Trying to be stealthy, I sneak a sidelong peek, nearly jumping out of my skin and over the side of the motoring boat when I catch him looking at me too. Our eyes collide for one pounding heartbeat, and I think I see a dangerous twinkle in his before I rip my gaze from him and back out over the water. Surely he’s not twinkling at me? I bite my lips together and try to hold back an embarrassed smile. How am I going to make it through this day with him? I’m used to comfortable, snuggle-up-and-read-a-book Tim—not dangerous, eye-twinkling Cooper.
Thinking of Tim gives me an idea, though! When we pull into a cove and Drew cuts the engine, I reach for my tote bag and pull out a book. Just the feel of the warm matte cover between my fingers helps me relax. Yes, this is good. I can bury my nose in the pages like I normally do and let the story carry me to a different place.
A different place where Cooper isn’t rising from his seat, reaching for the back of his tank top, and yanking it off over his head. A place far, far away from the defined,
rock-hard abdomen hovering perfectly in my line of sight. Oh gosh, it’s getting worse. Cooper pulls out a can of spray sunscreen and starts dousing his body in a nice, muscle-enhancing sheen then rubs it in, his large biceps and shoulders bunching and tensing as he moves.
I didn’t even realize seeing an Adonis V in real life was on my bucket list, but here we are, and I’m checking it off—and out.
“Good book?” Cooper’s voice rumbles at me, making me shamefully peel my eyes away from his six-pack up to his amused grin.
Busted.
My cheeks are lava, and all I can do is blink and turn my gaze back down to my book, begging it to magically transport me into its world. Because in this one, I have no idea how to interact with a man who looks like that. He’s all muscles and charisma, and right now, I’m 97% candy bars and MSG.
Well, this is the worst.
Come out on the boat with me and my sister, Cooper. It’ll be fun, Cooper.
Guess what, Drew—it’s not fun! His sister is supposed to be burly-looking, the female version of HIM. She’s supposed to have a deep, husky voice, and if I squint, I would get her and Drew mixed up. That’s what every guy hopes his best friend’s little sister will look like.
Lucy, however, is freaking gorgeous.
She looks absolutely nothing like Drew. The only thing these two have in common is their eyes. Except, on Drew, they are just plain blue. Dude has blue eyes, end of story. On Lucy, they are deep-indigo irises framed by long, dark lashes. Her skin is a soft milky white, and her hair is dark auburn, almost brown but not quite.
The worst part of all? She’s got that girl-next-door look about her. The kind that’s so sweet 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 been years since I’ve met a woman who genuinely blushes, 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.
I’ve had my peripherals trained on her from the moment I stepped on the boat. Which brings me to my next problem and, actually, the real worst part of it all. She’s off limits. Lucy might as well have a neon flashing DO NOT TOUCH marquee above her head. Not only is she Drew’s sister, but she is fresh out of a breakup and, if I remember correctly, has a little boy. I know about the breakup not only because Drew overstated it like a moron when I first got in the boat, but because he borrowed my truck to go move her back from Georgia. Call me superficial all you want, but if I had known Lucy looked like this, I would have offered to go get her in his place. He wouldn’t have let me, though, because he’s super protective of her. He’s expressed his hatred for her ex-boyfriend, Tim, since they met. He never even had a really good reason for his dislike, just that the guy didn’t deserve her. I have to agree now. Only a few minutes in Lucy’s company proves she’s different—special.
“Cooper! We should go cliff jumping!” A woman named Bailey pulls me from my thoughts with a splash of water to my face.
About ten minutes after we put down the anchor, a boat full of Drew’s and my friends pulled up. They tied up with us, cranked up their loud music, and tossed floats out in the water. Everyone jumped in almost immediately, soaking up the sun and enjoying the water. But not Lucy.
She took one look at our new companions and their bikinis and hunkered down in the front of the boat with a book. No one pressed her to join us, and since I have no idea how I’m supposed to act around her, I didn’t either. I’m just trying to follow Drew’s lead, but it feels wrong to leave her up there in the boat alone. Then again, he did say she was pretty heartbroken. Maybe she’s just not feeling it today and wants to be alone.
“Cooper?” Bailey asks. “Hellllloooo, did you hear me?”
I blink and turn my head to her. She’s smiling a megawatt smile, perched on her bright-yellow pineapple float, and I know she’s flirting. She always flirts with me because we’ve had sort of an on-again, off-again fling for a while now that never amounts to anything and, honestly, never will.
“Sorry, cliff jumping—yeah, sounds good.” I turn my eyes back up toward the boat even though I can’t actually see Lucy from down here. “Let’s go in a few minutes. I’ll be right back.” I swim over to the ladder and have to pass Drew on the way.
He sticks out the hand holding his beer in front of me so I can’t pass because, apparently, he’s a bouncer now. “Where are you going?”
“Grabbing a water.” LIE. I’M GOING TO SEE YOUR SISTER.
His eyes narrow a little, but he withdraws his arm. “Okay. Just don’t go bug Lucy, okay? She’s going through some hard stuff.”
My head kicks back. “I resent the implication that I would ever go bug a woman.”
“You know what I mean.” Yeah, unfortunately I do. He’s telling me to leave her alone. The warning is there in his eyes, and it’s kind of threatening as hell. I’ve never been on this end of Drew’s ire, and I don’t particularly like it.
It was about a year ago that I moved away from Charlotte, North Carolina in favor of somewhere a lot less…near my ex. I put in applications with a few top-tier marketing firms around the country, and Hampton Creative was the first interview I got. It was a great fit right away and a huge promotion (and pay raise) from my last position. Everything fell into place quickly, and I found out through a friend of a friend about a guy named Drew Marshall needing a roommate. We had a brief phone call where we both determined the other sounded somewhat normal, and then the next thing I knew, I was living in Nashville (blissfully far away from Janie) with a great job and a great roommate. It was the perfect place to reinvent myself—and reinvent myself I did.
For the last year, my motto has been Nothing but fun. I date a lot, I go out a lot, and I’ve sort of become that guy you call when you want to have a good time. I think every date I’ve been on has been a subconscious middle finger to my ex. She didn’t want me, so I’ll prove just how many women do. Problem is, she isn’t watching me. She’s been too busy falling in love with someone else, getting married, and starting a family.
I guess you could say I’ve diverted from my usual path this past year, and I’m just now realizing, in this moment when I find myself wanting to go spend time with Lucy Marshall, that Drew only knows this Cooper—the one who’s so freaking jaded from having his heart torn up that he’s made the word commitment sound like a swear word. He doesn’t know anything about the person I was back in Charlotte. This blip in my life is the whole picture to him, and sure, he’s liked this version as his wingman, but he doesn’t want me anywhere near his baby sister.