The Unblocked Collection (22 page)

She lay a napkin across her lap and set the plate on top of it. “So what’s been cooking?” I opened my mouth to take a bite, but her hand glided through the air and stopped me. “Before you start eating, I want to know about the date you went on.”

My skin began to heat. “What date?” I ignored her fingers and nibbled off one of the corners. The gooey chocolate swirled around my tongue and melted. It was rich, almost painfully sweet. I would be eating the two on my plate and possibly one more.

“The last time I saw you look this way was when you first began dating Reed. Someone is making you glow, and I want to know who he is.”

That period with Reed had been such a happy one. We had just started to really collaborate in business, referring each other some of the largest contracts of our career. We were traveling and having our best sex. We couldn’t get enough of each other.

But it hadn’t ended that way.

When I really thought about it, I realized Derek’s fingers had stimulated more emotion, more passion than any part of Reed’s body ever had.

“It wasn’t a date,” I said.

“It was something.”

“Yes, it was…
something
.”

“There’s nothing wrong with having a little fun.” She looked down at the brownie on her plate and blushed a little. “If I were twenty years younger, I would be doing the same.”

“But Anna, what if the fun comes with a risk?”

“Survivors take risks, doll, and that’s what we are. Reed hurt you, and you’re still feeling that sting. That doesn’t mean the next guy won’t hurt you or the one after that. If you hadn’t ever experienced pain, then you wouldn’t be able to understand the true depths of love. With one comes the other. And yours will come…but you can’t spend the rest of your life alone because you’re afraid of getting hurt again.”

I had fears. Plenty of them. What if I gave myself to him physically, but I wasn’t able to stop from getting emotionally involved. Despite Brea’s predictions, Derek had said he only wanted a physical relationship.

What was it that I wanted?

“I’m having dinner with Alston on Saturday night,” she said.

“You are?”

Alston lived a few floors down from Anna. The last time I was here I had mentioned that he had been asking about her. She’d been so hesitant about going on a date with him. I was glad she’d changed her mind.

“I figure it saves me from fixing something to eat that night.” She set down her plate with more than half the brownie left on it. “Dinner and some conversation isn’t going to kill me. It won’t kill you, either. Although…” She licked a bit of chocolate off her finger. “I have a suspicion you’ve skipped the dinner part and went straight to the what-happens-after part.”

My phone chimed from my purse, which I had left on the kitchen counter. “One second…I have to check that.” I stood from the couch, grateful for the interruption. When I reached my phone, Derek’s name appeared on the screen:

Is your wetness dripping down your legs yet?

A flutter erupted in my stomach, triggering that throbbing to pulse yet again. I didn’t know how a sentiment so short, so unromantic and crude could have this effect on me.

I slid my phone back into my purse so I could give Anna my full attention. The last thing I wanted was for her to see his text.

“We’ve been through some hard times,” she said as she walked into the kitchen. She rested her hands on my shoulders. “Times when I questioned whether we’d make it, but we always did. Together.”

The erotic throbbing screeched to a halt, and a knot began to wedge itself into my throat. “I know.”

The corners of her eyes creased as her stare deepened. “We’re going to do this together, too, this dating thing. It’ll be our next adventure, whatever it means and wherever it takes us. Sound good?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“Whoever this man is, he sees how beautiful you are. I know that because I can see the way he makes you feel.”

“The feelings he stirs…” I paused, getting my thoughts together. “I’ve never felt anything so strong before. Not even with Reed.”

Her aged eyes scanned mine. “Good. It makes me happy to hear that.” She pulled me closer, wrapping her arms around me. “We’ll start there and see what happens. The important thing is that we’re starting.”

She couldn’t have been more right.

***

Back inside the SUV with Norm driving me to my next appointment, I pulled out my phone to reply to Derek’s text. Before even typing a word, I could already feel the heat returning to my cheeks, the warmth spreading to my breasts. I cuddled into the corner of the backseat, bending my knees so I could wrap my toes around the edge of the seat.

Me:
If it was dripping down my legs, what should I do about it?

Derek:
Wipe it with your fingers. Then stick those wet fingers in your mouth and tell me how good you taste.

Me:
You’re so dirty.

Derek:
Dirty is when I tell you to take those fingers and stick them in your ass. We’re not there yet.

Me:
We will be?

Derek:
You’ll be begging for me to be inside your ass soon.

Me:
How soon?

He left me without a reply.

DEREK

I RECLINED
in my chair and propped my legs on the desk as I stared at Frankie’s last text. She wanted to know how soon it would be before she was begging me to fuck her in the ass. She was baiting me. My dick couldn’t take it anymore.

I had to have her.

A taste of her, at least.

I would swipe my tongue across her pussy again and again, licking until there were enough of her juices to fill my mouth. Then I’d swallow, savoring her flavor. I needed to hear those sweet moans, that labored breath. I needed to feel her smooth, soft skin against my lips.

I needed her now. I had no goddamn patience for this.

But I couldn’t…

Fuck it. I’d give her some foreplay—that was all. Appeasing my cock would have to wait.

Me:
Where are you?

As soon as I hit send, I wanted to throw my phone across the room and watch the screen shatter. What was it about her that made me break every promise to myself? One night and one morning—that’s all I would give her. That promise had gone to hell last night when I fingered her. I told myself it didn’t count because my dick hadn’t touched her, and since I only planned to use my mouth, today wouldn’t count either.

