The Unblocked Collection

by Marni Mann

  “I need you, Frankie.” A sharp ache slashed through my chest and shot up to my throat. It pounded through my body, matching the rhythm of his fist as he softly tapped it against the wall above my head. “I need you to just listen.”

  I tried to stop the tears, glancing beyond him to the middle of the room. Derek was there, standing with his hands in his pockets, his eyes scanning every inch of me. His expression sent me a silent promise of protection. One nod—that was all it would take, and he’d be at my side in seconds. My past with Reed had made me question the way Derek had reacted on the balcony. I shouldn’t have done that.

  Reed had never been concerned about my safety; it wasn’t in his personality to worry about anything beyond his paycheck. Because of this, I hadn’t realized protection was something I craved until Derek had given me a taste of it.

  Derek…what was he doing to me?

  The tears were gone. The lump in my throat softened. Desire drummed between my legs instead.

  “Frankie,” Reed said. “Look at me.”

  I glanced between them—lusting for one, knowing the depths of agony the other had made me feel. I could barely breathe.

  “I have to go.”

  “Frankie, wait. Please.” His eyes begged as much as his words did. It was too much…and yet, it wasn’t enough.

  No apology would make up for the part of me he had killed.

  “I can’t.” I turned my shoulder and wove around him, moving back into the stream of people. I pushed my way through the crowd, trying to calm my breathing and the confusion that had caused the pit in my stomach to stir. The wine wasn’t helping, Reed’s expression made it even worse, and so did Derek’s invasive watching. I just wanted to get to the bathroom so I could splash some water on my face, rinse my mouth, and fill my lungs without someone demanding something from me.

  I followed the restroom signs I had seen earlier, rounding the corner as I stepped into the dark hallway. My heels clicked on the wood floor, and the damp, cool air caused me to shiver. By some stroke of amazing luck, I was alone. There wasn’t even a line waiting to enter.

  As my fingers reached for the knob, a pair of hands circled my waist, and a much taller, hardened body pressed against my back. “Tell me you’re okay.”

  The voice, the intense grip, the scent. My hands trembled again. “Derek,” I whispered. My body leaned into him instinctively. “I’m…fine.”

  His hands tightened and his lips pressed into my shoulder, slowly traveling up the side of my neck.

  “What are you doing?” He was making it even harder to breathe.

  “I’m giving you what you need.”

  EIGHTEEN.

  DEREK

  I CHECKED all the door handles in the hallway until I found one that opened and pulled Frankie inside. What looked to be once an office, was now a half-empty room with a desk pushed off to one side and a chair turned upside down. It wasn’t romantic, or even remotely sexy. It would have to do.

  I needed to be alone with her.

  This decision was dangerous. I was teetering on a narrow ledge, so close to breaking the promise I had made to myself.

  I didn’t care.

  When I looked at her, the need to have her was so much greater than waiting the months it would take before she sold every unit in my building. My attraction to her went beyond the tight little body I was squeezing between my fingers. Frankie’s strong personality challenged me. What came out of those beautiful lips weren’t words that promised she would fuck me. It was intellect and wisdom, qualities that made me want to fuck her.

  Her outfit only made her harder to resist. She was usually so covered up, but the dress she wore tonight left very little to the imagination. It still wasn’t enough. I wanted to see all of her, the parts hiding underneath that fabric, the way she would look in the morning after her dark makeup had been sweated off. Then, somehow, the memory of her would have to be enough.

  One night and one morning. That was all I would allow myself to spend with her…or with anyone I fucked. Any more time and feelings started to get involved. Emotions had derailed my plans once—plans I was reminded of when I had seen Randy on the balcony—and I wouldn’t let that happen again.

  I moved her to the nearest wall and pressed her back against it. “Tell me again that you’re okay.” Reed’s name had shown up in Will’s research as Frankie’s ex. I’d heard they had ended things a year ago, but when she spoke to him, I saw a pain that looked as deep as mine. Had she been betrayed as badly as I had?

  “Really, I’m okay.”

  “Because if he hurt you—”

  “Don’t worry about him.” She chewed her lower lip.

  I wasn’t worried. I just didn’t want the woman who was sandwiched between my hands and body to be thinking about another man at the moment. “You care about him.”

  “I did at one time. I don’t anymore.”

  My thumbs pushed against her cheeks and slid to her chin. When they reached the base of her chest, I started the circuit over. She was soft. Delicate. Her body was heating up for me, undoubtedly getting wet for me, too.

  I growled for more, leaning my face into the side of hers. She smelled of coconut and amber, a little bit of brown sugar. She was like a dark, sexy Caribbean night. And right now, she was all mine.

  My hands moved to her neck, holding it tightly enough so she had to face me. Her feet straddled mine, her hands rested on the edge of my belt. I felt the presence of her fingers, though not her actual touch.

  She wasn’t ready to give it to me…I would change that.

  With my mouth on her collarbone, I exhaled over her chest. “My breath just made you quiver. Can you imagine what my tongue will do?”

