Page 69 of The Off-Limits Rule: Extended Edition

His chuckle rumbles in his chest, and he kisses my hair before resting his chin on my head. “You’re not making a very compelling case for me leaving.”

“I know.” I wrap my arms around him and bear-hug him. “But you really do have to go. Levi will be up soon, and he does not knock before he busts in here.”

He groans and rolls over onto me playfully so he can bury his face in my neck. I can barely breathe with his weight on me like this, but to say I love it would be an understatement.

“So tired,” he grumbles. “Just want to sleep here with you all day.”

I intertwine my hands in his hair. “You. Have. To. Go,” I say between wheezing breaths. “And I have to go to work.”

He half growls, half grunts, then moves back over onto his back, popping his hands behind his head and letting his smile slant as he stares at me. With my room full of wonderful,wonderfullight, I’m able to see every defined ab, oblique, pectoral, and biceps. I’m staring like muscle inspecting is my new full-time job,and my voice takes on a zombie-like quality. “Oh good gracious, you need to put on a shirt.”

His pearly white smile turns cocky. “Yeah? You like what you’re seeing?”

I poke him in the side. “Why do you always take on an Italian accent when you’re trying to come on to me?”

“Don’t act like you don’t like it.” He reaches for me and tugs me up to him so he can try to convince me to let him stay with neck kisses. It would probably be highly seductive if he wasn’t saying the only Italian words he knows in between kisses.Spaghetti. Fettuccini. Parmesan.

I’m laughing and trying to push away from him half-heartedly. “Stop it—you’re just making me hungry.”

“Lasagna,” he says in his deepest bedroom voice.

I can’t stop laughing. “You are so weird, but I love you anyway.” No sooner do the words leave my mouth than I realize what I’ve just said.

I freeze.

Cooper freezes.

His grip on my wrist loosens, and his eyes slowly cut down to me. “What did you just say?”

“Huh? Oh. Nothing. Said nothing. Did nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing.” I’m squirming now, trying to free myself from his grip and impending embarrassment because it’swaytoo soon to be saying things likeI love you.

Because I’m a nimble little ninja, I wiggle away from him and dart out of the bed, racing toward the bathroom, ready to lock myself in for the rest of my life. But if I’m a ninja, Cooper is a panther. He shoots up and has his arms around my waist before I can take five steps. He tosses me back onto the bed and pins hisforearms on either side of me. His eyes are twinkling dangerously. “Say it again.”

“No.”

“Why?”

I grimace. “Because it’s embarrassing to say it first.”

“Say it.” His voice is dark and passionate, and it matches the look in his exotic blue eyes.

I sigh, morning breath forgotten, and hold his gaze. Time to be brave. “I said…I love you. Because I mean it. I didn’t mean to fall in love with you so quickly, and it’s completely fine if you don’t feel the same way because it’s way too soon to be saying things like that, but—”

“Lucy, I absolutely love you. No question about it.” He doesn’t smile yet, and my eyes eat up every bit of his serious expression. “I think it’s probably unhealthy, but since the day I met you, you’re all I think about, and I’m helpless to do anything about it.” His lips finally form a sideways smile, and his eyes crinkle in the corners, like he knows all of this is ridiculous but doesn’t care either. “I love you. And Levi. I want to be in your life as much as you’ll let me.”

My eyes are welling up, and I wish I wasn’t the kind of person who cried when both happy and sad. I put my hands on either side of Cooper’s face as he bends down to kiss me, moving straight past soft and tender to passionate and adoring. Our lips part, and the sheets start twisting, but I put the brakes on again because I do not want to have to explain any of this to Levi.

“Okay, okay, yeah,” Cooper says, sitting up to rest his elbow on his bent knee and run his hand through his hair.

I shake my head at the sight of pure masculine perfection, silently cursing him for making it so difficult to say goodbye. “Okay, time to sneak back down that ladder now.”

His eyes catch mine, looking serious and calculating in a way that makes my heart skip. “I don’t want to.” He sighs deeply and shakes his head, falling back against the pillow to scrape both of his hands through his hair. “I don’t want to go, Luce. I don’t want to hide us. I don’t want to acclimate Drew to the idea of us before we tell him.” He rolls his head to look at me—dark lashes framing ocean eyes, bronze skin a stark contrast against my white comforter. “It feels a little crazy to do that, doesn’t it? I mean, we’re the ones who know what’s best for us.” I can see more thoughts running behind Cooper’s eyes than just the ones he’s voicing. A plan is being set in motion, and for some reason it’s making my palms sweat.

“Well, yes…I agree that it doesn’t feel right, but—wait, what are you doing?” I ask, watching Cooper rise from the bed with a determination in his shoulders.

“It’s not right that he decided this for us. I’m not sneaking back out that window.”

“Then what are you doing?”

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