Rules of Friendship: Friends-to-Lovers Standalone Romance Novel

by C. A. Harms

  “You know what I like,” he says. Now it’s his turn to eye me up and down slowly and seductively, causing a smirk to form on my face this time.

  “Like what you see?” My sassy side can’t help but reply to his visual body check.

  “Oh I like what I see a lot.” Dawson volleys back, his smirk now a wide grin. Slowly he lowers himself to the floor in a crouching position. Mere seconds later, he cups my face with his palm and brings his lips to mine, teasing me slightly with a swipe of his tongue before he pulls back to my dismay. “You taste so good.”

  My pulse quickens, and I swear I hear a humming in my ears.

  “Oh my God,” Heather whispers. Both Dawson and I look over to find her wide-eyed with a look of awe on her face. I know she is about to say something that most likely has no filter. “It’s like seeing a two-headed snake or a purple elephant. I swear, I’ve seen this coming for you two for so long but to actually watch it play out just feels like a dream taking place before my very eyes.”

  Dawson and I say nothing and only stare at her. I can’t decide if I want to roll my eyes at Heather or laugh. I, of course, appreciate all of her crazy because it is one of the many reasons why I adore her so much. Judging from the look on his face that shows he’s trying to stifle something, Dawson may also want to laugh or tell her to leave.

  “Anyone ever told you that you’re strange?”

  I push against his side and he falls against the couch laughing.

  “Say whatever you want to say, Dawson, but I’ve been around for the last few years and have noticed many things take place between the both of you. The way you watched her when she wasn’t looking or the way her eyes followed you almost on their own free will unwilling to miss even a second of your movements. I knew this was coming long before the two of you decided to pay attention to the feelings you’ve kept bottled up inside.”

  Dawson looks at me and I shrug.

  “You must realize that I’m her go-to girl who gets all the juicy details.” Heather winks and I feel my cheeks heat with embarrassment, unsure why because I haven’t given her much detail. “The soothing power of your kisses or the calming of your touch.” I wrinkle up my forehead in confusion, but she refuses to look at me. “Then there’s the way you move, that elongated sway of your hips dragging out the pleasure.” Wait he did do that, but I never told her. “Plus, you should hear the things she said you can do with your tongue.”

  “What?” I lunge for her, and she falls back laughing as Dawson hooks me around the waist.

  “I wanna hear about these things I do with my tongue,” he says near my ear as he bites the side of my neck.

  “You know what you do,” I assure him as I try to free myself from his hold. Before I know it, I’m on my back with him firmly holding my hands above my head. The smoldering look in his eyes gives me chills—yet I suddenly feel heated too. “I never told her anything.” My voice sounds breathless, matching how hot and bothered I am. I am in so much trouble if being near Dawson is all it takes to want to jump him this badly.

  “I think I wanna try that elongated sway later, maybe drive you crazy with my tongue too ,” he whispers in my ear, delivering more shivers throughout my body. Yes. Please. Now. “But I’ll leave you ladies to finish up while I attempt to satisfy this hunger I have with my muffins.” He leans in, pressing his lips to mine. Before pulling away completely, he nips at my lower lip, only adding to my already heightened need. Dawson then leans down near my ear once more before making his grand exit. “But just so you know, your muffin tastes so much better.”

  I remain frozen in place, unsure if I could actually peel myself off the carpet even if I tried. My body feels like a pool of jello, all relaxed and weak. We didn’t even have a marathon of intense sex, but Dawson’s words are some damn aphrodisiac apparently. I watch Dawson lean back, stand up and then move away from me with a satisfied gleam in his eyes. I usually would challenge him or knock him down off the pompous pedestal on which he is now so naturally perched. The problem is that I now know he can back up every one of those dirty words with the delicious things he does to my body. So damn good.

  Too good.

