Forbidden Touch: A Best Friends To Lovers Romance

by Iona Rose

  The checkered cloth covering the table went all the way to the floor, so I sneaked a hand under the table and placed it on Brooke’s thigh. “Maybe I can show you a preview.”

  “It’s broad daylight,” she said, her protest weak.

  We’d picked a discreet table in the corner and I wasn’t worried anyone could see my movements under the table. I slipped my hand under her skirt and ran a finger along the edges of her panties.

  Brooke inhaled sharply but kept her facial expression unaffected.

  I sucked in a breath at the heat her pussy emitted. I palmed her pussy over the material of her panties which were soaked through. “You’re so wet,” I murmured. “I wish it was my mouth in there. I would drink it all up. So sweet.”

  “Damn, Blaze,” Brooke murmured and reached for her coffee. She gulped It down and shakily placed the cup back on the table.

  I lifted the hem of her panties and slipped my hand in to find all heat and slickness in there. Brooke parted her thighs as I dragged a finger up and down her slit.

  “Ohhhh.” Her face looked pinched. She looked so gorgeous while trying to look as if she was not under the grips of arousal.

  I didn’t need to look down to know the front of my shorts was bulging obscenely. I’d become so hard, my cock felt like a plank of wood. My finger bumped over her clit and she let out a soft cry. She bit her lower lip.

  I eased a finger into her soaking entrance and then pulled back and continued teasing her clit.

  “Please,” Brooke pleaded.

  I pushed one finger in and then added another.

  Brooke closed her eyes.

  “I need you to open your eyes,” I told her.

  She did as I asked her to but her gaze remained unfocused. She gripped the edge of the table as if she would fly away if she didn’t hold on to it.

  “I love seeing you so aroused,” I told her as I pumped my fingers in and out of her pussy. I fucked her with my fingers and thumbed her clit.

  “Oh no, I’m going to come in a coffee house,” Brooke whispered, her voice shaky. A second did not go by before her pussy clenched around my fingers and Brooke let out soft whimpers.

  “Can I keep my fingers there?” I asked, before laughingly withdrawing them.

  “Oh god,” she said and laughed shakily. “I’ve never done anything so crazy.”

  “Me neither,” I said. Brooke brought out my wild side which tended to stay hidden most of the time. I raised my hand, grabbed a napkin and wiped my fingers down. I shoved the used napkin in my pocket.

  “That was hot,” she said, staring at me as if I was God’s gift to women.

  “I’m glad you enjoyed it but we have a problem,” I said.

  She leaned forward. “What?”

  “We might have to be here all afternoon,” I said and gestured down at my lap.

  “Down boy.” Brooke grinned. “I promise I’ll take care of you when we get home. First thing.”

  “In that case, can we change the topic and hopefully, get to go home soon?” I asked.

  We talked about everything and anything and five minutes later, my erection had cooled down and I could walk out of the coffee house. In the Uber, we held hands and I fought to stop thinking about Brooke’s mouth curled around my cock.

  Ten minutes later, I held the front door open for Brooke. I followed her in.

  She dropped her purse on the floor and pushed me against the wall. “I always keep my promises,” she stated in a husky voice and dropped to her knees. She unbuckled my belt and pulled down my zipper.

  My cock, reading the signs, jutted out the front of my boxers. Brooke cupped it over my boxer briefs as I closed my eyes and leaned back on the wall.

  Then she tugged my boxers over my hard on, setting my cock free. “So big,” she murmured.

  “Do you like big?” I asked.

  “I love big,” Brooke replied. “It’s every woman’s dream cock.”

  “I love it when you talk dirty,” I said to her.

  She held my cock in both of her hands as if it was the most precious thing she had ever held. I groaned as Brooke raised her head and held my gaze as she took me into her mouth. She took the whole head in and swirled her tongue around it.

  “Fuck,” I gasped out. “Do that again.”

  She did.

