No Turning Back (Breaking the Rules #4) - A.M. Madden Page 0,1

the car instantly pulled into traffic, disappearing around the corner and taking my heart with it.

Him

What the fuck did I just do?

Chapter One

Riana

Three years later ~ February

“I’m not interested.”

Her head snapped my way, sending her blonde ponytail swaying while revealing giant blue saucers for eyes. “But why?” she then whined, comparable to a child who had lost their lollipop. “He’s so cute, and sweet. He loves to read and visit museums… like you do. He’s a runner! You have so much in common. We could double-date.” Her eyes bulged wider. “Ooh, ooh… we can go on vacations together! It would be so much fun.”

Or a complete and utter disaster.

“Janie, please stop. I’m not interested,” I repeated. After one last spurt of caffeinated liquid gold landed in my mug, I snatched it from below the spout and turned to dismiss my pain-in-the-ass friend. Of course, she followed right to my desk and plopped herself on the edge. Clearly, the discussion wasn’t over.

She always meant well. This wasn’t her first attempt to set me up, and each time I pushed back. I enjoyed being alone. After having had just one long-term relationship, which I’d thought was forever until a job transfer broke us apart, and one other that I had hoped was forever until I realized I wasn’t his person, it felt good being with me, myself, and I.

Since my last breakup, I had come to know people in love had this annoying need to push their single friends into relationships… like Janie. Her spiel was a broken record, and this one she had sung on a loop for the past six days, since her man’s brother had come back into town.

“Look, I get why you’d think dating Jake could be great. But… it also could be awful.”

“Not true! You’re both in similar situations.” She paused expectantly, only to rush on and say, “You can’t blame him for being on the rebound when you are as well.” I blinked a few times while processing her dumb logic. Didn’t she realize using the fact he was fresh out of a long-term relationship, of which he had been dumped, would be counterproductive to her argument? Sensing my bafflement, she took my hand and squeezed. “You can lean on each other for comfort… or other things,” she finished with a poignant eyebrow wiggle.

“It’s still a no.”

“Okay, how about you just come over tonight for a drink, ignore the fact it’s Valentine’s Day? If you don’t feel a spark, then I’ll never mention him again. We’ll bring in that sushi you like… Ross and I will treat.”

Suppressing a giggle, I had to admire her sudden twist of logic. “I can’t. I have that call with Cooper tonight.”

“Riana,” she scolded. “You can’t keep holing yourself up in your apartment and wasting your life dwelling on the past. It’s been what, a year now?”

Actually, I’d broken up with him two years ago almost to the day, but Janie rarely paid attention to details.

“He’s moved on, and you need to as well,” she continued.

It wasn’t like that, but I couldn’t blame her for thinking as much based on our complicated history. Cooper was an amazing person. He and I had clicked and connected the moment we’d met by chance that day. I had slipped during a run on the boardwalk and fallen into him. Things romance movies were made of.

During our time together, he truly cared about me, made me feel special in every way he could, except for one. I was in love with him, and he loved me as well, but not in a forever kind of way. Something made me feel that our relationship was holding us back from other things, and it was me who’d ended it.

“I have moved on,” I argued.

“Hiding in your apartment when you can instead meet the man who could very possibly be your soul mate is not moving on. Spending the night on the phone with your ex and his lover is not moving on.”

“I also plan to eat a pint of ice cream and watch a rom-com.”

“That’s pathetic.”

“It’s gelato,” I argued with a grin. “Now please let me get back to work.”

Her response was a grumble and a few stomps toward her desk. Through my peripheral, I could see her pouting some more, and by my choosing to ignore her, she finally put an end to it.

Sharing the real reason that I’d been communicating with my ex-boyfriend more than usual this past week wasn’t an option. Besides, she’d never