Rule's Property (The House of Rule 2)

But to Nick, she was . . . something more. What exactly that was, she wasn't sure. Nobody else in the family seemed to know what was going on in his head. Courtney reanalyzed that thought, and although she wasn't entirely certain, she figured Damian had to have a clue about how Nick treated her, and if he didn't, she had no idea how he'd missed it.

It had certainly taken Courtney awhile to figure Nick out--and she still didn't have all the puzzle pieces in place just yet. But it was coming along; she'd figure him out eventually. And living in such close proximity would help that along, it had to.

As she shook out another blouse and placed it on a hanger, she figured it was probably only her imagination, but she could almost smell Nick's scent lingering in the apartment. Just the thought of being in his home for a few weeks, even with his mother around, was causing her legs to tremble.

Damn him.

He'd always caused her legs to tremble. Even from the very beginning.

With her, it had always been about Nick. Always. But her thought process had been so clouded by grief that it had taken her years to figure out that she meant something to Nick as well.

At first, she'd thought her feelings were one-sided. Sure, there had been that crazy kiss on her eighteenth birthday, but at the time, she hadn't had a clue what had prompted it. Maybe it had been mere sympathy on his part or simply a fluke; maybe he'd been thinking of someone else. The only thing she'd understood at the time was that he cared for her somewhat, in a way she couldn't possibly figure out, but she knew it wasn't the same way that she was beginning to care for him.

After her birthday was over, he'd gone back to ignoring her as a member of the female population, just as he'd done before, only treating her in a semi-friendly way, when he deigned to notice her at all. So she'd done her best to put him from her mind and go on with rebuilding her life as she'd been trying to do since she'd arrived in St. Louis.

Her last year of high school had been nothing but a test of perseverance. After her parents had died in the car wreck, Mrs. Rule had transferred Courtney from her prestigious, all-girls school in Florida to an even more prestigious one in the suburbs of St. Louis.

Once she'd graduated from high school, Courtney couldn't find the desire or fortitude to go away to college. It was in the back of her mind to return to Florida and rejoin her friends there, but she'd felt ambivalent, almost scared about uprooting her life again. So her first two years after high school were spent in a small community college on the outskirts of St. Louis, both to get her feet wet academically, and so she wouldn't have to leave Justine, who'd become a surrogate mother to her.

Nick had all but ignored Courtney during the time she'd attended the small college and her pride had demanded that she ignore him as well. It had been extremely difficult after his insane kiss, though she tried to manage it as well as she could. But sometimes she couldn't help feeling hurt. He'd smile at her but it felt forced. He'd look straight past her, as if she were a nuisance he had to put up with.

It had been impossible, even back then, not to realize that Nick treated her differently than the rest of the family did. But when had she begun to understand that it was because he was attracted to her and that he was trying to keep himself in check? It was undoubtedly once she'd been at college in Florida for a while; after a time, there'd been little question of his true feelings. But looking back, she realized there had been clues even before she'd left St. Louis, although she hadn't recognized them at the time. She thought back as the memories began to wash over her.

****

Academically, her two years at the community college had been a piece of cake. Luckily, making high grades had always come easily for her and during those two years, when the warm months finally arrived, Courtney found herself spending a lot of time in the backyard swimming pool. She enjoyed the subtle glow of a tan on her skin, and lying for an hour or so on a float here and there was incredibly peaceful to her.

By this time, Garrett had come home from graduate school. While looking for a place to live, he'd temporarily moved back into his old bedroom, and Courtney finally had a chance to really get to know him. The few times he'd been back for holidays hadn't been enough to even scratch the surface of his personality. Even though he was only a year or so younger than Nick, Courtney found him to be more approachable than either of his brothers. Maybe that was because he was younger than Damian, and certainly Garret had never grabbed her and kissed her as Nick had done. But because she did feel more comfortable with the youngest Rule brother, a deep camaraderie developed between them that she was only now beginning to experience with Erin.