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

“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 worth 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