The Off Limits Rule: A Romantic Comedy (It Happened in Nashville Book 1)

I’m almost to Lucy’s house when my phone rings. I answer it over my truck’s speaker without bothering to look at the caller ID because I know who’s calling. “Hey, beautiful, I’m almost to your place. Traffic was terrible.” Did I just call her beautiful? Was that weird? I’ve never been the guy to call women by little pet names like that, but it just kind of slipped out. What’s happening to me?

“Awwwww, hello to you too, handsome.”

Annnnnd I should have looked at the caller ID.

“Drew. I thought you were someone else.” Your sister.

He chuckles. “I got that vibe. I mean, we both know I’m good-looking, but out of the two of us, you’re definitely the beautiful one.”

“Well, that’s just not true. Your eyelashes are longer.”

“You have nice cheekbones, though.”

“Eh—they’re okay. Your teeth are straighter. And they’re so pearly white.”

“Thanks for noticing,” he says, sounding genuinely grateful. “Wait…should we just get married?”

“Probably.”

“This conversation has taken a weird turn.”

Speaking of turns, I’m about to pull into Drew’s driveway to secretly pick up his sister and take her on a fake date that will be entirely too real to me and lie to him about the whole thing. I’m a great friend. “What were you calling about? And how are you even calling me right now? Aren’t you in a remote part of Costa Rica?”

“Yep. I have trouble getting service in my own bathroom back home, but Costa Rica’s got me three bars.” There’s some commotion in the background, and I hear someone ask Drew about checking vitals on a patient. “I gotta go in just a second. We’ve been non-stop here. I just wanted to check and see if you’ve seen Lucy at all this week?”

“Why would I have seen Lucy?” Whoa there, tiger, let’s take that defensiveness down a notch.

I can hear the quizzical smile in Drew’s voice when he says, “Relax, man, I wasn’t trying to accuse you. I just haven’t heard from her in a few days, and she hasn’t returned my emails, so I was checking if you’ve seen them around at all?”

Gosh, I’m a crap friend.

After tonight, though, I’m buckling back down. Lucy and I will take a major step back from each other until I get everything settled with Drew. I’ll help her show off a little in front of her baby daddy, and then it’s back to friends only.

“Yeah, I mean, I’d be happy to drive by your place right now and make sure everything looks alright if you want.” In fact, the door to the house is opening, and Lucy steps out, allowing me to confirm that, yeah…everything’s looking real good.

“I thought you were on your way to pick up your date?” Drew asks.

“Oh yeah, I am. Your place is kind of…in the neighborhood, so it’s cool.” Ah, shoot. I’m becoming a worse liar in my old age.

“You alright? You sound a bit weird all of a sudden.”

By weird he means I’m breathing heavy and slowly losing my mind at the sight of Lucy in a little black dress. Must be new. This one definitely wasn’t in her closet the other day. I gotta get off this phone before he somehow assesses my blood pressure over the line. “Yeah, I’m good. Listen, I gotta go, man. Don’t worry, I’ll watch out for Lucy.” Won’t take my freaking eyes off her for one second.

Her blue gaze meets mine through the windshield right as the wind catches her long auburn curls. She’s wearing black flats tonight instead of heels, but her curves still sway with every step. Now that I know what those curves feel like under my hands, they are twice as attractive.

She opens the door, and I put my finger to my lips to keep Lucy quiet just before Drew says, “Cool, man. Thanks for looking out for them.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I flip him the mental bird because he’s completely ruining my night of justified betrayal by dumping a load of sentimental crap on me. I’m no longer thinking about Drew, though, because Lucy steps up into my truck and the hem of her dress hitches up a few inches when she settles onto the bench.

“Yep, super-good friend over here. Talk to you later, Drew.” I hang up and let out a long, exaggerated groan as my head drops back against the headrest. I roll it side to side and find a concerned-looking Lucy as she tilts her face to the same angle as mine.

“Hi,” she says simply.

“Hi.” I grin and take her in completely (just once) from head to toe. My eyes take a nice slow perusal inch by inch, and I’m not proud of it, but I whimper like a sad dog that’s begging for a treat it can’t have. “You look gorgeous.”

When my gaze reaches her face again, Lucy’s lips are slightly parted, and her eyes are…you guessed it, wide. She snaps her mouth shut, swallows, and then proclaims, “I’m wearing hideous underwear.”

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the reasons I’m falling for Lucy.

“Not going to help, but I applaud your efforts. Let’s do this, Marshall.”