Forbidden Touch: A Best Friends To Lovers Romance

by Iona Rose

  It seemed as though the surprise was on me. I unpacked and stashed my suitcases in the overhead spaces in the closet. I glanced at the time. It was almost eleven. I gave up on Brooke returning home in time for the tour.

  I took out my phone and called Ken, the guy who organized the tour. I apologized profusely but he was cool about it. I couldn’t really blame Brooke. I hadn’t told her about the surprise I’d planned for her. Another time, I told myself.

  I made a sandwich for lunch, washed it down with a bottle of water and changed into my dirty-work clothes. Work was better than hanging around hoping Brooke would show up.

  A plumber had come in and taken care of all the plumbing work. We were working room by room and the master and extra rooms were ready for flooring.

  Brooke texted me before I left to go to the upstairs apartment. The smile I wore faded as I read the message.

  Having lunch with Mason. Be home soon. Bye!

  A burning need to punch someone, preferably Mason came over me. I imagined him seated opposite Brooke, looking for ways to accidentally touch her. I wouldn’t put it past him to try underhanded ways to touch her. I never forgot when he’d tried to kiss her forcibly.

  I inhaled deeply. There was no point in getting upset. They were in a public place and as Brooke had pointed out to me several times, she was an adult and could take care of herself.

  I texted her a short message, basically acknowledging receiving the information. I left my phone in the living room and headed upstairs. I didn’t want to keep glancing at it to check for text messages. I needed to work and that’s what I planned to do.

  I worked steadily all afternoon. Thoughts of Brooke and Mason invaded my mind several times. I glanced at my watch. Three o’clock. Why was lunch with a boss taking so long?

  Finally, I gave up trying to fight it. I’d become angry and jealous—a feeling I wasn’t at all familiar with. Just when I was contemplating going downstairs to grab my phone, the sound of someone inserting a key came before the door creaked open.

  “Blaze, are you here?” she said.

  “I’m in the master bedroom,” I called, pleased to hear her voice and at the same time angry but I didn’t even know exactly why.

  In the past, when a woman I was dating did something to upset me, I simply walked away. I’d never reached a level of being hurt and angry, so I didn’t know how to handle it.

  “There you are,” she said as she walked into the room. She came to where I stood with my back to the door and slipped her arms around me. “I missed you,” she said.

  “I’m surprised you had time to miss me,” I said, pissed off with myself at the hurt in my voice.

  She dropped her hands from my waist and took a step back.

  I continued with my work.

  “Are you angry at me for some reason?” she asked.

  “Why would I be angry that—” I stopped before I said anymore as it hit me. The reason I felt angry wasn’t because she’d had lunch with Mason. I knew and trusted Brooke. She was not a cheater. What hurt was that she hadn’t bothered to be home when I moved in. I wasn’t expecting the blare of trumpets or a welcoming party but some form of acknowledgement of excitement or something would have been nice.

  We were more than friends. We were lovers.

  “Finish the sentence,” Brooke urged her voice tight.

  “Forget about it. It doesn’t matter,” I said.

  Brooke didn’t immediately respond. She cleared her throat after a few seconds. “Okay, I’ll just change and come help out.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Brooke

  We worked side by side for two hours straight and still Blaze gave me one-word answers when I asked him something. A panicky feeling was growing in my chest. I didn’t want the first day he moved in to start off with a fight. And to make it worse, I didn’t even know what we were fighting about.

  We’d parted well the previous night. The only thing that could have upset Blaze was my going out for lunch with Mason. I hadn’t liked it either but it had been a work lunch, or so Mason had said. He’d ended up talking about his wife and their divorce battles.

  I couldn’t believe Blaze would get upset over that. This wasn’t the Blaze I knew. Then it hit me how naïve that thought was. I’d known Blaze as a friend, not as a boyfriend. I didn’t know what made him jealous or possessive, just as he didn’t know that about me.

  “Are you upset that I went to lunch with Mason?” I finally asked him.

  “No,” he said curtly.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat.

