by Black, Jaid
And true beauty…well, that was something intangible, something that radiated outward from within. Beauty was in the vivaciousness in which you danced, the love of life that radiated across your face when you broke bread with the family, the joyous way you made others feel about themselves.
Skinny or thick, true beauty had no look to it.
By the time Robyn dragged herself up to her apartment, she was cold, soaked and shivering.
Her family was waiting for her in Nicky’s apartment across the hall, as if they knew what had happened tonight. As they sprang in near unison out of Nicky’s front door, she could see the concern written all over their faces.
As it turned out, they did know. At least a little of the story.
“Jake is looking all over for you!” Robyn’s mother chastised. “He’s worried sick and so were we!”
“What happened, sis?” Nicky asked, throwing a towel around her. “Why did you leave without telling Jake?”
Robyn still couldn’t find the energy to speak. At least not about that. “I need a hot bath,” she said unblinkingly, her voice scratchy. “I’m so tired and cold.”
“Of course, bambina,” her father, Louie, said soothingly, wrapping his arms around her. Robyn breathed in the familiar, safe scent of him. “Nicky, go run the water for your sister.”
“Sure, Pops.”
Her father was quiet for a long moment, and then, “I understand now is not the time to talk, but you’ll tell me and Mama what happened tomorrow, sì?”
“Sì,” she whispered.
“I need to know only one thing tonight.”
“Che cosa?” What?
“Did this Jake hurt you in any way, physically or otherwise?”
“No, Pop. Jake would never do that. I promise.”
Louie nodded, satisfied. “Your mother left babbà in your fridge and a big pot of soup on your stove. She just took it over so it should still be piping hot.” He kissed Robyn’s head. “Go take a hot bath and eat some hot soup, bambina. I love you and we’ll discuss this tomorrow.”
She didn’t want to move. She felt warm and safe for the first time in hours. “Sì, Papa. I love you too.”
* * * * *
Jake felt sick to his stomach. He’d looked everywhere for Robyn and couldn’t find her. He’d checked every shop and bistro in Little Italy, gone to her apartment twice, scoped out her favorite bookstores and hangouts, and searched everywhere he could think to look. It was as if she’d vanished into thin air.
The moment Tyrone had called him aside and told him what had happened, Jake had furiously thrown everyone but his buddy out of his apartment. He’d asked Tyrone to repeat the story again to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.
“She was crying when you found her?” Jake asked.
“Yeah, man,” Tyrone confirmed. “I ain’t exactly known for having much of a heart, but whatever piece I got left broke for that girl.”
Just as Jake’s was breaking now. He had assumed Robyn would head straight home, but she hadn’t. If anything bad happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.
Goddamn it! He should have known better than to bring a wonderful lady like Robyn into a den of vicious she-wolves. And all for some dumbass party he should have thrown months ago to get it over with.
Still scouring the streets, Jake felt his cell phone vibrate in his jeans pocket. He stopped dead in his tracks and fished it out, praying it was Robyn.
No. But it was from Nicky. A text message.
Robby’s home safe and sound but she won’t talk to nobody. She took a bath, our Ma fed her some soup and put her to bed. Thought you’d wanna know. Nicky
Jake sighed as relief flooded through him. He typed back a reply as fast as his big fingers would let him.
Thank God. Be there in 10. Let me in. Jake
She wasn’t talking, but she was safe. That was a start. “Taxi!”
Chapter Six
Unable to sleep, Robyn pulled on her favorite warm and fuzzy red bathrobe with matching slippers and padded into the kitchen. There was a bottle of Chianti that Uncle Vito had somehow missed and she was pretty sure that bottle had her name written all over it. As she unscrewed the cork, a devastating reality hit her in the chest harder than a wall of bricks.
Life with Jake could never work out.
For all they shared in common, the worlds they inhabited were far too different to reconcile. Now that Robyn understood the rules in his realm, she knew she couldn’t be a part of it. With the exception of Tyrone, she’d feel constantly under scrutiny by the others…and always coming up short. That was no way for a woman to live. It would suck the life and self-esteem right out of her.
