Forbidden Touch: A Best Friends To Lovers Romance

by Iona Rose

  “It’s bedtime,” I teased.

  She frowned. “Oh.”

  “Unless there’s something else you wanted?” I asked.

  She glanced down at my cock. It was unapologetically steel hard, standing straight out at attention. “I think I’m the one who should be saying that,” she said, trying to stifle her laughter by clamping her hand over her mouth.

  “You’re right,” I admitted. “I want you so bad. I want to bury my cock in your pussy, Hot Sauce.” I hungrily soaked in the sight of her glorious body as she lay facing me. “But first…” I reached out and flicked her big, hard nipples.

  “Mmmmmm,” Brooke murmured, and caressed my arms.

  I dropped my head for another taste of her nipples. I loved how she tasted.

  “More,” Brooke said, arching her chest.

  I licked each of her nipples in turn, loving how hard they became within seconds. As I sucked on one, I rolled the other between my fingers.

  “I want you,” Brooke stated breathlessly.

  I took a staggered breath at the simple, honest statement, free of coyness or embarrassment. “I want you too, all the time,” I said and arranged myself between her thighs. “Pull them back,” I instructed.

  She drew her knees up to her chest and then I pushed them apart, opening her up like a flower. I splayed my hands on her inner thighs and pushed her folds open. “You look so hot,” I said. Her pussy glistened with moisture. My cock throbbed and jerked in my fist. I probed her opening with my cock, teasing, and coating myself with her juices.

  Her breath caught, and then she exhaled in a series of short breaths.

  Slowly, I ran my cock up and down her soaking wet slit. Brooke’s eyes glazed over with desire. I pushed the head of my cock inside her and then pulled it away. Brooke’s eyes narrowed. She arched her hips and tried to draw in my cock again, but I inched back.

  “You’re teasing me.” Brooke pouted.

  “No Hot Sauce, just don’t want it to be over any time soon,” I explained.

  Her hands moved to her breasts and she circled her nipples with her flattened palms. Unable to hold on for much longer, I plunged my cock into her, until I was buried to the hilt.

  “Like that…” Brooke panted breathlessly, her hands abandoning her nipples to fist the bedding.

  The sounds of our groans intermingled as I took Brooke hard, her body responsive to every thrust.

  “Oh, my God!” Brooke cried out.

  My eyes travelled over her bouncing breasts, her slightly open mouth with her knees drawn up and parted for me.

  “Yes,” Brooke said over and over again, her tone pleading for release.

  I brought her knees together and her pussy clamped even tighter on my cock. I pulled it out and pushed back in again.

  Brooke whimpered. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she let out a sound between a cry and a scream. She reached out to grab the headboard as she rode out her orgasm.

  Just seeing her like this, with her head thrown back, her lips parted was the last straw for me. I bellowed out my own release.

  Chapter Thirty

  Brooke

  Staying later at work wasn’t the best idea after a passion filled night. I was tired. Just remembering the night Blaze and I had was enough to make me smile. The man was the most selfless lover I’d ever had. I’d told him things I’d never told another human being.

  We’d been best friends for most of our lives but now, we truly had no secrets. I forced my mind back to work before I realized I was dozing as I stared at the computer. I needed to go home and rest since I wasn’t getting a lot done.

  My email blinked with a notification as I was about to turn off my computer. It was from Mason. He wanted to see me in his office. We were working on transferring our processes to a new updated system and I assumed he wanted to see me about that.

  I hurried down the hallway to his office.

  His door was slightly opened and when he heard my footsteps, he called for me to enter. He looked up and as usual, his simmering gaze moved over my body lingering at my breasts.

  I suppressed a shudder.

  “Please close the door and sit down,” he said in a casual voice.

  I did as he asked and stared at him while I sat perched on the spare chair.

  He smiled, a smile that did not reach his eyes. When Mason smiled, the only thing moving was his lips. “I wanted to say thank you. Your hard work has not gone unnoticed.”

