Rule's Property (The House of Rule Book 2) (12 page)

She tugged it back up without glancing at him. Her gaze was firmly glued to the doors in front of her as if she had no escape route.

Well shit.
She didn't
. He was about to make sure of that.

He looked away from her with mounting impatience and studied the digital display as the elevator climbed. Courtney Powell was about to be in his bed.
About fucking time
. He inhaled a deep breath and slowly let it out, trying to regain control. Six years.
Six years
. That's all he'd had to wait. No big deal.
Right
.

The six years had been hell, but he could've waited any number of years if he'd had to.

He'd wait a lifetime for Courtney if that was the only choice he had.

He loved her that much
.

He clenched his jaw, forcing himself not to reach out and grab her
.
He ran his eyes over the slim line of her back as impatience clawed down his spine. Did she know he loved her? She damn sure knew he wanted her. But did she know that he loved her with everything he had to give and that he always had?

Fuck
. His brothers could have an issue with this. He should care, he really should.

He didn't. Not anymore.

The elevator doors swished open and with a firm hand on her lower back, he escorted her inside his penthouse and to the future he had mapped out for her.

****

The lights were dim as Courtney followed behind Nick to his suite of rooms, his hand clamped around hers in an unyielding vise. Her heartbeat was uncommonly subdued considering what they were about to do. Was she in a state of shock or just in a trance? Whichever it was, she was glad that her pulse was steady and that she seemed to be in control of her emotions.

It could so be going in the opposite direction right now.

She was
finally
getting what she wanted. What she'd wanted since she'd been eighteen years old. Seventeen, really, but who was counting?

She was getting Nick.

Or rather, she was about to sleep with him.

Her pulse began to race as the reality of that truth began to sink in.

As he locked the bedroom door and turned to her, she took a deep breath and blurted out, "I'm on the pill."

He froze for a moment, as he seemed to digest her words. "Since when?"

She swallowed.
How to answer that?
"Since . . . since the closet incident."

He didn't reply and she couldn't decipher his expression, but she had to get something out there; her nerves were stretched too thin to put it from her mind. "You know I've never done this before." She let out a deep breath of relief after she'd uttered the words. Even though she'd already hinted at her virginity, she wanted to fully admit the truth.

His expression changed to one that, this time, she had no problem deciphering; a hard look of satisfaction blazed across his features. "I wasn't completely sure, but I'm guilty of hoping that was the case."

Courtney cleared her throat, wanting to know the answer to a question that had been bothering her. "We've waited so long . . . but you shouldn't have made us wait such a long time. It wasn't fair. What would you do, what would you say if I wasn't still . . . " Her voice trailed off.

He shook his head, although a pained look encompassed his features. "It wouldn't matter. I can't deny that I want it; I want your innocence. But I want you more than that. Maybe you don't understand, but I had
no choice
. I had to let you go . . . I had to give you the time to grow up . . . and now I'll take you however I find you and thank God every day that I have you."

"So it's just you and me, then?" She asked, wanting no question unanswered in her heart.

"Hell, yes. I can't take being separated anymore.
Not going to happen,"
he gritted out
.

She took another breath and carried on, his answer satisfying her, pleasing her down to her bones. "So, I don't want to have to use a condom, at least, not this first time. Will that be possible?" Thankfully, her voice was steady.

His eyes sharpened as he began to walk the few feet it took to reach her. Taking her bag from her arm, he tossed it aside. While staring at her, his palms wrapped around her bare shoulders. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Her heart rate picked up and it took everything she had to continue to breathe evenly. "Are you going to make me ask about your personal health, Nick?"

Very subtly, his fingers clenched on her skin and his voice dropped an octave. "I can't believe you think you need to ask, but go ahead."

Maybe he didn't care that she doubted him, but she had her own health to consider; she wasn't stupid. "Is it safe? Do you know for sure that you won't . . . won't give me anything?"

His gaze became pointed and his mouth flattened, but he gave her the answer she sought. "Yeah, it's safe, and yeah, I know for sure."

Courtney breathed a sigh of relief. Not only for his answer, but for the fact that she'd been brave enough to confront him about the issue. She didn't want to lose her virginity with a condom between them; it seemed less than romantic somehow.

She dampened her lips as he wrapped an arm around her waist and she raised her eyes to his.

"Does that make you feel better, sweetheart?" he asked in a more gentle tone.

She felt color hit her cheeks. "Yes."

"I'd never do anything to hurt you or to put your health at risk. I'd cut off my right arm first."

At her silence, he asked, "Okay?"

She breathed in slowly. "Okay," she managed, but it was little more than a whisper. It was as if she'd used all of her strength even asking the question, and now her mind turned to the act itself, what was about to happen. She wasn't taking this lightly; she'd waited too long for it to be less than a monumental decision and moment in her life.

As his beautiful brown eyes stared into hers, he slid one strap of her sundress off her shoulder, and then the other. Her blood heated and she felt her eyes flare. At her reaction, he glanced down to the heart-shaped bodice of her dress held it in place by her breasts, and then slowly, he reached around and slid her zipper all the way down.

When her bodice loosened she let out a small gasp; the dress was lined so the only thing she had left underneath was a pair of abbreviated satin panties.