Who was I kidding? It counted.

It
all
counted.

My phone vibrated on my lap.

Frankie:
I’m driving to a showing.

Me:
What part of town?

Frankie:
Beacon Hill, heading toward Fenway.

Depending which route she took, she might be passing through the Back Bay.

I swung the chair from side to side as I read her words over and over. Her pussy was dangling in front of me. I didn’t know if I could stop myself from taking it. If this were just about getting off, I could call Tamra and have her suck my cock. She’d be swallowing my load in less than an hour. But this wasn’t just about getting off.

This was about Frankie.

Me:
Stop by my office on your way through.

Frankie:
I won’t have much time.

Me:
You won’t need much.

Frankie:
To do what?

Me:
Hurry up.

***

“Frankie’s pulling up,” Will said through the intercom on my phone. I’d asked him to wait for her by the front and to let me know when she got there.

“I need at least fifteen minutes with her. No disruptions.”

“No problem.”

I shoved my hand down the waist of my jeans and readjusted. My dick hadn’t softened at all in the time it had taken her to get here. “Send her down when she comes in.”

“Got it.”

I hung up and shut down my email. There were several messages in there from Julia that I hadn’t gotten around to deleting. That woman wouldn’t take no for an answer. I didn’t want Frankie to get upset at seeing her name…and the position I planned to have her in would give her the perfect view of my screen.

“I don’t have any of your paperwork with me,” she said from the doorway, “and I left my tablet in the car, so I hope whatever you need doesn’t require specifics.”

She assumed I wanted to discuss business. That sounded about right, coming from her.

“Close the door behind you,” I told her. I slid my chair back, putting a few feet between the desk and me. “Now come here.” She walked into my office and headed toward the other side of the desk. “No.” I pointed at the spot in front of me. “Here.”

She positioned herself in the little space I had given her and pressed her ass onto the edge of my desk. She looked gorgeous, dressed in a tight black skirt and a top the same color as her eyes. Her heels made her legs look even longer. My eyes savored her sleek calves, her taught thighs; they slid up the height of her and lingered on her tits. Her scent hit me; it was heavier on the amber today, lighter on the brown sugar.

“You won’t need your tablet,” I said. “I don’t want to talk numbers.”

“Then why am I here, Derek?”

Her texts were full of confidence that she didn’t have in person. But beneath that leer were rings of desire that outweighed her sexual shyness. Her lust grew the longer I stared at her. I could almost taste it in the air.

I stood, towering over her, leaning my face into hers. I traced her plump, supple lips with my eyes, knowing the ones at the other end of her body were just as soft and glossy. “Because I need to taste you.”

I pressed my mouth to hers and slid in my tongue. Her flavor was as sensual as her scent. I couldn’t define it; I just knew I couldn’t get enough of it. She sucked on the end of my tongue and let me explore her mouth even deeper. Our bodies were inches apart, but I had to be closer. I dragged her to me until the only thing separating us was our clothes.

Her fingers found my belt, loosening the buckle as I pulled my mouth away. “Take off your skirt.”

“Here?”

I nodded.

“But won’t someone—”

“Take it off, Frankie.
Now.
”

She stared at me, hesitant, yet she pulled her hands free and reached behind her back to undo her zipper. It fell down her legs, and she stepped out of it. My arms moved to her sides, wedging her against me, blocking my view of her panties. I was eager to remove those, too. But first I needed more of her mouth.

I took control of her lips and cupped my hands around those perfect ass cheeks and lifted her onto the desk. I spread her legs wide, stood between them and felt the tips of her heels ride up and down my calves.

My dick was straining against my jeans, and shifting my hips wasn’t helping to release the tension. I knew if I touched the damn thing, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from driving it deep inside her. It wasn’t time for that yet, so it was safer to leave it just where it was and take the pain.

That wasn’t the only pressure weighing on me. I was quickly realizing that even though I’d kissed plenty of lips—more than I could have counted—they all tasted the same after a while, and it was hard to tell one set from the other…until I’d tasted Frankie’s. The flavor and texture of her mouth, the way her lips curved against mine. All of it was different.

After kissing them yesterday and again right now, I wanted even more.

I gripped her face between my palms and pushed us apart, taking in her eyes as deeply as I had taken in her mouth. What I had planned was as dangerous as my feelings for her.

I knew I should stop. I knew I should tell her to get dressed and walk her to her SUV.

But I couldn’t.

I slid down her body, pausing at her waist. She’d listened to the order I had written in the note and wasn’t wearing the panties I’d sent. Rather than wasting time to take hers off, I yanked from both sides, tearing the red lace straight down the middle.

“Oh God…” she breathed, her fingers reaching for my hair.

I brushed my beard over the inside of her thigh. “Have you been waiting to feel this?”

“Yes,” she sighed.

“What about this?” I licked the spot I had roughed up with my whiskers. Her scent had changed from sugar to coconut. Perfect.

“Derek…” She stared down at me, the look on her face telling me exactly what she wanted me to do.

“Yes, my pink ivory?”

“I want you.”

And I wanted her, so fucking much. But as huge as this would be for her, it would be something even more for me. I knew the warmth of her pussy; I’d been knuckle-deep inside it. Now I wanted to know how it felt against my tongue, how it tasted from the inside, how tightly it contracted under my mouth when she came.