  Dawson

  “You don’t know how happy it makes me hear that you and Reese are together.” I run my hand over my face and look to the girl sleeping at my side. Her red hair sticks out around her, fanning out like a goddess, those curls a bit wild from tossing and turning in her sleep. “You know we’ve always loved her like our own.” I smile at my mother’s words. Though my mom is a meddling crazed woman at times, I also love her something fierce. She’s a fantastic person, so warm and accepting.

  “It’s been a long time coming, Mom.” Though I tried to run from it, ignore it even. Tried to deny it. Tried to deny us. I don’t think anything would’ve stopped us from eventually happening. But it surprised me that everyone around us seems to notice something that took Reese and me years to figure out ourselves. “It does feel strange in a sense though.” For a second, I forget that I’m talking to my mother. “Never imagined I’d be kissing my best friend.”

  Her laughter snaps me out of my haze, and I mentally chastise myself for my slip up. Then I feel the shift of Reese against me, her body shaking with laughter of her own. I look down just as she tucks her face into my chest a little more. Her hand fists my shirt tightly.

  “I couldn’t be happier,” my mother adds just as I begin to tickle Reese. Her laughter grows as she twists around, trying her best to escape my assault. “Tell Reese I said hello, and I love you both.” She ends the call and I assume it’s because my mom knows we need our time alone.

  Dropping my phone off the side of the bed, I lift my body and turn toward Reese. Grabbing her hips, I pull her down toward me before I climb over her, using the weight of my body to hold her securely beneath me. “Stop.” She wiggles and tries best to break free but she isn’t going anywhere while trapped under me.

  “Hold still,” I say, chuckling as she glares up at me, “I’m not done tickling you.”

  “Yes, you are.” Again she tries for the serious look, the one that has never worked for her, not with me anyway. I know her too well. Reese doesn’t scare me.

  “But I like feeling your body moving against mine,” I murmur while gliding my hand along her side. She quickly attempts to swat at my arm, but I move faster as I take one of her hands in each of mine, bringing them above her head. She feels so small and so delicate in comparison to me.

  With one of my hands, I pin both of hers above her head, and her eyes widen just a fraction when she realizes just how convenient she’s made it for me. I softly run my hand over her side once again and she shivers as her hips shift around, trying to buck me off of her. “Dawson,” she says my name as a warning this time. Reese’s nostrils flare, her eyes narrow, and I hook the hem of her tank top and start to lift. My fingertip skims over her side, causing her body to jerk. “I’m gonna pay you back for this.”

  “I hope so,” I reply with a smirk, causing her to glare even harder at me. “I’m not ticklish, but I’d love to lay back while you thoroughly explore every part of me just to be sure.”

  “You’re a fiend,” she declares, trying to hide the amusement that the corner of her mouth displays as it tilts upward.

  “You like me that way.” She doesn’t answer me as I move in closer and kiss the corner of her mouth.

  “I like us this way.” Her confession lights me up inside.

  “This feels so right. We feel so right, Reese.” Again, I kiss her and her body relaxes beneath me. “The only thing I regret is holding on to my feelings so long without expressing them. Too much time was wasted that I could’ve been with you.”

  When I pull back, she looks up at me and still remains quiet. It worries me for a second that maybe this isn’t the same for her as it is for me.

  Then she tilts her chin upward as her lips part. “Kiss me,” she whispers hoarsely.

  Wasting no time, I press my lips to hers, and her legs part
as she wraps them up and over my hips, linking her ankles together behind me. “Tell me this is all gonna be okay,” she says with a bit of uncertainty in her voice. I start to pull back, but she breaks free of my hold. Her hand wraps around the back of my neck, holding me in place. “My biggest fear is that this backfires on us and I lose you. I don’t know how to live a life without you in it.”

  “You can’t get rid of me, Reese. I’m here to stay.”

  “Promise?” Her voice is a desperate plea.

  “I promise.” I kiss her again and rest my forehead to hers. “We’re a team; we always have been.”

