Page 71 of The Off-Limits Rule: Extended Edition

“Hardly a parade, okay? Let’s be accurate with our insults.”

“Don’tbe funny with me right now. I am not laughing.”

“I’m not trying to be funny, Drew. I’m trying to get you to see that I’m not the guy you have built up in your head. Yeah, I dated a lot, but that doesn’t mean I didn’twantsomething more serious.”

Drew scoffs with a scary smile. “Bullshit. You may think you’ve changed and want something stable, but Lucy doesn’t get to be your test subject. She and Levi deserve the best—not to be your next trial to see if you can be a family man or not.”

Maybe a month ago, I would have believed him. Because here’s the thing about people you admire speaking into your life:sometimes you trust their opinion of yourself more than your own. But just because they say it doesn’t make it true, and I’m done letting him tell me who Iam.

“You’re wrong, and I’m asking you to try to see me differently.”

Drew scrapes his hand across his jaw and shakes his head. I look to Lucy, and she must see the weakness behind my armor, because she smiles and comes to wrap her arm around my middle, burrowing up under my arm. Every touch from her feels like home, and it gives me courage to push forward.

“I love your sister, Drew, and I love your nephew. I know this all comes as a shock because you haven’t been around to see our time together, but—”

“Enough.” Drew holds up a hand and looks between Lucy and me with an expression of disgust that I don’t feel is warranted. “I don’t support this, and I’m pissed that you did this behind my back.”

“Well, I could say the same to you,” Lucy says to Drew, a wobble in her voice that cutsme.

He shakes his head slowly at her. “You’re making a bad choice again.” Lucy sucks in a sharp breath through her nose, and I know she’s trying not to cry. I pull her in closer. “And you…I have nothing left to say to you.” Drew’s feet pound the floor as he storms past us, knocking into my shoulder as he yanks his keys off the counter and leaves the kitchen. A second later, the front door slams behind him, making both my shoulders and Lucy’s jump.

We both stand frozen, staring at the spot where Drew just stood, holding on to each other, speechless. My thumb glides slowly up and down her arm, and her fingers squeeze my hip. I know Drew isn’t right about me. I know he isn’t right about Lucy making a bad choice. And yet…his words burrow under my skinand tell me maybe I’m the one who’s wrong. Maybe he sees some glaring fault in me that I can’t.

Maybe Lucy and Levi would be better without me…

“Well, that didn’t go the way I hoped,” I say, finally breaking the silence and trying to drown out my own insecure thoughts.

“You should have just taken me up on having sex.”

“Is that option still on the table?”

Lucy pinches my side, and I squirm, trying to get away from her torture. She turns her face to kiss me square on my chest, then peels herself away, going to the coffeepot and pouring us both a cup. “Can you get the pancake mix out of the pantry?” she asks over her shoulder. Her hair is hanging long down her back in loose, beautiful, wild waves, and her T-shirt is askew, showing an extra inch of her collarbone. Maybe it’s just Drew’s voice still ringing in my ears, but I can’t help the feeling that I don’t deserve to be here.

“You still want me to stay for breakfast?”

Lucy pauses and turns around to lean back against the counter, a sweet smile settled over her mouth. “Cooper James, I love you, and nothing my ignorant brother says will change that. I know you better than he does, and I want nothing more than for you to stay and eat pancakes with me and Levi this morning. Please don’t go.” She holds out her arms, and I gladly step into them because now I’m a man addicted to Lucy’s touch.

“I don’t want to come between you guys.”

She sighs. “Sometimes confrontation is necessary, and clearly this one was. I think it’s okay that we’re asking for Drew to see us differently. He’s used to knowing each of us a certain way, and we’ve both changed, grown out of who we used to be, and he’s trying to hold us in a box we don’t fit in anymore. I’m sure it’s going to be uncomfortable for a bit, but he’ll come around.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Apparently, you don’t know Drew very well either. He will. He just has to throw a tantrum first.”

I lean away so I can take Lucy’s face in my hands. “Have I told you I love you?”

She grins. “Are we going to be that annoying couple who says it every five seconds now?”

“Oh yeah. I can see myself becoming very clingy.”

She lets out a groan. “Insufferable. Are you going to call me a hundred times a day?”

I pick her up and set her on the counter so I can kiss that patch of her shoulder that’s peeking out of her shirt. “A hundred and one.”

“Gross. You’re not going to call mebabe,are you?” She tilts her neck and taps a finger to it, showing me exactly where she wants me to go next.

I grin and do as I’m told, laying a warm, lingering kiss right above her finger. “Oh yeah, baby.”

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