Checkmate (Neighbor from Hell 3)

Not at all.

He was only doing this for the neighbors hiding behind their curtains and blinds as they spied on the two of them and for the neighbors standing in their driveways and on the sidewalks, holding flashlights as they openly watched the two of them. Since they had to appear to be a couple in love, then he really had no choice in the matter, he thought with a smile. He had to kiss Rory James.

Poor him.

"No, it's not," Rory said, stepping up beside him in front of her door as she shot a nervous look towards their neighbors.

"Of course this is a date, Rory," he said, drawing her attention back to him where it should be.

This was his time with her and he'd be damned if he shared it with anyone else. He might need their neighbors and the rest of the people in town to spread word to her brothers that they were dating, but that didn't mean that he'd allow them to f**k up their time together. Rory James was his for five months and he fully planned on enjoying his time with her, especially since she'd probably never talk to him again after he stole her brothers from her and ran her out of business.

"How exactly was this a date, Connor?" she asked, shooting another glance towards their nosy neighbors, who were really starting to aggravate the hell out of him.

"I picked you up, took you out to dinner-"

"We didn't actually eat," she mumbled distractedly as she frowned at something behind him.

He looked over his shoulder and nearly groaned when he saw several of their neighbors and some people that didn't even live in their neighborhood, gathering in front of her house and holding cameras trained on the two of them. With a sigh, he shifted in front of her, giving them his back and effectively blocking their view and bringing Rory's attention right back to him.

"That's not my fault that I didn't get to take you out to dinner, Rory," he felt obligated to point out. He'd taken her to a restaurant, hadn't he? It wasn't his fault that they were asked to leave because of some bullshit rule that better get lifted and soon.

"How is that not your fault?" she demanded, yanking her hand free so that she could prop her hands on her h*ps as she glared at him. "You're the one that got us banned from that restaurant in the first place!"

"No, I wasn't," he said, mostly because he couldn't remember exactly why they'd been banned from O'Malley's, but he was sure that it was Rory that got them banned.

"You made my date have a nervous breakdown!" she snapped, but that didn't really help him since several of the guys that she dated had that unfortunate response when he got involved.

"How exactly would that get us banned?"

"They had to call a priest to come talk him off the roof!" she snapped.

He shook his head and with a shrug and said, "Still not seeing the problem."

With an eye roll and a muttered, "I give up," she turned to let herself into the house and end their date, but he wasn't about to let that happen. Whether she liked it or not, she was his date and he wouldn't be denied the best part of the evening.

The kiss goodnight.

Chapter 17

"What are you doing?" she mumbled nervously as Connor cupped her face in his warm hands and leaned in.

"What does it look like I'm doing, Rory?" he asked with that bad boy smile of his that did not make her stomach do funny things.

"I-I'm not really sure," she said in a daze as her mind registered that he was going to kiss her. Instead of getting pissed or at the very least, disgusted by the idea she was surprised to discover that she wanted to kiss him.

She wanted to kiss Connor O'Neil.

This was so wrong, she thought as his lips came in contact with hers. The contact was brief, sweet and not nearly enough. When she placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned into him, it was only because of their deal. For her project she had to kiss the hottest man in town. It was a hardship, but at the moment she decided that she'd just have to suck it up and deal with it.

As long as they kept it to kisses and perhaps a few touches then that was fine. She could handle that, but sex was definitely out of the question. She might be attracted to the man, more so lately, but that didn't mean that she planned on whoring herself out for a project.

Granted, most people were just going to assume that she slept with him, but she really didn't care what they thought. The only thing that mattered was that she knew that she wouldn't. There would be no sex with the bastard, she reminded her body even as she used her hold on Connor and pulled him closer until her br**sts were plastered against his chest. He let out a sexy growl as he wrapped his arms around her and moved to deepen the kiss.

She'd been kissed by plenty of men in her life, but that hadn't prepared her for a kiss from Connor. The first sweep of his tongue had her panting and holding onto his shoulders for dear life and the second had her fighting against the urge to climb him then and there. What the hell was wrong with her? she wondered as she met him stroke for stroke.

Instead of enjoying this, she should have kept it simple with a quick peck on the cheek, gone inside, grabbed a mug of cocoa and tried to come up with a few ideas on how to get out of this deal and keep her project. She definitely should be doing that now. It wasn't too late, she absently thought as she suckled on Connor's tongue.

"Oh my God!" a woman whispered loudly. "They're going to do it on the front lawn!"

She felt Connor go still against her as mortification set in. During her little make out session with Connor she may have forgotten about their audience. She'd never been one for PDAs and here she was practically swallowing Connor's tongue. This was bad, this was very bad, she thought as they pulled apart.

"Goodnight," Connor said tightly and as much as she'd love to kick him for making her forget about their audience, she was still a little breathless from their kiss and mortified by the knowledge that everyone in town would probably know about this little slip in judgment by tomorrow morning. This was the last thing she needed right now.

With an absent nod, she turned around, opened her front door, barely aware of Bunny slipping past her, his growl or Connor's curse as she shut the door behind her and ran for her kitchen. Once she was in her kitchen, she didn't hesitate in making a double chocolate, extra large, extra creamy cup of cocoa. When it was done, she closed her eyes and sipped the hot tasty liquid until she'd consumed every last drop.

This was very bad, not the cocoa, that was really good, but the fact they'd been interrupted and she actually wanted to scream in frustration and drag Connor into her house, push him down on the couch and mount him while she went back to enjoying his kisses. She hated him, hated everything about him, she tried to remind herself as she reached out to grab the cocoa mix and make another mug of cocoa since the first one apparently hadn't done the trick.