  “Thank you,” I said wondering where the conversation was headed. With Mason, compliments were always followed by something else.

  “I’m more than grateful, especially at this time,” he said, his voice taking on a sad tone.

  “Are you okay?” Despite my feelings for him, my heart lurched. As much as I disliked Mason, I wouldn’t really wish him any harm.

  “I haven’t told anyone as it’s rather private, but you and I are friends,” he said.

  Friends? Had he lost his mind? We were not friends but maybe Mason understood the word differently than I.

  “My wife and I are going through a nasty divorce,” he confessed.

  I tried to recapture the compassion I’d felt for him a few seconds earlier when I’d thought he was ill, and failed. His wife had been a saint as far as I was concerned. “I’m sorry about that.”

  “Yes, no one wants their marriage to break up,” he said and dropped his gaze to my body again. “You look beautiful today, as always.”

  I didn’t know what to say at the sudden change of topic and unwelcome compliment. “Thank you.”

  He let out a laugh. “I’m going to have to take another cold shower tonight. I do that a lot.”

  Nausea rose up my throat.

  Mason leaned on his desk. “I know how ambitious you are and I can understand it because I was that way too. I can be useful to your career if you let me.” He stared at me, his meaning clear.

  It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him, no thank you. But I knew if I told him that, I would lose my chance of being promoted.

  “A passionate woman such as yourself needs a strong man to take care of all her needs,” he said and licked his lips.

  I fought down feelings of revulsion. I would never have sex with Mason or any other man to advance myself at work. I had morals and a conscience. I also firmly believed in karma. Do good and it comes back to you tenfold. Do nasty stuff and the same thing happens.

  “Don’t give me an answer now,” Mason said and stood up. “Take your time, think about it.”

  I stood up and plastered a fake smile on my face.

  He went around his desk and came to stand right in front of me. “Thank you again Brooke for working so hard.” This time, his smile seemed genuine.

  Despite his lewd proposal, I knew he meant the compliment. It always felt good to have your hard work noticed and appreciated.

  He held out his arms in an invitation to hug.

  I hesitated. I really didn’t want any physical contact with Mason. He made the decision for me by closing the gap between us and slipping his hands around my waist.

  Panic rose up my throat as he pulled me closer. Breathe, I said to myself. I limply placed my hands on his shoulders and braced myself to push him away.

  Luckily, it was not necessary as he let go of me seconds later. “Have a nice evening,” he said politely.

  “You too,” I said and fled the office.

  The whole conversation replayed in my mind on my way home. Had my boss just subtly proposed an affair with me in exchange for favors at work? I shook my head, feeling as if I’d dreamed up the whole thing.

  It was insane. He was insane.

  At home, I made straight for my bedroom for a change of clothes. There were two hours or so before dinner. I changed into my DIY overalls and headed upstairs to Blaze’s apartment. The progress wasn’t bad, considering Blaze and I were spending an inordinate amount of time in bed.

  I heard him as soon as I entered and all thoughts of Mason l
eft my mind. “There you are,” I said, finding him in the master bedroom.

  He placed the hammer he was holding on the floor and opened his arms.

  I ran into them and he folded them around me. I sighed deeply as I inhaled his masculine scents.

  “I missed you,” Blaze murmured into my ear.

  “Me too,” I said and raised my head to kiss him.

  His mouth was deliciously hot and his lips sweetly cool. I threaded my fingers through his hair with one hand and with the other, I caressed his shoulders. I couldn’t get enough of Blaze and neither could he, judging the frantic movements of his hands on my body.

  “I hate overalls,” Blaze said minutes later.

  Laughter burst out of me. “Why?”

  “I can’t reach anything,” he complained “Women should be banned from wearing them.”

  I kissed him lightly on the mouth and stepped back, still chuckling. “What are we doing today?” I asked, looking around the room.

