Page 1 of Blocked Score

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SCARLETT

18 Months Ago …

Didn’t I tell you what was going to happen if you decided to be a bad girl again?

The male voice actor’s rasp is like warm honey in my ears. I’ve got my AirPods in to listen to my current audiobook while I’m on this short flight from Burlington, Vermont to Chicago, and it’s starting to getreallygood.

There are many drawbacks of modern technology. Like having to navigate the guys who inhabit dating apps, to choose a random example from a very long list. But at least the existence of audiobooks playable from your phone is one benefit.

My brow bounces as the narrator describes pulling Valentina flush against his chest, watching the defiance in her eyes melt into need.

How am I being bad?she asks, her voice a coy tease.

This fucking dress,he answers in a strained growl,you must be out of your mind if you think I’m going to letanyman see you in it but me.

She fires back,You think just because of what happened last night, you get to tell me what to wear?

Roman chuckles, the sound dripping with arrogance.What happened last night? Oh, you mean …

His words fade as a thin, bouncing sound chimes in my AirPods, indicating that the charge is dying. My lower lip curls in disappointment. I could’ve sworn they were fully charged.

I can still hear the narrator’s voice, though … but it’s different. It sounds quieter, further away, like …

My stomach twists. I’m not the type who gets embarrassed easily, but the thought that just popped into my head has a feeling close to panic slicing through me. I quickly pull the AirPods out of my ears …

And I hear the narrator finish his sentence through the speakers of my phone resting in my lap, spilling out into the plane cabin for anyone near me to hear.

Oh, you mean how I pulled this very same dress above your hips, dropped to my knees, and made you promise that you’d be a good girl from now on if only I let you come all over my face?

My hands shoot to my phone. I fumble it like a hot potato before my motor skills kick in enough to find the pause button and silence the narrator before he drops one of the many synonyms for sex organs that the author liberally sprinkles throughout her scenes.

Once the sound is off, I stay hunched over my phone, my shoulders rolled forward. I have no shame in what I listen to, but that doesn’t mean I’m excited about an entire plane cabin getting an earful.

After a while of letting embarrassment vibrate up and down my back with my gaze pointed to my lap, I bring myself to glance around and see who might be looking at me with judgment in their eyes.

I’m in an aisle seat, so first I look to my left, and feel a wave of relief wash over me as no one’s gawking. The guy sitting to my right, by the window, seemed to be napping already when I took my seat. I just hope he still is. I slide my gaze to the side to check.

No such luck.

My stomach leaps into my mouth when I look to his direction and find a very much awake face staring at me.

Amusement dances in his eyes and etches on his expression, letting me know that he definitely got an earful of what blared from my phone.

That face, by the way? Drop-dead gorgeous.

It’s a collection of hard lines and sharp angles, softened by a full and plush set of lips and the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen. The hood of his grey hoodie is pulled over his head, and thick locks of his blonde hair spill down his forehead, curling just above his brow.

If you asked Central Casting for someone to play the heartthrob, golden boy quarterback in some cheesy teen drama, this is the guy they’d send.

Which means he’s not at all my usual type. My taste in men tends to run more in the edgy, tattooed, and irresponsible direction.

Whether or not that’s been a good thing for me, I’ll give ano comment.

“Hey, don’t turn it off just when it’s starting to get good,” he says.

It takes a moment for his words to register with my scrambled brain. When they finally do, a laugh pushes from my chest at the same time blush floods my cheeks.

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