NFH 02 Perfection (42 page)

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 and waved at
her.

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
move 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 hot 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 her spot was free and clear. Sighing contently, Rory
started to turn into the spot when a black pickup 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 didn't see 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 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. 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," 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," Shia 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 the 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 he could have bought for half
the price, but none of them would have provided him with the
entertainment of living right next door 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 she wasn't watching
his approach.

"Good morning, Mary, how are you this
morning?" he asked in his most charming voice.

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
against the wall and a gourmet coffee table that held one of those
insanely expensive coffee machines that used mini cups of ground
coffee to make single cups.

Shia 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 he was getting the job.
There was no doubt 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 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. Not as good as coffee, but not too
bad. He sat down, placing his folder on the empty chair next to him
while he sipped his beverage.

He didn't even bother trying not to
chuckle when Rory half stumbled into the reception area and made a
beeline to Mary's desk almost falling over seven times in the
process. Why she tried to walk in those high 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, and the high heels that
she clearly didn't know how to walk in. Not that he would ever tell
her.

He noticed 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 with those sky blue eyes that drove him nuts.

Shia 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.

Shia 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
bunch.

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

He made a show of looking down at where
he sat and then at each chair beside him. "Hmm, look at that so I
am," he mused.

"Move." She gestured impatiently at
him.

Sighing he took a sip of his drink.
"Nope," he said, making the word pop.

"Nope?"

"Nope."

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 his right.

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
by the second, she jabbed him in the side hard 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 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 and her
little band of geeks, nerds, and dorks finding out about it. His
friends of course did their part by distracting her so he could
break into her locker and of course take pictures of the
act.

On her birthday he'd placed all those
lovely pictures into a small box, gift wrapped it, and placed it in
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 first looked surprised at finding the present in her
locker and of course that to turned horror as she flipped through
the pictures. She couldn't hide that 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
she kneed him in the balls and 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."

********

For updates about this novel or any
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www.rlmathewson.com