Heart Robber (Lifestyle by Design Book 2)

by Miranda P. Charles

  "But you wouldn't have me any other way, would you, Miss Take-It-Off-And-Lick-Me-There?"

  She blushed. "You had me so hot I couldn't help what I was saying."

  Rob chuckled. "That's how I like it. And right now, I plan to make you hot again." He took a nipple in his mouth as his fingers found her sensitive nub and stroked.

  It wasn't long before she was, once again, burning. She watched Rob put on the condom and was surprised when he asked her to lie on her front.

  He angled her right leg so she was slightly raised from the bed and positioned himself behind her. He sank into her wetness slowly, deliciously before he set his rhythm that had her panting out loud. His tempo increased and he took her higher and higher as his shaft repeatedly rubbed the right spot inside her.

  "Oh, Rob. Rob!" She convulsed as she came hard and tightened all around him.

  He pulled out and gently moved her so she was lying on her back. He pushed her legs up and wide, giving her sex a quick kiss before inserting himself again in her. He thrusted in and out of her with purpose, his face taut, then he was calling out her name over and over as he climaxed powerfully, triggering another one of hers.

  ~~~~~~~

  "Do you cook at all?" Jessa asked Rob as she watched him heap cartons of pre-packaged food in his trolley. They'd just had lunch at a nearby cafe and since his apartment was practically empty of supplies, Rob asked if they could go grocery shopping.

  "Sure. Isn't putting food in the microwave or oven considered as cooking?"

  She chuckled. "I mean cook something from scratch on the stove."

  "Hardly. It's not my favourite thing in the world to do although I love eating." He gave her a wink and a wicked grin as he said the words 'I love eating'.

  She shook her head in mock exasperation. "You're so naughty."

  "Naughty? Now, why would you say that? What exactly did I say that was naughty?"

  She narrowed her eyes at him but couldn't keep a smile from spreading on her face. He was baiting her and she wouldn't give him the satisfaction by answering him. She changed the subject. "So you either eat out or pop pre-prepared food in the microwave or the oven?"

  "Yes, mostly. Or I make sandwiches," he said as he pushed the trolley with one hand and ran the other lightly on her back. She wanted to purr at his touch.

  She glanced at his trolley. At least he chose rather healthy meals even though they were pre-packaged. An idea cropped up in her head. "Well, since I'm staying with you tonight, how about I cook dinner at your place?"

  He walked slower as he looked at her. "Really? You want to? I was thinking I'd take you out to dinner."

  "Have you booked a place yet?"

  "No."

  "Then why don't we stay in? I don't mind cooking at all. I actually enjoy it. You can take me out some other time."

  "Okay," he smiled as he gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Sounds like a great idea."

  "Good. Now we have to go to the fresh food section. Is there anything you want in particular?"

  "I eat anything so whatever you want to cook is fine."

  A new cheese product was prominently on display in one corner and Rob stopped there to inspect it as Jessa milled through the fresh food section, searching for her ingredients.

  On her way back to Rob and the trolley, her steps faltered when she saw an attractive brunette talking to him. By the looks of it, she was interested in Rob and wasn't afraid to let it show.

  She stopped completely. The flirty woman looked good. Really good. She could see why someone like her would have enough self-confidence to talk to someone like Rob in a supermarket. And Rob was … well, he wasn't exactly flirting back but he wasn't shooing her away either. Did he find her attractive?

  She felt fear grip her heart. She was sure this wouldn't be the last time other women would want Rob for themselves. What if he found someone else he liked while he was in Sydney? She was very much aware her hold on him was flimsy.

  Jessa Allen! She heard her own berating voice in her head. What's the matter with you? That's your boyfriend right there. You're not giving him up so easily because of your insecurities, are you? Now go and show that woman he's taken - for now, at least. Go!

  She forced herself to move with the confidence she didn't feel.

