Page 56 of Serial Love

“All of this was your land?” she asked. “Your father farmed all of this?”

Nodding, Jack answered, “Yeah. Dad had some hired help back then and I would work after school and in the summers.”

As though to answer Bethany’s unasked question, Jeannette said, “It was never Jack’s destiny to be a farmer. His father knew that. He was so proud of Jack joining the military.”

Bethany caught the loving gaze passing betweenmother and son and, if possible, her heart warmed even more.

After lunch, they sat and looked at photographs of Jack throughout his childhood. When they came to the pictures that he had sent home from his time in Afghanistan, Bethany stared at the group of men, so similar to the men he had working for him now.

“That’s Tony Alvarez, our captain,” Jack pointed out. “He and I do some business together now. And these crazies work for him. That’s Gabe, his twin Vinny, and Jobe,” he said. Shaking his head, he looked down at her quizzical gaze. “Sorry, babe, it’s just that every one of them are settled down and married now. When I knew them back in the wild days, settling was the last thing on their minds.”

“And you?” she asked with a grin. “How wild and crazy were you back then?”

Jack had the good grace to blush slightly, but only said, “Not nearly as much as them, and now it looks as though I’ve found my one as well.”

As the afternoon sun began to descend into the west, they said their goodbyes to Jack’s mom, with promises to visit again soon. Driving away, Bethany settled back into the seat of his truck, a contented expression on her face.

“Happy, beautiful?”

“Absolutely,” she replied. “I love your mom and it was really nice to see the two of you together. Now that she doesn’t run the farm, has she ever considered moving closer to you?”

He shook his head and said, “We’ve talked about it. Iknow your family did well planning with Ann’s needs, and I hope to be able to take care of mom as well. For now, she’s happy in the old family house, but said that in a few years she’d consent to moving.”

With one more surprise up his sleeve, Jack continued past Mountville toward Richmond. On the outskirts, he turned off the highway and within a few blocks pulled into the parking lot of a large, luxury hotel.

She whipped her head around, looking at him in confusion. “What are we doing here? Dinner?”

“You’ll see,” he said, coming around to assist her down. Opening the back of his truck, he snagged two overnight bags. One, she recognized immediately.

“That’s mine! How did you get mine?” she asked, incredulously. Then it dawned on her. “Oh, that sneak. You got Sally to pack, didn’t you?”

Throwing his arm across her shoulders, he pulled her in tightly. “Babe, you work so hard to take care of your guests. So tonight, you get to be the guest. And let them pamper you.”

Staring from his smiling face upward to the high-rise, she said, “My guests never get this treatment.”

Hours later, after a dinner in the upscale restaurant, drinks in the bar first listening to music and then holding each other closely on the dance floor, a long bath in the oversized whirlpool tub complete with candles and wine, Bethany found out just how pampered she could get.

As Jack toweled her off, taking his time over everyinch of her body, he carried her to the king-sized bed, the soft sheets beckoning them.

The sight of her long hair lying across the pillows, her body glistening in the moonlight streaming through their fourteenth-floor window, had him eager and ready.

She lifted her arms, but he planned on taking the night slow. Leaning over, his bare chest brushing against her breasts, he kissed her. Long. Wet. Loving.

Sliding her arms around his neck, she tangled her hands in his dark hair, her fingers running through the almost-needs-a-haircut length, loving the feel of it.

His hands found their way skimming down her body, stopping to pay attention to her breasts before moving across her belly to the prize he was seeking. Then his kiss became longer. Wetter. And a helluva lot more loving.

And for the rest of the night, she discovered just how pampered she could be.

20

Jack sat in the bar, where Karen Solter was last seen, talking to the bartender and one of the waitresses. They were the two who noticed Karen had indeed been talking to the man in the picture.

“They were just standing there,” the bartender said. “The only reason I noticed them at all was because the man had on a coat, and it was ninety degrees outside and probably over a hundred degrees in here with all the bodies.”

“Did you see them talking?” Jack prodded.

“No. I glanced up and saw this guy with a coat on and thought ‘what an idiot’ and the only reason I noticed her was because she was standing on the step below and, swear to God, this dude was leaning over looking down her shirt.”

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