Off Limits

It started out as a little fun. When there was a man in my building on a hookup app, why not message him?Only we didn’t meet. We just texted—one night after the other, after the other.GoodWithHisHands was the perfect escape from my life, where pressure was always on my shoulders: my father’s expectations, the worry about my sister, Maddy, getting sick again, and her ex-husband, Ryder Lynwood, suddenly back and volunteering at the same hospital as me.It would have been smart to keep my distance from the man who came out as gay, tearing our close families apart and breaking Maddy’s heart. Except Ryder intrigues me. I like talking to him, same as I enjoy chatting to GoodWithHisHands.They weren’t supposed to be the same person.I wasn’t supposed to fall for him. To want him. To need him. Maddy didn’t deserve to get hurt again, and I didn’t need another reason to feel like an outsider in my own family. Ryder was off-limits. I knew that. Still, I couldn’t make myself stay away.