Free Taken: His BFF 2 - Steamy BWWM Romance Collection: Ravished by You/Conquered by You/Avenged by You (Forbidden Fruit: Naughty Seduction Adventures Boxed Set) by Rowena Page A

there with various groups or individuals until my ex left.
    After that, I sort of bounced between more of the same—idle chat and casual dancing with Scott.
    Even with my ex gone, our hands stayed away from each other, but a heat burned between us. Maybe we both avoided touching to prevent getting scorched, but at the time, I interpreted everything as his desire to keep a proper distance between us, despite our mutual affection for each other, but here we are.
    I ignore my thumping heart and examine his handsome, chiseled face.
    His actions had disturbed me—blocking my exit like that—but his face only looks pleading, and still friendly.
    “I told you I missed you, Bridge—I want to hear about what’s been going on with you.”
    My uneasiness starts melting away.
    Why not? I figure. We both felt the same way, and I’d love to reconnect with him, and maybe after this time, he won’t hesitate to text or check up on me again. Maybe we could go back to being easy friends.
    “Fine. But you didn’t have to block the door all creepy-like.”
    I smile at him, and he smiles back and then moves away from the door.
    I noticed his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes—like he’s plotting behind them.
    “Sit down,” he says, “I’ll make you another drink.”
    “No way, bud—I have to drive out of here, remember?”
    He says nothing, heading to the kitchen anyway.
    He comes back with a glass of water and a smile.
    I hesitate, not totally sure it’s water.
    “Drink it—you need to hydrate,” he says.
    I finally accept it with this confirmation, then obey his hand gesture to sit on the couch.
    He had been the one to walk me through the whole drinking thing—it took me a long time to try alcohol and I finally did it when Darren and I took him out on his twenty-second birthday, treating him to dinner and drinks. I had recently turned twenty-one, and unlike my peers, refused to drink while underage.
    “Drink at least as much water as your alcoholic drinks and you’ll never have a hangover,” he’d told me once. “I call it The Hydration Rule.” I was never quite sure it was true, but I always followed that advice and never had a hangover, whether I had two drinks or four.
    He watches me gulp the water down.
    When I hand the glass back, he says, “Would you believe me if I told you this was all an elaborate setup to get you in my home?”
    I don’t know why, but that makes me laugh.
    “Seems like a lot of trouble for a not-so-sure thing. You could have just asked me to pop by.”
    “Right. Easy as that.” He smiles at me in a way that makes me feel like I’ve missed something. “Anyway, it was a gamble, but it paid off. You’re here, and I get what I really want for my birthday.”
    He looks intense again, and it’s frightening me.
    Before I realize it, I’ve gotten up to start heading toward the door again.
    “Sit down,” he says, pushing me back down on the couch and making it clear it was no suggestion.

II.
    SCOTT
     
    “ S cott, what are you doing?” Bridge says, her beautiful brown eyes wide and making her look sweet and innocent, and somehow, even more tempting.
    If she thinks she’s getting out of here without giving me my birthday gift, she is sorely mistaken.
    This isn’t about a birthday gift, of course—I’ve had the hots for her for a long time, and I had to squash my desire because the circumstances weren’t exactly ideal.
    But now she’s here alone with me, single, as far as I can tell, and I’m not letting her get away.
    It’s been an agonizing six months waiting for her, but I think she’s finally ready for all I have to give.
    I just have to convince her that it’s time.
    “I don’t mean to scare you, Bridge, but I’ve been looking forward to this moment for a long while.”
    She lets out a nervous laugh.
    “What moment?”
    The moment before I get to take you.
    “The moment I have you all to myself,” I say.
    She shifts on the couch, and I can tell she’s considering