  He stopped scraping the floor, sat back and leaned on the wall.

  I stopped scraping too, and sat with my legs criss crossed on the floor.

  “It would have been nice if you’d been home when I moved in or at least come back earlier,” he finally admitted.

  My heart lurched at the words tinged with hurt. I stared at Blaze, stunned. It hadn’t crossed my mind that he hoped for some sort of celebratory thing.

  “I had a surprise outing planned for us,” he said.

  Guilt flooded me. “Oh. What had you planned?”

  He shrugged. “A photo tour around the city.”

  “Really? That’s so romantic,” I said, turning to mush. I’d never dated a romantic guy and I’d gotten used to not having high expectations. I’d made that mistake in my early twenties and ended up getting disappointed over and over again. “I’m really, really sorry,” I said. “Can we do it tomorrow?”

  “I’ll see if Ken is available. He’s the tour guide,” Blaze said.

  “Okay,” I replied, feeling teary. “Can I come over there?”

  He nodded as a slow smile lifted his lips.

  I closed the space between us, sat between his legs, and leaned back on his chest. I let out a sigh as I wiggled until I found a comfortable spot.

  Blaze wrapped his hands loosely around my waist.

  “I’m happy that you agreed to come and stay with me,” I said, choosing my words carefully. I was treading between making him feel welcome and not making it into something it wasn’t.

  “Thanks,” Blaze said. “I’m glad to be here too.”

  “I could fall asleep,” I said and let out a yawn.

  “Oh, no!” Blaze stated and without warning, he started tickling me.

  I giggled and tried to fold up my body to get away from his fingers. “Blaze. Stop.”

  After tickling me until he had his fill, Blaze and I returned to our earlier position.

  “No chance of you falling asleep now,” he said.

  Our horseplay reminded me of Hawaii. Where it had all begun. It seemed like such a long time ago. I mused over how sure I had been that it wouldn’t work out with Blaze. Feeling like he would get tired of us and me, then move on to another woman. I had firmly believed he wasn’t capable of committing to a woman in the long term but now, that sounded weak. Blaze wasn’t the problem. He’d probably never been.

  I sat still as realization after realization hit me, slamming into me like a blow. From the first time Blaze and I had made the transition from friends to lovers, I’d made myself believe that Blaze had a problem. What if all along, I had been the problem?

  What if it was me who couldn’t commit to a man? I thought back to my previous relationships. Michael had called me a cold fish in a hot body. I hadn’t been brave enough to ask him what exactly that meant but a sneaking suspicion now formed in my mind.

  Fear and shame clutched my heart. Fear, because I’d always taken it for granted that one day, I would meet my soulmate, get married, and fill the house with an army of children. Shame, because I hadn’t seen that I’d already found him.

  Blaze was my soul mate but I couldn’t bring myself to open up completely. To let go and let him into my heart. The shame came from the number of times I had accused Blaze of his inability to commit while all along, I was the one who was flawed.

  “A penny for your thoughts?” Blaze asked.

  “They are wo
rth a lot more than a penny,” I joked. “Speaking of which, shouldn’t we go downstairs and think of a more exciting way to spend a Saturday evening?”

  “You sound like you have an idea,” Blaze said.

  “I do and a bottle of wine to go with it,” I suggested. “And I got some steaks for dinner.”

  “You’re perfect Hot Sauce, you know that?” Blaze said as he got up and pulled me along.

  Sadness came over me at his words. I had to be the most fucked up person I knew. What woman in their right mind had the ideal guy and still pushed him away? Kept him at arm’s length. I wanted to do what came normally to other women in life.

  The only problem? I didn’t know how to. I had pushed men away for so long, that I wasn’t equipped to keep them close.

  Blaze kept my hand in his as we headed downstairs. “Shower first?” he said.

  I nodded.

  As if sensing my feelings of sorrow, Blaze gently peeled off my clothes outside the shower and then shed his. We entered the shower and he turned on the water.

