#1 Crush
by Kaia Bennett
Loose Ends #1
by Kaia Bennett
Loose Ends #1
Publication Date: December 2014
Also in this series: #1 Crush
Synopsis:
Nicole Langley’s #1 Crush has always been Gabriel Roberts, but settling for being a friendly acquaintance has had to be enough.
Gabriel has always seen Nicole as his good friend’s very pretty, but extremely off limits baby sister.
Then
a hot summer day and an even hotter discovery pushes them over the
lines of friendship, over the lines of unrequited desire, and into each
other's arms.
Will
they indulge and move on? Or will this crush turn into something more,
something deeper? Something that leaves loose ends begging to be tied…
EXCERPT
Gabriel's room.
She
paused, peeking through the slightly closed door to the bed within. She
had been in there once or twice when Gabriel had a new CD for her to
download, or a book he’d recommended she read. He’d moved in a little
over a year ago when Jackie and her boyfriend Ian had to get rid of
their last roommate, who had almost set the couch on fire when he’d
invited his loser friends over to get high. That guy had been crass,
sloppy, and late on the rent more than a few times. Gabriel was none of
those things. He had a relatively decent job at an employment recruiting
firm while he saved up money to play music full time and get his own
place. He tried to keep his messes inside his space, though he wasn't
usually around much to make any. And if he did smoke, he had yet to set
anything on fire.
He
put all the guys she dated to shame and served as the image she used to
relieve sexual tension more times than she could count. In her mind he
was tender and sweet, touching her skin reverently, laying gentle kisses
all over her body. He would take his time making her wet, unlike the
last asshole she had gone out with who thought a few licks and a dry
finger was all that was required before he could stick it in. Gabriel
would know better, would ask her if she was ready and then ease himself
in carefully. He would tell her he had been waiting so long for this
moment as he stroked her into a frenzy, making her come over and over
again with the power of his strong body and gentle words.
Just
the thought of it made her body shiver, and before she knew it she was
pushing open the door and stepping inside his personal space. Her body
hummed just thinking about how he slept in that bed, the sheets rumpled
and unmade from when he woke earlier that morning. She thought of the
glimpse she caught of him when he came out of the shower. Those tattoos
stood out red and black against the sides of his v-shaped torso, the
towel riding low on his narrow hips.
Thank goodness he had been oblivious to the pair of brown eyes surveying him from over the edge of the couch.
Now
she was standing where he had been when he closed that door. She let
her hand run over the dresser as she walked quietly inside, her fingers
tapping over his brush, his comb, the deodorant he used. She picked up
the bottle of cologne he used and opened it, breathing in the
intoxicating scent.
She
put the cap back on, careful to place the bottle back where it
belonged, and surveyed the rest of the room. Beside the dresser was a
pretty nice entertainment center, and on the other side of that was his
bookshelf. She had nearly creamed her panties when she found out it
wasn't just for show, that he did in fact read when he got the chance,
and that they shared similar taste in books. A ridiculously huge rack of
CDs and his propped up guitar filled the far corner of the room. The
walls were lined with posters of his favorite musicians, as well as
mementos from shows he and his band played.
Below
those posters was the bed, which was simple. It had metal rungs for the
headboard with white sheets and a steel grey comforter. She could still
see the indent of his body in the mattress, the curve in the center of
the pillow where he rested his head each night. On either side of the
bed were small tables with a few drawers each, where pictures of his
family and friends rested. She was tempted to open up those drawers and
see what he kept in them, but she resisted. She didn't intend to go
snooping through his things. All she wanted to do was be in his space,
to see the side of him she wasn't usually allowed to see, at least not
for long periods of time. Instead she swept her hands over the sheets,
letting her legs brush against them where they drooped to the floor.
Nicole
wondered as she brought her knee up onto the bed what it must be like
to be a girl in this bed with him. Did he sleep with a lot of girls? She
knew of at least one girl when he first moved in, his ex-girlfriend
Marta. At the time she asked herself what the fuck kind of name was
Marta? In this case, it was the type of name a gorgeous half-Indian,
half-Spanish girl would have, the kind with long dark hair, golden,
almond-shaped eyes and a tall, lithe frame with curves in the all the
right places. Her skin was rich toffee compared to Nicole's milk
chocolate with red undertones, her height and build making Nicole feel
like an overly curvy dwarf, even if she was average in terms of height,
and her curves were welcomed by plenty.
What
kind of girl did he sleep with now that his ex, Marta, was out of the
picture? Nicole only got to visit her sister occasionally during breaks
from school, so she never got to see exactly what kind of girl besides
Marta could make Gabriel take a second look.
She
brought her other knee onto the bed. Resting on all fours, she
pretended she was that girl, the one that he wanted. What would it be
like to have him lying in this bed next to her, his hips barely covered
by these sheets? She crawled closer to the center of the bed, smiling
seductively, pretending she was crawling toward a deliciously naked
Gabriel instead of the cold indent of his body, when her knee landed
hard on something tucked under the sheets. The sound of the TV turning
on startled her, as did the image that popped up on the screen. Her
mouth dropped, her eyes widened…
About the Author
Kaia
Bennett is a native of New Jersey, a college graduate and U.S. Army
veteran who loves music, movies, astrology, tattoos, martial arts,
animals and, of course, the written word. She heard the siren call of
the writer as a teenage girl, but took her sweet time answering it until
she had lived and loved enough to share her work with the masses.
She
is an erotic author who loves to write stories with diversity, depth,
realism and viscerally hot encounters that flirt shamelessly with the
taboo. A lover of all genres and a voracious reader, she aims to write
stories that are transformative for her characters and readers alike.
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