  I slip my foot into my boot and tie it securely. I’d been called into work due to a car accident along Angeles Crest Highway with multiple injuries. It is a common place where things like this happen, especially with inexperienced drivers not using caution along the stretch. Many times the outcome wasn’t what the rescuers hoped for, which seems to be the case here.

  Five cars, two over the cliff and the third just barely hanging on, is the description given. I’ve been recruited to be on one of the two copters that would focus on the two cars that had descended into the canyon along with the rocky slopes.

  It is just barely five in the morning, and I’d left Reese’s bed already feeling the absence of her warmth. She was like a cozy little kitten, the way she curled her body tightly against mine. I’ll admit that until now, I’ve never really been the cuddling type.

  I hurry around the apartment and do my best not to interrupt her.

  Kevin is already waiting downstairs, and I jump into his jeep before we speed off.

  “Coffee?” He points toward the cup holders in the center.

  “You had time to make us coffee?” I reach out and lift the second cup, taking a sip.

  “I didn’t,” he says, and I look over just in time to see a big smile cover his lips. “Let’s just say I haven’t gone to bed yet and I’m riding high on a cute little blonde I met a few hours ago.”

  Shaking my head, I don’t even ask, but that doesn’t stop him from giving me more information that I want to hear.

  “We were just getting ready to go for round two when the call came in. Apparently, the woman likes me and wants me to return to her safely because she hurried off to make my partner and me a cup of coffee,” he chuckles. “I may keep this one around for a bit.”

  “Do you even know her name?”

  “Yes,” he quickly replies but pauses too long, indicating that he has no fucking clue. “It’s Carrie or Karen.” His brows wrinkle in deep thought. “No, her name is Carla.” He seems pleased with his final answer.

  I’m glad to finally arrive at Station 114 where the other guys are already set up, and the copters are waiting. Things then go into overdrive.

  We are geared up, strapped in and lifting off within minutes.

  It is always harder to work in the dark, especially with these types of rescues. My adrenaline is pumping, and even though my mind is on the sweet girl I’d left in bed not that long ago, I am also focused on the task ahead.

  We have no idea what we are going to find. There is one copter for each of the overturned cars that had gone beyond the cliff after impact. An SUV and a smaller vehicle is the only information given. We have no idea the number of passengers in each or whether we would find them alive. Fear rolls through me, as we inch closer to the scene, which makes my blood pump faster.

  One of the hardest things I’ve found about the job is no matter what you do or how hard you try, you can’t always save the person you’re sent out to rescue. I’m still haunted by a few that I knew were gone before I got there, but it never makes it any easier to accept.

  “There they are,” Patricia, our pilot, announces as she looks out the left side of the copter. “One light is out. Looks like the back end is resting just inside the dip between two larger rocks.”

  Lights are all around, those of ambulances, cops and even spotlights shining downward. It lights up the area a bit, yet still leaves the situation hard to evaluate.

  “Strap up.” Walter taps my shoulder as he hands me the pulley. “We’ll go down together, evaluate the situation and then decide on our plan of attack.” I only nod, as I hurry to prepare myself.

  On the count of three, both Walter and I are lowered to the crash area below. I scan the area, looking for our best options. The closer we get, the more we can see that the vehicle has apparently rolled many times before landing in its current position. Patricia was right: it is lodged between two large rocks, the ass end of the car pinned. The windshield is so smashed up that it is impossible to look through and get a clear image of what remains hidden inside. As I hang freely at the side of the vehicle near the passenger side, I notice the blood on the window, which makes my stomach tighten.

  “We’ve got a passenger in the front!” I holler out toward Walter and shine a flashlight over the vehicle. “Can you see into the back?”

  “Empty!” Walter shouts in return. “Can you open the door on your side?”

  “No,” I say, already giving it a try. “It won’t budge.”

  We both move around and try to find our way inside. Rocks start falling down from above. A large rock bounces off the hood of the car and ricochets. “What the fuck?!?” I look behind me, wondering what in the hell the assholes above us are doing.