  Rob saw her approach and smiled at her. "All done, baby?"

  She smiled sweetly back at him as she put her items in the trolley. Hear that, bitch? I'm his baby. "Yes, honey. We can go home now."

  Rob started pushing the trolley. "Thanks for the tips. I'll tell my girlfriend," he said to the brunette as they walked away.

  "What tips?" she asked curiously, pleased that Rob made it clear to the crestfallen woman he wasn't available.

  Rob shrugged. "I don't know. She just started telling me how adding that cheese to some chicken dish can make it taste a lot nicer. I wasn't really listening."

  She laughed with relief. She was feeling much better.

  As they waited their turn at the checkout, Rob pulled her close and whispered in her ear. "I'm glad we're going home. I'm hungry again."

  She gazed at Rob's smoking gray eyes. "Me, too."

  His eyes smouldered at her response. He gave her a quick kiss before looking around and asking, "Is this the fastest lane?"

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Faye slumped on her seat as she joined her friends for their Monday lunch date. "Sorry, I'm late."

  "Been busy this morning?" Victor asked.

  "No," Faye said with a heavy sigh. "I was late getting to work this morning. Steve and I broke up last night."

  "What?!" her friends chimed.

  "What happened?"

  "He is moving to Adelaide and I'm not going with him."

  There was silence at the table as all attention was on Faye. They waited until she was ready to continue.

  "He said he wouldn't even think about asking me to move with him to Adelaide. He said it wouldn't be fair to me to give up my life here in Sydney for him. And I agree." Tears pooled on Faye's eyes but she was surprisingly composed.

  "So you didn't consider the option of moving with him to Adelaide?" Clarise asked softly.

  "You know, I've been thinking about that since he told me he got offered the role. And to be honest, I really don't want to. The role requires him to travel extensively all around South Australia and Western Australia. He would be away more than he would be home so even if I moved to Adelaide with him, he wouldn't be there most of the time anyway so what's the point? The only way it could possibly work is if I travel with him but that would mean giving up my career and independence."

  Faye sniffed softly and continued. "I guess that's why Steve said it wasn't fair to even ask me to move to Adelaide. I can see his point. In fact, I'm actually grateful that he didn't give me the option to go with him. I would have been left with the difficult task of saying 'no'."

  Clarise stroked Faye's back consolingly while Jessa, who was sitting on her other side, patted her arm. Victor looked on sympathetically.

  "When is he moving?" Jessa asked.

  "He's leaving for Adelaide in two months. Of course, that's too long for us to be under the same roof together after we've broken up so he's staying with his parents in the meantime. He's moving his stuff out of the apartment next week. And I'll have to look for a new place soon. I won't be able to afford the rent by myself."

  "So that's really it for you guys?" Clarise's eyes were moist, too.

  Faye gave her best friend a tight smile and nodded. "Yes, that's really it for us. I saw a hint of relief on his face when we called it a day. I think he was scared I would insist on following him to Adelaide and he didn't want me to. I think he just wants to concentrate on his new role. That's good for me to know. It gives me some closure. Besides, I was already getting increasingly frustrated that he's not home for more than half the time. Technically, we've been going out for a year but we've really only spent about four or five months of that together because of all his travelling. It's not eas
y but it's a good time to end it."

  They were quiet as they ruminated about Faye's news.

  "Hey," Victor piped in after long minutes, "we're only giving you a couple weeks to mope, okay? Then we'll get you to go to one of those speed dating things, too. Or just go with you to a nice, trendy bar where you won't have problems picking up or getting picked up," he added with a big wink.

  Faye laughed through her misty eyes. "You're on!"

  "And how was your weekend, Clarise?" Victor asked in between bites of his beef burger with the lot.

