The Unblocked Collection

by Marni Mann

  His hands ran through his hair and crossed over his chest. I could tell my words caused him pain. It was exactly what I wanted: to stir a reaction, to get him to feel something about how he’d treated me—regret, shame. Anything.

  “I’m sorry for that, too,” he said. He took a breath, his hands dropping to his sides. “Jesus, Frankie, I fucked up. All I’ve done is fuck up. What I said to you when I walked in on you and that developer was wrong.” His eyes moved to my mouth. “I was jealous. I don’t like the idea of you being with anyone but me. Seeing it was even worse than thinking about it.”

  “That’s ironic, don’t you think, considering what you were doing when I walked in on you…and her?” I wanted this day to be over, the memories of it to be erased as fast as the wine would allow.

  He moved closer, resting against the wall. “She meant nothing to me.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “It was a one night stand. I barely knew her name. I…”

  I put my hand in his face. It was the only way to make him stop. “I don’t care—about the details or your apology. I don’t want to hear either.”

  “Then maybe you’ll want to hear this instead: I miss you.”

  “Oh God.” When I took a step back, his hand cuffed my wrist. “Reed, I can’t do this.”

  “Let’s go back to my place.”

  “No—”

  “Your place, then. Somewhere not quite so loud or crowded, where we can have a conversation and not get interrupted.” His free hand touched my cheek, his fingers brushing into my hair.

  For just a second, I closed my eyes and breathed in his skin. I knew his touch, his voice; I knew he’d kiss me in the elevator as we rode up to my condo, take me by the hand and lead me to my bedroom. He’d strip off my clothes in front of the nightstand, hover above me as I lay on the mattress, and he’d fuck me until he shuddered. But there would be no passion, no lust, no longing so deep that my body would quiver for just the feel of his breath.

  Reed wasn’t who I wanted.

  Even if I’d never been with Derek, never learned the depths of pleasure my body could reach, I still wouldn’t have let Reed back in. He wasn’t just part of my past; he was the greatest cause of my pain.

  “I have to go.”

  “Frankie—”

  I pulled my wrist out of his grip. “I can’t breathe, I have to go…” I rushed away, and I stopped only when I reached Brea. I lifted my purse off the table, looping the strap over my shoulder. “This was a bad idea.”

  She set her phone down. “Coming here, or talking to him?” She was slurring her words even more, and so was I.

  “Coming here, going out…all of it. I should be home, eating more chocolate, sipping a glass of wine in my bathtub, not reopening wounds with Reed that neither of us can heal.”

  Even through her stupor, she looked concerned. “Time to go, hon.”

  I found my wallet inside my purse and dropped several bills on the table. It was more than enough to cover all the drinks. “Yes. It’s definitely time.”

  She drank down the last of her wine. “Want me to come over?”

  The waitress had delivered the shots of tequila while I’d been with Reed. I swallowed mine in one gulp, my mouth watering from the burn. “Thank you,” I finally answered, “but I wouldn’t make for good company. I need to be alone. We can share a cab, though, I’ll drop you off on my way.”

  “No worries, it’s only a few blocks. I’ll walk.”

  She slung her bag over her shoulder, and I grabbed her hand as she stood. “You know I’m not going to let you walk.”

  Her eyes left mine. “Reed’s coming back.”

  “Oh yeah…we’re going.”

  I guided us through the crowd holding her hand, making our way quickly to the front of the bar. A cab was just pulling up outside, and a couple was getting out of the backseat. Brea and I slid in after them.

  “Four blocks east, please, stop when you hit Boylston Street,” Brea said to the driver.

  “Sure thing,” he said.

  She relaxed into the seat, propping her purse onto her lap. “God, I’m way drunker than I thought.”

  I had realized the same thing as we were rushing through the bar. “Tell me we don’t have an early meeting in the morning?”

  “We don’t…at least not anymore.” She looked at me and grinned. “I had a feeling we were going to have more than a few glasses, so I postponed it until the afternoon.”

