Summary: Forbidden is going to be a series that I work on over the summer.  Each portion will be under 1000 words, so it’s like a Quickie, just in multiple parts.  Most of the parts probably won’t be too racy, but I hope that you’ll enjoy it anyway.

All it takes is a touch—one single touch to remind her of everything she wanted to deny.  No matter how much effort it takes to build the walls holding in her emotions, one brush of his hand against her bare skin, no matter how simple, caused those walls to crash around her.

It was a bitter thing to want him, she knew.  Of all things to want in the world, he was the worst.  It wasn’t that he didn’t deserve to be wanted, it was just oh-so-complicated to desire him.  He was unattainable–so far beyond her that she couldn’t dream of reaching him. This didn’t stop the well of love and lust from filling every time she was in his presence.

Luckily, he didn’t know her heart or at least he was better at pretending than she.

“Are you alright over there, Nora?”

Ben’s hand was on her back, right at the bare skin, causing goose-bumps where it rested.  She jumped away from him, startled at just how aroused that simple move had made her.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” she murmured to him as she turned to meet his eyes.

He crossed his arms and stared at her with a concerned glare.  Ben watched her for a moment or two and she felt like he was picking her apart with his mind.  She licked her lips nervously, waiting for his response.

“You’ve been avoiding me since I got here,” he said with a hint of hurt and anger.

It was true.  She HAD been ignoring him, and for good reason, though she knew he would never agree with that.  It annoyed her that he managed to find her in the crowded party almost as soon as he arrived.

“I have not,” she lied.

His glare became a frown which then flowed to sadness.  It wasn’t the first time that she gotten that look from him recently.  Though it hurt her to cause him upset, it was better than the alternative disaster.

A woman joined them, wrapping her arms around one of Ben’s with a playful squeeze.  She gave them both a warm, dazzling smile, not noticing the tenseness in the air around the other two.

“Hey!  I was looking for you,” the newcomer chirped at Nora.

Nora smiled as best she could as she shrugged her shoulders. “Well, here I am,” she returned.  “How’s my favorite sister?”

Megan raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at her younger sister. “I’m your only sister,” she laughed.  Her attentions turned to Ben, eyes sparkling with love as she looked up at him with a grin.  “Hey, let’s get out of here.  I want to get you alone for a while.”

Ben frowned at her.  “But we just got here, and I just found Nora…”

“Yes, but…” she started, but finished by whispering something in his ear that made him fluster.  Noting this and Ben’s complete defeat, she winked at Nora as she ran her fingers through her shining copper curls. “I’ll go get our coats,” she said then gave Ben’s cheek a smacking kiss.

Without Megan, the air between Ben and Nora thickened with tension.  Neither spoke, though Ben’s eyes felt penetrating through her, though she didn’t have the heart to look away.

“You know you can always talk to me, right?” he reminded her.

“Not about everything.”

“Listen, Nora, I—“

Before he could continue, Megan returned with their coats, handing Ben’s over eagerly.  He took it from her with a weak smile before returning his attention to Nora.  Megan leapt into her sister’s arms, giving a big squeeze.

“Call me later.  I feel like we never talk anymore.  I miss my sister,” she whispered into Nora’s ear.

“I will.”

With that, Megan pulled Ben off towards the door.  Despite his apparent interest in whatever his girlfriend offered, he looked back at Nora with a heaviness that made her chest ache.