She plopped down at the kitchen table and drank a swig of Chianti straight from the bottle.
For the past month there had been one burning question in the back of her mind and now the answer smacked her in the face. Why, Robyn had wondered a dozen times, had Jake never tried to make love to her? She grimaced, mortified by the idea that while he enjoyed her company, her body might be repulsive to him.
She closed her eyes and sighed. Tonight she would allow herself to feel like a broken-down Humpty Dumpty, but tomorrow she would put herself back together again. She didn’t need all the king’s horses and all the king’s men for that—Robyn DiMarco was a strong, proud, beautiful, Italian-American woman who could handle the job all by herself.
Robyn raised the bottle of Chianti back to her lips. A knock on her front door startled her, almost making her chip a tooth. She cursed under her breath as she placed the bottle on the table and stood.
Her family was aware she wanted this night alone and for all they knew, she was already sound asleep. She should have been aggravated, but Robyn realized they were simply worried about her. Resigned to the inevitable “talk”, she decided now was as good a time as any to get it over with.
“Ma,” Robyn said, opening her front door, “you and Pop can come on in and—”
Robyn stilled. Her pulse skyrocketed. She hadn’t expected to see him. Not this soon, anyway. He hadn’t even buzzed her intercom to ask to be let into the building. How had he gotten inside?
“Jake,” Robyn breathed out, her gaze raking over him. He was even more soaking wet than she’d been when she’d first arrived home, which was saying a lot. “What are you doing here?”
Jake drank in the sight of her, a dozen different emotions waging war inside him. She looked so fucking cute in her fuzzy red bathrobe and slippers—they matched the color of the polish on her finger- and toenails—but now wasn’t the time for that.
“Don’t ever leave me like that again,” Jake said hoarsely, stepping in uninvited and closing the door behind him. He locked it just to make certain they weren’t interrupted. “I was worried sick! Do you have any idea what you put me through? Or your family, for that matter?”
Her lips worked up and down, but no words came out. She took a giant step backward, away from him.
“Tyrone told me everything,” Jake continued. “I am sorrier than words can say that what happened to you actually happened, but you scared the shit out of me! Don’t ever do—”
“Jake,” Robyn softly interrupted. She held up a palm. “This isn’t going to work out.”
Jake stilled. His dark eyes widened. Her words shook him to the core.
Jesus, don’t leave me now. It took me my entire life to find you.
“I don’t accept that,” Jake ground out. “How can you just give up on us that easily?” He raised a fist and pounded it into his other palm. “I won’t fucking let you!”
Her green eyes, usually so sparkly, looked dim. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “but your world is too different from mine.”
“That’s not my world, and it never was. I might have tried to convince myself otherwise for several years, but it never felt right. You feel right. We feel right. For fuck’s sake, Mulberry Street feels right!”
Robyn bit down on her lower lip. He didn’t know if that was a goo
d sign or a bad one.
“I love you,” Jake said wearily. “I’m in love with you. I want to marry you and get you pregnant like yesterday. I won’t let you walk away, baby.” His voice sounded hoarse even to him. “I need you too fucking much.”
Robyn’s beautiful eyes teared up. He really wished he was better at reading women because, again, he didn’t know if that was a good sign or a death sentence. Either way, he didn’t like her crying. It tore at his heart.
“Why, then, have you never tried to make love to me?” Robyn quietly asked.
“I didn’t want to scare you off! I was waiting and praying like hell you’d make the first—”
Jake’s eyes narrowed in dawning comprehension. “Is that what this is about? You think I’m not physically attracted to you?”
She nodded.
Jake shook his head to clear it. He ran a hand through his dark hair that Robyn hadn’t wanted him to cut off.
“You want the truth?” Jake murmured. “The whole truth?”
Robyn’s entire body seemed to tense. “Nothing but.”
“Okay, you asked for it.” Jake’s eyes narrowed further. “The truth is that the moment I saw you, my dick got so hard it was painful. That was the pain that got lost in translation, not my damn knee.”
