He kissed her long, hard, deep, as if she belonged to him and to him alone. Her legs began to shake as he gripped her bare behind with strong fingers. She felt the sharp edge of the plastic he still held in his hand rasp against her buttocks; it created a tactile sensation that sent her spinning even further into the depths of desire.
His breathing became ragged as he pulled his mouth away from hers. Still gripping her with one hand at her front and the other behind, he opened his eyes and stared down at her. He inhaled sharply and said, "I need the truth."
Swallowing hard, she shook her head, remaining stubborn, denying him an answer.
His eyes blazed and his words held a sharp edge. "Courtney. There's a more immediate problem than my goddamn ego here. If you don't tell me the truth, I might make the wrong assumption and not take the kind of care I should." His eyes held hers as his control seemed to slip a notch and he rasped, "You understand me, baby? I'm half-fucking crazed already; if there's a chance I might hurt you, you better fucking tell me right now."
His meaning hit her all at once.
It was probably ridiculous, but as she realized that Nick was fueled with enough testosterone to stop a moving train and that he was impatient on top of it, her face paled and she stared back without speaking, a sudden feminine fear holding her in its grip.
His hands clenched as he prompted her for an answer. "I need something here. Give me something to go on."
She took a deep breath and held his eyes and made a decision because in essence, not only did she despise pain of any kind, she could only lose her virginity once, and even if she and Nick were standing up inside a closet, she wanted it to be special between them. "Be careful," she whispered.
He stared at her for the count of two seconds before his eyes closed and he leaned in toward her. He placed his lips gently on her forehead, and there was no other way that Courtney could describe it. He kissed her in benediction.
It was as if a switch had been flipped inside of him. Gone was the sexually aggressive man of moments ago; in his place was Nick, as he'd been on her eighteenth birthday.
With a gentle movement, taking her by the hand, he led her from the closet and into her bedroom. He started for the bed, but then with a quick turn, he swept her up into his arms and carried her out of the room, down the hall and into his suite of rooms.
He was just about to drop her to the bed when they heard pounding on the door in the vestibule adjacent to the elevator. The noise was loud and cacophonous as it resonated through the air and Nick's hold on Courtney tightened immediately. They both looked in the direction of the door and then they heard Garrett's voice. "Nick! What the fuck? Are you in there or not?"
Courtney felt Nick's body tense as his head came down to her ear and he said under his breath, "Not a word. Don't move a muscle. I'm not letting him in."
Realizing that she was half-naked and that Garrett had to know they were inside the apartment, she started squirming, wanting out of Nick's arms.
His hands clenched as if he wasn't going to let her go until Garrett changed gears by shouting, "Courtney! I know you're in there. I need to talk to you. Come open the door, damn it."
Nick growled, low in his throat.
"Let me down," she hissed at Nick and with a low rumble of anger, he loosened his arms. She didn't wait another second. She raced back to her room and then to her closet and pulled on the jeans and panties that Nick had taken from her not five minutes before.
Sixty seconds later, she opened the front door, sans shoes, and let a clearly pissed-off Garrett inside.
Nick stood at the sideboard in the dining room pouring a drink, and Courtney couldn't believe he was letting his agitation show by mixing a cocktail in the middle of the afternoon. As far as she knew, he never drank during the day, unless absolutely forced to because of business reasons, and certainly not on a normal Thursday afternoon. But she'd been gone a while. Who knew?
"Hey," she greeted as Garrett strolled inside and looked first to her and then to his brother with a suspicious glint in his eye.
"What the fuck's going on?" he asked as he continued to look between the two of them.
Courtney was guiltily aware that her hair was wild and her color was heightened. She glanced at Nick who was grimacing as he swallowed a hefty drink of his bourbon. He made no attempt to answer his brother; he didn't even glance in his direction.
"Nothing," Courtney answered Garrett as neutrally as possible. "I was unpacking in the closet and didn't hear you. Where's my hug?"
With another quizzical glance in Nick's direction, Garrett took her in his arms and embraced her. "Congratulations."
"Thanks," she said, looking up at him.
"We're all proud of you, you know," his deep voice resonated through the room.
