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

“Wait—I didn’t bring my swimsuit,” I say, blinking down at the gorgeous pool. It’s all lit up with warm lights and the reflection of the moon. It’s calling to me like I’m a little hobbit. Luuucccyyyy…

But that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t have my swimsuit. Cooper is standing close to me, his arm nearly brushing mine, and suddenly, I remember every teen movie I’ve ever seen. Maybe he wasn’t expecting a swimsuit—just a birthday suit.

I blink up at him. “Oh no. Were you…? Are we supposed to skinny-dip?” My face flames just thinking about it. There’s no way the lights projecting up from the bottom of the pool will be at all flattering on my pasty body. “I don’t think I’m up for that.”

His low chuckle rolls down my spine. “No, we’re jumping in just like this.” Then his grin tilts. “But if you have your heart set on skinny-dipping, don’t let me get in the way.”

“You’re so selfless.”

His smile is full and bright now. And then—AND THEN—he reaches to the back of his shirt and peels it off over his head. He tosses it aside, and every single one of his fantastic muscles winks at me. They have the same voice as Joey Tribbiani: How you doin’? I take a mental picture so later, when I can’t sleep, I’ll push all those sheep aside and count each of his muscles instead.

“I thought you said we weren’t taking off our clothes?” Oh my gosh, he looks so good standing there shirtless in gym shorts with the nighttime sky at his back. I want to shove him in that pool just out of anger for being this sexy. My ovaries are screaming, HIM! WE PICK HIM!!! But their opinion no longer matters ever since they got me knocked up by a man who didn’t want a relationship with me, so I tell them to shut it.

“You’re talking too much. Come on, ready?” Cooper wraps his big manly hand around mine, and my heart slams against my chest. “One!”

“Shhh, don’t yell—they’ll hear you!”

“Two!”

“Oh my gosh, we’re going to jail!”

“Three!”

“Don’t make a big splash or—” I don’t get to finish.

Cooper jumps off the ledge, taking me with him in one big glorious splash.

Cooper and I both emerge from the water, sputtering laughs and pushing water out of our faces. It feels a lot like that day at the lake, but different. Because it’s dark, and we’re alone, and I’m buzzing off of a different high than adrenaline. Cooper planned this. He wanted me to experience something thrilling tonight.

The water is warm, and surprisingly, the lights on the bottom of the pool ARE flattering. At least they are for him. His skin looks softer, more taut and inviting as we swim from the deep end to the shallow, laughing like goons the entire way. Cooper keeps looking over his large shoulder with such a big smile and twinkle in his eyes it feels like a dream. I expect to wake up any minute, realizing I dreamed about the pool only because I’ve peed myself. Don’t judge—pregnancy was not kind to my bladder.

“How do you feel?” he asks after we’ve made it to the shallow end and are both standing. He pushes his hand through his hair, and water droplets glisten all over his body. He is a sight to behold, and all I can think is how incredible it would feel to have his arms wrap around me and hold me in a straitjacket of love.

“Amazing.” I lie back in the water to swim a backstroke to the side of the pool. My t-shirt and shorts drag like weights as I make my way over and rest my elbows against the edge. The stars are bright and twinkly, only adding to the feeling that this is all a figment of my imagination. This is something I wouldn’t normally, in a million years, do. I don’t go out late at night—certainly not with a man, and definitely not to break into someone’s pool and enjoy a little dip.

Cooper’s smile is tilted, and he starts walking across the pool to my side. Seeing him move toward me with his tan muscular chest, that damp tousled hair, and the inky sky as a backdrop…it makes me think I need to separate our ends of the pool with some sort of net. To protect him from me, obviously—not the reverse. Because Cooper thinks I’m cute, and I think he is a Greek god of fertility.

“What are you doing?” I ask, sounding nervous and unsure as he gets closer. Is this pool heated? I think it’s getting hotter somehow.

I step back, pressing myself fully against the scratchy concrete side so I don’t accidentally jump the man stopping a mere three inches away. He smiles down at me and then raises both hands to cup my face. IT’S REALLY HAPPENING?! That’s my uterus screaming this time, and I really hope he can’t hear it. It sounds like a desperate old hag.

His hands are warm as he smiles and runs his thumbs over both of my cheekbones. “You have mascara streaks.”

I shut my eyes tight so he doesn’t see the embarrassment shining through them. Is it actually completely impossible for me to be cool around this guy? How long have I been standing here looking like a bride left on her wedding day?

Cooper chuckles but doesn’t remove his hands. “You blush so easily.”

“UGH. Stop. That makes it worse!” I open my eyes to find him smiling.

“But I like it when you blush.”

