Page 72 of The Off-Limits Rule: Extended Edition

“Baby?!Oh, that’s worse. I don’t know if I can allow that.” Her voice is trailing off as I nip at her earlobe.

I feel her shoulders melt as I hover my mouth over her ear and whisper, “I’ll call you anything you want me to, Lucy.”

“Oh goodness.” Her tone has me scooping her up off the counter and carrying her out of the kitchen. She kisses my neck as I carry her to the stairs, her room my destination.

Until…

“PANCAKE DAY!!!” Levi shouts from the top of the stairs.

I pause in my tracks and shut my eyes in a tight, pained squint because I’ve never been more upset to hear those words in my entire life. Lucy laughs and strokes the back of my head, then whispers, “Welcome to parenthood.”

Chapter 32

Lucy

“Do you want to come over and watch something sappy with me tonight?” Jessie asks as I’m cleaning up my station and getting ready to head out of work for the day.

“I would, but I’m headed over to—”

“Cooper’s house!I know, I know; it’s what you do every day now.”

I puff out a breath. “I’m not that bad.”

“Oh yes you are, but I don’t blame you. I’d be the same way if I had a fine man loving on me like Cooper is with you.” Jessie’s gaze drops, a familiar forlorn look creeping in. She must sense I’m about to console her, though, because she abruptly holds up her hand. “Nope. I’m good. Don’t need a pep talk today. Maybe tomorrow, but today I’m okay.”

Nice try.I pull her in for a hug anyway.

It’s been three weeks since I started “officially” dating Cooper, and yeah, now that I think about it, I guess we’ve been pretty inseparable. I should probably worry about how obsessed I am withhim, or how attached Levi has become, but I’m not. He fits. It just feels right between us in a way I didn’t know was possible.

“So you’re going over to Cooper’s to—”

“Put together furniture,” I hurry and interject before she says something blunt that will make me blush. Jessie and Cooper are the worst—especially when they team up. It seems like their life’s mission is to turn my cheeks into raspberries.

“Mm-hmm. That’s an innuendo if I’ve ever heard one.”

I laugh as I stuff my freshly sanitized scissors back into their case. “This time, it’s really not. We ordered a bunch of furniture for his house last week, and he got a big shipment of it today. We’re going to order pizza and put it all together.”

“And thennnnn get to the good stuff, right?” Her eyes are sparkling, and her eyebrows are wagging. “Right? I’m right, aren’t I? What bra are you wearing?” She’s reaching for my shirt like she’s going to take a peek.

I swat her hand away and jump back. “Stop that! You’re so nosy.”

“I’m living vicariously.”

“Well, knock it off, you creepy preggo.”

She shrugs and rolls her eyes.

I sling my purse over my shoulder and pull out my phone, refreshing my messages again, likethatwill change anything. Are phone glitches still a thing?

“Still no word from Drew?”

I pull my lips to the side and shake my head. “Nope.”

Unfortunately, he has not come around to the idea of me and Cooper yet. In fact, he’s been straight-up avoiding me. We live in the same house, but I barely ever see him. He’s been working like a maniac, picking up extra shifts so he doesn’t have to face me. I’dalmost swear he moved out because, despite me staying up late and waking up early, I never see him. The only evidence I’ve found of him living with me is when I almost dunked myself in the toilet two nights ago because he never puts the seat back down.

“What a big baby,” she says, shaking her head with disgust marking her mouth. If there’s one thing that’s certain in this world, it’s that Jessie hates my brother. It’s awkward, and I try to avoid the conversation as much as possible because her pregnancy hormones scare me sometimes.

“I know, he is acting like one.”

---