  “Fuck!”

  She removed her lips from my cock and licked the length of it before dropping her head to take my balls into her mouth, one at a time.

  “Take it easy, Hot Sauce,” I said. “This will end before it begins.”

  She giggled, giving me the few seconds I desperately needed to get myself back in control. A strangled sound left my mouth as Brooke took as much of my cock as she could back into her mouth. I rocked in time to the bobbing up and down of her head.

  A vibration sound broke into the slurping sounds of Brooke’s mouth and my groans. A loud shrilling noise followed. In a haze of arousal, I finally figured out it was Brooke’s phone. “You need to pick that up,” I said.

  She slid my cock out of her mouth but kept it firmly in her hand. “No. This is more important.”

  Sweet words.

  She took me back into her mouth, taking me back straight to heaven. She did things to me with her tongue and mouth that no other woman had ever done. With my thrusts, I slipped my cock deeper and deeper into her mouth.

  Then the buzz came again.

  “Fuck,” I cursed under my breath. As much as I wanted her to continue sucking my cock, the call could be important. Gently, I pulled my cock out of her mouth and forced it back into my boxer briefs.

  Brooke looked up at me with sad eyes.

  Her pout made me laugh. “Pick it up. Whoever is calling really needs to get in touch with you.”

  “I’ll be back,” she said and picked her purse from the floor. She got her phone from the purse, then frowned at the screen before she swiped it to answer.

  I took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

  “Mom, hi,” Brooke said as she sat down.

  I needed a drink. I left her to the call and headed to the kitchen to make us some coffee. My breath returned to normal minutes later as I stirred our coffee and returned with it to the living room.

  I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw the worry on Brooke’s face. I placed the mugs on the table and went to sit by her side on the couch. “Is everything okay?” I said.

  She stared at me with stricken eyes. “No. It’s my dad. He’s had a stroke. He’s at a hospital in Florida.”

  I went silent for a moment as I digested the news. I tried to picture Brooke’s big bodied, strong dad in a hospital bed and failed.

  “I have to go,” Brooke said, her voice dull.

  “I’ll come with you,” I said and stood up. “I’ll book us a flight.”

  She turned to me, her eyes expressionless. “No, I’ll go alone.”

  Her words were like a slap. “Alone?” I repeated stupidly.

  She nodded and refused to meet my eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

  And just like that, she pulled away. The Brooke who hated intimacy was firmly back in place. Frustration welled up in my chest. We had made so much progress. She’s even said she was beginning to believe she and I could work.

  She stood. “I’ll book that flight.”

  I watched her as she stiffly made for her bedroom.

  In the next couple of hours, Brooke and I were like complete strangers. I watched helplessly as she packed and asked her one more time if I could go with her. Be there for her.

  She remained cold, leaving no room for negotiation.

  I went with her to the airport and she didn’t speak at all. She kept her gaze focused on the road.

  Half an hour later, as I waved goodbye to her at the terminal, I knew that for us—it was over.

  I couldn’t live like this. I wanted more from my relationship. I loved Brooke with all of my being, but we would never be intimately close. Anytime something happened that jolted her out of her n
ormal life, she would close herself off until she had solved it.

  I wanted something different. I needed a woman who would allow me to be there for her, just as I hoped she would be there for me. That woman was clearly not Brooke.

  Emptiness sat in my chest where my heart should have been as I took a cab back home. I felt disjoined and as though I had lost my footing in the world. Pain rumbled through me.

  A voice in my head tried to convince me not to be hasty in ending it with Brooke. But I felt as if a light had been shone on us, a light that enabled me to look at us objectively. And what I saw was not pretty or inspiring. We were together when things were good but apart when things were tough.

  Who wanted to live like that?

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Brooke

  Two hours after I left New York, I texted Blaze to let him know I had arrived in Florida. I took a cab straight to the hospital.

