Forbidden Touch: A Best Friends To Lovers Romance by Iona Rose (best classic literature .txt) 📕

the molding for the other room. Blaze had already cut up all the pieces and drawn the pencil markings on the wall, along the windows.

We worked steadily for an hour, erupting in conversation every few minutes. Our voices echoed in the empty rooms and we had fun making silly noises.

“Hey, how about we order dinner?” Blaze asked at the end of the hour.

“Good idea,” I said. “I’m too beat to cook.”

We put away the tools, closed the house, and headed downstairs.

Blaze had a bag with him.

“What’s in there?” I asked as I pushed my door open.

“Change of clothes,” he said. “I need to borrow your bathroom again.”

I laughed. “No probs. You make it sound like it’s a big deal.” An idea came to me then. After work on most days, Blaze came straight to the townhouse to work on the upstairs apartment. He’d been using up a lot of time travelling back and forth every day. “I have an idea. You could move in here until your apartment is ready.”

He turned, a puzzled look on his face. “Aren’t we moving too fast? Don’t get me wrong, I want to, but you’re the one who said we should take it slowly.”

I was at a loss for words for a few seconds before understanding dawned. “Oh, that’s not what I mean. I’m not asking you to move into my bedroom. I was asking you to move in as a friend and take the spare bedroom.”

I thought I saw disappointment cross his features before it disappeared.

“Not a bad idea,” he said. “Then when the apartment is ready, I can move upstairs?”

“Yes. What do you think? It’ll lessen the commute for you and save you on rent.” I really wanted him to say yes.

“The timing is perfect as my lease is coming to an end and I need to renew it.” He didn’t sound excited by the prospect of moving into my house though.

I swallowed down feelings of hurt. “You don’t have to. It was just a crazy idea.”

He stared at the wall and then turned to me. “I will, thank you. I’ll be in the shower.”

Relief and joy flooded me. I immediately chastised myself. Blaze was still my best friend and I’d invited him to move in to make his life easier. Not for any romantic reasons. I inhaled deeply. Taking it slow was the best way to protect my heart.

I needed some rules I mused as I ordered pizza. Rules to keep myself from having expectations from Blaze. After placing my order, I went to my bedroom and changed out of my overalls. I changed into comfortable shorts and a t-shirt, then freeing my hair from the hair band, I plopped down on the bed with my phone.

I opened a blank notepad document and poised myself to start typing.

Rule number one: No spending nights in each other’s beds on weekdays. The idea was to try to live as we had when we were living apart. That way, we would maintain the relationship of boyfriend and girlfriend. To not slip into husband and wife, which we definitely were not.

Rule number two: I had to resist becoming too domesticated. Blaze and I were dating, not getting married. On that note, I searched for Jenny’s number and messaged her to say hello.

Feeling pleased with myself, I returned to my list of rules. Before I could think of rule number three, the doorbell rang. The pizza delivery. I hurried to the door, accepted the delivery and paid for it.

Blaze chose that moment to walk into the living room, a towel around his waist, hanging low on his lips.

I swallowed hard at the sight of his abs, his impossibly flat tummy, those muscular arms, and legs. God, he was so freakin’ hot.

“I was coming to get the door,” Blaze said and chuckled. “I’m already feeling at home, even before I move in.”

I smiled. “I’m glad. My home is your home, you know that.”

“Thanks,” he said and returned to his room.

I stared at his tight gorgeous ass as he walked away. My appetite for food had disappeared. I was hungry but definitely not for food. But Blaze’s mood had changed. An invisible wall had sprouted between us and I didn’t understand why.

It made it difficult to grab him and kiss him like I wanted to. Instead, I went to the kitchen and made us some coffee to wash down the pizza.

Chapter Thirty-One

Blaze

I returned to the living room to find Brooke typing furiously on her phone. Her brow was creased in concentration and she didn’t hear my footsteps. I stopped at the doorway and stared at her.

What had happened to her that made it so difficult to trust? I realize she had grown up in a way that made her frightened of getting too close to someone and getting rejected. But it was me, Blaze. The guy she had known most of her life.

My heart had shrunk when she’d made a point of stating she was inviting me to stay with her as a friend. I had recognized her words for what they were. A way to keep her heart safe from big bad me… she still didn’t trust me. She kept a big piece of her heart, shielded from me. She acted like she had opened herself up to me, but in reality, she hadn’t.

A deep sigh escaped my lips making Brooke snap her head up. “Oh, I didn’t hear you,” she said.

“I know. You were engrossed in your phone,” I said. “What are you typing so furiously?”

She gave a small laugh, glanced at her phone and then looked up again. She had let her hair loose and worn my favorite stay at home shorts. They were pink, small, and left very little to the imagination. “Rules,” she said, her facial expression solemn.

“Rules?” I asked and grabbed a plate from the table. I opened the pizza box. I served Brooke a couple of pizza slices and placed some on my plate.

Brooke waited until I sat