  I stood under the warm water and let the sadness wash away. Acceptance came with it, a determination to change. To become the person I needed to be so my relationship with Blaze could blossom. If I could wind time back to this morning, I would have done things differently.

  For one, I would have gone to work late or not gone at all and helped Blaze move in. I cringed as I mused over how it must have felt to move into an empty house with your girlfriend not making the time or trouble to be there.

  Blaze poured shampoo into his hands and stood behind me to rub it in on my head.

  “Ahhh,” I said, making appreciative noises. Blaze’s hands were magical. Just one touch and my body awakened as shots of desire ran through me.

  When he was done washing my hair, he pushed me gently under the water to rinse off the shampoo. He poured shower gel in his hands then rubbed it over my neck, arms, breasts and stomach. His touch felt so soothing, healing. As if he had sensed how much I needed him, he washed me and as I rinsed, he washed himself.

  We stepped out of the shower, Blaze proceeded to dry me, and then I dried him. When we were done drying each other, he cupped my breasts and thumbed my nipples. I threaded my hands through his damp hair as a moan escaped my mouth.

  I needed Blaze’s kisses tonight more than I ever had. I needed him to reassure me with his mouth, hands, and body that I hadn’t messed things up between us. That we still had a chance.

  He brought his mouth down to mine and as our lips touched, a low sensual heat rose between us. I matched his hungry kiss, twirling my tongue with his and then sucking on his lower lip as if it was a lollipop.

  His hands slid down to squeeze my ass. His hard cock, hot and needy, lurched against my belly. Before I could slide my hands between us to hold it, Blaze abruptly broke the kiss. “I need to taste you, Hot Sauce,” he growled, a look of pure need in his face. He lifted me and placed me on the bathroom ledge then parted my legs.

  I should have been embarrassed to be spread open like this with juices dripping from my pussy, but I wasn’t. Instead, it was erotic. Hot.

  Blaze placed his big hands on my inner thighs and spread them further apart. He drank in the sight of my pussy. “You’re so beautiful.” He dipped his head to my pussy.

  When his tongue connected with my clit, I let out a loud groan.

  Blaze pushed me to the brink with his tongue and fingers. He teased me, withdrawing his finger, adding more and swirling his tongue around my clit in a way that drove me close to insanity.

  I whimpered, and urged him to take me over the edge. He obliged and took my clit in his mouth. This was the last thing I remembered. I panted like a wild animal as I succumbed to the violent orgasm, my body convulsing as if I was under the power of an invisible force.

  Blaze continued licking me until my body grew still. He straightened, slid his hands under my hips, and lifted me off the ledge. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me to the bedroom, pausing every couple of steps to plant a kiss on my mouth.

  He laid me gently on the bed and stood for a moment to look at me.

  I trembled with need under his intense gaze. “Make love to me,” I whispered.

  He moved between my legs and raised them over his shoulders. Heat sizzled over me as the thick swollen head of his cock nudged against the entrance of my pussy.

  “So tight,” Blaze said as he gradually pushed his cock in.

  My eyes rolled back as his cock plunged all the way in. I let out a scream of pure bliss.

  “How does that feel?” Blaze asked when his cock was buried to the hilt inside of me.

  “Heaven,” I managed to say.

  He grinned as he looked down at me. “You are heaven.”

  My pussy trembled and my insides seemed to turn to water. “Fuck.”

  The grin on his face faded. “What is it?”

  I couldn’t believe what was happening to my body. “I think I’m going to come.” Just having his cock inside me was enough to take me over the edge.

  Blaze eyes widened. “Fuck. I want to see you come, Hot Sauce.”

  “Oh, God!” I screamed when he pulled out his cock and then slammed it back in again.

  I whimpered as the orgasm rippled through me, tearing into every cell and muscle of my body. “Blaze…”

  “All yours, Hot Sauce,” Blaze stated as his thrusts became slow and even, giving me time to recover. Blaze gently dropped my legs from his shoulders and then draped his body over me. He cupped my face and brought his lips to mine.