  Blaze had been putting up wall molding along the window. We’d chosen a simple modern molding that matched the downstairs apartment. He explained the plans for the evening and the days that followed.

  I was pretty good with molding and we agreed I would work on the molding for the other room. Blaze had already cut up all the pieces and drawn the pencil markings on the wall, along the windows.

  We worked steadily for an hour, erupting in conversation every few minutes. Our voices echoed in the empty rooms and we had fun making silly noises.

  “Hey, how about we order dinner?” Blaze asked at the end of the hour.

  “Good idea,” I said. “I’m too beat to cook.”

  We put away the tools, closed the house, and headed downstairs.

  Blaze had a bag with him.

  “What’s in there?” I asked as I pushed my door open.

  “Change of clothes,” he said. “I need to borrow your bathroom again.”

  I laughed. “No probs. You make it sound like it’s a big deal.” An idea came to me then. After work on most days, Blaze came straight to the townhouse to work on the upstairs apartment. He’d been using up a lot of time travelling back and forth every day. “I have an idea. You could move in here until your apartment is ready.”

  He turned, a puzzled look on his face. “Aren’t we moving too fast? Don’t get me wrong, I want to, but you’re the one who said we should take it slowly.”

  I was at a loss for words for a few seconds before understanding dawned. “Oh, that’s not what I mean. I’m not asking you to move into my bedroom. I was asking you to move in as a friend and take the spare bedroom.”

  I thought I saw disappointment cross his features before it disappeared.

  “Not a bad idea,” he said. “Then when the apartment is ready, I can move upstairs?”

  “Yes. What do you think? It’ll lessen the commute for you and save you on rent.” I really wanted him to say yes.

  “The timing is perfect as my lease is coming to an end and I need to renew it.” He didn’t sound excited by the prospect of moving into my house though.

  I swallowed down feelings of hurt. “You don’t have to. It was just a crazy idea.”

  He stared at the wall and then turned to me. “I will, thank you. I’ll be in the shower.”

  Relief and joy flooded me. I immediately chastised myself. Blaze was still my best friend and I’d invited him to move in to make his life easier. Not for any romantic reasons. I inhaled deeply. Taking it slow was the best way to protect my heart.

  I needed some rules I mused as I ordered pizza. Rules to keep myself from having expectations from Blaze. After placing my order, I went to my bedroom and changed out of my overalls. I changed into comfortable shorts and a t-shirt, then freeing my hair from the hair band, I plopped down on the bed with my phone.

  I opened a blank notepad document and poised myself to start typing.

  Rule number one: No spending nights in each other’s beds on weekdays. The idea was to try to live as we had when we were living apart. That way, we would maintain the relationship of boyfriend and girlfriend. To not slip into husband and wife, which we definitely were not.

  Rule number two: I had to resist becoming too domesticated. Blaze and I were dating, not getting married. On that note, I searched for Jenny’s number and messaged her to say hello.

  Feeling pleased with myself, I returned to my list of rules. Before I could think of rule number three, the doorbell rang. The pizza delivery. I hurried to the door, accepted the delivery and paid for it.

  Blaze chose that moment to walk into the living room, a towel around his waist, hanging low on his lips.

  I swallowed hard at the sight of his abs, his impossibly flat tummy, those muscular arms, and legs. God, he was so freakin’ hot.

  “I was coming to get the door,” Blaze said and chuckled. “I’m already feeling at home, even before I move in.”

  I smiled. “I’m glad. My home is your home, you know that.”

  “Thanks,” he said and returned to his room.

  I stared at his tight gorgeous ass as he walked away. My appetite for food had disappeared. I was hungry but definitely not for food. But Blaze’s mood had changed. An invisible wall had sprouted between us and I didn’t understand why.

  It made it difficult to grab him and kiss him like I wanted to. Instead, I went to the kitchen and made us some coffee to wash down the pizza.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Blaze

  I returned to the living room to find Brooke typing furiously on her phone. Her brow was creased in concentration and she didn’t hear my footsteps. I stopped at the doorway and stared at her.