  “You’re good.”

  She winked. “I know.”

  The cab driver pulled up to Boylston, putting on his blinker while he idled at the curb. She reached across to hug me. “You sure you want to be alone?”

  “I’m sure. I’m just going to eat some more chocolate and go to bed.”

  I squeezed her for a second longer, then as I watched her walk into her building, I gave the driver my address. Once the taxi began moving again, I tucked myself into the corner of the backseat. I felt the weight of my phone inside my purse. If I took it out, I didn’t know if I had the willpower to stop myself from texting Derek.

  Anna had told me that survivors like her and I take risks. Derek was more than a risk. Ending things between us had made the most sense; I knew I couldn’t keep things casual, I couldn’t stop myself from getting attached, from falling in love. Seeing text messages from other women would destroy me. Knowing he’d been with others behind my back would make me hate him. And once I experienced that level of hurt again, I wouldn’t want to work with him, and I would lose his contract.

  Things may have been much harder this way, but they were also much safer.

  “Fifteen dollars and forty-five cents,” the driver said as he came to a stop in front of my building.

  I handed him a twenty. “Keep it all. Thank you.”

  My doorman helped me out of the backseat. “You have a visitor waiting for you inside, Ms. Jordan.”

  “A visitor?”

  Was it possible that Reed had gotten into a cab after us and had beaten me here?

  He held out his arm, signaling me to walk in front of him. “I tried calling your cell and left you messages.”

  “Sorry about that,” I said, holding the banister as I walked up the few stairs. I knew the heels were pinching my toes, but I could barely feel them. I could barely feel anything.

  When he opened the lobby door, I immediately saw the visitor. He stood not far from the bank of elevators, his electric blue stare gazing back. Shivers exploded through my body as my eyes wandered over him. That beard, the one that made my folds pucker, and the mouth that made me scream, and the flannel that shackled my wrists to submission.

  “Derek,” I breathed, pausing in the middle of the lobby. Even this far away, it felt as if his lips were on me, his hands on my breasts, my body wrapped within his. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  THREE.

  DEREK

  I SAW THE SHOCK in her eyes at finding me standing in her lobby. She was right to be surprised; I never waited for anyone, especially a woman I had slept with. But this was the only way I could talk to her. She hadn’t returned my calls, hadn’t responded to my text. And Will had made just as much progress with Brea.

  If Frankie was going to hide, then I was going to fucking find her.

  “You’ve been drinking,” I said. She was walking toward the elevator, toward me, toward the tongue I wanted to plunge inside her. I could tell by the looseness in her body she’d had wine…the only other thing that could have made her that loose was my cock.

  “I’ve had a few drinks,” she replied.

  “Is that why you’ve been missing since nine this morning? Because you’ve been drinking?”

  “No.”

  “We need to talk. Now.”

  She glanced all around us. We were alone except for the doorman, and he was too far away to hear us. “We can talk here.”

  “Let’s go to your condo.”

  She shook her head, holding herself up against the fra
me of the elevator. “No way.”

  I took a step closer so she could feel my breath, my need, the power in what I was telling her. “Once I say what I need to, I’ll leave. I promise.”

  “Then you can say whatever you need to in this lobby. It’s not like you’ve had a problem doing anything in public before.”

  That spicy goddamn mouth. She was fighting me, and although I would never tell her this, I fucking loved it. “I fingered your pussy in public…you’re right about that.” Goose bumps rose over her skin as my breath traveled down her neck. “But what I have to tell you isn’t going to be said in this lobby.”

  Her eyes closed, her breathing sped up. Her teeth dug into her bottom lip. When her lids finally opened, she said, “Five minutes.” She hit the button for the elevator. “That’s all you get.”

