Page 24 of The Off-Limits Rule: Extended Edition

Oh.

My shoulders relax a little, but then, when I lean a little more into his shoulder, realization zaps through me. “Wait! That’s your move, isn’t it?! Taking women to do special things for the first time!” I point an accusing finger at him.

He grabs my finger and lowers it like I had the barrel of a gun aimed at his chest. “Will you stop it? I don’t have amove.” His grin curves into something wolfish. “Never needed one.”

I roll my eyes and make ablehhhhhhsound.

He laughs. “Lucy, I brought you here because I wanted to cheer you up. You seemed so down earlier when I called you cute—like I meant cute in a tiny-purring-kitten way.”

“Actually, I thought you meant it in an awwww-look-at-that-adorable-mom-letting-loose kind of way.”

“And that’s worse?” he asks with a crooked brow.

“Much.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because…” I shrug. “I don’t know exactly. I think there’s a stigma that comes along with being a mom, and when you’re young like me, it’s confusing. I should be in my prime, thriving, and…attractive. Instead, at least three times a day, I have to remove a stain from my shirt that Levi left behind. It’s like earning the title ofMomimmediately zapped all the attractiveness right out of me.” Why did I just tell him all of that? I can’t help but always spill my guts around him for some terrible reason.

“I can tell you right now that’s not true. No one sees you that way.” He pauses briefly, then turns his eyes to me. “I definitely don’t see you like that. In fact…I’m sort of envious of you.”

My mouth falls open. “No way.”

“Yes way.”

“What does my life have that could possibly make you envious?”

He turns his blue eyes to me, and I see a hint of sadness. “My life hasn’t exactly turned out the way I hoped.”Well, that’s mysterious.I keep waiting for him to expound and tell me what it is that’s lacking, but he doesn’t. Instead, he changes the subject. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure.”

“Levi’s dad…what’s the deal there?”

I scrunch my nose and groan, tilting my head back. “I thought you were going to ask what my star sign is or something.”

“That’s not even close to a personal question. Plus, I know nothing about star signs.” He bumps my shoulder. “But if you don’t want to tell me about Levi’s dad, I understand.”

For some reason, Idowant to tell him. I want to tell him everything all the time. “It’s okay. It’s not exactly classified information. Ask almost anyone around this town and they’ll tell you the truth: Lucy aimed too high.”

Cooper frowns, and his head jerks back a little. “Why in the world would you think that?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I’m generally liked by most people, but I’ve always been sort of…overlooked.” I shrug to downplay the heaviness of that word. “People seem to think I make a betterfriendthan girlfriend. So, when I met Brent, Levi’s dad, at a party and he paid me the slightest bit of attention, I was a goner. He was in med school, really good-looking, and definitely what most people would consider a ladies’ man.”Sort of like you.

“Anyway, that entire night was a mistake—one I greatly regretted when those pink lines popped up.” Even almost five years later, I can still remember exactly how it felt seeing that test verify that I was going to have a baby. The way my stomach twisted and my lungs squeezed. And yet—even though I knew I had options, my decision formed immediately in my heart as solid as bones. “It was so terrifying at the time, and although I regret that Brent is Levi’s dad, I don’t regret my son at all. As cliché as it sounds, he’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Cooper’s smile is tender. “I could see that yesterday even just from that short conversation you had with him over FaceTime.”

I laugh. “I don’t think you can call him torturing me with dizzying circles a conversation.”

“I liked getting to see you talk to him.” I don’t know how to respond to that, so I stay quiet. Cooper’s eyes glance down to where he cups water in his hand and pours it back out in a repetitive motion. Finally, he asks, “So you and Brent? How long were you together?”

My gaze shoots up to his face, realizing he doesn’t get it. Apparently, Drew hasn’t told him the whole story. A nervous, slightly self-deprecating chuckle falls from my mouth as I attempt to muster up the dignity for this story. “Never. We have never been a couple. That night after the party—and maybe a few more here and there over the years—was it for us. He was…Well, he was never interested in me, just didn’t want to be alone that night I guess, and I was…there.” I wince at how terrible my own words make me feel. “When I told him I was pregnant, he was really quick to extinguish any idea that we would be a couple in any way, shape, or form.”

“Wow…what a…” He trails off.

“A what?”

“A dick. He’s a freaking dick.”

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