She glanced down and watched as Nick fisted the material of her dress in both hands. All it took was a small tug and then the garment lay pooled around her feet. She continued to stare down between them, a small memory, a
frisson
of déjà vu tickling along her nerve-endings and blending with the sexual awareness beating through her blood.
She'd stood in this same place before him, looking at the floor, trying to contain the raw emotion she felt for him.

As she stood almost completely nude in front of him, sexual tension seemed to fill his large frame and she knew, without actually looking, that he was staring at her bare breasts. She tried to stand straight and tall while she fisted her hands at her sides to keep them from reaching up and covering her naked chest. Dreaming about this had been one thing, being almost naked before him was an entirely different matter.

His hands found hers and clenched around them, holding them to her sides, but his touch was gentle, his thumbs running back and forth over her skin in a soothing manner. He cleared his throat and spoke. "I want to make sure you know something--just for the record." As she continued to look down at the floor, he released one of her hands and a masculine finger put pressure on her chin until she was forced to lift her face to his.

Her eyes locked with his as his thumb ran back and forth along her bottom lip in a caress so soft and gentle that her knees almost gave away. As she waited for him to continue, her pulse jumped erratically. He watched her in silence, their breaths coming in tandem, his face set in lines of gentle homage. His eyes reflected something she'd only caught bare glimpses of in the past; now it was there, unhidden, out in the open between them.

At his expression, her heart began hammering in her chest, and she was startled to feel a tear roll down her cheek, in anticipation of what he might say. He let out a crooked half-smile and wiped the tear away with a gentle finger. He took a deep breath and seemed to brace himself, and then he declared unequivocally, "I'm in love with you, Courtney."

Sheer, unmitigated happiness exploded within her. She bit her lip and closed her eyes for a heartbeat. When she opened her lids and their gazes locked again, her eyes filled with tears as she smiled tremulously. At her reaction, he gave a choked, joyful laugh and his fingers left her chin to spear through her hair. His other arm wrapped around her waist, bringing her against his torso. "I love you, sweetheart," he reiterated.
"I always have and I always will."

Her throat closed up. She tried to say something, tried to tell him that she loved him too, but she couldn't find enough strength to accomplish the words. Just the act of breathing was using every bit of oxygen she could find. She wiped at the wet trail on her cheeks with the back of her hand and cleared her throat. She began nodding her head up and down vigorously and his mouth formed a full-blown smile. Releasing her scalp, he trailed his fingers down to the piece of jewelry that hung by a chain and rested on her chest. He lifted it, held it tightly in his fingers and asked almost hesitantly, "Do you love me?"

She opened her mouth and her lips quivered. "Yes," she whispered; it was all she was capable of.

He closed his eyes for two seconds and she read profound relief on his face. When he opened them, he released the charm and wrapped his fingers around her chin again. "Can you tell me?"

An arrow of fierce longing shot straight through her when she heard the trace of vulnerability in his tone. "I love you, Nick."

"Do you?" he asked, his voice dropping a notch, as he searched for confirmation.

Her voice came back fully. "I do. I love you with all my heart and I always have, since I was a teenager. I've always loved you, Nick. It's always been
just you."

Her words seemed to be the balm he needed, as an expression of ease filled his features. And then in a lightning quick shift, his features turned to unadulterated possession. As his grip enclosed her more firmly, her stomach flipped at his sudden transformation. When he spoke, his tone conveyed a captivating threat of unequivocal ownership. "That's it then.
You're mine."
The arm around her waist tightened inexorably. "You've always been mine, but now it's out there."

Courtney sucked in a breath and laid it
all
out there. "If I'm yours, then you're mine." She made her voice firm; she wasn't asking a question, she was stating a fact. And that was difficult to do when she was standing in nothing but high heels and briefs and his large body was planted around her, radiating full-blown masculinity, his immediate intentions apparent.

But he didn't take exception to her demand; his lips formed a tantalizing smile that caused a molten heat to fill her veins. "Yeah. That's how this thing between us is going to work," he stated with inflexibility. "You're mine--I'm yours, and if anybody tries to get between us, they'll find out quick-fast that that shit won't fly. My family seems to think you belong to them. But that's not the way it is, and that's not the way this is going to work, not any longer."

His hand left her face and trailed down to her breast and encompassed it in the palm of his hand. She let out a tiny gasp as he ran his thumb across her nipple. "Right, baby? Nothing and nobody will get between us. We're moving forward with this. You agree?"

"Yes," she answered simply.

As he continued to drag his finger back and forth across her turgid nipple, Courtney's eyes began to slip closed as arousal shot through her veins.

She felt his lips on her forehead as he held her close. "I'm going to give you whatever you want."

"I only want you," she mumbled against his chest.

"That's easy, then." With that, he lifted her up, with an arm under her back and the other under her knees and carried her across the room, prowling with the fluid movement of a jungle cat to the bed.

He dropped her on the king-sized mattress, in the center of the bed, and then without missing a beat, he stepped back and began undressing.

His eyes stayed riveted on her face as he pushed off his shoes and socks. His nostrils flared and with her heart banging in her chest, she watched as he pulled the designer belt from its loops. When she glanced back up, he began tearing at the fastening of his shirt and with a shrug of his shoulders, dropped the garment to the floor where he stood.

His chest was massive and toned with hard muscle. She pulled in a ragged breath as she watched him undress. She'd seen his chest before, of course, at the swimming pool in his mother's backyard. But never before had she seen his naked chest as it was now, his pectorals lifting and falling as he fought for oxygen.