  I looked up as her lips parted, her eyes closed, and she moaned. Her body wasn’t shaking anymore. It arched forward, touching more of mine. “Derek,” she whispered when I pulled my mouth away.

  My hands slid to her rib cage. “If you want something, tell me.”

  “This is…”

  She paused, and I took my shot. I swept my tongue from one side of her throat to the other. The softest groan came from her lips—lips I would soon be devouring. My fingers brushed the fabric that cut between her tits, my thumbs hovering within that narrow space before they circled her back and teased the top of her ass. I wondered if that small puckered entrance had been taken, or if it was a virgin hole that would just barely let me in and mold to my cock.

  “Derek.” Her tongue slid over her bottom lip, then ran along the inside. “We can’t do this.”

  I expected her to say that. I was her client.

  But her comment meant nothing…I could feel how much she wanted me. Her heart was racing, her pulse throbbing, her nipples hardening against my chest. My dick rested over her belly button and she was rocking her body against it.

  “Yes,” I replied, “we can.”

  My lips lingered in front of hers, waiting for her to give me another no. When it didn’t come, I dove into her neck again, my tongue massaging all the way up to her ear, willing her to let go. She needed to submit fully before I took her mouth.

  And she did. Slowly.

  She rubbed her cheek against my beard, her lips coming close to it. I knew it intrigued her. She was used to pretty-boy Reed, so she’d probably never felt a man’s scruff, the sensation of it as it scraped across her nipples or the inside of her thighs. As her fingers glided over my abs, I clenched the hem of her dress and lifted it.

  “No,” her fingers squeezed mine to stop me. “Not here.”

  She thought I was going to try to fuck her in this office with a door that wasn’t able to lock and hundreds of people on the other side. Sex in public wasn’t off limits. But when I finally felt her pussy curve around my dick, it wasn’t going to be in a place like this.

  “Trust me,” I demanded.

  Her hand moved back to my stomach and I raised her dress farther until it reached the top of her thighs. Gripping the outside of those long, beautiful le
gs, I picked her up and wrapped them around my waist. I needed her closer, and this was the only way for now.

  Her panties rested against the top of my zipper, and her hands held the back of my neck as her ankles crossed behind me. She felt so different from anyone else who had been in my arms, unlike any of the other grains I had touched. She was exotic, rare. Exquisite. The elusive fucking pink ivory—that’s what she was.

  “You’re perfection,” I whispered against her cheek.

  “Derek,” she moaned.

  I pushed her farther against the wall so I could feel her entire body. She had just the right amount of muscle, and her skin was smooth and silky. Our bodies clasped like they’d been carved to interlock. I leaned my face into the dip of her dress, rubbing my nose against the inside of her tits. Her skin was softer there. I licked with the tip of my tongue. She tasted even sweeter.

  Her hands slid into my hair and pulled it into her grip as her thighs squeezed around me. “Derek…” she moaned again.

  I looked up and sucked a small lobe of her left breast into my mouth, flicking it with the end of my tongue. Her lips parted even more. I wanted to kiss them until they turned red and painful.

  It wasn’t time for that just yet.

  “I…” She caught her breath. “I want…”

  There it was: the hunger in her eyes. The look that told me she would do anything as long as I continued making her body feel as good as it did. And I would.

  I hadn’t even started yet.

  “Say it, Frankie.”

  “Kiss me.”

  Holding all of her weight with my waist, I leaned into her body, my hands pushing against the wall just above her head. My mouth stopped inches from hers. I licked my lips, taking in the taste of her skin one final time.

  “Kiss me,” she begged.

  I felt that pulsing, hot need that was coming through her panties, though I resisted grinding against her. Her fingers tore at my hair like she was trying to rip it out. When I moved even closer, her eyes shut and her entire body relaxed. My sweet pink ivory was giving me exactly what I wanted. She needed to be rewarded for that.

  Just as my lips reached hers, the door flew open, moving so fast it slammed against the wall.

  “Frankie,” a man barked. “What the fuck?”

  She jumped from the noise and gasped when he yelled her name. I glanced over my shoulder to find Reed in the doorway, fists pressed against his sides, anger spewing from that lazy mouth of his. I didn’t know how he found us, but I wasn’t going to let him hurt her again. He wouldn’t even come near her; I’d make sure of that. “Get the hell out of here,” I growled.

  “Derek,” Frankie said, wriggling in my arms. “I have to…put me down.” She pushed on my shoulders, her legs releasing my waist, her body stiffening to prepare for the drop. I placed her on the ground, and she straightened her dress from all the places I’d invaded.

  “I told you to get out of here,” I said.

  “What are you going to do?” Reed spat. “Fight me?”

  I stepped toward him, but Frankie wrapped her delicate fingers around my hand. “Don’t. Derek, please don’t do anything.”

  Reed didn’t have my height or my bulk. That pretty boy didn’t know the first thing about getting his hands dirty. It was what I did for a living, and I’d have him on the ground in seconds without losing my breath.

  “You’ve turned into Julia,” he said to her.

  “Watch your mouth,” I shouted. I wasn’t going to listen to him compare her to a whore. “Say the word, Frankie, and he’s out of here.” I wanted nothing more than to knock that disgusted look off his face.