  Clarise nodded as she swallowed her mouthful of smoked salmon salad. "Good, thanks. As you know, mum and I went with Megan for the first fitting of her wedding dress. She looked so beautiful in it." She was about the pop another forkful in her mouth when she remembered something. "Oh, by the way, guys, my sister so subtly reminded me not to forget to organise her hen's party. And you're all invited."

  A cheer went around the table.

  "Wait," Victor cried. "Am I invited, too? I'm not female."

  "Of course, darling," Clarise asserted. "You're one of the girls. Unless you want to join the boys at Rick's buck's night instead," she teased.

  "Oh, I would love to join the boys if I'd be allowed to ogle them instead of whatever strippers they'd be watching. But since that would make them uncomfortable, I think I better stick with you girls."

  Clarise's eyes grew wide then turned to slits. "Strippers. I don't think I like the idea of some stripper gyrating in front of my Will," she said possessively. "I wonder if Mark would tell me what his plans are for his brother's buck's night."

  "Wouldn't you be staring at some stripper pumping his body on Megan's night, Clarise?"

  "No. Megan said she doesn't want them."

  "What?! No strippers at Megan's hen's night?" Faye cried out. "Don't I deserve to look forward to at least one since I just got dumped?"

  Clarise laughed, delighted that Faye could joke about her recent break-up. "Megan already told me what she wants for her hen's party. She said she wants all of us to go to a day spa and have a massage then go to lingerie and sex toys shops so she could stock up on sexy and naughty things. Then we stay overnight in one room, wear our daggiest pyjamas, watch chic flicks, order room service and eat whatever we want. She was very specific."

  "Hmm. That does sound nice," Jessa agreed.

  "Okay, then. It does sound good. But no male bodies to eyeball at all?" Faye persisted.

  "Well, we do have one option. Megan doesn't know about this but we can go to this art studio that hosts hen's parties and we can draw a male model with a live one posing for us. He's not a stripper in that sense but he'll still be nude," Clarise said with a mischievous smile.

  "Will he be completely nude?"

  "I'm not sure if he'll be covering his manhood with a cloth - or a leaf - but as I understand it, it will be a nude male model."

  "Alright! Let's do that," Faye exclaimed enthusiastically.

  "Okay, I'll organise it. You know, I don't mind the boys going to a strip club as long as they don't go into one of those private rooms."

  "What'll Will say if you show him your drawing of the nude male model?" Victor asked.

  Clarise laughed. "I think he'll go berserk. He is the jealous type."

  "So better not tell the boys what we'll be doing and better not ask what they'll be doing. Let's just all enjoy ourselves and keep the peace," Victor declared.

  "There'll be nothing for you to hide from Evan anyway because he'll also be with us, wouldn't he?" Jessa asked Victor.

  "Yes, that's true." Victor chuckled.

  There was a lull in the conversation as they ate their lunch until Faye turned to Jessa.

  "So how was your weekend, Jess?"

  "Oh, you were late so you didn't hear about it. Go ahead and tell her, Jess," Victor nudged.

  Jessa's face beamed. "It was good. I spent the whole weekend with Rob. On Saturday, I went grocery shopping with him and cooked dinner for us. Turns out it's not often he has home-cooked meals so he really seemed to enjoy the dinner."

  "Wow!" Faye arched her eyebrows up at Jessa. "Hey, you know what they say; the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

  "If that's really true then I'll cook for him every night," Jessa grinned.

  "So you spent the whole weekend with him, huh? What did you do on Sunday?"

  Jessa's whole face heated up. "We were just in his apartment, talking and stuff."

  "Stuff!" Faye shouted with glee. "I bet there was a lot of stuff that went on. A few rounds of it, I imagine. So what's his signature move?"

  "Faye!"

  "How many times did he make you scream?"

  "Faye!" Jessa's eyes were alight with laughter and fondness. She was glad to see that Faye hadn't lost her spunk even with a broken heart.

  "Okay, so just tell me, how good was it? Actually, let me rephrase that. How good was all of it?"

  Jessa sighed with pure contentment. "More than great."

  The attention of the people from the nearby tables were drawn to the laughter and clapping happening on theirs.

