Promises to Keep (23 page)

Man,
the waterworks really turned on then.

Laura
thought she was all cried out after yesterday, but Bob’s final words killed
her.

Jack
took her into his arms and held her, rocking and comforting. Saying nothing, he
was simply there for her. It was exactly what she needed.

Long
moments passed before she felt able to speak.

“That’s
just what Bob would say,” her voice hitched. “He thought of other people.”

“Yes,
he did.”

“Bob
would come into my bar and look at me with those lonely, puppy dog eyes. At
first I talked to him ‘cause I felt sorry for him. Then I kind of hung around
because he was so damn sweet. He made me smile and laugh. I needed that.”

“You
needed each other.”

“I'd
been existing,” she said. “I worked endless hours, struggling to pay my debts
and just survive. When Bob showed up, I started to feel…
something
. I
looked forward to seeing him. He was fun. We could never connect like…well, as
you and I do. Yet, I sincerely cared for him. I'd have stuck by his side, been his
wife and raised his children…" she trailed off.

Laura
met Jack’s eyes for a moment. They were steel-grey blue, not sky blue like
Bob’s had been. Jack’s eyes had maturity and experience, while Bob… well, Bob
was gone.

She looked
away from Jack’s gaze and confessed, "I didn't really love him, you know? Sure,
I liked him. Bob was a nice person, but he was also just a kid."

"There's
nothing wrong with that. You're a nice person, too."

"No,
I'm not." Laura insisted.

Jack
said nothing. He lovingly stroked a lock of hair back from her face, tucked it
behind an ear and just shook his head in disagreement.

"Bob
was a spur of the moment thing. A diversion—a way to escape, you know? I didn't
love him, but I fucked him. When I felt a little sick and that God damn plastic
thing turned blue and I knew I was pregnant, I had to tell him. I figured he'd
ask me to marry him on the spot. He was one of those ‘God and Country’ right
off the farm kind of guys, you know?"

Laura
looked at the ceiling, tears brimming in her eyes. "It was my out. Everybody
knows you Navy guys travel all over the place. We could get married and then
he'd eventually be sent somewhere else—California, Hawaii or Florida—I didn't
care where. I thought if I could just hang on to him, he'd pull me out of this
mess. I used him, or I was using him. I don't know."

Jack
touched her face. "No you weren't. You have a lot of love in you. I think
you loved him in your own way, even if you didn't realize it yourself."

"You
believe that?" asked Laura between sniffles.

"I
know that."

The
certainty in his voice and his faith in her was as soothing as ice water on a
burn. "Thanks, Jack."

"I
can see why it bothers you,” he said. “I understand how you feel, but I don't
think you did anything wrong. Even more importantly, Bob loved you like crazy.
You made him happy. It was you and his love for you that saw him through his
time in Hell. You brought him comfort and happiness. If he had known that he'd
only have a short time to live, he'd have married you again in an instant. Try
to focus on how happy he was because of you.”

"Thank
you, thank you, thank you." Laura leaned over and kissed him tearfully.

“I
just wish he’d have signed his life insurance paperwork. You could’ve used the
money."

Laura
shook his head. “I never knew about any insurance or, I maybe would’ve reminded
him. It wasn’t something I expected. Marrying him wasn’t about the money. It
was about having a baby and escaping, I guess.”

He
pulled her against him, laying her head against his chest. “Nothing wrong with
that. Can you tell me what happened with the baby?”

“A
couple hours after I was told Bob died, I had a 'spontaneous miscarriage.'
That's what the doctor told me. It happens sometimes. I can still have
children.”

“That’s
good,” he said.

Something
in the tone in his voice made her look at him. “Why?”

“Well,
you want kids someday don’t you?”

“Sure.
Do you?”

“Yes,
absolutely.”

“How
many?”

Jack’s
brows drew down as he thought it over. “I dunno. Ten? Twenty?”

“Idiot,”
she said. Her fist playfully connected with his shoulder, but there was no
force behind it. “Except for your sister, I didn’t think your family was that
close.”

“Oh,
life was wonderful while our mom was alive. Mom was the glue that held us all
together. My family fell apart without her. Women are the most important part
of a household, you know?”

“No,
I didn’t know that.” Laura laughed, but not because what he’d said was funny.

Jack
gave her a sympathetic smile, and brushed her cheek with his knuckles. “You
missed out, sweetheart. I can’t tell you how sorry I am about that. But you’re
nothing like your mother.”

“Thank
you. High praise indeed,” she said, her tone a little snide.

Laura
smiled, to take the bite out of her words. Thinking of her mom sometimes
tainted her mood with instant, bitter resentment.

Jack,
intent on his subject, didn’t respond to her unintentionally snarky comment.

“Did
I tell you almost every injured soldier calls out for his or her mom?” he
asked. “There’s a reason for that. A mother—a
good
mother, unlike the
one you got stuck with—they create an important balance in a family.”

Jack’s
blue-grey eyes became so intense that she almost looked away.

“Mothers
are the center of
everything,
in my humble opinion,” he said with quiet
conviction. “That’s why I’d be sure to marry a kind woman. A woman who'd be
good to our kids.”

“Oh.”
Stunned, Laura didn’t know what to say.

“Actually,
while I personally want tons of kids, I think I’d better wait and see how many
my wife wants.”

His
offhand comment lightened the subject. Laura laughed. “Very sensible.”

His warm
calloused palm stroked her, lazily traveling over her back and shoulder. “You
OK now?”

“Yes.
I’m good, thank you.”