Pleasure infiltrated her at his compliment. "I know. Thanks."
As he ruffled her hair and let her go, she surreptitiously glanced at Nick who was wearing a full-blown scowl as he watched them.
Courtney stepped back as Garrett turned his attention to Nick again. "Why are you drinking? It's two o'clock."
"Who are you? My mother?" Nick sneered.
Garrett narrowed his eyes and put his hands on his hips. Ignoring Nick's sarcastic quip, he questioned his brother in pulsing anger, "What the hell's going on with you, Nick? You trying to get to Courtney first? I told you. I get her. I've been telling you that for the last six months."
Courtney sucked in a breath, confusion coloring her expression. Get her? What the hell?
Nick slammed his glass down on the glass-topped sideboard and finally turned to fully face his brother, his eyes lighting with rage. "And I told you there's no fucking way she's going globetrotting with you. It. Isn't. Fucking. Happening."
Globetrotting? Courtney was sure she was missing something. Trying to understand the sudden dynamics in the room, she looked between the two men.
"You're not her goddamn keeper, Nick. She's a full-grown woman now and she can make her own decisions," Garrett shot back.
Courtney had had about enough. "What's going on here? One of you better start explaining. And quit talking as if I'm not standing in the same room."
The brothers continued to glare at each other and then began talking to her at once.
"I want you for Acquisitions," Garret announced.
"You're going to work in Restructuring," Nick shot out, looking directly at her and pinpointing her with his gaze.
Garrett turned and blasted Nick with a look of disbelief. "You have more than enough people in Restructuring. I'm going to build the fucking holding company with or without The Rule Corporation backing me and Courtney's coming with me."
"What the fuck do you mean by that?" Nick fumed.
Garrett's voice deepened and the control Courtney heard in it was almost chilling. Where had she ever gotten the idea that this man was more approachable than his brothers? "I'm goddamn sick and tired of my brothers telling me what I can and can't do. It's time to start making some real money and I know exactly how to do it. If you and Damian want in on it, fine, but if not, I'll do it myself, and I'm taking Courtney with me."
"Jesus Christ, Garrett, you don't think we're making real money?" Nick bellowed in disbelief.
"It's time to expand, Nick. Structural leverage, that's what it's all about. We can make a shit-fuck ton of cash."
The two men stared each other down while Courtney tried to get a grip. Dissension in the family was not a good thing.
At Nick's continued silence, Garrett began to state his case. "It'll be straightforward. We form an investment LLC. We fund it, open subsidiaries--"
Nick cut him off in a tone that dripped impatience. "I know how a holding company works, Garrett. But there's a problem you're not considering. Damian and I don't like debt of any kind and you know it."
When Garrett narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth, Courtney glanced at Nick. As the silence continued to pulse between the two men, she took a deep breath and said what she was thinking, "Yeah, but the risk would be minimal. It's an amazing idea."
Nick turned to her with an expression she couldn't read, but she never floundered, continuing, "You ought to at least consider it, Nick. Like Garrett said, you could buy the investments through an array of LLCs. You'd actually only have to contribute a small, fixed percentage to each, and you'd draw up an operating agreement that would allow other investors to buy in." As the two brothers listened, their attention fixed on her, Courtney continued, "If the remainder of the debt for each investment was financed through secured, non-recourse loans, then your actual risk would be negligible."
As Courtney's words came to a halt, Nick appeared pole-axed while Garrett broke out into a huge grin and said to her, "Told you that MBA would be a good thing." Then he turned to Nick. "And I told you; she's mine."
When the last two words left Garrett's lips, Nick turned to his brother with fury in his eyes. "She's not yours and you best not ever say that again."
A long moment of heated silence filled the room as the two brothers stared at each other.
"What the fuck, Nick?" Garrett hissed.
"Was it your idea for her to stay the extra two years in Florida?" Nick asked hotly.
"No, I only supported her decision to get her master's degree," Garrett replied.
As Garrett watched his brother with a look of confusion on his face, Nick took a deep breath and stuck to the original conversation. "We have two issues here. One is the question of forming a holding company and if we're going to do it--"