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

His tongue pushed into my mouth and it felt so good my leg started to hike up his thigh. I quickly lowered it, but his hand grabbed my knee midway down and pulled it flush to his hip. His arm around my shoulders reached down to my other thigh and he forced my legs around his waist. He walked three steps and the rough stucco stung into my back through my shirt.

Oh God! What have I done?

This wasn’t show any more. He meant this. Hell, I meant this.

When he finally broke the kiss, we were both breathing heavily, and he slid his nose alongside mine. “Hell, that was some damn kiss, Cass.”

My eyes widened. “No, Gabe. You’re the one who did all the kissing, but we can’t do it again. Now let me down. I gotta get going.”

His lips pressed together. “Wrong, Cassandra. You kissed me back, and it was fuckin’ fantastic. I’m not puttin’ you down. You need to call in sick.”

My eyes widened and I tapped the side of his jaw. “I’m not an undergrad anymore, Gabey-Gabe. The head of the MBA program wants to meet with you, you don’t reschedule. Let me down.”

His eyes widened and he ground his hips into my center. “That isn’t goin’ down anytime soon, Cassie-Cass, so let’s do somethin’ about it.”

I dropped my legs from around him, but since he still had a firm grip on my ass, I couldn’t get away. “No. I got two more semesters, and I’m done. Besides, that was all for show. I’m not your type.”

“I don’t fuckin’ have a type,” he grumbled.

My chin dipped in acknowledgment. “Exactly.”

“Wrong. We’re both wrong. I do have a type. You. I’ve been so shit-scared of being screwed over by women, but you’re exactly the type for me.”

I tried to push him back. “You’re just thinking with your other head.”

“Little bit, but make no mistake. We’re doing this. I’ll let you go, but you better call me tonight.”

I rolled my eyes. “And if I don’t.”

He chuckled. “Darlin’, I know where you live. I’ll hunt your ass down if I have to.”

IT WASN’T UNTIL I LEFT the office after seven that I realized Gabe and I didn’t go inside his apartment that morning. I didn’t even know why he had needed me to drop by his unit, except he seemed insistent that I do it.

That kiss had my mind muddled all day long. He had sent me a crazy Snapchat telling me to call him when I got home, or else. He had used a filter which not only changed his voice but also distorted the bottom of his face, making it look longer and wider than it really was. I had to save it to my phone so he wouldn’t be notified about how many times I replayed the damn thing.

As I drove home, I knew I needed to do whatever I could to keep us as simply friends. Kissing him had been the best feeling, but my gut told me this could end badly. And when it did, I’d be without Gabe forever.

With a sigh, I called him when I parked my car.

“Where you at, Cassie-Cass?”

I shook my head. “I just parked my car. Listen, can we do this over the—”

“Nope. I’ll be at your place in ten minutes, babe.”

I climbed the stairs, feeling overwhelmed and irritated by his pushy nature. It normally didn’t bother me, but he made it impossible to keep him at arm’s length.

By the time he knocked on my door, I had changed into a pair of yoga pants and a tank top.

As I locked the door, butterflies swarmed my stomach. Gabe stood next to my couch and crooked his finger at me.

I shook my head. No way I could get too close to him. Distance was the only thing protecting me from myself and him. “Gabe, we can’t do this.”

His brows furrowed. “Why not?”

My eyes widened. “Because I am not and will not be another notch on your bedpost.”

“I told you I’m not doing that anymore.”

“Yeah. That was what... three weeks ago, right?”

“More like four,” he bit out.

“Yeah,” I whispered.

He ran his hand through his hair. “Damn it, Cassandra, how can you ignore what happened this morning?”

“I don’t know, but I know that I have to.”

“Why?”

I flung my arms out for a moment. “Why? Because I already love you, and if we have sex or try to be more to each other, it’ll kill me when we’re over.”

His eyes widened, and I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned love, but it was the truth. And deep down, I figured love would scare the hell out of him.

“So... you love me like a brother?”

I glared at him. “Don’t be dense. I think you should go.”

He moved toward me. “Cassie. I can’t make any promises, but...” His lips pressed together, and he ran his hand through his hair. “Jesus. I haven’t stopped thinking about kissing you since that damn time I nearly did it with the Stones playing.”

My head tilted a touch. “The Stones playing...” I whispered, and then I remembered the evening he was talking about.

“Yeah. And I’ve been tryin’ to hold myself in check because I don’t want to fuck things up between us. Hell, it was bad enough the last couple of times I thought I’d screwed us up.”

“Couple? The only time it got awkward was after you were drunk.”

His eyebrow arched. “You weren’t exactly nice the morning after—”

I shook my head. “That had more to do with hunger and the smell of bacon.”

A strange warmth flooded his eyes, but they still called bullshit on my statement. “Liar.”

My lips pulled down, but I fought the frown and kept stoic. “We can’t.”

One side of his mouth twitched upward. “We could. But more than that. We could take it slow. I know I went more than a little caveman today. Give us a chance.”

It was my turn to arch a brow. “Gabriel Sullivan, you don’t know the meaning of the word ‘slow’. And you’ve got