and to fix it up. Did she have any idea how hard he worked to restore his house? She had help, he hadn’t. He’d worked his ass off and he wasn’t about to sell his house. But for now, he’d drop it. There was plenty of time to deal with the simple misunderstanding after they were married. Right now it was more important that he convinced her to take a chance on him and if that meant biting his lip and keeping his mouth shut until she was his, then that’s exactly what he was going to have to do.