Chapter Two
It was a glorious day, the sun was shining and the air smelled clean and fresh after an early morning rain. Jack stopped the Jeep in front of her building, and as promised she was waiting for him. Jack's mouth dropped open when he saw her in civvies for the first time.
She had on tight fitting black jeans, a red tank top, and a white cardigan tied around her shoulders. There were simple diamond studs in her ears, and she wore the same simple watch she'd had on the day before. 'Now here is a woman who knows she doesn't need much makeup or anything else to make her look stunning,' he thought to himself as she climbed into the Jeep. He wasn't attracted to women who wore a lot of makeup and jewelry. He thought a woman's beauty should speak for itself, and Sam's was shouting at him loud and clear! She was what his married buddies would call 'grounds for divorce,' but at the moment he couldn't make himself care.
"So…where to?" he asked, unable to keep from grinning like a fool.
"Take the main road out to the highway and turn left. We're going to a little town called Lauterhausen for lunch."
Jack drove while she pointed out the places on base he might need to know about, and it wasn't long before they were sailing along the highway with the wind in their hair. Sam had brought along a scarf, which she tied around her head, but wisps of long blonde hair sneaked out anyway. She kept trying to control them, as he accelerated up the mountain, smiling. He was feeling very carefree, as if his life was suddenly worry-free.
It was a feeling he hadn't had in what seemed like a lifetime. Even when he was a kid he'd worried, first about helping out his elderly grandparents, who were trying to eke out a living on a dairy farm in order to support him, and then later about leaving his grandmother in a nursing home so he could go off and join the Air Force. It had been a decision he hadn't made lightly. But the result had been that he'd been able to pay for her care. Until she died she had had the best care money could provide, so in that way the decision had been a good one.
Now he worried about his son. If he and Sara divorced, which they had almost done the year before, he didn't know how he could be a good father to Charlie. It wasn't that he was with the boy a lot, but at least when he was home he always spent quality time with him. Now, unless he could get Sara to agree to move to Germany, he wasn't sure what would happen.
A part of him thought she'd use this assignment to file for divorce, and a part of him wished she'd just get it over with. It wasn't that he didn't love her anymore, but any desire he'd felt for her sexually had been destroyed years ago. During her pregnancy she'd had problems. At the time he hadn't minded being turned down because she didn't feel good, but later, after the boy was born, she continued to use one excuse after the other. And now they rarely had sex, and when they did, he always felt like she was just doing it so he'd stop asking.
"Jack? Did you hear me? The turn off is just at the top of the next hill," Sam said. She could tell his mind was far off. Maybe he missed his wife?
"Right or left?" he asked. He hadn't hear her, and he hoped she didn't think he was being rude on purpose.
"Turn right. Then restaurant is the third building on the right…the place with the red geraniums hanging from the eaves." Sam loved the cute gingerbread eves and the wraparound balconies. The restaurant was actually on the ground floor of an old inn, and the view from the windows was awesome!
Seated outside on the patio they ate a hearty lunch of bratwurst, German potato salad and sauerkraut, washed down with pints of beer. And while they ate, they talked about everything under the sun, from politics to their favorite hockey teams. They were both surprised to find out how much they had in common. Sam loved hockey games, although she was just an observer, while Jack had played in high school. They also talked about the actors and movies they liked, and the music they loved. Jack was a jazz fan and had even played with a band when he was in college. Sam also played guitar, although she claimed she wasn't very good.
"I bet there isn't anything you can't do and do well," he told her, taking her hand across the table.
"Oh, you'd be surprised," she said, blushing as she felt a sort of tingling feeling in between her legs. She was getting turned on, and although she knew it wasn't a good idea, she didn't want the feeling to end!
Jack studied her face. It was beautiful in a very natural way, not like the other women he'd been attracted to. He'd fooled around a time or two. When he and Sara had been separated the year before, women had practically thrown themselves at him, and he was no saint. But this was different. He respected this woman, and he felt very at ease around her. Or was it the beer and the sun? He didn't know. He just knew that he felt like spilling his guts to her, so he did.
"Actually, I'm married, but only because I can't seem to give up. I would like my son to have a happy life, with two parents who love one another, but Sara and I are not doing that well. It's not that I don't love her anymore, but it's not like it was when we were first married. We used to make love all night, and then we'd sit on the roof of my truck and watch the sun come up," he said, his eyes focusing on some far off mountain peak.
Sam could imagine him making love to a woman all night long. She figured from the look of him that he had the stamina for it, but she pictured herself laying under him instead of his wife, and the image made her blush.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you," he said as he reached out and squeezed her hand.
"Oh, no, I don't mind at all. I was just thinking," she said. She knew that must sound like she wasn't paying attention to him, but she was afraid to tell him about her vision. He squeezed her hand a little tighter then, and ran his thumb over her knuckles, and she thought if he kept doing that, and looking at her with those chocolate eyes of his, she was going to rip her clothes off and demand he take her right there on the table! She felt like she was riding high on a cloud, and then he said something that made time stand still.
"I've never met anyone like you before, Sam. I'd like to get to know you better."
"I thought that's what we were doing?" she asked nervously, even though she understood his meaning.
"You know what I mean, honey. I'm very attracted to you, and unless I'm mistaken, you're attracted to me too."
"Yes, I am," she said, nodding her head like one of those bobble dolls. A part of her wanted to get up and run, but another part of her wanted exactly what he wanted.
Like someone in a trance Sam waited while Jack registered and paid for a room. Then she let him lead her up the stairs to one of the bedrooms above the restaurant. From the open window she could see the snow-capped mountains in the distance. It was a fantastic view, but it wasn't long before she was staring at the ceiling with Jack poised over her.
"Are you sure about this?" he asked. He'd never felt like this before. Sam was someone special, and he still couldn't believe she was here with him like this.
"Yes, I want to," she replied, as she stared into his dark eyes. Her brain felt like it was on some sort of opiate, while her body felt like it was on fire. And when he lifted her leg over his hip and slid inside her, she almost passed out from the feeling. Then he made slow, tender love to her, reaching places inside her she didn't know existed. He was not a small man, and he also had a technique that far surpassed the bumbling fools she'd been with before. It wasn't long before she was climaxing, biting her lip to keep from screaming her head off. And then he turned her over on her belly and entered her from behind, his big hand lifting her off the bed so he could position himself inside her at just the right angle. Her second climax surprised her. She never came twice! But now it seemed like she couldn't stop coming, and it also seemed like he could go on fucking her forever.
Two hours later they were snuggled up together under a blanket, and she was wondering how she'd lived without this in her life…without HIM in her life.
TBC