He looked at the Parker brothers. “A man needs a good suit in his wardrobe. You never know when it might come in handy.”
Lane knew that meant a drive St. Louis for Brioni suits. She shook her head thinking about her sons in suits costing upward of $3000 each. The price tag of a single suit would probably be more than her own wedding dress and Jess’s bridesmaid dress combined. The difference of course was that the men really would be able to wear their suits again versus what brides had been telling bridesmaids for decades… “you’ll get a lot of use out of it later.” She’d never known a bridesmaid who wore the dress again.
She looked at Jess. “What time is your flight tomorrow?”
“My flight’s at 7:30.”
“I’m having my teeth cleaned at three o’clock and was hoping I didn’t have to reschedule.”
Ben laughed. “My appointment must be right after yours. I’m at four o’clock.” Lane and Ben used the same dentist. She smiled. Ben had made recommendations for so many things dentist, doctor, hair dresser, grocery store and mechanic when she’d first moved, and she’d followed every one.
“Good. Then Mom should easily be out before five o’clock. So, I should be Okay. Since I’m doing carry on, I could even be a little later. You know it usually doesn’t take very long to get through security at KCI. It sure isn’t LAX.”
The oven timer went off, and Lane got up and put the asparagus into the steamer and set its timer. When that timer went off, everything would be ready. Out of habit, she sent the kids to “clean up before dinner.” She was alone in the kitchen with Ben. He stepped behind her and putting his arms around her, he kissed her neck. She leaned back against him. He was right, there really wasn’t any reason for a long engagement. She turned around and kissed him.
Jamie cleared his throat from the doorway and Lane hugged Ben before stepping out of his embrace. Ben reached into the cupboard for dinnerware and handed the plates to Jamie. “Here, Bambino, why don’t you set the table?”
Jamie took the plates. “Okay, Dad.”
Jake had rounded the corner from the hall. “Dad? I thought you were waiting until after the wedding to start with that.”
Ben handed Jake the silverware. Jamie just grinned. He’d caught Ben in the kitchen kissing his mother so he’d better be Dad, Jamie thought. Jess had come in and was taking drink orders.
Ben smiled. This was familiar and comfortable. Maybe Carol Anne had been right when she’d told Ben he had a nice little family of his own. They’d been a family for three years and only his stupidity had kept it from being official long ago. Of course, he’d been 33 when he met Lane. His birthday and hers were only three days apart. Well, 12 years and three days. He thought she was younger than he was when they met and was shocked, there was just no other word for it, when she told him her age and followed that by telling him the three kids she talked about being in Omaha with their paternal grandmother were teenagers, not toddlers.
Thoughts of Carol Anne brought thoughts of Lila Crane. It had been a couple of days since Lila had shown up with that search warrant. It was a good sign that she’d decided to leave Lane alone and let go of whatever animosity she held toward Ben for ending their relationship months before.
Ben and the boys had set the table, Jess had gotten drinks and Lane had placed the food on the table. They sat down and held hands. It was Tuesday. Jess’s turn to say grace. Heaven only knew what they were in for. It could be anything from the quick standard Catholic grace to a scene from some movie.
“Lord, we come gratefully before you and ask you to bless the food set before us. We ask that you bless our family and the work of our hands. Bless us Lord and keep us safe. Help us to love and respect each other. And thanks for bringing Ben into our mother’s life. In Jesus’ precious name we pray.”
Before the family said Amen, Ben said, “And Lord, we ask that you help Jess wow them in her audition.”
Then everyone said Amen.
Chapter 17
Things heat up
After dinner, the kids did clean-up and Lane walked Ben to his car. “Are you going to come over after you and Jess go shopping?”
“I’ll have Jess drop me off, if you’ll drive me home.” They shared a deep, lingering kiss in the relative privacy of the garage. He wanted to hold her forever, protect her from anything that could possibly hurt her or the kids, their kids. Who could have ever predicted that Ben Bellini would claim responsibility for someone else’s kids as though they were his own? But they were his. His, they were all his.
“Sure, Red. At least that way we’ll both be reluctantly getting out of bed, getting dressed and making the drive. If the wedding has to wait longer than a couple of weeks, maybe I can talk to Jamie. You know, man to man. But my preference would be to fly Jess back here immediately after the audition. I love you.” And he kissed her again.
“And I love you. We’ll work it out,” Lane said as she opened the garage door.
~~~~~
She and Jess always had fun shopping, but in truth, Lane hated trying on clothes in the store. She found a couple of possibilities and, as was her habit; instead of asking them to hold the dresses, she purchased both. She’d try them on again in the privacy of her own home and make the decision. Then she’d return the reject. They moved on to the shoes. Both of the Parker women loved shoes, didn’t most women? But Lane and Jess politely parted ways on the choice of heel height. Jess preferred platforms making the heel at least five inches high, the higher the heel the better. While Lane preferred no platform and a three to three and a half inch heel. But then Jess was five feet four inches tall and Lane was five feet ten inches tall. While Jess needed that extra height, Lane didn’t.
Lane tapped in the code for Ben’s garage and waved to Jess as she went in. She signaled to Jess, making that international sign with thumb and little finger, meaning to call when she got home. Ben met her at the door and swept her up in his arms. He’d told her when he dropped her at work, after they’d applied for their marriage license, that he needed to see her naked. And he did, but he wasn’t some kind of animal in heat, well, not quite. He kissed her, and as always she moaned as their tongues mingled. It always made him hard. He had his hand in her hair as he held her close. She didn’t use a ton of product or hair spray, and he loved the way her long strawberry blonde hair felt like strands of silk between his fingers. God she was so sexy. She loved him and she’d agreed to be his wife. He heard her cell ring.
She answered. Obviously Jess was safely home. She ended the call and leaned to purr in his ear. “I think you said something earlier about getting naked.”
It was all he needed. He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom kissing her and whispering I love you with every step. He gently placed her on the bed and began unbuttoning her blouse, as he continued his kisses to her lips, her neck and moving his lips lower as his fingers moved on to the fly of her Levi’s. Yesterday she’d worn a white lace bra and panties, he couldn’t wait to see what was behind all those buttons. She was moaning and whispering I love you and as his kisses moved lower and lower, she was busy pulling his polo shirt out of his khakis. Ben worked out. He ran at least five miles a day rain, shine, or snow. During the months when his pool was open he swam laps. He had washboard abs and just enough chest hair for her to bury her fingers in. She pulled his shirt over his head and began working first with his belt and then with the zipper of his slacks. He stood, dropping his khakis to the floor and in one fluid motion he pulled her jeans off.