  “Reed…” She dropped my arm, her skin turning even more flushed. “It’s not what it looks like. This is the first—”

  “Frankie, you don’t have to explain yourself,” I said.

  “You’re screwing developers now?” Reed hissed. “In some office at the gala when everyone out there is waiting to talk to Boston’s top realtor?”

  “No,” she said. “That’s not what I was doing.”

  “You used to be so much classier than this.”

  I didn’t have to tell him to get the fuck out a third time. He did that on his own, slamming the door behind him. Frankie stared at the ground, her arms wrapped around her waist, her fingers rubbing her stomach.

  “Fuck him.”

  She looked up slowly, her shame cutting me off. “No, he’s right.” The lust that had filled her eyes was gone. The heat that dripped from her body was already cool again. Her fingers went to her neck and cheeks and throat, wiping them as if she was trying to remove the evidence that my mouth had been all over her. She glanced at the wall I’d held her against. She was fighting her thoughts.

  “He’s not right. You know that.”

  Those pain-stricken eyes met mine. “My reputation in this industry is flawless. I almost ruined that.”

  “I wouldn’t let that happen.”

  She took a few steps toward the door. “Derek, I’m sorry, but I can’t. I…can’t do this.”

  That was the last thing she said before she walked out the door. She could say anything she wanted, go anywhere she wanted. But I’d read her body, I’d felt her heat, I’d tasted the thickness of her desire as it had seeped from her skin.

  She was out of her fucking mind if she thought I’d let her go that easily.

  To be continued…

  UNBLOCKED:

  EPISODE 2

  MARNI MANN

  Seattle, WA 2015

  COPYRIGHT 2015 MARNI MANN

  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

  Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

  Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes.

  No Derivative Works — You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

  Inquiries about additional permissions should be directed to: info@booktrope.com

  Edited by Steven Luna

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to similarly named places or to persons living or deceased is unintentional.

  PRINT ISBN 978-1-62015-769-5

  EPUB ISBN 978-1-62015-790-9

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2015904707

  To TeriLyn, the best partner-in-crime I could ever ask for. Who would have ever thought our love for books and dessert would bring us to where we are today. Thank you will never be enough.

  ONE.

  FRANKIE

  “WHAT CAN I get you to drink?” the bartender asked.

  I wrapped my hands around the edge of the bar and scanned the rows of liquor bottles. Alcohol was the only thing that would help calm my breathing. There was nothing at this party that would lessen the redness that filled my cheeks, or the throbbing between my legs…those would only be taken care of after I got home, tumbled into an icy shower and rubbed against the two fingers I would plunge inside me.

  “Something strong,” I replied.

  “Coming right up.”

  I had bolted so quickly out of the office that Derek and I had been in, I was just now processing what had led up to my departure. As the events began to unfold in my mind, it really started to hit me…

  Less than a minute before, Derek and I had been holed up in an abandoned office near the restrooms, a secret refuge from the schmoozing crowds of the industry party we were at. He had pinned me to a wall, wrapped my legs around his waist and touched me with an intense passion. His fingers, his mouth, his powerful tongue had all caressed my skin in the most tantalizing way. And when his lips finally hovered above mine, ready to deliver a first kiss I’d been so desperately waiting for, my ex stormed into the office.

  “You’re screw
ing developers now?” Reed shouted. “In some office at the gala when everyone out there is waiting to talk to Boston’s top realtor? You used to be so much classier than this. You’ve turned into Julia…” As if the rest of it hadn’t been insulting enough, Reed compared me to Julia Hayes, the realtor known for screwing her way into contracts. I wasn’t her, and I hadn’t screwed anyone to earn my sales achievements. Not even Derek Block.

  But I had wanted to screw Derek in that office.

  Not because I wanted to get the contract to sell all the units in his building, Timber Towers, but because my need to have him trumped my desire to remain professional—because Derek made me feel sexier and more desired than I had ever felt before.

  The bartender placed an empty tumbler in front of me and poured a shot of amber liquor into it. “Bourbon, ninety proof,” he said.

  I held the glass to my lips, tilted my head back and swallowed. The burn was startling. “Another.”

  He refilled the glass, and I shot it down my throat again.

  “One more?” he asked.

  I’d already had at least a bottle of wine. Unless I wanted to spend tomorrow with my face in the toilet, it was best that I stop. “No, thanks. Two is my limit.”

  I grabbed some cash from my purse, dropped a few bills into the tip bucket, and heard a woman say from somewhere behind me, “…stop partnering with Frankie.” Her voice was irritating and familiar. I turned and saw Julia standing next to Reed. They were no more than ten feet away, and with their backs to me. They hadn’t realized I was at the bar. “Like I said earlier, Reed,” Julia continued, “Frankie’s reign is only temporary. You know that’s true, and I’m going to prove it when I land the deal with Block Development. I’m so close to securing that contract, I can practically taste it…and when I do, think of all the business it’ll bring you. There are over one hundred and fifty units in that building, and many of the tenants will be seeking mortgages.”