The Unblocked Collection (5 page)

But it wasn’t enough. And neither was she.

“
Ahhh
,” she breathed.

“Rub your clit as fast as you’re finger-fucking yourself.”

Her teeth stabbed her bottom lip, her breasts bouncing as the speed of her rubbing and stroking traveled in waves over her body. I could tell she was seconds away, holding off because I ordered her to. I didn’t think she could wait much longer.

She wouldn’t need to.

“Come for me.”

“
Ohhh, fuck!
” she cried out, her stomach rippling as the orgasm tore through her. Her back arched again; her pussy bucked against her fingers. My name was shouted from her lips.

Women were beautiful when they came. Even Tamra.

I waited until she fell flat on the bed before I moved to her side. She latched onto my hand, pulling it to her face. “Thank you, baby.” She kissed my thumb, her eyes darkening with each peck. Her tongue licked around the base of my nail, down the right, then left side of my finger.

Her mouth was asking for my dick. I didn’t give her words a chance to do the same.

“I’ll see you soon.”

Disappointment crossed her face. I traced her jaw with my wet thumb, giving her a touch of the tenderness she craved before I moved to the door. “I’ll call you.”

She nodded. “You’d better.”

Back in the driver’s seat, I pulled up Hayden’s name and started a new text message:

Hull is the next location.

FRANKIE

WITH TWO LARGE
to-go coffees and a bag of donuts in my hands, I slid out of the SUV and thanked Norm for the ride. Outside the door of Anna’s building, I pushed the button for her apartment. I’d done it so many times before, my fingers automatically knew where to find her name. “It’s me,” I said when the intercom clicked on.

“Are those donuts in that bag?” she asked from inside.

“What? No.” I’d forgotten about the recently-installed video camera next to the call box and the monitor by her front door. I’d been bringing her sweets every Thursday for the last nine years. I would have thought she’d eventually stop asking what was in my bag, whether I was downstairs or walking into her apartment. But that just wasn’t Anna, and it was one of the many things I loved about her. “They’re, ah…”

“Frankie Jordan, don’t you dare lie to me. You know I can’t stop myself at just one, and I know you brought me at least two. I’ve been walking on the
tread
every godforsaken day to burn off the cinnamon buns you brought me last week.”

Her “tread” was the treadmill I had delivered to her apartment a few months ago after she complained of stiffness in her joints. I hoped the exercise would help ease some of the pain. Today was the first time she had spoken of using it. It was a good sign.

“We can talk about the donuts you’re not going to eat when I get upstairs,” I told her.

A buzz came through the speaker, followed by the sound of the door unlocking. I stepped off the elevator on the seventh floor and smelled a hint of potpourri as I walked down the hall. That was the scent of her home, one that hadn’t changed in all the years I’d been coming here. Her furnishings hadn’t changed, either. She had the same white and blue doily on the table in her foyer, and the peach candle I had given her as a gift when I was ten sat on top of it. She refused to light it. The super in her building had offered to update her entire unit with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, new paint and hardwood floors. She wouldn’t let him. She didn’t see a need to change the mustard fridge and stove that somehow still functioned, or the shag carpet, or the faded yellow walls.

Change made her break out in hives.

“Get over here right now and hug this old bag of bones,” she said. She stood in the living room, her arms crossed over her petite waist. The only makeup she wore was a smear of pink lipstick. She called it her “splash of color,” since she only ever wore white shirts.

I closed the door behind me, set the treats on the coffee table and fell into her embrace. Anna didn’t smell of potpourri; her scent was a strong blast of cherry blossoms. It didn’t matter what perfume she sprayed on her clothes or what soap she washed with, the flowery aroma never died. Whenever I got a whiff of it outside this apartment, memories of her would immediately flood my mind.

“Sit,” she said, finally releasing me, “before the coffee gets cold.”

I took my usual spot in the corner of the couch. She sat in the stiff chair across from me. The padding in both needed to be replaced, and in a few minutes she would complain of back pain. But she would never consider getting them reupholstered, or replacing them with something more comfortable.

“How did Dad’s doctor appointment go?” she asked. She separated the four donuts onto two appetizer-sized plates, knowing without asking which flavors I had gotten for her.

“The doctor told him he’s working too much, which is nothing new, and that he needs to find a way to relax.”

“Don’t tell me he’s taking up yoga?”

“That’s what he should be doing, but he’s taking his girlfriend to Croatia instead.”

“Croatia?” Anna shook her head and laughed. “Is this a new girlfriend, or the same one he had last week?”

 “A new one, I think. She’s twenty-two, or maybe she’s twenty-one.” It was odd enough to think about that, let alone to say it out loud.

“So was the last one.”

“Good point.” I rolled my eyes for effect, though I didn’t have to. Anna knew how I felt about the women my father dated. “I wish the doctor had told him he needed to retire. He’s still telling me how to operate things and unwilling to give up even a little control. It’s making me crazy.”

Anna sat back in her chair, holding the plate under her chin to catch the sugar that fell. “He trusts you, Frankie, but to him, you’re still his little girl—and you’re mine, too.” A look of complete and unconditional love crossed her face. “It’s hard for him to allow you to run the whole show when he’s been the ringmaster for all these years.”

“I’m twenty-seven…I’m hardly his little girl anymore.” I shoved a piece of strawberry donut into my mouth and talked around it. “I’ve been working for him since I was eight. I know what I’m doing; he just won’t give me a chance to prove it.”