My stomach twists into knots. He’s still holding my face, and his large body is right there in front of me, and I want nothing more than to plant both of my hands on his chest and see…just SEE what his skin feels like beneath my fingers. But Drew’s warning springs back to my mind like that annoying whack-a-mole game where it keeps popping its head up and you can never hit it with the hammer. If I give in to my temptation and kiss Cooper, it would mean something to me—a big something. I’m already having to treat my heart like a cartoon and grab it by the back of its shirt, holding it in place while it tries to run away from me. If what Drew says about Cooper is right, for him, it would just be another kiss, a regular Tuesday night activity.

He’s a flirt—maybe even a player. His ocean eyes tell me to dive in and enjoy the water. They promise he’d give me the best kiss of my entire life. Actually, no. They say a kiss won’t be enough. They say they’ll need all night to do the work they want to complete.

Which is exactly why I can’t. NOPE.

Not. Gonna. Happen.

MUST STAY STRONG.

I swallow and look over his shoulder, not noticing the way the water pools in the little area between his collarbone and shoulder muscle. “We need to go. This has been fun, but I really don’t want to get caught.”

“Too late.” His hands drop away, but his eyes are definitely still holding me.

“What do you mean?”

His grin makes my chest tighten. “You’re caught.” He tilts his head toward the house, but I still don’t understand. “That’s my house, Lucy. You’re in my pool.”

WHAT?! I’m in Cooper’s pool right now? I blink at the beautiful house behind him, and my brain feels like it’s full of molasses with how slowly it’s processing this new information. Then, when everything snaps into place, my eyes toss grenades at him, and I lunge forward to splash him. “You big liar!” SPLASH. SPLASH. SPLASH. He laughs and turns his face away to avoid my attacks. “Why did you make me think we were trespassing?!” I don’t give him a chance to respond. I lurch forward and wrap my arm around his neck, trying to drag him under and drown him.

He’s actually pretty pliable and easy to drown because he’s laughing so hard his muscles are momentarily incapacitated. Why does it feel so amazing to be stronger than Superman? I dunk his head under the water and pull it back up. “You’re”—dunk—“SO”—dunk—“mean!”—dunk.

This time, when I pull him up out of the water, his muscles revive themselves, and he stands to his full height, towering over me like a monster that’s just been made stronger from all the torture. I turn to scramble away, but—oh yeah—I’m in water and bogged down by, like, fifteen pounds of extra weight from my clothes. Cooper easily catches me and swoops me up in his arms. He’s cradling me, and I’m fully pressed up against his fantastic body now. I don’t want to acknowledge how good it feels…but, oh boy, do I. Every inch of me feels like it’s sparking and reacting.

Do you know what happens when you mix water and electricity?

Electrocution.

“You’re gonna pay for all that waterboarding,” he says, carrying me up the steps of the pool like I’m nothing more than a wet towel.

I squirm and kick, but he just keeps walking until we’re out of the water. He goes to the deep end then flashes me one last sizzling, torturous grin before launching me in the air, tossing me right back into the pool. I scream in midair, and then the water engulfs me. No sooner do I catch my breath than I feel his arms come around me and start hauling me to the stairs AGAIN. Yes, he laughs like a wicked villain and chucks me in a second time.

I’m laughing so hard at the absurdity of this night that now I’m the paralyzed one. I can’t remember the last time I felt like laughing this hard. After the third time I get sent airborne, I give up the fight, surface, and float on my back, staring up at the sky. I feel Cooper’s hands around my body once more, but this time, he doesn’t take me out of the pool. He holds me, and his hand wipes what I’m sure are more mascara stains off my cheeks, but I don’t feel as embarrassed about it this time.

He swims us back to the shallow end and sets me on the little wading ledge in the water, and then he sits down right beside me, our shoulders pressed together like he has to be touching me in some way. Why? Because it’s normal for him? Because he’s hoping to turn this into more?

I squint up at the sky, feeling his eyes on my face. “Are you trying to get me to sleep with you?” I ask boldly because sometimes I can’t help but say what’s in my head. It’s my superpower and my curse.

If he’s shocked by my question, he doesn’t act like it. “No.”

I can’t decide if I’m comforted or let down by his answer. “Okay. Then what was the point of tonight? Bringing me here…letting me think we were doing something illegal? It feels like this might be your signature move or something.”

“My move?” His voice is full of amusement.

“Yeah, you know, like you have this whole scene worked out perfectly to where women are putty in your hands.”

“Are you putty in my hands right now?” His words make chill bumps erupt across my skin.

I can’t answer that question. “How many?” I ask, turning things back around on him because I’m too scared he’ll be able to see the answer to his question written on my face in highlighter. I probably look like I’ve broken out in heart-shaped chickenpox.

He shakes his head, a soft smile on his lips. “This is not a move. You’re the first woman I’ve even had in this pool.”

Oh.

