Wild Forces: A Friends to Lovers Romance (O-Town Book 2) by Karen Renee (summer reads .TXT) 📕

The tune changed, and I couldn’t help but smile at the repetitive guitar riff of “Rain Fall Down” by the Rolling Stones.

Gabe shot me an incredulous look. “Really? The Stones?” he asked, his face wrinkled with a sneer.

I leaned toward him to shove his shoulder. “Really? The attitude? They’re rock gods. I don’t care what anyone says!”

The skin next to his eyes crinkled and I knew he fought off a smile. “No, Cassie. Petty’s a rock god. The Beetles were rock gods. Mick and the boys... not so much.”

I gasped. “Take that back! Mick Jagger’s collaborated with the likes of Bowie, MJ, and more. Hell, Keith’s happy to fly under the radar, but he’s done great things solo, too.”

Gabe set his beer on the end table and leaned toward me. “MJ! He was a pedophile.”

I sighed. “Well, Mick isn’t. Besides, this song should be a classic. The guitar and the rain imagery. It’s sexy as hell.”

He looked at me as if I was trying his patience. “Songs by the Stones aren’t sexy.”

My eyes widened and I couldn’t keep myself from reaching out to shove his shoulder again, but he caught my wrist and leaned toward me, pushing me back into the couch. His warm torso weighed heavily on mine, and for a brief moment I thought he might kiss me.

My mind see-sawed between whether I wanted him to kiss me or not, but before I could decide, he let me go and backed off.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, as I sat up.

His face whipped to me, and he whispered, “What the hell for?”

I shrugged. “I shouldn’t have gotten so worked up.”

He laughed. “That’s all right, Cassandra. I better go.”

Typical.

Gabe

TRUTH BE TOLD, I DROPPED by Cassie’s not just to find out how DeShawn knew where she was today, but also to avoid going back to my place. After last night’s ordeal, Brock and Cecilia had been practically glued at the hip. Not that I could blame him; he’d always had a thing for blondes, and Cecilia embodied everything Brock liked.

However, I meant what I said to Cassie. I was going to change my promiscuous ways if it killed me. And, living with Brock and his woman, it just might kill me.

Climbing the stairs to my apartment, I wondered what the hell came over me at Cassie’s. Banter with her was always fun, but never had I let it get physical and never had I moved to kiss her. Had I not kicked myself in the ass figuratively, I probably would’ve kissed her.

The thought of it made me crazy. I wanted to taste her and feel her lips against mine, but that would change our entire friendship. I knew better than that.

The real question was, could I do better than that? When it came to her unique brand of excitement about things – especially music – I wasn’t so sure. It had always turned me on, but for some reason I was just now acknowledging that.

Visions of her excitement entered my mind, and I wondered if she got just as excited in bed. Could I make her that excited? My dick twitched, and I shook my head. To protect my friendship with her, there was no way I could entertain thoughts like that about us.

When I entered the apartment, the lights were out in the kitchen, but a sliver of light shone from under Brock’s bedroom door. I shook my head, not wanting to think about what those two were doing.

After last night’s dinner from hell, I found out Brock wanted Cecilia to move in with us. It took me by surprise, but it reminded me of something else. I would not be dependent on a woman to pay my bills.

I had a gig at a new club coming up, so I booted up my laptop and put on my noise-canceling headset. Working on a new set list would help me ignore my crazy thoughts about Cassie and what might or might not be happening across the apartment.

MY PHONE CHIMED, AND I thought it was the beginning of my alarm, but drowsily realized it was a text.

Flipping my phone over, I saw DeShawn wanted to meet up at the University gym for a run.

I groaned and laid back on my bed. My alarm would go off in five minutes, so I decided it was a good idea. Throwing the covers off, I texted him back saying as much.

An hour later, we were done with our run, and DeShawn had asked me how Cassie was doing.

It hit me strange, and I shot a questioning look his way. “You don’t have a thing for her, do you?”

He chuckled, low and deep. “Not as far as you know.”

“What the fuck?” I just stopped myself from snarling.

He laughed. “No. I thought she might have a thing for me, but she set me straight when I asked her out over a year ago.”

My eyes widened. “Over a year ago? What’re you talking about?”

He shook his head. “You probably don’t remember this, but the first time I met your girl, she was staring at us the whole time we played that three-on-three game. I thought it was because she had a thing for me. Hell if I was gonna pass that up, so I asked her about it.”

“You are shitting me.”

He grinned while shaking a finger at me. “You need to get with it, Sullivan. She turned me down. You and your brother were still across the court. I saw her expression when she tried to sneak a peek at you. That was when I knew she was into you. Why, or how the hell you’ve been oblivious to it, I don’t know.”

“Not oblivious, man,” I muttered.

“The hell you aren’t. She’s cool as hell. You need to open your fuckin’ eyes, man.”

My eyes were already open. The problem was whether I would ruin everything because of what I saw.

6 My Friend

Cassie

TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS were often