Robyn’s eyes widened.
“The truth is I was muttering to myself in the bistro that day because I was trying to talk my erection down so I could approach you and ask you out.”
Could her eyes get any wider? Jake took a step toward her.
“The truth is I have had to masturbate three times a day—every fucking day—since the moment I laid eyes on you to keep from throwing myself on top of you like a damn animal.”
She visibly gulped. He took another step toward her, completely closing the distance between them.
“The truth is…you are the sexiest woman I have ever seen in my entire goddamn life, and there’s not a supermodel alive who can hold a fucking candle to you.”
Robyn searched his face, as if looking for clues that he was telling the truth.
“Take off my jeans, baby,” he murmured, “and you’ll see just how hot you make me.”
Silence ensued, a long pause that seemed to last a lifetime. And then, much to his surprise, Robyn backed up a step and started undoing the belt to her bathrobe.
Jake swallowed against the invisible knot in his throat. His cock was already painfully stiff and she hadn’t even removed her robe yet. Don’t change your mind, baby. Please don’t change your—
Her robe dropped to the floor. His pulse picked up and his dark eyes grew heavy-lidded. Jake slowly exhaled. He’d pictured Robyn naked a thousand times, but no fantasy could have prepared him for the real deal.
“You’re so fucking sexy,” he said thickly as his gaze traveled up and down the length of her naked body.
His cock was so hard and his mind so consumed with pure, unadulterated lust that he couldn’t be sure if he’d said those words aloud or just thought them. His narrowed gaze flicked to her full, heavy breasts, causing Jake’s throat to go dry. He didn’t find skin stretched over silicone any more desirable than skin stretched over bones. Robyn’s tits were large and flawlessly rounded, and very real. And her stiff, pink nipples…
Jake’s breathing grew heavier. He’d be sucking on those nipples for hours.
His intense gaze wandered lower, to her ample hips and softly rounded belly, before lowering farther to drink in the sight of her gorgeous cunt. The hair on her pussy was short and well-manicured, a tiny little patch of dark gold that told him she came by that honey-colored hair naturally.
He blew out a breath. Her ripe, fertile body was perfect. She was perfect, period. Robyn was everything he’d ever wanted, in bed or out of it.
“Let’s go to your bedroom, baby,” Jake said hoarsely.
He forced himself to blink as if awakening from a trance and quickly removed his rain-soaked clothes. He heard her breath catch as she stared at his erect cock, which damn near made him come. He had waited his entire life to be inside a woman this arousing and he couldn’t wait another second.
Jake’s mouth came down hard on Robyn’s, his big hands crudely groping all over her naked body like an eager virgin. He briefly worried he was being too rough, but that fear was hastily cast aside. Robyn wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with the same animalistic intensity. She moaned into his mouth as their tongues clashed and dueled, her fingers threading through his thick mane of dark hair.
Jake lifted Robyn into his arms, their kiss never breaking, and hurriedly carried her into the bedroom. He laid her on the bed as gently as his aroused state could manage, his body quickly and heavily covering hers.
“I need to be inside you,” Jake growled, tearing his mouth from Robyn’s. His breathing was heavy, his gaze unwavering as he waited for her permission. “Now.”
Robyn said nothing with her lips, but everything with her body. She spread her legs wide before rearing up a little to tease him with her pussy. The scent of her arousal perfumed the air, damn near forcing him to spill himself right then.
Jake hissed out a breath, his jaw clenching, as he grabbed his cock by the base. His gaze bored into Robyn’s as he guided himself to her wet, tight opening. “You’re mine now, baby,” Jake ground out, his tone possessive. “Don’t ever try to leave me again.”
Her lips parted as if to speak. Jake groaned as he surged inside her tight cunt, impaling her with one long, hard thrust.
She felt so fucking good—warm, tight and sticky.
Robyn moaned, whatever she had been about to say forgotten as he seated himself fully inside her. Jake’s breathing couldn’t have been heavier. He had wanted to be slow and gentle with Robyn for their first time together, but higher thinking eluded him.