My shoulders relax a little, but then, when I lean a little more into his shoulder, realization zaps through me. “WAIT! That’s your move, isn’t it?! Taking women to do special things for the first time!” I point an accusing finger at him.

He grabs my finger and lowers it like I had the barrel of a gun aimed at his chest. “Will you stop it? I don’t have a move.” His grin curves into something wolfish. “Never needed one.”

I roll my eyes and make a blehhhhhh sound.

He laughs. “Lucy, I brought you here because I wanted to cheer you up. You seemed so down earlier when I called you cute—like I meant cute in a tiny-purring-kitten way.”

“Actually, I thought you meant it in an awwww-look-at-that-adorable-mom-letting-loose kind of way.”

“And that’s worse?” he asks with a crooked brow.

“Much.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because…” I shrug. “I don’t know exactly. I think there’s a stigma that comes along with being a mom, and when you’re young like me, it’s confusing. I should be in my prime, thriving, and…attractive. Instead, at least three times a day, I have to remove a stain from my shirt that Levi left behind. It’s like earning the title of Mom immediately zapped all the attractiveness right out of me.” WHY did I just tell him all of that? It’s like I can’t help but always spill my guts around him.

“I can tell you right now that’s not true. No one sees you that way.” He pauses briefly then turns his eyes to me. “I definitely don’t see you like that. In fact…I’m sort of envious of you.”

My mouth falls open. “What? No way.”

“Yes way.”

“What does my life have that could possibly make you envious?”

He turns his blue eyes to me, and I see a hint of sadness. “My life hasn’t exactly turned out the way I hoped.” Well, that’s mysterious. I keep waiting for him to expound and tell me what it is that’s lacking, but he doesn’t. Instead, he changes the subject. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure.”

“Levi’s dad…what’s the deal there?”

I scrunch my nose and groan, tilting my head back. “I thought you were going to ask what my star sign is or something.”

“Why would I ever want to know your star sign? I don’t even know mine.” He bumps my shoulder. “But if you don’t want to tell me, I understand.”

For some reason, I do want to tell him. I want to tell him everything all the time. “It’s okay. It’s not exactly classified information. Ask almost anyone around this town and they’ll tell you the truth: Lucy aimed too high.”

Cooper frowns, and his head jerks back a little. “Why in the world would you think that?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I’m sweet and generally liked by most people, but I’ve always been overlooked. Like I make a better friend than girlfriend. So, when I met Brent, Levi’s dad, at a party and he paid me the slightest bit of attention, I was a goner. He was in med school, really good-looking, and definitely a ladies’ man.” Sort of like you. “Anyway, that entire night was a mistake—one I greatly regretted when those pink lines popped up.” Even almost five years later, I can still remember exactly how it felt seeing that test verify that I was going to be a mother. The way my stomach twisted and my lungs squeezed. “It was so terrifying at the time, and although I regret that Brent is Levi’s dad, I don’t regret my son at all. As cliché as it sounds, he’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Cooper’s smile is tender. “I could see that the other day even just from that short conversation you had with him over FaceTime.”

I laugh. “I don’t think you can call him torturing me with dizzying circles a conversation.”

“I liked getting to see you talk to him.” I don’t know how to respond to that, so I stay quiet. Cooper’s eyes glance down to where he cups water in his hand and pours it back out in a repetitive motion. Finally, he asks, “So you and Brent? How long were you together?”

My gaze shoots up to his face, realizing he doesn’t get it. Apparently, Drew hasn’t told him the whole story. A nervous, slightly self-deprecating chuckle falls from my mouth as I attempt to muster up the dignity for this story. “Never. We have never been a couple. That night after the party was it for us. He was… Well, he was never interested in me, just didn’t want to be alone that night I guess, and I was a cheap shot.” I wince at how terrible my own words make me feel. “When I told him I was pregnant, he was really quick to extinguish any ideas that we would be a couple in any way, shape, or form.”

“Wow…what a…” He trails off.

“A what?”

“A tool. He’s a freaking tool.”

I sputter a laugh because it feels way too good to hear someone else think and say that same thing about Brent. “Yeah. He kind of is. I mean, I don’t want to paint too bad of a picture, because he really is a good dad to Levi, which is why I think I’d held out hope for so long that we’d be a couple one day. Well, that and because he would, every now and then, say subtle little things that would make me think he was coming around to the idea and he’d like to be a family one day too. But then, in the next moment, he’d start dating a new woman, and I finally realized his words were all just hot air.”

He nods and hums a quiet understanding sound. “Do you still hope you’ll get together one day?”

I don’t have to consider this for even a second. In fact, my words probably come out with a little too much force. “Gosh, no. That’s actually why I moved away. I needed some space from Brent, and honestly, even though it was the hardest thing being away from my family and having to manage everything on my own, it was the best thing for me. I needed a new start, a town far enough away that if Brent asked me to go to dinner, I wouldn’t drop everything and say yes, only to have him stand me up when someone else became available.”

