Page 6 of The Off-Limits Rule: Extended Edition

Cooper

Well, this is the worst.

Come out on the boat with me and my sister, Cooper. It’ll be fun, Cooper.

Guess what, Drew—it’s not fun. His sister is supposed to be burly looking, the female version ofhim.She’s supposed to have a deep, husky voice, and if I squint, I would get her and Drew mixed up. That’s what every guy hopes his best friend’s little sister will look like.

Lucy, however, is freaking gorgeous.

She looks absolutely nothing like Drew. The only thing these two have in common is their eyes. Except, on Drew, they are just plain blue. Dude has blue eyes, end of story. On Lucy, they aredeep-indigo irises framed by long, dark lashes. Her skin is a soft milky white, and her hair is dark auburn, almost brown but not quite.

The worst part of all? She’s got that girl-next-door vibe to her. The kind that’s so shy she can’t make eye contact with me whilemy shirt is off. The kind that makes her cheeks go pink every time I talk to her. It’s rare to run into someone who genuinely blushes these days, and here she is, yanking down the hem of her cover-up and darting secret glances at me when she thinks I’m not looking.

I’m looking, though.

I’ve had my peripherals trained on her from the moment I stepped onto the boat. Which brings me to my next problem and, actually, therealworst part of it all. She’s off-limits. Lucy might as well have a neon flashingDo Not Touchmarquee above her head. Not only is she Drew’s sister, but she is fresh out of a breakup and, if I remember correctly, has a little boy. I know about the breakup not only because Drew overstated it like a dipshit when I first got in the boat, but also because he borrowed my truck to go move her back from Georgia. Now I’m wishing I would have offered to go get her in his place.

He wouldn’t have let me, though, because he’s super protective of her. He’s expressed his hatred for her ex-boyfriend, Tim, since they met. He never even had a really good reason for his dislike, just that the guy didn’t deserve her. I have to agree now. Only a few minutes in Lucy’s company proves she’s different—special.

“Cooper! We should go cliff jumping!” A woman named Bailey pulls me from my thoughts with a splash of water to my face.

About ten minutes after we put down the anchor, a boat full of Drew’s and my friends pulled up. They tied up with us, cranked up their music, and tossed floats out into the water. Everyone jumped in almost immediately, soaking up the sun and enjoying the water. But not Lucy.

She took one look at our new companions and hunkered down in the front of the boat with a book. No one pressed her to join us, and since I have no idea how I’m supposed to act around her, I didn’t either. I’m just trying to follow Drew’s lead, but it feelswrong to leave her up there in the boat alone. Then again, he did say she was pretty heartbroken. Maybe she’s just not feeling it today and wants to be alone.

“Cooper?” Bailey asks. “Hellllloooo, did you hear me?”

I blink and turn my head to her. She’s smiling a megawatt smile, perched on her bright-yellow pineapple float, and I know she’s flirting. She always flirts with me because we’ve had sort of an on-again, off-again thing for a while now that never amounts to anything and, honestly, never will.

“Sorry, cliff jumping—yeah, sounds good.” I turn my eyes back up toward the boat, even though I can’t actually see Lucy from down here. “Let’s go in a few minutes. I’ll be right back.” I swim over to the ladder and have to pass Drew on the way.

He sticks out the hand holding his beer in front of me so I can’t pass because, apparently, he’s a bouncer now. “Where are you going?”

“Grabbing a water.”And going to see your sister.

His eyes narrow a little, but he withdraws his arm. “Okay. Just don’t go bug Lucy, okay? She’s going through some stuff.”

My head kicks back. “I resent the implication that I would ever gobuga woman.”

“You know what I mean.” Yeah, unfortunately I do. He’s telling me to leave her alone. The warning is there in his eyes, and it’s threatening as hell. I’ve never been on this end of Drew’s ire, and I don’t particularly likeit.

It was about a year ago that I moved away from Charlotte, North Carolina, in favor of somewhere a lot less…near my ex. I put in applications with a few top-tier marketing firms around the country, and Hampton Creative was the first interview I got. It was a great fit right away and a huge promotion (and pay raise) from my last position. Everything fell into place quickly, and Ifound out through a friend of a friend about a guy named Drew Marshall needing a roommate. We had a brief phone call where we both determined the other sounded somewhat normal, and then the next thing I knew, I was living in Nashville (blissfully far away from Janie) with a great job and a great roommate. It was the perfect place to reinvent myself—and reinvent myself I did.

For the last year, my motto has beennothing but fun.I date a lot, I go out a lot, and I’ve become that guy you call when you want to have a good time. I think every date I’ve been on has been a subconscious middle finger to my ex.She didn’t want me, so I’ll prove just how wanted I can be.Problem is, she isn’t watching me. She’s been too busy falling in love with someone else, getting married, and starting a family.

I guess you could say I’ve diverted from my usual path this past year, and I’m just now realizing, in this moment when I find myself wanting to go spend time with Lucy Marshall, that Drew only knowsthisCooper—the one who’s so freaking jaded from having his heart torn up that he’s made the wordcommitmentsound like a swear word.

Drew doesn’t know anything about the person I was back in Charlotte. This blip in my life is the whole picture to him. And sure, he’s liked this version as his wingman, but he doesn’t want me anywhere near his sister because ofit.

“I get it, and it’s all good, man.”

He nods, and I nod, and it’s all settled now. I’ll stay away from Lucy.

—

Except I don’t.

I step into the boat and wrap a towel around my waist before my feet carry me directly to the bow where she’s sitting. My eyesimmediately snag on Lucy’s bare legs stretched out in front of her. She’s so engrossed in her book that, at first, she doesn’t even realize I’m standing here. But then she looks to the side, makes direct eye contact with my navel, and scrambles to tuck her legs under her so fast she nearly dumps her book into the lake.

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