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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