The Off-Limits Rule

by Sarah Adams

She’s got that girl-next-door vibe to her. The kind that’s so shy she can’t make eye contact with me while my shirt is off. The kind that makes her cheeks go pink every time I talk to her. It’s rare to run into someone who genuinely blushes these days, and here she is, yanking down the hem of her cover-up and darting secret glances at me when she thinks I’m not looking. I’m looking, though.

Studies show that reading a book actually increases dopamine in your brain and reduces stress.”

“How did you know I work here?” “Drew told me, over lunch this afternoon. So I thought I’d come by and…” My words trail off when she starts running her fingers through the back of my hair. She begins at the nape of my neck, then runs them up the entire curve of my head—over and over. I think there’s a purpose to this other than to turn me on, but at the moment I can’t tell what it would be.

So what do you do when you’re not in love with someone yet, but you can feel the potential for it, but you also can’t date her because she’s definitely commitment material and her brother might murder you? Friends. I hate that word. But it’s my only option right now.

Even so, I do think all those years of pining after a man who didn’t want me back scarred me in a deeper way than I realized at the time. Because now, no matter how hard I try to believe in myself, there’s still a voice that whispers, You don’t have anything to offer.

I chuckle. “Did you just call him Coop?” Levi nods, and Cooper is already rounding the bed. “Yeah, of course he did. All my best friends call me Coop.” He leans over the bed and brushes some of Levi’s hair out of his face before tucking in the covers all around him like a burrito. How did he know Levi likes that? “Then why do I call you Cooper?” I ask with a hand on my hip. He tilts his head to look at me with a sideways grin. “Because I’ve never thought of you as just my friend.”

He picks up my hand and presses it to his chest. “Do you feel that? My heart is going mushy. You’re turning me into a sap, and I don’t know what to do about it. It’s weird.”