  I followed her into the elevator, doing everything I could not to wrap my hands around her waist and devour her neck with my teeth. After seeing how my breath had affected her, I was certain I’d be touching her again. She was struggling with her feelings and trying to act strong. But if my hands went inside her panties, I knew her clit would be dripping with wetness and that warm, snug hole would be soaked.

  She held onto the railing that wrapped around the middle of the elevator and stared at the numbers that lit up over the door. I was sure she did that to keep from looking at me. With each floor, I could see her mind spinning with questions; I could practically hear her pussy squealing with the need to be touched. She wanted, and she feared. She desired…and she regretted.

  I knew, because I did, too.

  We arrived at the penthouse, and she went straight to her kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. She didn’t bother to look in my direction. “I’d offer you one, but you won’t be here long enough to drink it, so…”

  That fiery fucking mouth was at it again. I wanted those lips pouted around my cock, humming from all the cum I was shooting down her throat. And I would get that, but first I needed to make things right.

  I moved to the other side of the island. “It’s been almost twelve hours since you were supposed to be at my townhouse. You have your voice and all your fingers, so why the hell didn’t you reply to my calls or my text?”

  She drank deeply. “I took a break from my phone today.”

  I tried to calm all the urges that were building within. I wasn’t simply angry that she had blown me off; I was worried about her, too. “No breaks, Frankie. Not ever.”

  “I can do whatever the hell—”

  “Let me finish.” My sweet pink ivory was usually so submissive. She had never shown this much dominance. It made me want to smile, but I didn’t want to give her that reaction. “When I call you, I don’t care what time it is, I expect you to call me back. Text me back. Have Brea get in touch with me, if you need to. But I insist on an answer when I call. You’re my realtor, Frankie, someone I trusted with my entire building—all one hundred and eighty-one units. It’s my business, my livelihood, and my reputation on the line when you leave me hanging.” Her face began to soften as the realization hit her. “We have a contract—a contract that every realtor in Boston wants right now—and it comes with clauses that allow me to terminate if I feel the agreement isn’t being adhered to. Telling me you don’t want to fuck me any more isn’t a reason to do that, obviously, but ignoring me during business hours is.”

  Her eyes bounced from my face to the wine glass and back. That small gesture showed so much emotion. “I just needed a minute. I’m sorry.”

  I knew she was sorry. What I needed were answers, and I was going to get them. So I leaned into the counter, pushed my hands into the stone and demanded one. “Why did you leave my house this morning?”

  Her brows rose, her back straightening. “So she told you I was there?”

  “Of course Hayden told me…I was waiting for you, and you disappeared. So again, Frankie, why did you leave?”

  “That was…Hayden?”

  Why did it feel like I was missing something here? “Yes, that was Hayden.”

  She shook her head. While she was processing, it looked like she was filling with more hurt, more suffering.

  I wanted to make it stop. “Frankie—”

  “Why did you sleep with her?” It came out as a whisper, but a powerful one.

  “With Hayden?” I laughed—a deep, honest, guttural laugh. Those gunmetal eyes were so large and fierce. She was confused and angry, and it all made her look so damn beautiful. I wanted to take all that frustration and make her whole body shake from the flicking of my tongue. “Baby—”

  “Don’t you dare laugh at me, Derek, and don’t call me baby like a condescending prick. Our business meetings will take place in my office from now on, and you and I will never be alone again. Ever. Get out of my apartment.”

  I’d had enough.

  I walked around the island; she backed up, her hands going into the air to stop me. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  I was only inches away from her. She had nowhere to go. “I’m making sure you listen to me.” I gripped the counter on both sides of her, my arms wedging her into me. “I don’t know what you think happened, but it didn’t.”

  “I know what I saw, you asshole. She—”

  “Is my sister, Frankie.” My voice lowered. “Hayden is my sister.”

  Her mouth fell open, and she gasped. “She’s your…”

  My actions were too quick; she didn’t have enough time to respond or stop me before I ravaged her lips and made them mine. The fight, the resistance, the anger, the jealousy had all been the biggest turn-on. Finally having the taste of her in my mouth again made my balls ache, and my dick grow solid under my boxer briefs. When I felt her start to relax, the truth of my words finally setting in, I pulled away. “Yes,” I said, licking her off my lip. “She’s my sister.”

