Damn. It had worked.
And that had been the day her life had changed. That was the exact moment she'd known. She hadn't known exactly what she'd known, but she'd known for a fact that Nick was attracted to her. She'd known in that instant, as she'd looked through the peephole, as he'd stood on her doorstep, irritation plastered across his face, that Nick was jealous and possessive and that he didn't think of her as a little sister.
She'd opened the door, forgetting all about her flimsy pajamas, only trying to contain the violent beating of her heart. "Hey," she'd said, trying for a look of pleasant surprise as her eyes drank him in, so happy to see him that she'd wanted to fling herself at him. Stunned beyond belief at her new understanding of him.
Nick gave her no response; he made no attempt to embrace her. All she saw was six-feet-two inches of pissed-off male on her doorstep. He stood stock-still, his hands braced above his head on the doorframe. He wore extremely casual clothing, and his t-shirt was tight. It molded to his stomach, showing his washboard abs underneath. His biceps were pronounced as he flexed his hands, gripping the wood above him. "You going to let me in?" he asked, narrowing his eyes on her.
Fighting butterflies and at a loss for words, stunned that Nick did have feelings for her after all, she nodded her head and pushed the door all the way opened.
He walked inside and glanced around at the empty apartment with a suspicious glint. "Where are your friends?"
"They went to the beach for the weekend," she answered neutrally.
He took another step forward and slammed the door shut, sliding the deadbolt into place with a resounding click. "Which beach?"
Swallowing hard, her blood beating so quickly that her brain was spinning, she managed to answer, "Daytona."
"Why aren't you with them?" he asked, leaning against the door and crossing one foot over the other in a falsely lazy fashion.
Not wanting to blurt out that she would have been if she hadn't had the cramps, she was silent for a moment too long.
"Is it because you don't have enough money?" he drawled in a tone that suggested he didn't believe that was the real reason.
Trying with all her might to follow the conversation because she was still so floored that he was actually standing here in her apartment, she mumbled, "No, I've got enough."
"Are you sure? I can boost your allowance if you need more," he said in a neutral tone that somehow managed to sound as if he were baiting her.
Her mind was racing. It had worked. He was here. He was here. He. Was. Here. Dear God. "No, I'm good. I just didn't feel like going." That kiss. Oh, my God. That kiss on her eighteenth birthday. He'd meant it. It had been for her. She took a deep breath and then another. She would not hyperventilate.
"Didn't feel like going," he repeated flatly, as if he didn't believe her. "With your girlfriends. To the beach. You expect me to believe that?"
Her eyes flared as her heart continued to beat in triple time. "It's the truth."
His lips curled into a snarl. "Where is he?"
Oh, my God. Oh. My. God. Seriously, he was really jealous. "Where is who?" she asked as evenly as possible.
"The new boyfriend," he bit out, his anger conveying itself blatantly.
Her muscles tensed as she realized just how pissed he was. And that she had misled him in an effort to get him here. "I don't have a new boyfriend," she quickly denied.
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."
"Probably? What does that mean?"
"I need to find a job. If possible, I want to be in a place that's familiar to me. That's either Florida or Missouri."
"St. Louis," he narrowed it down emphatically.
She nodded her head, but negated that with, "Maybe."
With her answer, he pushed off the wall and began to head toward her. Her stomach clenched with hot anticipation. His footsteps stalled when he was less than two feet away and he seemed to shake himself. His features became strained as he held himself in suspended motion. "You promised me you'd come back to St. Louis."
"I know."
"You need to make good on that. Your promise was the only reason I let you leave in the first place."
At the look in his eyes, she felt like she had to settle something with him. "Nick," she began slowly, "You didn't let me leave. I wasn't yours to control." She studied him, noting the anger that slowly spread across his face at her words. She continued, trying to show a bit of independence, that truthfully, she couldn't care less about. "I want to go back to St. Louis. If I don't get a job here, then after graduation, I'll--"