  The smell of antiseptic and other strong hospital scents assailed me as I walked through the double glass doors. I made my way to the reception where a blonde middle-aged woman sat. “Hi, I’m looking for my dad. His name is Robert Mathews,” the words tumbling out of my mouth.

  “Give me a moment,” she said, a sympathetic look on her face. She was probably used to seeing distressed relatives.

  I tapped my foot on the tiled floor as I waited. Fear coursed through my veins. I wasn’t close to my parents but they were all the family I had. Tears sprung to my eyes and I wiped them off with the sleeve of my jacket.

  What if he died? My mom would not survive without my dad. Her life centered around him and without him in the world, hers would come to a grinding halt.

  I wrapped my hands around myself to suppress the shiver working its way up from my feet. I suddenly felt cold. I thought about Blaze and wished he was here. He had offered but I’d refused, not wanting to impose on him.

  My parents were my responsibility and my family. I needed to be with them.

  “Miss?” the nice woman at the reception called. “Your father is on the fourth floor….”

  I said thank you and sprinted towards the elevators, missing the rest of what she had been about to say. I jabbed at the elevator buttons until the doors opened.

  I saw my mom as soon as I stepped out of the elevators.

  She looked stunned to see me. “What are you doing here?” she said by way of greeting.

  “To see Dad of course,” I said, taken aback by the question.

  She looked ten years older. Fresh wrinkles had formed around her eyes. Her shoulders were slumped and she seemed smaller than I remembered. She took my hand and led me to the corner of the waiting room even if there was no other person paying attention to us. “Dad is very sick,” she said, her voice trembling. “He’s hooked to all sorts of machinery, Brooke. I have to be by his side. I don’t have time to be with you.”

  My throat tightened painfully. “It’s not a social visit, Mom. We’re family. We should be together at this time.”

  She stared at me. “Fine. You can see him.” She turned and made for the hallway.

  I followed her, stewing at being made to feel as if I had committed a crime by wanting to be with my family.

  Mom slowed down as she came to the end of the hallway and so did I. She pushed through some wooden double doors and as I followed her in, the atmosphere changed. I followed her to a reception area. She said something to the nurse.

  “I’ll give you a few minutes,” she said crisply. “Mr. Mathews needs his rest. I’m sure you understand.”

  I nodded and followed Mom down another wide hallway.

  “He’s in here,” she said and entered a room.

  My pulse raced as I entered the room and saw my dad hooked up to more machines than I could count. I took a hesitant step forward.

  Mom went to his side. “Brooke is here to see you, love,” she said. “I told her she shouldn’t have. We were just fine the two of us, weren’t we?”

  I swallowed down my anger and moved to the other side of the bed.

  My dad looked so small, as if the bed had swallowed him up. Despite his fragility and the machines beeping around him, he wore a loving look as he looked at my mom. The change was unmistakable when he turned to look at me. The loving look was gone to be replaced by an impatient look and something else I could not interpret.

  I took a step back as if he had slapped me.

  “Say something,” Mom snapped.

  I cleared my throat. “Hi Dad. How are you feeling?”

  He blinked and tried to speak but nothing came out of his mouth. He turned away from me.

  Tears welled up in my eyes. The room became airless. I stumbled back. I needed to get out for some fresh air. “Excuse me.” I turned and fled.

  I was only able to breathe again when I stepped out of the hospital building. I gulped in air greedily as I stood in the parking lot. My body was covered in sweat from the sprint I had done. The fog left my brain and I started to think as I breathed in fresh air.

  I’d never felt as alone as I did at this moment. They didn’t want me here and yet, I couldn’t leave. Despite everything, I still loved them and they were my parents. An intense longing for Blaze came over me. I looked back at the hospital room and raised my gaze to the fourth floor.

  Those were my parents up there but they were not my family. Blaze was my family. He had always been but I had always been too stupid to see it. Nothing I could ever do would make my parents embrace me into their two-person world.