“Then
let’s get some more sleep. It’s too early to get up. We’ll talk more later, I
promise.”

Alone
in bed, Laura awoke the next morning to the sound of movement in the kitchen. Hungry,
her stomach rumbled. She hoped Jack was making something for breakfast in his
little kitchen.

Laura
turned over. Reaching for Jack’s pillow, she pulled it to her face while
breathing in his masculine scent.

Sweet
baby Jesus, he smells so good.

Deliciously
sore in an astonishing number of places, she blamed herself. She’d told him to
let
go
, and man, oh man, he sure had.

Naked,
Laura got out of bed and turned to look at her butt and thighs. Huh. No bruises,
which kind of surprised her. Jack was a strong man and he’d held her so tightly.

She smiled
happily and threw on one of his big T-shirts. It smelled good too, just like
him.

Her
face heated suddenly as she remembered. He’d been thinking about her when he
talked about the importance of mothers. He’d spoken of children, too!

Jack
was intently studying his phone when she came in.

“What
are you doing?”

He
stood up and pulled her into his arms, giving her a kiss and cuddle. “You look
beautiful.”

“You
need your vision checked, dude. No make-up, I haven’t showered, and my hair is
a mess.”

“Beautiful,”
he re-iterated. “And I liked sleeping with you.”

She
snorted. “Sleeping with me, or
sleeping
with me?”

Raw
lust radiated from those unblinking, steel-grey eyes. “Both,” he said.

Laura’s
heart gave an extra beat as her mind and body remembered all the pleasures
she’d experienced last night. A wave of desire ran through her, but she curbed
it, pointedly ignoring his aroused look.

There
was no way she was going to let Jack start something. No more sex until she
showered and ate!

Avoiding
his gaze, she looked over his shoulder at his phone, trying to figure out what
he found so absorbing.

“I
left my laptop in the car so I’m checking facebook on my phone—your coffee is
over there.”

“Oh,
thank you,” she said, walking over and adding milk and sugar. The aroma of
fresh coffee always brought her brain cells back in line.

“Mmmm.
Coffee. You saved my life.” She frowned, peering at the screen. “You have
facebook?”

“You
don’t?”

Laura
grinned, surprised to discover that her lack of Facebook experience was
incredible to Jack. He showed her pictures of his sister’s Facebook page as
well as the page for her business.

The
coffee was great, strong and sweet, exactly the way she liked to have it first
thing in the morning. Sipping and savoring, Laura almost finished it, while
enjoying every drop.

“Your
sister kind of looks like you.”

Jack
smirked. “Don’t tell her that.”

“She
looks like a nice person.”

“She
is. You two will love each other.”

“You
think?”

“I’m
sure of it.”

The
confidence in his voice caught her off guard. Laura wanted to ask him when he imagined
they would ever meet, but somehow she felt too shy to mention it. His next
words surprised her.

“I
think you should come home with me to California so you can meet Sally.”

He
said it so casually—just drop everything and go. Leave her home and her life
behind to go clear across the country with him. Why would she do that? Unless
he was serious about keeping her around.

The thought
made her stomach flutter with excitement.

Escape.
Freedom. New experiences and maybe even…love?

There
really wasn't much tying Laura to New Bern. Nothing of great importance. Only
danger, debt and destructive reminders of her past, as far as she could tell.

She finished
her drink and set her empty cup on the table. “Let me get this straight,” she
said with an unexpected bite to her voice. “You want me to go with you to
California, just so I can meet Sally?”

“No.”
He raised his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

Laura
laughed and rolled her eyes at him. “Oh, I see. I should drop everything and
run away with you—just to warm your bed?”

Jack
took her in his arms, pressing her hard against him as he crushed his lips to
hers. He made a noise in her mouth—kind of a low moan. Laura felt his erection
through his jeans, she felt the hard male strength of him and his raw, almost
savage hunger for her.

Jack’s
kiss was so hot, so all consuming and possessive, that her legs went weak. All
thoughts of resistance disappeared. In fact her every thought fled, along with
every brain cell. Laura melted into him, her body aching, craving…

Jack’s
kiss was more intimate than sex.

Forget
intimacy. His
kiss
alone was
sexier
than sex.

Laura
figured if Jack kept going, she could climax from a kiss like that.

“Whew,”
she murmured when he pulled back to meet her eyes. She was glad he had a firm
hold of her—otherwise she might fall.

“OK,”
she said.

“OK,
what?”

“OK,
warming your bed sounds like a good enough reason to go anywhere with you.”
Forget the ‘no sex until she showered and ate’ concept. Laura was more than
half way there. Jack had started something alright, and she wanted to help him
end it.

Laughing,
he gave her a quick hug and kissed her nose. “C’mon, let’s get ready and go get
something to eat. I’m starving. We can talk about it over breakfast.”

“Starving?”
Laura teased, raising one eyebrow. “What exactly are you hungry for?”

Jack
stood up straight, pushed out his upper torso, and beat his fists on his chest.
“Me want woman,” he announced in a ridiculous Tarzan voice. His smug, smart-ass
smile tugged at her heart.

Then
he swept her up, off her feet and into his arms—
he seemed to be making a
habit of that.

Laura
squealed as he squeezed her against him, ravishing her face and throat with
kisses, and bites, pretending to eat her as he strode to the shower.

They
showered together, laughing and teasing and making love. Laura felt entirely
comfortable with Jack. With him, she could be herself.

As
new and exciting as their relationship was, already she felt as if they’d known
each other for years.