The Off Limits Rule (It Happened in Nashville, #1)

by Sarah Adams

What are you doing here? It’s so late.” “Let me in and you’ll see.”

the other holding up a bottle of wine. “Post-bad-date sustenance.” Yeah, more like late-night bad decision waiting to happen.

It sounds egotistical, but I haven’t been used to women keeping me at arm’s length or turning me away this past year.

The fact that she doesn’t throw the door wide open and start undressing before I’ve made it across the threshold is refreshing—sort of.

Oh, so Levi’s not here. And neither is Drew. So that means…we’re alone in here?

Her bun is an enormous mess of auburn waves, her shirt is so big it’s nearly falling off her shoulder, and she’s wearing thick-rimmed glasses. And don’t forget the famous dinosaur sleep pants. She’s so freaking adorable I almost can’t handle it.

“Not judging.” I move to stand closer to her. “Admiring.”

“I’ve never given you a single line. Only honesty.”

My teeth clench together. So, it’s not that Drew is against Lucy dating one of his friends; it’s strictly me he doesn’t want his sister going out with. Cool. That feels great and not at all messed up.

How am I going to watch Lucy go on more dates?

I’ll have to worry about that later because, right now, I’m here alone with Lucy. Me. Not Ethan. Not any of the other guys. ME.

Me get...

I can’t handle her eyes on me like this. It makes me want to fidget, and I’ve never been a fidgeter before.

At some point during the night (I think after her second or third glass), Lucy’s legs ended up draped across my lap. They are still there now, and I have one hand on her foot and the other covering her shin.

I’ve lost count of how many glasses she’s had now, and her raised blood-alcohol level is showing.

I laugh and tighten my grip on her foot, liking how freely I get to touch her when it’s just us.

Wild auburn locks fall down around her shoulders, and I stare in amazement at how beautiful she is even when she’s in this state. But it’s not just Lucy’s skin, hair, and eyes that contribute to her beauty. It’s every smile, every laugh, every little thing she does for her son and did for me when I was sick. It’s all of it. I meant it when I said I thought Lucy was the complete package. She’s too good to be true.

“Because it’s not real. In life, the guy doesn’t wait a hundred years for the most romantic moment to kiss the girl. He sleeps with her right away, gets her pregnant, and leaves her sorry butt with a baby.”

She looks like a wounded baby bird, and all I want to do is scoop her up, take her home, and protect her until her wings heal.

Being this close to Lucy and keeping things strictly friendly is the equivalent of jumping off a roof with the hopes of defying gravity.

Fun

“Janie.” She frowns and shakes her head a little. “No, I’m Lucy.” “No—not you, drunky. My ex’s name is Janie.”

HAHAHAH

I reach over to pull her t-shirt back up to cover her.

“Thank you. So do you.” “But yours make me want to go to Tahiti. I have a screensaver that looks like your eyes.”

Oh no not the drunken truth

“I wouldn’t have given them up. I would have said yes.”

thinking how sweet and innocent she looks. That is, right until she squeezes my bicep and says, “You know what I think about sometimes?” Her eyes pop open and meet mine, looking a little wild all of a sudden. “S-E-X.” She spells it like that somehow makes it more innocent.

“Because,” she says in a dramatic tone that could rival the greatest stars on Broadway, “did you know it’s been over four”—she holds up three fingers—“years since I’ve been with anyone?”

Try 16 i probably have 10 more

I’d also be lying if I didn’t admit it makes me slightly happy to know she and Grim Tim didn’t sleep together. Which is a double standard and completely unfair of me, I realize.

My Spidey senses begin to tingle. I know where this conversation is headed, and I’ve got to slow this thing down before she steamrolls right over the point of no return.

Such a good guy!!! Not taking advantage of her

“I think we’re good on the wine for tonight, yeah? I better be headed home.” I’m not actually leaving here tonight, but I don’t think telling her I plan to sleep on her couch would be such a good idea.

Im so jealous

she says with her attempt at a seductive smile. I love that she’s not good at it.

HA

“You could stay here tonight. With me. In my bed.”

Oh, someone make it stop. Not because I don’t want to do what she’s suggesting. Believe me, on any other night, with a fully...

“Nothing serious. No commitments or anything, of course.” I know she’s not meaning to cut me with her words, but she is.

Her shoulders sink, and she pouts. “Whyyyyy? You don’t like me?”

“We’re not doing this tonight because, one, you’re drunk and I don’t take advantage of intoxicated women. Two, I refuse to be your booty call, Lucy. Not now, not ever.”

“I’m drunk.” I nod and lean forward to kiss her forehead. “You’re a cute drunk, though.”

I, Lucy Marshall, got drunk last night and made a complete fool of myself.

Yes, I remember it all in crystal-clear, humiliating technicolor. The moment I groped Cooper’s bicep. The moment I tried to cage him into the kitchen. And last, but definitely not least, the moment I tried to get him to sleep with me.

“I’ve never asked too much of you, Mom, but today, I need you to run me over with your car.”

“Well…that…sounds like you got your first date out of the way with a bang.” I wait for her to finish because I know what’s coming. “Or…I guess without one.”

There is a magical time in life where your parent shifts to being your friend, and I’ve entered it.

Must be nice whats it like?

If you had told me in high school that my mother even knew what the word bang meant, I would have laughed in your face.

“If I wanted a pretty story, I’d go read a fairy tale. Now quit stalling.”

“You’re keeping yourself blindfolded on purpose. We both know that boy likes you, the clear evidence being that he followed you to the restaurant and flirted with you the whole time you were on a date. And we know he’s a good man because he put your sorry butt in bed last night and didn’t let you make a bigger fool out of yourself—both signs he cares about you.”

“Rip that blindfold off, honey! No man is going to crash your date, sexy-text you all night to make you laugh, and then show up at your house with a bottle of wine after. Now, if you don’t admit to me right now that he likes you, I’m going to slap you upside the head.”

“I don’t want to get my hopes up. I’ve aimed too high before. What if I do it again and he’s only being sweet to me because I’m Drew’s sister?”

Real extcept the drews sister part

he’s only being sweet to you because you’re Drew’s sister. I think he’d like to be a lot less sweet with you, if you know what I mean, but your brother has probably put the fear of God in

There’s something there between Cooper and me, and it’s time to uncover what it is. And even if not, what’s a little more humiliation?

I’m about to go declare my feelings for Cooper,

“That man is so gorgeous.”