  ~~~~~~~

  Rob opened the door to his apartment all sweaty and ready for a shower. After his one hour of intense cardio and weights session at the gym downstairs he was raring to start his working day. It was his routine to work out every weekday morning and he was pleased to get the same 'zoned in for work' response after the session even in a new environment - especially after he woke up that morning and reached for Jessa.

  Of course, she wasn't there. It was a weekday. He'd never let himself wake up next to a woman on a weekday. It was too intimate.

  He turned on his shower and ducked under it when the water temperature adjusted to what he wanted. He closed his eyes to shampoo his hair and his thoughts strayed to the day before, a Sunday morning, when he did wake up with Jessa. She went to have a shower when he finally allowed her to leave the bed. She had her eyes closed with warm water streaming over her alluring body and didn't notice when he opened the door. Her squeal was delightful, and so was the way her expression changed from surprise to desire when she saw he was naked in there with her.

  He felt his cock swell at the memory and groaned in dismay. He didn't want to get aroused. He wanted to get ready for work and start being busy. The better he was at organising his time, the more opportunities he would have at following up his other Sydney leads. He wasn't there to just service two contracts. The whole purpose was to grow his Sydney client base.

  He turned the cold water up and the hot water down and shivered. He had to stop thinking of Jessa especially while in the bathroom or he'd make himself ill from his too-cold showers.

  Rob made himself coffee and raisin toast and set up his laptop and client folders on the dining table. The apartment only had one bedroom and that was all the space he needed so the dining table would also serve as his work desk for the duration of his stay. He would be out visiting clients and prospects for more than half the time anyway.

  He sat on a chair and opened his laptop. As he waited for his emails to download, he looked up and stretched. His gaze went to the front door - the same door he braced himself against while Jessa had him in her mouth.

  Fuck! Rob, you've got to stop this now. You won't see her for another five days.

  He shook his head, unable to comprehend what was happening to him. He thought spending the whole weekend with Jessa would be enough to tide him over for a week. To the contrary, it made him want her more. God, she was hot and she made him burn. How the hell was he going to concentrate?

  He got up and sat on the opposite side of the table so the door wasn't in his line of sight, then buried his head in work.

  ~~~~~~~

  Rob spotted Will already seated at a corner table when he arrived at the coffee shop. When Will texted him for a coffee in the afternoon, he was more than glad to go. He'd been working non-stop for six hours since eight-thirty in the morning, only stopping to heat up his lunch in the microw
ave.

  Glancing at his watch, he checked if he was late. He was, but only by five minutes. Will was on time, as usual.

  "Hey," he greeted his friend who stood up to give him a man-hug.

  "Good to have you back in Sydney, Granger."

  "Thanks. It's good to be back. Thanks for coming out in the middle of the afternoon. I know you're busy."

  "Hey, this is your first day in Sydney. I want to make sure you're settling in all right. Have you got everything you need?"

  "Yeah, thanks. Everything's fine at the moment. I'll let you know if there's something you can help me with. And this isn't my first day, you know. I arrived here last Saturday."

  "I know that. But since your weekend wasn't open to anyone else but Jessa, those days don't really count," Will smirked.

  He snickered. "Well, I'm glad you didn't even try to call. You would have been an unwelcome interruption," he joked.

  "I wouldn't have interrupted my weekend with Clarise to call you."

  A server approached and they gave him their orders. When he left, Will prompted him. "So, had a good weekend?"

  He inhaled deeply and folded his arms across his chest. "I want to ask you something. This will sound like a crazy-ass question coming from me and I can already imagine you roaring with laughter. But it's driving me nuts so I'll risk being teased mercilessly by you."

  Will looked very intrigued. "Okay. I'll try not to laugh."

  "Do you remember when you were a teenager and you were horny all the time?"

  "Yeah," Will responded warily, an eyebrow lifting at the question.

  "Have you ever felt like that in your thirties?"

  A slow smile spread on Will's face. "Yes," he answered with certainty.

  "So, what do you do to manage it when you can't be having sex with the woman you want every single hour?"

  Will chuckled. "Do you know how bizarre your question is coming from you?"

  He smiled. "Yup. I warned you."

  "Man, you must be desperate for an answer."

  "Yup."

  "So you've never had this kind of reaction to a woman before? Just with Jessa?"