  “Lower me down a little more,” I direct through my earpiece with attached mic. “I need to get to the back of the vehicle. There’s no way to access the passengers from the front without possibly injuring them further.”

  We still aren’t sure if they were dead or alive so I have to remain cautious. We can’t tell the passengers to cover their heads because they are unresponsive. Knocking out the windows of the front may further their injuries. So our best option is for me to go through the back and break out the glass since the back doors are almost entirely covered by the large rocks on each side.

  “If I knock out the back glass, it should give me further access,” I tell Walter. “I can get inside, check for a pulse, cover them both, and then we can break out the windshield or the side glass and take them out from there.” He nods his head just as I start to descend further. Walter is a big guy, around six four, and built like a brick house. My build is smaller than his so I'm our best option in this situation.

  I guide myself around the vehicle with one hand. Reaching the back, I use the more massive rock to hold myself securely. “Give me a little more,” I demand, and the coils lower even further. I need enough give to be able to climb inside without restriction.

  A loud boom sounds as I look up just in time to see another rock bounce off the roof of the car. “What the hell are they doing up there?”

  Then I feel it, the vibration of the ground, the rattle of the car, as it gives way and shifts further. “Hold on!” I hear someone shout through my earpiece.

  I grip the car on instinct, unable to grab on to anything else. It isn't a strong earthquake, but in my current position, it feels much worse. As a pain shoots through my arm and shoulder, I fall back and am left hanging except for my left arm, which is now pinned beneath the back corner of the car.

  It feels like it is being ripped off at the shoulder. A searing pain, more excruciating than anything I’d ever felt before, makes me shout out in response.

  “Dawson,” says Walter, “you alright?”

  “No,” I anxiously reply, as I scramble for the rock, trying to gain some leverage. “I’m pinned.” There is nothing to grab onto within reach. The car shifts again above me and fear shoots through me as I imagine the vehicle coming down and crushing me.

  This is it, this is how I’ll die. I don’t want to die.

  Thoughts of Reese and my mother fill my head. The idea of never being able to hug either of them again is almost as painful as what I feel physically. It is all too much. What I wouldn’t give to be back home in bed with my girl curled up against me. I want to feel her wild hair tickling my nose and hear her soft breaths as she sleeps soundly.
Please let me make it home to Reese.

  Reese

  When I wake up alone, a sense of disappointment hits me. Waking up to Dawson is my favorite part of the day and when he’s not by my side, I miss it terribly. It was strange at first, but we haven’t actually slept separately since our first night together.

  I don’t even bother to get dressed after climbing out of bed. Wearing only a tank top and underwear, I head to the kitchen and flip on the coffee maker. I hoped I’d find him there, or even in the living room, but when I notice his duffle bag next to the door is gone, I realize he’s been called into work.

  The idea that I’ll most likely have to wait until tonight to see him again is another disappointment. I have classes, and then I’m supposed to help Heather rearrange her apartment afterwards. As if there were a lot of options since she lives in a loft. There is literally one large room that is completely open. Apparently, she’s decided that her bedroom will look better in the back corner near the kitchen instead of the front near her living room. I am dreading it because I know that she’ll eventually recruit me to move it all back. You can only do so much with a small space. I don’t care how you set it up, it won’t make the tiny box any bigger.

  I flip on the television, and the comforting smell of coffee fills the apartment. I hurry back to the kitchen, lifting the cup from its poised spot under the pot, and begin adding entirely too much creamer. It is an ongoing joke between Dawson and me, and has been for years. By the time I’m done doctoring it up just the way I like it, it is so light in color that it looks tan.

  That is when it is the best.

  Right now we are reporting from Angeles Crest where we have a rescue gone bad situation.

  I hear the sounds of a news reporter speaking, the rescue gone bad situation part jolting me alert more than the coffee I’m drinking. Stunned, I move around the end of the countertop to get a better view of the television in our living room. One word consumes me: Dawson.