Rule's Property (The House of Rule 2)

His arms crossed over his chest. "Courtney," he exhaled her name on a breath. "It's been a long day. It was a tedious flight. I want the truth."

She lifted her chin as a slow, insidious feeling of equality hit her. They were even. He cared about her, too. My God, it was literally too much to take in. Where should they go on their honeymoon? Was she thinking too far ahead? Stop it, Courtney. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He clenched his mouth in irritation. "You told my mother you have a new boyfriend."

She shook her head in denial. "I did not. When was this?" And she hadn't, not really. She'd only talked about her friend a little too much.

Nick's gaze intensified. "Earlier this week," as he said the words, his gaze dropped down to her bare feet, where he seemed to study her pink toenails before moving up and settling on her legs in a way that caused wet heat to land between her thighs.

"Is that why you're here?" She asked softly and innocently. Maybe too innocently.

At her question, or maybe it was her tone, his eyes lifted to hers and he stilled completely--and it was clear to her at that point that he'd suddenly realized something more was going on here.

He watched her intently for long moments, his eyes narrowing as a subtle tension invaded his frame. "What are you trying to do to me, babe?" he asked in a low voice.

Courtney dragged her bottom lip through her teeth and shook her head, her heart pounding. Babe? Christ, had he just called her 'babe'? "Nothing," she whispered, her eyes holding his, her pulse escalating by the second.

He watched her in silence for a moment and then he seemed to almost visibly shake himself. "Are you lying to me? You told my mother you have a boyfriend," he repeated in accusation, looking confused, looking for once as if he didn't have a complete handle on everything.

"No, I may have mentioned something about one of my friends, but he's in no way a boyfriend."

"Are you telling me that she took it the wrong way?" he asked in disbelief.

"I guess," she prevaricated.

He shook his head sternly, obviously not believing her. "Let me get this straight. You purposely made her think you have a new boyfriend."

"No--"

"Yes, you did," he said quietly yet firmly. "Why would you do that?"

She shook her head again, not ready to admit the truth and not knowing how to say what she felt.

"Why?" he questioned again, more succinctly this time, wanting an answer to his question.

With the blood rushing too quickly through her veins, Courtney held his beautiful brown eyes. Looking at him through her lashes, she confessed in a whisper, "Because I missed you."

At her admission, he froze, standing eerily still for a second. Then his eyes closed and he dropped back against the sheetrock, the wall supporting him as he leaned against it.

When he opened his eyes, she didn't know what to say. Or what to do, or how to act, or how to stop the wild bloom of color on her face that was giving her feelings away even more. His brows furrowed and he studied her for a few drawn out seconds before his gaze swept down her body again and for the first time, she remembered the pajamas she was wearing. "Courtney. We have a problem, babe."

Her pulse took on an even more rapid beat. "There's no problem," she denied.

"You don't think, sweetheart?"

She shook her head.

He stared at her and bared his teeth in a painful grimace. Courtney could tell he was thinking hard, contemplating the situation at hand. She stood back and let him take the lead. After a moment, he seemed to give up and asked, "You missed me?"

Slowly, she began nodding her head.

After an abbreviated pause while he contemplated her silently, he lifted his fist and began banging his chin as if the idea of her missing him was causing friction in his soul. His eyes held hers.

At his continued silence, she cleared her throat. "I didn't really think you'd come," she admitted the truth softly.

At her words, and at the meaning behind them, his body went still. "But I did, didn't I?" he admitted before a low groan came from deep in his chest. "I need to get out of here before I fuck-up completely."

"Don't go," she implored from her soul.

His arms came over his chest and he crossed them again, as if in defense against her. When he spoke next, his words were harsh as if he'd come to a decision that she would have no input into. "How many more months? Three?"

She knew what he was asking. She'd be finished with school in three months. "Yeah."

"What are your plans? You're coming home, right?"

The word 'home' had been confusing to Courtney for a while now. Was Florida not her home anymore? Was her home now in Missouri? Really, the only place she wanted to be was where Nick was. But she couldn't be too obvious to him. It was bad enough that he knew she'd missed him so much that she'd all but lied to get him to come see her. "Yeah, probably."