Forbidden Touch: A Best Friends To Lovers Romance - Iona Rose (free ebook reader .txt) 📗

long. I’d even gone out with women for more than two months and not slept with them. Unlike what Brooke believed, I didn’t jump into bed with every woman I dated. There had to be chemistry and some kind of connection. If it wasn’t there, I never bothered to go for the home run.

I felt proud of the work we'd done on the house. In three weeks, we had managed to get the first-floor apartment renovated to livable standards and today was moving day for Brooke.

If there was one smart thing I’d done in my life up to this point, was to have Brooke as my best friend. Because of her, I now owned a house. Debt free. Well, it needed a lot of work to make it habitable, but Brooke and I had decided to undertake most of the work ourselves, for the first floor apartment.

Our bank accounts were crying now, so it was time to put on our aprons and get working. But we had Hawaii to enjoy first and I couldn’t wait.

“Blaze, come and take a look. There’s a stain on the ceiling,” Brooke said.

Thankfully, my cock had gotten the message that Brooke was my best friend, not some random girl I had picked up in a club.

She lay in the same position and she patted the empty space beside her.

I had no choice but to lie down next to her. “It’s a stain all right,” I said to her. We were both versed in DIY and I did small repairs in both our rented apartments. “Looks like too much moisture. At least, we know that it’s not structural. We’ll sort it out when we get back from Hawaii.”

“I suppose I should concede defeat and start packing,” Brooke said in an exaggerated sigh.

I turned to my side to face her. Big mistake. Her scent surrounded me and I found myself becoming hard again. I quickly shifted to my earlier position, facing the ceiling. I loved Brooke like a sister.

At least that was what I told myself. It also wasn’t strictly true because I’d woken up in a cold sweat in the last couple of years after dreaming of Brooke and me having sex. Mind blowing sex. But those were dreams and I could not control what my fucked-up mind conjured up during the night.

But I could control what my hands and my mouth did. And what they would not do was screw things up with Brooke. She was the sweetest, kindest human being I knew. A perfect best friend for a guy like me, more inclined to think of the now, rather than the future.

Except I had moments when I believed Brooke was my soulmate and I was a fool for not dating her.

“Do you want some help?” I asked her.

“Not with the packing but you could help me choose,” Brooke said. “I bought some stuff online and I’m not too sure how appropriate they are.” She rose from the bed. “If I can find them that is.” Her bedroom looked a mess but that was expected on moving day.

Boxes stood everywhere but in true Brooke fashion, they were all labelled with the rooms they were meant to be in. I felt excited too, about moving upstairs. I looked forward to living close to Brooke. It wasn’t enough that I saw her at work, it would be nice to see her at home too.

But this was only because she was my best friend. The only woman—no, person who understood me and whom I understood. We were soulmates, Brooke and I.

“Found it!” Brooke said and held up a brown bag. “I’ll go and change in the next room. Promise you’ll give me your honest opinion. I don’t want to look like a fool in front of anyone.”

“You would never look like a fool,” I told her.

She smiled.

Dammit, my heart skipped a beat. Brooke was all sweetness and sugar and everytime she dumped a guy, I usually went out to celebrate. She was smart and beautiful but she always picked losers for boyfriends. I wanted her to be happy but I didn’t want her to fall in love with some guy. I’d tried to be mature about it and think about the future. Brooke getting married. Brooke having a family with some guy. I hated the idea. She was my best friend and I wanted us to remain exactly as we were… unattached.

Wishful thinking.

She was beautiful and sooner or later, some guy would snatch her up. My heart pounded as I mulled it over. I didn’t want to lose Brooke to someone, yet I was frightened of rocking the boat. I’d always had a thing for Brooke. What normal functioning hot-blooded male wouldn’t? Built like a pinup model with curves for days and incredible looking breasts. A body that made me want to do dirty things to her.

I had a problem and had known it for some time. I wanted Brooke. I always had. If it had been just sex, I would have continued as I always had, wanting her from a distance but respecting our friendship.

The problem as I saw it now, had been when I had started fantasizing about other things with her other than sex. Maybe buying a house together had made my fantasies go into overdrive. Whatever the reason, I’d started to see Brooke in my future. Living with me. Sharing my bed. And it did not frighten me at all.

I had a decision to make.

“Ready?” Brooke asked from the door.

I sat up and swung my legs to the side of the bed. “I’m ready.”

Brooke sashayed in wearing a pale blue dress that knocked the wind out of me. It clung to her curves but the plunging neckline was what had gotten my mouth to water. I couldn’t take my eyes from the swell of her breasts and her deep cleavage. I imagined how it would feel to run my tongue over her soft skin. Would she moan or cry out or would she stifle