  I groaned into his mouth as his kiss invaded all my senses. I caressed his back and shoulders then soon, my slick juices coated his cock as he began thrusting into me again.

  The thickness of his cock was perfect for my pussy. It stretched it and filled it, causing an almost unbearable fiction. I threw my head back, arching my chest in the process as Blaze brought his hand to my breast to tease a nipple with flicks of his fingers.

  His face was contorted with desire and concentration. His grunts told me he was close to coming. I wrapped my legs around his ass and squeezed.

  “Fuck Brooke, do you know how sweet you are?” he asked.

  I couldn’t answer. A lump in my throat was choking me. He placed his hands on either side of my body and thrust into me harder. Deeper. I sunk my nails into the skin on his back and cried out.

  I closed my eyes as a powerful wave lifted me and carried me just as Blaze roared his release. He spurted cum into my waiting pussy, filling me with thick hot liquid.

  Blaze stared into my eyes while he supported his weight with his hands.

  We stayed that way for a long time until his cock slid out of me and Blaze changed positions to lie by my side.

  My stomach rumbled loudly, jarring us out of our post-fuck bubble.

  Our laughter filled the room.

  “Let’s go and grab something to eat,” Blaze said. “And have some of that wine you told me about.”

  “Good idea.” I nodded.

  We got up from the bed and walked to the kitchen naked.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Blaze

  I felt as excited as a child as Brooke and I walked up to Ken outside the Starbucks where we’d planned to meet. I’d been looking forward to spending the day with Brooke, letting loose, and just having fun.

  I knew Ken from a previous New York tour and though it felt a bit uncomfortable to use the same guide and photographer I’d used from another date, I hadn’t wanted someone else. Ken was tried and tested, so I knew Brooke would love him.

  I introduced them and Ken immediately launched into an explanation of what we would do and see in the tour. Ken started taking photos right away, putting us at ease by having us do silly poses. He had Brooke relaxed and laughing immediately and I felt glad I’d picked him.

  Our first destination was the Brooklyn Bridge, where Ken took tons of pictures while telling us the history of the bridge. I was glad I’d heard it before so I could c
oncentrate on Brooke and mentally record all her reactions.

  Brooke looked amazing in a white mini skirt and a colorful top, with her gorgeous hair set free. She listened attentively as if she would be tested later.

  With the bridge as a backdrop, I lifted Brooke in my arms and kissed her. The last part was my idea, not Ken’s. I lost myself in the heat of her lips until she pulled away laughing.

  “That photo is going to be special,” Ken said as I put Brooke back down.

  It took two and a half hours to do the whole tour, a lot longer than it had taken before. It wasn’t difficult to know why. Brooke made everything fun and new while she asked Ken tons of questions.

  “Isn’t it weird how you can live in a city and know so little?” Brooke said to me later as we sat in a café, eating sandwiches and drinking coffee.

  “It is. I knew you’d love it,” I said. “Wait, let me check my email. I bet Ken has already sent the pictures.” He had. I moved my chair around the table to sit by Brooke and together, we scrolled through the pictures.

  “We look so in love,” she said, her voice wistful.

  “That’s because we are,” I said and turned to kiss her cheek.

  “This one’s my favorite,” she said, pointing at the one Ken had predicted would be special.

  He’d captured the moment when we’d both been engrossed in a world of our own. For just a few seconds, the world had consisted of just Brooke and me.

  “I’ll forward them to your email,” I told her.

  Brooke seemed thoughtful as she sipped her coffee. “I’m beginning to believe that it can really work for us.”

  My heart leapt. I kept my cool, not wanting to make a big deal of what she had said. “I’m glad.”

  She turned to me. “You’re a very patient man, Blaze.”

  “You’re worth waiting for,” I said. “What I can’t wait for however, is to take you back home and devour you.”

  She glanced around the tables next to us but it was too noisy for anyone to eavesdrop on our conversation. She leaned forward. “Yeah. What exactly do you have in mind?”