“Did that really happen?”

“More times than I’d like to admit.”

I don’t want to, but I peek at Cooper, admiring the way his broad shoulders glisten as they hover above the surface of the water. This moment feels so intimate, and I can’t help but wonder why he’s asking all of this. Friendship? Intrigue? Something more? I swirl my finger on the surface of the water and dare another glance at him, taking note of his pinched brows and mouth pressed into a line.

“Do you think less of me now…after hearing all that?”

My words seem to snap him out of his thoughts. His brows clear, and his eyes catch on mine. “No, not at all.” A soft, sad chuckle rolls through his chest, and I watch his Adam’s apple move up and down. “I was just thinking how similar our stories are, actually.”

“Really? Which part?” Suddenly, I’m nervous he’s going to tell me he has a son somewhere, which is so hypocritical of me to feel nervous about, but here I am, asking anyway. “Do you…have a child?”

“No, but I do have an ex-girlfriend I eagerly left behind in another state.”

Why does that make my heart sink a little lower? Is he contemplating going home? Going back to her? I have to ask. “I see. So this is your temporary stop? Will you go back when you find closure?” Like I did.

Although…I also had to come back because I lost my job and was evicted. Cooper doesn’t seem to have monetary issues, judging by this incredible house and pool.

He lifts a brow, looking slightly mischievous. “Is that a little dejection I hear in your voice? A hint of jealousy maybe?”

I sputter a laugh and shove him because, for some reason, that smile tugging the corner of his mouth up makes me feel flirty and light. And yes, it was most definitely a flirty shove. The kind where my hand lingers a little too long on his bicep, liking the way his muscle flexes under my touch.

One thing is certain: there’s some kind of chemistry between Cooper and me. I just don’t know if he feels it with whichever woman he’s currently with at the moment or if this is something different.

“Not in the least. I was just wondering if I should line up a different guru to train me in the ways of living dangerously, or if you’ll be sticking around.”

He smiles at me over the side of his shoulder. “I’m not going anywhere.”

And then my eyes take in the very moment he runs his teeth across his bottom lip. I track the motion, feeling mesmerized and buzzed even though I haven’t had anything to drink. In this dream, it feels like real life is far away—unreachable. Cooper is thrilling, sweet, inviting, and a little dangerous. Just looking at his lips makes mine tingle. They know he would be the most devastating kisser. Suddenly, I have to know. My heart pounds almost painfully, trying to remind me with obnoxious thuds that this is probably not something I should be doing. But I’m already living dangerously tonight, so what’s one more tiny bit of adventure?

I’m staring at his lips and, before I realize it, leaning in. Because my eyes have not left his lips, I see when he releases them from his teeth and they part, his chest expanding with air. My insides are burning, and all I want is to kiss him and be kissed by him.

I press forward, and he stays perfectly still…until I get about an inch from his mouth and he pulls back. He doesn’t turn away, but he leans back from me ever so slightly, enough to get the message across that this kiss of mine is not going to be received. It takes me a second to fully register what is happening.

But when it does, realization crashes into me like I jumped out of a plane without a parachute.

He’s turning me down. Embarrassment slaps me in the face, and I’m afraid to give rejection a name. So instead, I play it off like I don’t care one bit that he doesn’t want to kiss me and shoot up to my feet. Water sloshes down my legs and cascades from my shirt, making it sound as if I’m peeing a waterfall. It only serves to remind me that I’m not like a normal, sexy woman who, when placed in this situation, would have taken off her clothes and had a delicious night of skinny-dipping with this hot man. No, I had to stay fully clothed and bare my entire soul to him instead. Wonderful. Just what men want.

Drew will be happy to hear that he has nothing to worry about with Cooper. He’s just like Levi’s dad—in other words, he likes every woman besides me.

I need to get away from him.

I turn and step up onto the ledge, but Cooper reaches out and wraps his hand around my calf. It’s warm and possessive and makes me want to cry because I know he doesn’t mean the gesture the way it’s coming across. “Lucy, wait. Let me explain—”

“You don’t have to explain anything, Cooper. We’re good. All good! I’m fine. Really fine. Awesome, even.”

He squeezes my calf. “Just listen to me—”

I shut my eyes tight and smile tensely. “Seriously, please, I’m begging you—can we not talk about it? Will you just take me home, please?” I’m so close to crying, which makes this even worse.

He hears the plea (and wobble) in my voice, sighs, and lets go of me so he can stand. “Alright, fine.” He looks away and whispers a curse under his breath then looks back at me. “Let’s at least go inside first so I can get you a towel.”

Inside? His house? Ugh, I’d rather die of hypothermia right about now than have to endure any more awkwardness with Cooper.