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

I looked over at Brooke and found her staring at me with a raised eyebrow. I turned back to my mom. “We’re not dating Mom. She came with me as a friend.”

Disappointment came over my mom’s features. “You should snag her before somebody else does. She’s practically family.”

Mom was right about Brooke being family. We had spent a lot of time being in and out of each other’s houses. As the only child, Brooke loved it at our house where it was noisier and rowdier. I in turn, loved it in her house where things were orderly and her parents treated us like adults. Brooke had more freedom than any kid I knew. She’d been trusted to decide how to use her time, where to go and what time to go back home. I raged to my parents more than once about why I hadn’t been given the same freedom as Brooke, and I had been just a boy.

“How’s your condo Blaze?” Amelia asked me while leaning forward to catch my attention.

My brother was a lucky bastard. Amelia was pretty and one of the nicest people I knew and a pediatrician to top it all. We all teased my brother, a mechanic ‒ albeit with his own auto repair shop ‒ dating a doctor.

“It’s perfect, the views are insane,” I told her. I had deliberately picked a different place to stay from everyone else.

They were all staying at the resort where the wedding would be, while our beach condo was down the road. I wanted to know I could take a break from everyone when I needed to.

My mom’s face was practically glowing and who could blame her? We’d lost Dad when Jack and I were in high school. It must have been tough for her to raise two boys alone but she hadn’t shown it. And now one of us was getting married and starting his own home.

I felt proud of Jack and to be honest… a little envious. My gaze drifted to Brooke. She was deep in conversation with Aunt Penelope, Mom’s older sister. How would it feel to be married to her? To have a family with her? She fit into the family already.

I knew everything about her and she knew everything about me. She had been there for me during the toughest times of my life and I hope I had done the same for her. My one worry was, what if it didn’t work out between us? I would lose my best friend.

After dinner, I got an urge to be alone with Brooke. “Feel like a walk on the beach?” I asked her.

“You read my mind,” Brooke said as she stood.

Brooke and I made our way through the gardens, to the walkway leading to the beach. It was a warm evening with a slight breeze keeping the humidity at bay.

We were not the only ones with the idea of a night walk on the beach. A few couples and solo walkers went by. We kicked off our shoes and tucked them under a small bush.

The sound of the ocean crashing on the sand, the swish of the water as it retreated, Brooke’s hand in mine—it became the perfect evening.

“I’m so full I feel like bursting,” Brooke said.

“Yeah, me too,” I told her.

“Your mom is still as lively as ever,” she said. “I bet she misses your dad so much though. I know you all do but for her… they were so close.”

It had been a known thing with all my friends of how my parents were weird in that way. Of course, I realized as an adult that they had a near perfect marriage as one could hope to have, but as a teenager, they were an embarrassment. When Dad passed on, I felt guilty for years after when I remembered how I had felt embarrassed by them. I would have given anything to have him back. “She never showed it,” I told Brooke. “She still wore a smile but Jack and I knew it was tough for her.”

We had done everything we could to make her happy. Jack and I were the ideal sons. We never gave Mom any cause to worry. We both worked hard at school, we were home when we were supposed to be and we took turns cooking dinner, so she didn’t have to do it every night when she was tired.

“She’s lucky to have you two,” Brooke said.

“We’re the ones who are lucky,” I said.

We strolled all the way to the end of the strip of beach and then turned around to walk back.

Brooke let go of my hand. “Race you back!” she yelled, and then took off in a run.

I gave her a head start of two minutes and ran after her. I let her believe she was winning but when we neared the resort, I zipped passed her.

“Not fair!” Brooke yelled after me.

Laughing, I turned back and in our usual horseplay, I grabbed her legs and hoisted her over my shoulder. Her laugh filled the hair, making my own chest fill with warmth.

When I put her down again, she went for my ticklish spot under my armpits.

“All right,” I said. “Is that how you want to play it?”

For the next few minutes, we chased and tickled each other, until Brooke tripped and I toppled over her. She was still laughing as I hovered on top of her supporting myself with my elbows. “You’re so beautiful,” I said as I stared down at her.

Her laughter died down and she stared back at me with her gorgeous brown eyes. Her gaze dropped to my mouth.

I knew she was thinking about kissing me. It hit me then. I had serious feelings for her. Feelings that went beyond friendship. I wanted more. I wanted her as my lover, my girlfriend, and eventually, the woman I would share my life with. But convincing her would take all of my skills.

I knew what Brooke