BenValerie

After five years of silence, Anna Sliver James returns home for Thanksgiving, carrying a secret that shattered her life the night she left: she slept with her best friend kelvin Eli—thinking, in a haze of grief and wine, that she was falling into the arms of his older brother Josh, the boy she’d always loved.

But the fallout was swift and unforgiving. Anna disappeared without a word, changed her major, rebuilt her life, and tried to forget what happened. Her family never knew the truth, and kelvin never reached out. Now, she’s back in town with a new job offer in hand ready to finally move forward.

Until she finds out that the company offering her a fresh start has a familiar face at the top: kelvin is the CFO.

Thrown into close proximity, Anna and kelvin are forced to navigate a tangled mess of old wounds, unresolved desire, and the growing realization that maybe what happened that night wasn’t a mistake at all.

As the past collides with the present, Anna must finally face the question she’s been avoiding for years: Was she ever in love with the right brother?

Tense, sexy, and emotionally raw, "unwanted desires" is a story about love, guilt, redemption and what happens when running away no longer works.

falling for my best friend (unwanted desires)

The morning light cut through the blinds like a blade, too sharp for the headache pounding at the base of my skull. I hadn't gotten drunk, not really—just enough to blur the edges, to try and numb the heat that had ignited in my blood the second I saw her during the thanksgivings dinner and the next morning

I hadn't seen her in four years. Four years of pretending she didn't haunt every memory that mattered. Four years of convincing myself I'd moved on. I'd buried her under work, titles, women I never bothered to call again.

And then there she was. Same eyes. Same quiet, gentle grace. But older now. Sharper. Like life had sculpted her edges into something tougher, something beautiful and untouchable.

I remembered the way she melted when I kissed her neck, the way she moaned my name when I fucked her and made love to her. The way she said my name—before she realized whose name she meant to say.

I sat up in bed, rubbing my hand across my face. My jaw ached from how hard I'd clenched it all night.

I should've been able to handle it. We were adults now. Professionals. She was just another employee. One of hundreds. And I was the CFO and also a CO owner which she is yet to know about . The one who was supposed to have his shit together.

But nothing about her being back felt professional.

Especially not the way her mouth parted when I told her I was the CFO of the company she will be working it . That flicker of shock in her eyes. The way her lips moved like she might speak—but didn't. Like she wanted to say my name but choked on it instead.

I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated, hard again beneath the sheets just from the memory of her looking at me.

I needed a cold shower and a distraction.

But as I walked into the kitchen and poured coffee, my phone buzzed with the meeting reminder.

"Orientation follow-up. Departmental introductions. 9:00 AM."

I stared at my reflection in the microwave door. My tie was crooked. My eyes were still bloodshot. But I was good at hiding things. At wearing the suit of control even when everything underneath was chaos.

Anna didn't know I was the one who'd recommended her. I'd seen her résumé before it ever crossed HR's desk. I'd pushed for the offer before she even accepted. I told myself it was because she was qualified.

Maybe I wanted her close again. To prove I could handle it. To prove I wasn't still the boy who fell in love with his best friend and let her go without a fight.

Or maybe—I just missed the way she said my name.

I straightened my tie. Drank the coffee black. Walked out the door with steel in my spine and heat curling low in my stomach.

If she thought I was the same boy from that night, she was wrong.

This time, if she looked at me with those wide, guilty eyes...

I might just ask her what name she'd say now—when she wasn't drunk. When she knew exactly who she was touching.

chapter 15