“Your trail mix tastes funny,” Trevor said with a cringe.

“That wasn’t trail mix, you bastard! That was potpourri!”

“Well, that explains a lot,” he said, giving her a sheepish smile as he returned the large wooden bowl back to the side table. She didn’t need to look to know that he’d already eaten half the bowl of potpourri. She didn’t even bother asking him what the hell was wrong with him since she knew the answer.

The man was a Bradford.

Enough said.

It was also the reminder that she needed to find out why they were here and throw their asses out before she got caught harboring Bradfords. She really needed to find out what they did to get banned in the first place, but that was a problem for another time. Right now she needed to deal with them, and hopefully she could do that in less than twenty minutes so that she could get a quick shower in and take care of Bunny before she met Connor, and enjoyed her night of unlimited hot cocoa.

“There’s that smile again,” Trevor said, sounding amused.

“Why are you here?” she demanded, deciding to ignore the fact that she couldn’t help smiling when she thought about Connor.

“To help you, you ungrateful bastard,” Jason grumbled, snuggling his head near her knees and she was tempted, oh so tempted to shove him onto the floor and give him that wedgie that he was practically begging for.

“How exactly is having you bitch and whine helping me?” she demanded, rubbing faster when she felt his hand move near her calf.

“I wouldn’t be bitching and whining if that bastard’s Red Sox loving wife hadn’t tried to poison me!” Jason bit out harshly and she knew without asking that her cousin was more pissed off about the fact that Trevor’s wife, Zoe, had a soft spot for all things Red Sox than the actual poisoning.

She still cringed when she thought about last Christmas’ family gathering. All she had to say was that Zoe had guts showing up at a Bradford gathering with her twin baby boys dressed in matching Red Sox jerseys. She could still remember the stunned silence that took over the house when Zoe pulled the baby blanket off the twin’s and revealed those damn jerseys that her brothers, cousins and she may have accidentally smeared pudding, chocolate and cold gravy on within minutes of the unveiling.

It hadn’t mattered that they’d “accidentally” dropped the small jerseys in the fire place when they offered to clean them, the damage had already been done. She’d never seen Trevor look so angry before. Instead of yelling at Zoe like she expected, he just became deathly silent and walked away from Zoe. It was actually kind of frightening. For the rest of the night he sat silently in the corner of the room, never taking his glare away from his wife. It wasn’t until Zoe complimented Aunt Janice on her table arrangement that he reacted. He was up and out of his chair and across the room in seconds, shoving aside anyone that was foolish enough to get in his way. Without a word, he grabbed Zoe’s hand, yanked her out of the room and disappeared down the hall. She’d like to say that she hadn’t heard her cousin ha**ng s*x and that those sounds didn’t still haunt her to this day, but she couldn’t. The rest of the family found it amusing, but they knew better than to say anything about it.

Everyone pretended that the incident never happened, partly because they knew that Trevor would beat the hell out of them if any of them gave his wife any shit, but mostly because they were all deathly afraid of Zoe and her baked goods. So far the small, plain woman, who made her laugh her ass off, had managed to send a total of twenty-nine Bradfords to the emergency room to have their stomachs pumped. Speaking of Bradfords and emergency rooms…..

“Should we bring him to the emergency room?” she asked, throwing Jason a nervous look and noting the slightly green color marring his normally healthy tanned skin.

“No, he’ll be fine. He only took one bite of the brownie,” Trevor said, sounding unconcerned. She opened her mouth to argue, but then with a sigh and a shrug she reminded herself that Trevor would know the danger signs of eating Zoe’s baked goods better than anyone.

“Fine, then tell me how the two of you breaking the ban is helping me out?”

“Let us worry about the ban,” Trevor said with a shrug as he reached for the bowl of potpourri, but one look from her had him pulling his hand back and shooting her a sheepish smile.

“Are you going to tell me why you’re here?” she asked, absently as she threw another glance towards the clock. She might have to skip the shower and take one later with Connor, she realized as she calculated the odds of throwing her cousins out, feeding Bunny and at the very least brushing her teeth before Connor showed up. She had to admit that the odds weren’t very good.

“We’re here to help you with your project, Rory and we’re going to help you build your suites,” Trevor announced, grabbing her attention in a big way.

“What?” she asked, dumbly, not sure that she heard him correctly.

“He said that we came to help you with your project. Now, move your ass and get back to rubbing, woman!” Jason grumbled testily, wiggling around in an attempt to get her to recommence with the rubbing, but she couldn’t do anything more than sit there like an idiot as her mind quickly wrapped around that announcement.

“You’re here to help?” she asked, making sure that she’d heard them correctly.

“Yes,” Trevor said with a nod and a shrug as if he hadn’t just solved most of her problems.

Where her brothers were good, really good, her cousins were the best. They were bigger, stronger and fast, very fast. Having one Bradford working for her would be like having five extra guys.

“Some of the others will come out when they can to help, but for now it’s us,” Trevor explained

“Oh my God,” she mumbled, feeling her lips pull up into a huge smile. “Really? This is great!”

“If you want, we can go have a look at this project right now,” Trevor offered with a shrug.

“That would be great!” she said, shoving Jason off of her lap and ignoring his whimpers and muttered, “Bastard” as she jumped to her feet and practically raced to the door. She was halfway there when one thought had her skidding to a stop.

Connor.

She didn’t want to break their plans, but she had to if she wanted to get her cousins caught up on what was going on. She could always sneak into his room later tonight, but she already knew that she’d be tired to do that. It didn’t help matters that she had to get up early in the morning. Skipping out on their plans also meant losing a night in his arms and she really wasn’t sure that she could do that.

“Where are you going?” Trevor asked as she abruptly turned and raced up the stairs.

“I’ll be back in ten minutes!” she yelled, hoping to be back here in five before her cousins did something to give themselves away and land her ass in jail for the night.

Chapter 27

"Connor?"

Speak of the devil, he thought, grinning as he rubbed his hand down his face, wiping water out of his eyes. He’d just been thinking about her, but that wasn't really anything new. Granted, his thoughts used to run along the lines of screwing her over for his own entertainment or revenge, but now he found himself just thinking about her smile, the way she pouted when he stole the last slice of pizza, and the way that she felt in his arms first thing in the morning.

Fucking amazing

"How much longer are you going to be?" Rory asked, sounding impatient and arousing his curiosity.

"I'm done," he said, stepping beneath the water and quickly rinsing off the body wash that coated his body before he shut the water off, ripped back the curtain and nearly tripped as he stepped out of the shower and his eyes landed on Rory.

"I need you," she said, giving her bare ass a little wiggle as she looked over her shoulder at him. Blindly, he reached out and slapped a hand against the shower wall. It was either that or take the chance of his legs giving out on him as a surge of lust tore through him, leaving him panting and struggling with the need to step up behind her and take her, hard.

The image of Rory bent over his bathroom counter and offering herself up to him was permanently etched into his brain, but it was her little declaration that had him panting and so damn turned on that he actually feared that his balls would explode. The fact that Rory wanted him so badly that she couldn't wait until the end of the night to have him had him struggling with his sanity. That she was as desperate for him as he was for her gave him hope and had him dropping his hand away from the wall and taking a step towards her.