* * * *

“Large hot chocolate?” Beth, the senior barista, asked as Rory stepped up to the counter.

“Make it an extra-large please,” Rory said, pulling a ten dollar bill out of her pocket and tossing it on the counter. “I’ll be right back,” she said, fighting back a yawn as she headed for the bathroom.

As soon as she got home, she was going straight to bed. She’d deal with Connor and her cousins tomorrow. Normally she’d be worried that her cousins were hitting a buffet so close to home, but tonight she just didn’t have the energy to care. She’d worry about how she was going to keep them in line tomorrow. Tonight she was-

“Oh my God, did you hear the news?” a vaguely familiar feminine voice asked, sounding excited and drawing Rory’s attention as she went to push open the women’s bathroom door. She looked down the small hallway and realized that she was alone and that she was hearing a private conversation coming from the manager’s office behind her. Deciding that it was none of her business and that she really didn’t care about the latest town gossip, she moved to open the bathroom door when the next words stopped her dead in her tracks.

“Connor proposed to Rory!” the excited woman practically squealed, making Rory cringe as her eyes shot down to the ring on her finger. She should have taken it off before she went out. She cursed softly when she realized that her father and brothers probably already heard the news. That was just great.

“No, he didn’t,” a voice that she knew all too well said, laughing off the news.

Cindy, one of the most annoying women in town, was unfortunately the manager of this place. Not because she had a degree, had experience or had worked her way up to the position. No, Cindy became the manager of the best coffee shop in the area for one very simple reason, she screwed old man Webster.

Rumor had it that old man Webster called Cindy into his office on her very first day, within the very first hour because customers and staff alike complained about her attitude and inability to get off her ass and do anything. As soon as old man Webster finished firing her, Cindy started negotiations to keep her job and kept it up until Mr. Webster stumbled out of his office a half hour later, smiling and looking more relaxed than he had in years. Cindy walked out of the office looking smug and still very much employed. A year later, Cindy was the manager and still hadn’t served a single cup of coffee and Mr. Webster no longer bothered coming to the coffee shop since Cindy started making house calls. Normally she didn’t pay attention to rumors, but a few years ago she’d walked in on Cindy giving the owner of the Donut Shack a reason to smile.

“Megan called and told me that she saw Connor and Rory at Sam’s Club and that Rory was wearing this really tiny diamond engagement ring.”

“So?” Cindy demanded with a sneer.

“So? So, everyone knows that she’s been dating Connor! What do you mean so? This is huge! It’s also so sweet!” the other women gushed. “Don’t you think it’s sweet? I wonder how long they’ve been in love.”

Cindy let out an indelicate snort as she demanded, “And what makes you think that they’re in love?”

“How could you miss the way he looks at her?” the other woman asked, sounding confused.

“Oh, and just how does he look at her?” Cindy demanded, mockingly.

There was a slight pause before the other woman answered, “Like she’s everything that he’d ever dreamed of and he can’t quite believe she’s real.”

“Oh my God, you’ve been reading too many of those romance novels! He doesn’t look at her like she’s anything special!” Cindy said with a sneer.

“You’re the only one that doesn’t see it then.”

“Really? If he loves her so damn much then why did he f**k me last week?” Cindy demanded.

Rory stood there for another moment, feeling numb and barely registering the rest of the private conversation as her mind worked through everything she’d heard. When she settled on a decision, she turned around and walked back down the hall to confront Connor.

* * * *

When he saw Rory walk out from the back hall, looking determined and pissed he knew that he was in deep shit. That was confirmed when Rory ignored the cashier trying to hand over an extra-large hot cocoa and headed for the door, not even looking at him as she passed him.

“Great,” he muttered, sighing heavily as he walked over to the counter and took the hot cocoa from the stunned cashier, who was probably wondering if hell had frozen over. Everyone in town knew that hot cocoa was Rory’s weakness and as far as he knew, she’d never passed up a cup.

He couldn’t exactly say that he was surprised to find Rory waiting for him when he stepped outside. They’d been playing this game for over twenty years so he knew by now what to expect when Rory was pissed at him and she was damn well pissed right now. That little murderous glare that she shot him as she gestured for him to follow her told him everything that he needed to know.

She didn’t wait to make sure that he’d follow her as she walked over to her Jeep, climbed in the driver’s side and slammed the door shut behind her. Any sane man would probably walk the ten miles home instead of facing this woman’s wrath, but he was in love with this woman so that pretty much negated the sane part, at least for the moment.

Resigning himself to whatever Rory had in store for him, he took a sip of her cocoa, walked over to the Jeep and climbed in. Without a word, he handed over her keys and settled back, sipping her cocoa as she started the Jeep and drove off. Still she didn’t speak and to be honest, he was in no rush to have his ass chewed out right now. It had been a long day and an even longer night and all he wanted to do was go home, climb into bed with this cranky woman and-

“Where are we going?” he asked when Rory suddenly took a right into their old high school’s parking lot, their old high school that had handed them each a No Trespass Order along with their diplomas on the day they graduated.

Rory didn’t answer him as she drove around the back of the building and parked in the empty, dimly lit parking lot. He was in no mood to spend the night in jail and opened his mouth to tell her just that when she started to take her clothes off. Once she started to pull her pants down, he lost all ability to think, never mind talk.

“You and I are going to have a little talk, Connor, and clear a few things up before I decide whether or not to take a chance on you,” Rory calmly explained as she hooked her thumbs in the sides of her panties and pulled them down, revealing chestnut curls between her legs that had his breath catching in his throat.

“Are you going to answer my questions, Connor?” Rory asked as she straddled his lap just as she finished pulling her bra off and dropped it to the side, leaving her na**d and gorgeous.

When he didn’t respond fast enough, she settled herself comfortably on his lap and teasingly ground her pu**y down against the erection that was begging to be freed from his pants. She didn’t bother asking him if he agreed again, but simply started asking her questions.

“Do you love me?” she asked, cutting right to the chase which was part of the reason that he loved this woman. She didn’t play any of the bullshit games that other women played, didn’t use drama to get what she wanted. Granted, she was using his dick against him at the moment, but he was fine with that.

“Yes,” he hissed out as Rory ground down hard on him.

“Since when?” she asked, placing her bad hand on his shoulder to steady herself as she continued to rub her pu**y against him, teasing him and driving him out of his f**king mind with pleasure.

“Since the moment that I saw your father drag you into daycare, looking cute and mean as you tried to glare the man down,” he admitted as he placed his hands on her h*ps and dragged them up her sides until he was cupping her beautiful br**sts. When she made no moves to stop him, he caressed her br**sts as he dragged his thumbs over her ni**les until they hardened.

“You really want to marry me?” she asked, moaning as she reached between them with her good hand and started working on his fly. His right hand quickly abandoned her breast as it joined her in freeing his cock.

“Yes.”