  What had happened to her that made it so difficult to trust? I realize she had grown up in a way that made her frightened of getting too close to someone and getting rejected. But it was me, Blaze. The guy she had known most of her life.

  My heart had shrunk when she’d made a point of stating she was inviting me to stay with her as a friend. I had recognized her words for what they were. A way to keep her heart safe from big bad me… she still didn’t trust me. She kept a big piece of her heart, shielded from me. She acted like she had opened herself up to me, but in reality, she hadn’t.

  A deep sigh escaped my lips making Brooke snap her head up. “Oh, I didn’t hear you,” she said.

  “I know. You were engrossed in your phone,” I said. “What are you typing so furiously?”

  She gave a small laugh, glanced at her phone and then looked up again. She had let her hair loose and worn my favorite stay at home shorts. They were pink, small, and left very little to the imagination. “Rules,” she said, her facial expression solemn.

  “Rules?” I asked and grabbed a plate from the table. I opened the pizza box. I served Brooke a couple of pizza slices and placed some on my plate.

  Brooke waited until I sat down with my food and coffee to explain. She wore a sheepish look. “Rules for us,” she said. “We’ll be living together for an undetermined number of weeks and since we’re in uh… dating, I thought we needed some ground rules.”

  She couldn’t even say the word relationship. “Like what?”

  “Okay,” she said. “The first one is that we shouldn’t spend all night in each other’s beds during the week. Only on weekends, like we did when we were living apart.”

  I loved Brooke but she was insane if she thought this would keep her heart safe. “Go on.”

  She smiled, probably pleased I had not offered any objections. She read the second one… something about keeping up with our social lives.

  I agreed with that one a hundred percent. “Okay,” I said when she finished.

  “Do you have anything else you’d like to add?” she said.

  “In this relationship, you’re the one in the driver’s seat Brooke. We’ll do what you want. If you want rules, fine.” I meant it. I knew if I pushed it, I would end up losing her and that was the one thing I could not bear.

  We ate quietly after that, and w
hen we were done, I carried the dirty dishes to the sink and cleaned up. “Want to watch a movie?” I asked her.

  “Sure,” she said. “There’s a new Bruce Jones movie I’ve been wanting to see.”

  “Defender of the Time?” I asked.

  “That’s the one.” Brooke nodded.

  “I’ll put it on,” I said and crossed to the living room, my mood greatly uplifted. Brooke and I had the same taste in movies and we’d always watched movies together when we were growing up.

  Five minutes later, we were settled on the couch with our attention on the screen. I rested my hand on her stomach and massaged it softly. Brooke’s hand rested on my thigh, running it up and down every so often.

  After about ten minutes, Brooke’s heavy breathing told me she was asleep. I reached for the remote control and turned down the volume. It did feel restful to lie down with Brooke in my arms, doing nothing, simply breathing in her scent.

  I felt terrible having to wake her up an hour later but it was late and I needed to go home. I lifted her hair and planted soft kisses on her neck until she woke up.

  “I wasn’t asleep,” she defended. “I was resting my eyes.”

  I laughed. “I have to leave and you need to go and rest your eyes in bed.”

  I moved in the following weekend, on a Saturday. Brooke was at work, and I had to admit I felt a bit disappointed. I’d planned to take her out on a photo tour at eleven. I loved fun dates and I wanted to show Brooke all the fun things I’d gotten to do in the past.

  I swallowed my disappointment as I lugged my suitcases up the stairs to her apartment. I’d stored my furniture and the things I didn’t need in a storage unit then moved to Brooke’s guest room with three large suitcases, containing mostly my clothes.

  I felt excited about living with Brooke, despite her rules. The thought of seeing her every morning and every night made my heart feel as if it was ready to burst. Living in such close quarters would be sure to break the huge wall Brooke had put up. I’d planned to start today by taking her out on a surprise fun date.