The Off Limits Rule (It Happened in Nashville 1)

“You okay up there, Luce?” Drew yells from the water. He knows my fear of heights and was skeptical when I said I’d jump. I was offended at his look of disbelief at the time. Now, I want to go back in time and jump into his arms like a little baby and tell him to take me home and protect me from bad boys.

“Super!” I yell from the edge with a double thumbs-up. “Just savoring the view!”

I hear Bailey and her friend snicker from the water, but Drew says, “You don’t have to jump. Just come back down.”

Come back down? That sounds great. I actually really like that option. Is there an elevator around here I’m not seeing?

“Don’t listen to him, Lucy.” That’s Cooper’s voice now. He sounds like the devil on my shoulder, and I want to tell him to shut his beautiful mouth. “You can do this! Jump.”

I take another peek over the edge, and my vision does that thing where it starts to tunnel, making it look like the water is growing farther away. My gaze shifts to Cooper, and I take in his encouraging smile and wet hair. It strikes me how odd it is that I’m even up here in the first place. I’ve never been this girl…the girl who feels the need to impress anyone—especially not a guy. But I don’t know. I feel something around Cooper that’s different. I want to impress him. Maybe I’m just emotionally unstable? Maybe this is a terrible rebound crush? Maybe I’m making a fool out of myself because there’s no way a guy like him would ever be interested in me? All of the above, I think, but no matter the reason, looking down at him makes me want to jump for the first time in my life. I can’t explain it.

Too bad I can’t because my legs are backing up, and I can’t stop them. My body is in autopilot preservation mode now, and all I can think about is that I have a son I really want to stay alive for. I shift myself all the way back until I’m flush with the rock wall behind me. Sharp ridges press into my shoulder blades, but I like it because it means I’m safely in contact with Mother Earth.

“I can’t do it!” I shut my eyes and yell, prepared to endure all the ridicule and roasting the group wants to throw at me. It’s fine; I’ll never see them again anyway, and Drew looked like he’d rather I didn’t jump in the first place. I should have listened. Drew is always right.

“Yes, you can.” Cooper’s soft voice close to my face makes me jump (but not off the cliff).

I open my eyes to find him standing right beside me, bare-chested with sparkling eyes. Do they ever stop doing that? His blond hair looks darker wet, water dripping off his waves and rolling down his muscular shoulders, pecs, smooth abs…and now I have to stop tracking that water droplet’s path before he catches me being a perv.

My heart is frantic as he steps a little closer. Has it ever raced like this before? I don’t think I was ever physically aware of my BPM with Tim. I felt cozy with him, like I could take a pleasant nap at any time and wake up fully rested.

Cooper looks like danger as his grin tilts, and he takes my hand. “You won’t regret it,” he says, and suddenly, even though I’m firmly planted on this cliff, my stomach feels like I’m in a free fall.

I swallow. “It’s a bigger drop than I thought.”

“Just means it’ll be more fun.”

I grunt. “You and I think differently.”

He squeezes my hand, and I try to tell my stupid palpitating heart to knock it off. Cooper is a flirt; he would probably hold my mom’s hand, too, if she were scared to jump. It’s what he does. He’s just that guy, you know? The one who’s confident enough to show affection to everyone he meets. Could charm the pants off an an

gry troll. This—holding my hand—means nothing to him.

Which is why it makes me so mad that it’s meaning something to me.

“Think more like me then, just this once. If you hate it, I’ll never make you do it again.”

My eyes tiptoe to the edge of the cliff, and my stomach does a barrel roll. “If I hate it, I’m going to take your cell phone and throw it in the water.”

He laughs. “Seems fair to me. Let’s go.” He hitches his head toward the edge, and I take a deep breath.

I barely get the word okay out before Cooper is tugging me with him, running full steam ahead toward the edge. My feet leave the warmth of the rocks, and my stomach jumps into my throat as we drop. I scream like a tiny little girl, and Cooper’s hand is locked on mine so tight, promising he’s with me the whole time. Butterflies soar through my body for only a split second before we crash into the water, and it swallows us up.

Darkness surrounds me for a heartbeat before I feel Cooper’s hand tug me up to the surface, and to my surprise, I come up laughing. I open my eyes and find him pushing his hair back from his face and smiling in a way that flips my stomach even more than jumping off that cliff did.

“I did it!” I squeal, feeling a surge of pride, and relief, and…yep, serotonin rushing through me.

Before I even realize it, I’m laughing and swimming to him, intending to wrap my arms around his neck to celebrate. When I get closer, though, Cooper’s eyes catch over my shoulder, and then his hand shoots up out of the water to give me a high five.

A high five.

Right.

Reality swallows me up much like the water did, and I remember that Cooper is the kind of guy who could have anyone he wanted. I’m just Drew’s sister. He doesn’t want me. All that flirting up on the cliff was just his way of getting me to feel more comfortable to jump. It was a friendly service he offered me.

“That was awesome, Lucy. Way to go. How do you feel?” he asks, but some of the twinkle seems to have left his eyes. I guess now that he got his adrenaline fix, he’s all good.

I muster up my best I’m-totally-fine-with-this-I-love-high-fives smile and slap his hand. “I think your cell phone will live to see another day.”