Page 60 of The Off-Limits Rule: Extended Edition

I chuckle as his skin brushes across my jaw. “You mean Brent?”

“Sure.” Cooper rounds my jaw with kisses, and I melt into his strong body. “You look beautiful, Lucy,” he says, pulling away enough to look me in the eyes.

My heart flips in my chest, and I didn’t realize how much I needed to feel this way until Cooper came along. Didn’t realize how much I had dimmed my light, forgotten to do things for myself, fallen into a contented slumber where all I worried about was if Levi was smiling and safe. Don’t get me wrong, those two things are—and will always be—the most important to me. But somewhere along the way, I forgot that I could be Levi’s momandstill be a woman. They say if a plane starts to go down, adults need topull on their masks first so they can then take care of the children. I had forgotten to pull my mask on. And until Cooper came along, I didn’t realize my oxygen was running out.

Now I’m breathing again and realizing I can be both Lucy the woman and Levi’s mom.

I feel like I’m waking up from a long sleep. Or no…like I’m growing into something new. Because I’m not the same woman I was before I had Levi; I’m stronger, warmer,fluffier,and wiser. And I think it’s okay that I’m changing—good, even. Because the old Lucy would have been too afraid of rejection to initiate a kiss in front of a restaurant of people. The new Lucy, however, rises up on her tiptoes, grabs the front of Cooper’s shirt, and plants her lips firmly on his with abandon.

I feel Cooper smile against my mouth as his hands slide around my back and pull me in tight. I wrap my arms around his neck and sink into our kiss, even daring to lightly taste his bottom lip. A quiet groan sounds from the back of his throat, and I’m no longer worried about the world around us. Neither is he. We’re like that sappy newlywed couple you can’t bear to be around and want to unfriend on social media. I loveit.

Kissing Cooper feels so good it makes me irrational. Like I want to run out and have someone make us matching airbrush T-shirts with our couple name on them.LuperorCoocy.Choices, choices. I’ll make an Instagram poll and have my twenty followers decide forme.

“Is this all you guys do?” Brent says from somewhere behind Cooper, sounding disgusted with a capitalD.

I extract my lips from Cooper and pry my eyes open, taking in his lopsided smile, and honestly, I want to dive right back in. Maybe if I ignore Brent, he’ll just go away?

Cooper leans forward and kisses my forehead briefly before turning to face Brent and his girlfriend, Tanya. “Pretty much. It’s tough to be around Lucy and not kiss her.” Does he really mean that? It’s not just part of the fake-date act, right? I hope he and I are on the same page that this is afakefake date and that I’m taking to heart every little thing he says; otherwise, I’m going to be crushed when this is all over.

Brent clearly has no idea what to do with that statement because he’s never once felt that way about me, so he turns the conversation to Tanya and introduces his runway-model girlfriend to Cooper. Just kidding, she’s not a model. She’s actually a bioengineer wholookslike a model, so you can imagine how hard it is for me to feel incredible in this moment.Should have worn the lace.Luckily, I really like Tanya. She’s sweet and has always been kind tome.

After awkward introductions, the hostess takes us to our table with Brent and Tanya leading the way. I’m trying hard to stay positive and affirming toward my body while being faced with Tanya’s firm booty swaying in front of me, and I would say I do a moderately good job of it. I’m in the middle of mentally telling myself that even though her beauty is different than mine, it doesn’t mean mine is less than hers when Cooper’s hand slips behind me, and before I can register what’s happening, he lightly pinches my left butt cheek. I gasp and look up at him with wide eyes, my melancholy from a moment ago erased and laughter buzzing throughme.

Cooper gives me the most overly innocent eyes and helpless shrug I’ve ever seen. “It’s what I’d do if we were really together. Got to stay in character.”

I can’t hold it in. I laugh and lean into him, wrapping both of my arms around his biceps, walking like this the rest of the way tothe table. He kisses the top of my head with a smile on his mouth, and I can’t help but wish this moment could be permanent.

Maybe it canbe.

—

I want to kill Brent. My hands are itching to wrap around his neck because of how frustrating and terrible he’s been to me all night. First, he asked how Cooper and I met, and when Cooper told him the story of me jumping off the cliff, Brent made an obnoxious comment, insinuating I must have been drunk, because I would never do something fun like that. Then he tried to act like a buddy-buddy man’s man with Cooper and nudged him across the table, asking him if he’d seen myusuallookyet. He insinuated heavily that the way I look tonight is nothing close to how I look on a daily basis. Cooper—bless him—responded, saying he was actually disappointed I didn’t wear my dinosaur pants tonight. I wanted to put my hands in his hair and kiss him into oblivion.

The dinner proceeded just like that, with lots more tiny little digs at me from Brent that felt so out of place I almost couldn’t believe it was happening. He never treats me like this—putting me down in front of other people. He and I truly have always been like two platonic-friendish people raising a kid together, so the hostility he’s shown me this evening makes no sense. It feels intentional and personal.

“So, Cooper, I know we’re already briefly acquainted through work, but tell me more about yourself outside the work world,” Brent says like he actually cares while dabbing the corner of his mouth with his napkin. I try to hide an eye roll, because I know he doesn’t care about Cooper. I’ve proved myself able to make good choices where Levi is concerned over these past four years, so he’s not really doing this out of a need to know that Levi is safe. I thinkthis is his way of getting revenge because I’m the one who doesn’t trust him to make good choices about what company he keeps.

“Sure,” says Cooper, with an easy smile that makes my insides melt. He drapes his hand over the back of my chair and rubs a soft line up and down the back of my neck while keeping his attention focused on Brent. My world is spinning. “What do you want to know?”

“What do you like to do for fun?” Brent’s eyes follow Cooper’s hand as it tenderly caresses my neck, and then something odd happens. He lifts his arm and wraps it around Tanya’s shoulders. Am I imagining things, or does that seem a little competitive?

“In the summer, I like to wakeboard”—Ah! I know this!—“and the rest of the time I’m pretty easy. I like to read, watch movies, maybe go hiking occasionally.”

“Hiking,” Brent scoffs. “Good luck getting Lucy to do anything outdoorsy with you.” I frown at Brent because it’s annoying that he’s acting like he knows me when he doesn’t, and also that he’s trying to make me look bad in front of Cooper.

“I’d actually love to go hiking with you.”

“Yeah? I’ll take you any time you want, Luce.”

Brent snorts again, and I have no idea where this is coming from, but let me tell you, I’m sick of it. “Sorry, I’m just not buying it.”

Cooper’s hand falls from my neck to rest on my thigh. It’s not meant to be seductive; it’s comforting. His glare across the table, however, is terrifying. “Well, it’s a good thing it’s none of your business then, isn’t it?”

Brent frowns and leans forward to rest his elbows on the table. “As long as you’re around my kid, you and the mother of my child’s business becomes my business.” He didnotjust say that. Someone, hold my earrings! This man suddenly trying to act like he isdevoted to Levi rather than an occasional part of his life is really getting on my nerves.

“So, what’s this really about, man?” asks Cooper, his voice calm but with an edge to it that has me covering his hand where it rests on my leg. Cooper is tall with a powerful build, and I’ve never thought of it as dangerous before. But with that sharpness aimed at Brent, I see he is not a man you’d want to mess with.

“Excuse me?” Brent shoots back, adding his own taunting inflection.

---