  FOUR.

  FRANKIE

  I HALTED as I processed Derek’s statement…and the fact that his mouth had just been all over mine. “She’s your sister?”

  He hadn’t had sex with her; she wasn’t ruffled and messy because of him.

  The thought repeated in my mind as the relief starting to spread. They were related, though.

  I wasn’t sure which was worse.

  “You know her,” he said. It wasn’t a question; it was a statement, as if he already knew the answer. I wasn’t sure I was ready to tell him exactly how I knew her. But I still wondered how close they were, how much he knew about his own sister.

  “She told you?” I asked.

  “She said she knew of you, but that doesn’t explain why you left when you saw her. Now tell me how you know her.”

  I looked for my wine, but he had me caged so tightly I couldn’t move. “Let’s just say we have a past.”

  “Explain your past, then.”

  I felt his breath on my face. Minty, lustful, delicious. “I can’t, Derek.”

  “Because you don’t want to?”

  “Exactly.” His arms loosened and I wiggled my way out, taking my glass into the living room and sitting on the couch. I needed space, and a second to think. I needed to take a breath that wasn’t full of him.

  “I need a better reason than that, Frankie.”

  I closed my eyes and listened to his boots move across the wood floor of the kitchen, through the archway and into the living room. I felt him standing in front of me. “It’s not just that I don’t want to; it’s also that she’s your sister.”

  He sat on the far end of the couch and kept his hands on the cushions. His eyes searched my face. “Okay; I’ll explain it, then. You left my house this morning because you took one look at Hayden and thought we were sleeping together. Then you avoided me all day. Is that close?”

  “That’s part of it, yes.” I had made the decision to break things off with him. But after that kiss, it felt as though I had never uttered those words. The wine was making me far too honest.

  “I worried about you all day, Frankie—that somet
hing had happened to you, that you were hurting somewhere…” His voice deepened. “Tell me the rest.”

  Either she had told him her side and he wanted to hear mine, or she hadn’t told him anything and he wanted to hear it all from me. If he was pushing me this hard, I could only imagine he’d pushed her, too. “I found her in bed with Reed…while Reed and I were still dating. It ended our relationship. So, as you can probably guess, your sister isn’t one of my favorite people.” I didn’t tell him everything.

  Just enough to stop the questions.

  “Fuck, he said.

  I took a sip of my wine, feeling its warmth pass through my throat as it slowly moved toward my stomach. “I jumped to conclusions when I saw her at your townhouse, because I didn’t know who she was to you. But there’s too much pain that involves your sister, Derek, and I…” I had told her to fuck off; it all came back to me then. “…I acted out when I saw her. I said something I shouldn’t have, and then I left. It wasn’t the most mature reaction, but it was all I could do in that moment.” I set the glass on the end table.

  Derek leaned forward and ran his hand over my cheek, resting at my chin. “I didn’t know about any of this. I’m sorry.”

  The smell of his skin was intoxicating, the scent I had craved when Reed’s hands had been on me earlier: woods and body wash, a hint of cologne and all man. “You don’t have to apologize for her.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  I shrugged. “If you have any other family members I should know about, now would be a good time to tell me.”

  His thumb brushed over my lip. “That fucking mouth.” His growl reminded me of the sound that came from him just before he orgasmed. “Hayden is my only sibling.”

  I glanced down at my hands; they were fidgeting in my lap. His fingers were stirring feelings that were more intense than I wanted them to be. A yearning so deep, it made me want to grab his fingertips and place them on my nipple, to have him yank it so hard I’d scream. But I shouldn’t have been thinking about his hands on my nipple, or his fingers anywhere near me. They should have been in his lap like mine were…because nothing could happen between us anymore.