“No, no, my dear.” Her loose, grey curls bounced when she uncrossed her legs and re-crossed them. “You’ll
always
be our little girl, no matter your age.”

The emotion in her voice didn’t go unnoticed, or the way it filled her delicate eyes. Anna had been in my life since I was four, when my father was faced with the news that my mom wasn’t ever coming back. He couldn’t raise a kid and run a successful business at the same time, so he hired Anna as my nanny. She would never replace my mom, nor did she try to, which was why I think I loved her so much. Still, she was the closest thing I had to a mother. Over the years, our relationship had evolved into a true friendship, and now it was my turn to care for her.

“I know,” I whispered. It was difficult for me to express how much she meant to me, so I hardly ever did. I’d inherited that block from my father. While I was growing up, he didn’t share his feelings. Naturally, I learned not to share mine. Anna had tried so hard to change that, but she wasn’t able to, so I tried to show her how I felt whenever I could.

“What do you have cooking this week?” she asked, purposely changing the topic.

I washed down the donut half I’d crammed in with a large swig of coffee. “I had a big meeting yesterday with a developer. His name’s Derek Block, and his building is exactly what I need to show Dad how much I can manage. It also happens to be the most beautiful residential high-rise in Boston.”

Of course, that would mean I’d be working closely with Derek. The impact of that thought made everything inside me start to flutter. I hadn’t been able to get him off my mind since I’d left his office the morning prior. It was the way he had looked at me, the way my body had responded to his presence. My ex-boyfriend, Reed, had never made me feel that way, not even in the beginning of our relationship when things had been perfect. Derek was nothing like him—and being a potential client, he was certainly off limits. So why was I consumed by thoughts of him rather than thoughts of his building?

I’d paused too long, and Anna picked up on it. “Hold your horses, missy. Why do I get the feeling Mr. Block is a rather attractive gentleman?”

A rush of heat spread over my cheeks. “He is…but Anna, he’s not my type at all.”

“Maybe that’s what you need: someone who isn’t your type?”

She was trying to get me to step out of the box I had built around myself. Brea tried to get me to do the same thing all the time. But my box was a comfortable place to be. When I stayed within its boundaries, I knew what to expect, and I wasn’t plagued with insecurities like the ones that arose when I thought about Derek. From a single meeting, he had taken instant control over my mind and had caused a strong reaction from my body.

I just shook my head. “For now, I need to focus on work.”

She set her plate on the table with half a donut left on it. “Don’t you think it’s time?”

“Time for what?”

“Frankie, it’s been a year since you ended things with Reed.” I hadn’t realized I’d been rubbing small circles over my navel. When I saw that she was staring at my hands, I stopped. “It’s time to start dating again.”

I popped the other half of her donut into my mouth. “I’ve been dating.” I’d have to run an extra mile in the morning to compensate for all the sweets I’d been eating lately.

“Have you let any of these gentlemen take you out for a second date?”

“I don’t have time for a second date,” I said. “I work too much.”

Her brows rose. “But you have time for another first date, is that right?”

She caught me.

“So maybe I have the time…or could find the time.” What I couldn’t find in any of those guys was a connection—no tingle in my lower body, no tickling inside my chest, no warmth in the back of my throat.

Nothing like what I felt when I locked eyes with Derek Block for the first time.

“Will you at least be open to it?” she asked.

She only wanted the best for me and she didn’t ask for much. “Yes, Anna. I’ll be open to it, but…”

“Oh no, I feel a condition galloping over the horizon.”

I smiled. “There is…and it’s a big one.”

“Shoot.”

“If
I
have to be open to dating,
you
have to be open to it, too,” I told her. “I know Alston from apartment 4C is dying to take you to dinner. He asks about you every time I see him in the lobby. Why not go?”

She slapped the air like she was swatting a fly. “Don’t be silly. I’m seventy-eight years old. My dating days passed a long time ago.”

“I don’t think you’ve dated anyone in the time that I’ve known you.”

“Sure I did,” she said guardedly. “There was a special someone once, but that’s long passed, too.”

“Well, if your dating years are over, so are mine.”

She made her best angry face, though it wasn’t very convincing. “Frankie, don’t make me get stern with you.”

“Anna, it’s only fair.”

She sighed. “All right, all right, but now
I
have a condition. I’ll only consider having dinner with Alston after you go out on a date.”

“It’s a deal.” I reached across the coffee table for her hand and held it gently, hoping she could feel the love pass through my fingers. “Does that mean we need to go shopping?”

“Oh child, for what?”

“Something for both of us to wear on our dates.”

“Absolutely not.” She shook her head emphatically. “No new clothes, no kissing, and no early bird special for me. You can tell Alston that, too.”

I laughed. “Now, if we could only find a man for my date.”

She grasped my wrist with her delicate grip. “Whoever he is,” she said, “he’s going to be a lucky guy to have you.”

DEREK

I WASN’T PAYING ATTENTION
to any of the noise that poured from Julia Hayes’ mouth. I’d stopped listening shortly after I had joined her. I had been running a few minutes late, which meant she was already at the restaurant when I got there and seated at our table. Her eyes had covered me before I had a chance to sit down. Then she licked the corners of her mouth, making sure I saw how her tongue curved and flicked. She then did it again. And again. Subtle? She wasn’t even fucking close. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have injected her lips until they’d become the same width as the head of her spoon…the spoon she was sucking on.