“My pussy,” Jake told her through gritted teeth. Unfamiliar with displays of emotion, he couldn’t verbalize how deeply Robyn had scared him when she’d said things between them were over. His nostrils flared in remembered pain. “You understand me?”
Robyn’s eyes widened. He didn’t wait for a reply and didn’t want one because he was never letting her go. Jake pulled his cock halfway out and surged inside her again, earning him a gasp.
He wasted no time in fucking her hard, rooting in and out of her tiny cunt like an animal. They moaned as one, Robyn’s legs wrapped around his waist as he mercilessly impaled her.
“Jake,” she groaned, meeting him thrust for thrust. “Fuck me harder.”
The dirty words were like a drug that he craved to hear again and again. His jaw tensed as he gave her what she wanted, burying his stiff cock inside her tight, sticky pussy to the hilt. He drove into her harder, faster, showing no mercy. The sound of wet skin slapping against wet skin filled the bedroom. The combined scent of their arousal permeated the air, a heady aphrodisiac.
Jake could feel her pussy clenching, telling him she was close to coming. He picked up the pace, pistoning in and out of her like a man obsessed. He fucked her hard and ruthlessly, over and over, again and again and again.
“Jake,” she moaned as he fucked her. “Oh God—oh Jake!”
Robyn came loudly and violently, thrashing beneath him, her pussy muscles trying to milk his cock for cum. His teeth gritted and his jaw tightened further, as he continued to rut inside her like a feral animal.
She was his every fantasy come true, the woman he’d waited a lifetime to find and claim as his own. Knowing Robyn was underneath him, his cock branding her with every thrust, made him feel more primitive and possessive than he could have ever thought himself capable. He fucked her soaked cunt deeper and harder, his dominant strokes marking her as his. He wanted this moment to never end, but he couldn’t hold back a second longer.
“Here I come, baby,” Jake rasped, his stiff cock repeatedly plunging into her. He thrust into her pussy once, twice, three times more and—
“Oh shit, oh God—Robyn!”
His eyes squeezed closed and his body j
erked on top of hers as he came, his hot cum spurting into her cunt in the longest, most brutal orgasm of his life. She threw her hips at him as he continued to fuck her, her pussy draining his cock of all it had to give. Jake groaned, the sensation unlike anything he’d ever felt before.
Their bodies gradually began to relax, his thrusts becoming slower and gentler, until their movements came to a satisfied end. A peaceful fatigue enveloped Jake as he rolled onto his back, forcing Robyn to his side. They laid there in silence, their breathing steadying, as Jake fought the urge to sleep. It was a battle he knew he was losing.
Not willing to take any chances that she might try to leave him as he slept, Jake wrapped Robyn securely in his arms. Satisfied that she wasn’t going anywhere, he closed his eyes and succumbed to sleep.
Chapter Seven
Robyn had never, not ever, felt more beautiful, sexually alive and loved than she had these past three days. Unable to keep their hands off each other, she and Jake hadn’t left the bed other than to groom themselves or eat with her family. She had a manuscript due soon so she realized they couldn’t carry on forever like this, but she intended to enjoy every moment until work forced her from the bed.
Robyn sucked in her breath as Jake kissed all over her body. He couldn’t seem to get enough of sucking on her nipples and pussy, a fact that was headier than she didn’t know what. Right now his warm mouth was latched on to one of her stiff nipples, sucking it as if he never wanted to stop. He reminded her of a kid in a candy store. Her nipples, of course, were his candy.
“Jake,” she whispered, her head falling back against the pillows, “that feels so good.”
He sucked on her nipple a while longer, then released it with a popping sound. He trailed slow, sexy kisses down her belly, then lower still, until his face was buried between her legs.
“I can make you feel better, baby,” Jake murmured. His tongue darted out and swiped her pussy from slit to clit. She sucked in a breath. “A lot better.”
As usual, he didn’t disappoint. Robyn moaned as his tongue snaked around her clit, drawing it into the heat of his mouth. He flicked his tongue all over it in rapid succession, dragging a groan out of her.