Rule's Property (The House of Rule 2)

As she stared back at him, obviously struggling for control, Nick knew the exact moment when she realized she'd lost this particular fight. With a graceful motion that tied him in knots, she turned away from him, went to her closet and took a small bag from the top shelf.

He let out a slow relieved breath, refusing to think about how badly things could have ended.

Chapter Ten

Courtney beat Nick to the tower by a full seven minutes, extremely pleased with herself. As she raced across the penthouse, she'd had plenty of time to run to her original suite of rooms and lock her bedroom door against his possible intrusion. Possible, right. He'd be trying to get inside her room any second. After changing clothes, she began unpacking her bag, not because she was happy to still be here, but because she didn't want her clothes to wrinkle.

The loud banging on her door made her jump, even though she'd been expecting it sooner or later. "Courtney. Open the damn door."

She looked at the door while she tried to breathe evenly. "No. I'm here where you wanted me to be. Now go away," she responded loudly enough for him to hear but keeping her tone below a shout.

Unfortunately, Nick had no problem shouting. "Open. The. Door. Now."

"Go. A. Way." Pushing the syllables out one at a time as he did, Courtney sank down on her bed and waited, knowing damn good and well this was another battle she was going to lose.

"You want me to break down your goddamn door?" he asked, changing tack, his voice coming out almost pleasantly.

"No, I do not," she answered back with a false sweetness.

"Then make a choice. You've got five seconds."

Courtney's pulse began hammering.

"Five." The word came our harsh and threatening. He sounded even angrier than she'd thought he'd be.

But she didn't think that Nick would break down the door.

"Four."

Could he break down the door? He probably could, but he'd only have to get it repaired later.

"Three."

Shit.

"Two."

Courtney opened the door and glared at him. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the key in his hand. "You've got a key to my room?" His expression was pissed, but his stance appeared casual. He was barefoot, obviously having kicked his shoes and socks off while he'd counted outside her door, and the fact that he'd started stripping was making her heart race even faster.

"Yeah. I could bust the door, but why not use the key?"

"So you lied to me?" she asked. "Were you trying to scare me? Didn't you think the threat of using the key would be bad enough? You had to threaten to bust down the door?"

He shrugged as if unconcerned and took a step forward while she took a step back. "All's fair in love and war."

She studied him a moment, seeing the steel in his demeanor that he was making little effort to hide. Suddenly tired of the heartache, about half of the fight went out of her. "So is it love or war?" she questioned him softly.

His eyes narrowed as he pocketed the key. "I think it's love but evidently, you want to make it war." Courtney's heart raced triple time, both from the look in his eyes and from the knowledge that he could unlock her door anytime he cared to.

She stiffened her spine as Nick took another step forward and then another until he'd backed her up against the wall. He lifted one of her hands and held it above her head, pressing his torso into hers.

He stared down and she couldn't miss the fire in his eyes. Holding her hand captive against the wall, he pushed against her. His muscles were tensed, his body rigid when he spoke. "I'm about to show you how much I love you, how wrong you are to want to get away from me, but I have one thing to say to you first." His inflection changed on the last few words and Courtney heard anger in its purest form infiltrate his tone. When he fell into an aggrieved silence she swallowed and braced herself for whatever was coming. His eyes pierced into hers and then he continued in a forceful hiss, "If I ever catch you driving that fast again, you're going to live to regret it, understand me?"

His tone turned so antagonistic that she froze, not moving or speaking.

"You understand me, Courtney? I swear to God, you take a chance like that again, I'll personally peel your pants off your little ass and spank you so hard you'll be blistered for a week." Her lungs seized up at his air of menace. His features darkened and grew even stormier. "Got me, babe?"

Courtney swallowed hard, thinking about her choices. She knew she'd been somewhat careless, but she wasn't about to admit to it now. "I was being careful. I know how to drive," she shot back, belligerence only a heartbeat away.