Page 5 of The Off-Limits Rule: Extended Edition

This is not okay or fair. I’m not prepared for this. I shouldn’t be faced with a man of this caliber so soon after a breakup with a completely lukewarm guy. If this were a video game, I’d have just somehow stumbled over a cheat code and would now be facing the final boss to defeat. Level 100: Brother’s Hot Best Friend.

Drew is seriously looking at me like I’ve lost my mind, and guess what? I have. “Luce, I think you need some sleep.”

No, I need to make out with Cooper.

“I definitely do,” I say with a breathy laugh that’s uncomfortable for everyone. I hop up from my seat and go dig in the cooler for a water just to have a reason to look away from Cooper and gather my senses. “I think I’m dehydrated too. It’s hot out here, right?”

No one answers, but both men look a little stunned as I guzzle my water.

Finally, Drew shakes his head and steps closer to me so he candrop his voice. “Hey, you okay?” He’s surprisingly tender right now, misreading my actions as those of a woman who’s about to break down into a heartbroken sob rather than cackling nervous laughter.

That’s fine. I’d rather him think I’m losing it over Tim than salivating at the sight of the perfect male specimen at the front of the boat. “Yeah. Sorry. Just…processing everything still.”

If he’s not buying it, Drew doesn’t let on. He gives me a quick nod, then turns to sit in the captain’s seat and start the engine.

“All right, let’s get out of here before the marina gets too busy. Cooper, will you untie us?”

He does. But first, Cooper rakes his hand through his hair and settles a flat-bill hat backward on his head, taking his sexiness up to an unhealthy range. I watch from the corner of my eye like a stealthy assassin.

Once we’re slowly gliding through the marina, Cooper plops down onto one of the bench seats at the front and extends his long legs in front of him, staring out at the lake. Drew looks over his shoulder at me still standing in the far back corner of the boat and eyes me like he’s afraid I might need to be life-flighted to the hospital. “You gonna sit down? I’m about to take off.”

“Oh. Sure.” Would it be weird if I just sat down right here on the floor?

I think Drew knows I’m contemplating it because he jerks his head toward the front and lowers his voice. “Go sit up there with Cooper. He’s a nice guy. I wouldn’t have invited him out here if I thought he would be rude to you.”

Ha!He thinks I’m afraid to go sit by Cooper because I’m worried he’s going to hit on me or something. The absurdity of this makes me want to double over with laughter.

I don’t want to go sit by Cooper because I wasn’t expecting thesexiest man alive to be joining us on this boating adventure today, and so I have the legs of a woolly mammoth. Also, I had every intention of scaring off whatever horrid, sweaty, greasy, snaggly friend Drew brought out with us, so I wore the most wholesome and frumpy one-piece the world has ever seen.It’s bad, friends. Real bad.

The swimsuit in question is left over from my senior year swim meet a thousand years ago. It’s one of those special swim team brands that looks sort of tie-dye but in the worst colors imaginable, and the fabric is no longer sleek and smooth. It’s ratty, and rough, and a little saggy in all the wrong places.

Luckily, I had the forethought to wear a cover-up, a garment that will not be leaving my body the entire day.

I swallow and try to force my legs to stop wobbling as I stumble my way out to the bow. I take my seat like we’re playing musical chairs and someone just cut the music so my seat is about to disappear.Why am I like this?

Sitting down, I tuck my legs tightly up under me so Cooper doesn’t get a peek at my one-inch-long leg hairs and keep my eyes set firmly toanywhere but at the man sitting to my right.

Drew throttles up, and the engine roars as the boat takes off, whipping my hair around my face. The wind is such a punk, trying to lift my cover-up just to embarrass me. I lock it down with my hands and wish to high heaven I were one of those women who looks effortlessly sexy all the time with her hair twirling around her face like a Disney princess. You know, the ones who never have to worry about shaving their legs because they go for routine waxes? The ones who would never hold on to a swimsuit from their high school years and only own little next-to-nothing numbers that show off their cute boobs.

My boobs are cute in a one-is-slightly-bigger-than-the-otherkind of way. The size and shape of my breasts are irrelevant though, given no one will notice them today because of how they are completely mashed down in this soul-sucking one-piece. My butt, however, is dimply. There’s no way around it. Honestly, I’m fine with my dimples, but one look at a man like Cooper tells me he would not be. I put him solidly in thePilates instructors onlycategory.

Trying to be stealthy, I sneak a sidelong peek, nearly jumping out of my skin and over the side of the motoring boat when I catch him looking at me too. Our eyes collide for one pounding heartbeat, and I think I see a glimmer of something in his before I rip my gaze from him and back out over the water.No looking at his glimmer, Lucy.

I bite my lips together and try to hold back an embarrassed smile. How am I going to make it through this day with him? I’m used to comfortable, snuggle-up-and-read-a-book Tim—not sensual, eye-glimmering Cooper.

Thinking of Tim gives me an idea, though! When we pull into a cove and Drew cuts the engine, I reach for my tote bag and pull out a book. Just the feel of the warm matte cover between my fingers helps me relax.Yes, this is good.I can bury my nose in the pages like I normally do and let the story carry me to a different place.

A different place where Cooper isn’t rising from his seat, reaching for the back of his tank top, and yanking it off over his head. A place far,faraway from the defined, rock-hard abdomen hovering perfectly in my line of sight. Oh gosh, it’s getting worse. Cooper pulls out a can of spray sunscreen and starts dousing his body in a nice, muscle-enhancing sheen, then rubs it in, his large biceps and shoulders bunching and tensing as he moves.

I didn’t even realize seeing an Adonis V in real life was on my bucket list, but here we are, and I’m checking it off.

“Good book?” Cooper’s voice rumbles at me, making me shamefully peel my eyes away from his six-pack up to his amused grin.

Busted.

My cheeks are lava, and all I can do is blink and turn my gaze back down to my book, begging it to magically transport me into its world. Because in this one, I have no idea how to interact with a man who looks like that. He’s all muscles and charisma, and right now I’m ninety-seven percent candy bars and MSG.

Chapter 3

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