  My heart ached as all these thoughts ran in my mind. It was painful to acknowledge that your parents did not want you and they never had. But if I was to have a good life, I needed to accept it.

  Maybe they hadn’t wanted to be parents in the first place. I didn’t understand why they were the way they were. The fact was that they had never loved me. Never paid any attention to me. They had always acted like I had been a pesky fly that they could wave away.

  A sob escaped my mouth, followed by another until my whole body was wracked by sobs. I don’t know how long I cried for but when I stopped, I felt even lonelier than before. I fished out my phone and typed out a message to Blaze.

  I need you.

  I stared at the words before I hit send. A few seconds later, my phone beeped with a new message.

  Booking a flight.

  And like a switch had been flicked, the darkness dissipated. Hope filled my heart. The weakness in my legs disappeared. I became myself again. The strong person I knew I was. I typed out the hospital name and details to Blaze and marched back in. I went up to the waiting room on the fourth floor.

  My mom stood looking out the window and when she heard footsteps, she turned her head. She stared at me with a stony expression.

  I ignored her and went to sit down.

  “Do you want me to go and get you some coffee?” I asked her half an hour later.

  “No, thanks, I’m fine,” she said in a shaky voice.

  Compassion for her came over me. “Dad will be fine. He’s a fighter.”

  She snapped her head and looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. “You don’t need to tell me all the sentimental things that people say to comfort others. I know your father. I know he’ll be well.” Her voice went down a notch. “He has to.”

  “That’s good,” I said, not knowing what else to say. “I’ll go get my coffee.” I turned away to go.

  “Brooke?”

  “Yes, mom?”

  “You can go back home to your job and your life, we’ll be just fine,” she said.

  Something in my brain snapped. I’d been holding stuff in all my life and I had reached the end of my tether. “You’ve just been dying to tell me that haven’t you? Working up the courage to get those words out of your mouth?” My voice was raised but I didn’t care.

  “What are you talking about?” my mom asked but her eyes told me differently. She knew exactly what I meant.

  “Let me ask you a question Mom, and I want you to be very
honest. Why did you have me because clearly, you never wanted a child? You made me feel like crap every day of my life. You went out of your way to make me feel unwanted and like an outsider.”

  She made a choking noise and clamped her mouth with her hand.

  “Tell me,” I said. “Why have you never wanted me? I deserve an explanation.”

  “It’s not that we didn’t want you,” she finally said, her voice small. “It’s just that you came so late in our lives.” She looked at me with pleading eyes. Eyes pleading to understand.

  I let out a bitter laugh. “So you punished me for it?”

  She dropped her head. “We weren’t punishing you but please understand, we couldn’t be the parents you needed. You came too late.”

  “Too late for what?” I yelled. Luckily, the one man who had been in the waiting room had walked out seconds earlier. “You keep saying that! Late for what?”

  She wore a stricken look and edged away from me as if I was dangerous.

  If pain could kill someone, mine would have killed me at that moment as I waited for answers that were as unsatisfactory as they were unforthcoming.

  I made a disgusted noise and turned away. I marched to the cafeteria downstairs, got a coffee from the machine and sat down to drink it. The scalding hot liquid felt good as it slid down my throat. The burning sensation made me feel alive. Like a person.

  When I was finished, I threw the cup in the trash can and trudged upstairs, all the fight gone out of me. I found Mom with the doctor and hurried to them.

  “This is my daughter,” Mom said, introducing me to the doctor.

  The stroke had been swift but Dad had been brought to the hospital in time and with therapy and support, he would get back the use of his left side.

  I let out a sigh of relief.

  Tears fell down mom’s cheeks.

  The doctor left and I made as if to hug her.

  She took a step back.

  A movement at the corner caught my eye. “Blaze!” I yelled and ran to him. He opened his arms and I ran straight into them.

  He wrapped me in his arms tightly. “It’s okay my love, I’m here,” he said in his strong, soothing voice.