A waterborne latex polymer composition having latex particles comprising (1) about 25 to about 75 weight percent of a first monomer, wherein the first monomer is at least one free-radically polymerizable long chain alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer; (2) about 75 to about 25 wt % of a second monomer, wherein the second monomer is a short alkyl chain (meth)acrylate monomer, wherein the alkyl group contains less than about 12 carbon atoms and the second monomer may be a mixture comprising; i) none, one or more (meth)acrylic acid monomers; ii) none, one or more vinyl nitrile monomers; and iii) none, one or more (meth)acrylic ester monomers, with the provisio that the second monomer mixture comprises at least one of (meth)acrylic acid monomer, vinyl nitrile monomer, and (meth)acrylic ester monomer and a method of making the latex particles.