The Unblocked Collection (32 page)

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.”

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 something 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.

I looked at him again, reminding myself that we were having a conversation about his sister, not his fingers, or where I wanted them on my body. He’d apologized for something that wasn’t his fault. I owed him something similar. “I’m sorry for making an unqualified assumption, and for avoiding you all day because of it. It was wrong of me.”

“Now that I know the truth, I’m glad it happened. It shows me how much you care.”

But I wasn’t supposed to care, was I? And neither was he. That was what we’d agreed to: business only. Our encounters had been incredible mistakes that would never be made again.

I glanced away, unwilling to meet his eyes. If I did, he’d see the truth, which I was sure he could already feel in my body, hear in my voice, sense in my posture. But my eyes would confirm it, without question. I had told him we needed to end things, and I needed to stick with that, to stay strong.

“Look at me.”

He was inside my head again, responding as if I were speaking my thoughts aloud.

“I can’t.”

I felt him stand from the couch and move around to the front of me. Then his hands were under my arms, lifting me off the cushion and wrapping me around his waist. “Look at me, Frankie.”

“I—”

“Look at me.”

He wasn’t going to give up until I gave him what he wanted, and from this position, I couldn’t avoid him forever. Slowly, I raised my eyes and met his gaze. I felt it in every part of my body. If looks could devour flesh, his did that to me. His mouth parted and he sighed over my face.

“Fuck…I want you.”

I wasn’t sure which one of us had said that, but I felt like it had come from me.

DEREK

HER BODY WAS SPEAKING
to me, telling me exactly what I wanted to hear. But her mind was holding her back. There was fear in her eyes. She wasn’t afraid of me; she was afraid of what would happen between us, what would come of us professionally if things didn’t work out personally. I understood that. Before her, I’d never craved a woman longer than the hours my cock had been sunk inside her. Frankie broke every single rule I’d set, every promise.

How could I ever give a woman more than just the one night and one morning? Hell if I knew. But I knew I wanted something more with her, something I couldn’t define. The desire for it was there, and that was enough for now.

I didn’t think I could let go even if she wanted me to. Her ass was resting on my palms; her heels dug into my lower back as her hands gripped my shoulders. It all felt perfect.

So fucking perfect.

“I’m giving you a chance to change your answer,” I said.

She ran her fingers over my beard. I knew then what she was going to say, but I let the moments of silence pass between us, allowing her to feel like she had some control. The second I dipped inside her panties, which we were just moments away from, her control would be gone.

“Derek, I…” I stared at her lips, watching how they moved when she spoke my name, how they remained open when she paused and no sound came out. She was so beautiful, so raw, trying so hard to be strong after telling me about Hayden. It hadn’t been easy for her. I wanted her to feel like she could trust me with more than just her body, even if that truth involved my sister.

“If you want me, if you want this, then you have to tell me. And it has to be now.” I looked at her wrist. The bracelet she knew I liked was wrapped around her delicate skin; it was the one I had once asked her to wear. She had worn it today and that told me everything I needed to know. “Because Frankie, I don’t believe you really want things between us to end.” Her cheeks darkened and her pupils began to dilate with need. “If you tell me you don’t want me, I’ll…” She had to know I would respect her despite what I wanted. “…I’ll put you down and I’ll leave your condo. What happened between us won’t affect what we have professionally. I promise. But if you want me, then—”

Her fingers clenched my whiskers and pulled me toward her; her lips crashed against mine, her tongue teasing its way into my mouth. She moaned as I tightened my grip on her ass, lowering her enough to grind her against my dick. My cock was so fucking hard; it was begging to be let out of my jeans and plunged into the sopping wetness that I knew was waiting for me.

I was done waiting.

I carried her to the kitchen and sat her on top of the island, on the same stone slab that had separated us earlier. I dug out my wallet and grabbed the condom I kept in there.

Those gunmetal eyes were so passionate, so demanding as I held the foil between my fingers. “Fuck me,” she begged, her command making my dick throb even harder.

“I’m going to reward you for saying that.”

“Please, Derek. I want you now.”

I unbuttoned her pants and yanked them off, and did the same with her panties, but left her heels on. Then I unbuttoned my jeans and dropped them just far enough to free my cock. I tore open the foil and rolled on the condom before I pulled her to the edge of the counter. “Put your hands around my neck and don’t let go.” She obeyed my order. “I don’t care how good it feels, you are not to move your hands—do you understand me?”

“Yes,” she moaned. Her lips were on my cheek, traveling toward my ear.

My dick rubbed against her thigh as I caressed her clit. She was more than ready—wet, warm, tight, and hardening under my touch. As much as I wanted her, I didn’t want to hurt her. So I drove two fingers into her pussy, opening her wide enough to fit my dick. Her cunt curved around me, her grunting vibrating against my chest as her fingers clasped my shoulders. “Does that feel good, baby?”