Upside Down (Breaking the Rules #3) - A.M. Madden Page 0,30

psychologist specializing in sex therapy. His syndicated radio show is very popular. Every night, he covers a different topic, and sexuality is always one of them. Listeners call in anonymously. It’d be a great way to get his expert advice.”

“Nope.”

“Cooper,” she said exasperatingly. “What do you have to lose?”

“A shock jock? Yeah, no way. I’m not going to call some radio doctor guy who probably got his degree on the internet, looking for answers.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “First of all, he’s a renowned, award-winning psychologist. Secondly, he pegged our relationship to a tee.” The shocked expression I threw at her caused a casual shrug.

“Seriously? You called a radio show about us?”

Seeing in my expression how that tidbit rubbed me the wrong way, she raised a hand. “Calm down. I was listening one night and was curious what he would say.” As though she hadn’t dropped that tiny bomb, I watched as she dived back into her salad, seemingly without a care in the world.

“Hello? And what did he say?” I prompted when she held back.

“He said you weren’t in love with me, and I needed to come to terms with that and move on.”

“Was that what prompted you to break up with me?”

She looked guilty. “I already knew we weren’t working, but he helped me realize it had to end.”

To this day, I’d been relieved Riana had had the courage to… Lord knew I didn’t. But if he had told her to stick it out, would I have had the guts to end it at some point? My guilty conscience groaned not to pull on that thread.

Not surprisingly, a rueful smile spread on her face. “Coop, he was right. Look at all that’s happened since we broke up. I was in the way, and you’re too nice of a guy to hurt me by admitting I wasn’t your world.”

We often talked about our time together. With Riana something had held me back, and I’d avoided the cause of my deep-rooted confusion instead of accepting there was a problem. The facts stacked up and could no longer be ignored, the main one being I always felt something was missing in every relationship I’d shared with a woman.

I had to wonder: if my situation with Ricky hadn’t come to fruition, would I have ignorantly continued down a road of avoidance and denial instead of finally realizing I had to figure myself out?

At seeing the sadness in her eyes, I took her hand and ran my thumb across her knuckles. “I do love you, Ree. You know that, right?”

“I do… and I love you too. I just want you to be happy.”

“I know. I want the same for you.”

She squeezed my hand and winked. “Okay, so let’s make a pact to find happiness. You first, and your homework assignment is to listen to Dr. Lair.” When I rolled my eyes, she blatantly laughed at me. “You always liked a challenge.”

“Yeah, with running marathons or reading a new book in one day. Not airing my dirty laundry over the radio.” While narrowing my gaze on her, I finished off my burger with one last bite.

“Fine,” she conceded, knowing me well. “Then for extra credit your second assignment could be to find me my dream man.”

“Ugh… that’s even worse. How about I just treat you to lunch?”

“Nice try, Stanton…” She speared a grape tomato with her fork and pointed it at me. “You always treat me to lunch.”

“It was worth a shot.”

The moment I stepped into the terminal, I called Riana. “Hey,” she said after just one ring.

“I’m here.”

“Okay, good. And remember, if you need to talk at any time, I’m a call or text away. You got this, Coop.”

I truly wished I felt the same but blandly responded, “Thanks, Ree.”

For me, arriving in Fort Lauderdale was a tad bittersweet. I looked forward to the time I’d be spending with Rebecca and her family, as well as being there when the baby arrived. But, you see, my sister was all about happiness and love and rainbows and goddamn unicorns flying out her ass. She believed with every fiber of her being that once you found your person, nothing could stop fate from playing out.

In her and Marco’s case, fate prevailed by screwing over the executives of the cruise line they’d worked for when they’d quit to start their own business. In my case, she made it very clear Ricky had flipped a dormant switch within me that no amount of denial could flip