I parked the car a step out of sight from the signage and got out of the car to get my little man. Bryce was my little replica and I loved him unconditionally. My mother was going to keep him back at the ranch back home, but Harley didn’t want to be away from him that long. Truth be told, I let her take the brunt of that blame; I didn’t want to be without my boy either. She took the diaper bag as I grabbed his car seat and headed to the entrance. She gasped and stopped in her tracks. The parted, shocked expression morphed into a giant smile t
hat shone in her eyes.
“Do you like it, baby?”
“Do I like it? You named a hotel after me. I freaking love it. I can’t believe it. The Harley Inn,” she gasped.
“I thought it had a nice ring to it,” I offered.
“I knew you talked about rebranding it, but since all the hotels are named after the family, I didn’t think you’d do one for me.”
I moved to her side, with my little guy, strapped into his car seat at our feet, and hugged my wife tightly. “I love you, Harley. This hotel has always been associated with you. Even to the point that my brothers called it Harley’s before I even made it official.”
“It’s perfect, Jacob,” she sobbed. I didn’t mean to make her cry, but they were good tears so I wasn’t pissed at myself. In fact, I couldn’t stop smiling.
Bryce was cooing in his seat and bouncing, so I lifted him up and asked, “Do you like it, too, buddy?”
“Da-da,” he mumbled. Then he did it again. Harley and I looked at each other with big ass grins and then back to him.
“He finally said it,” she cheered. We’d been practicing daddy or some variation of it, but the guy wouldn’t do it. Every time it would come out, “Mama.” He could already say about five to ten words, but that wasn’t one of them. Brilliant little man wanted to wait until I impressed him. I shook my head at him and placed a kiss on his chubby cheek. He erupted in a fit of giggles from my lightly grown-in beard that she wanted me to keep.
“How about we go check out the rest of the remodel, then maybe visit the manager’s office?”
“I believe it’s a very great idea, sir.”
Harley
Twenty-five years later…
I stared at my husband and son, who hadn’t known I was in the room. They had been carrying on because Bryce had his Masters in business and structural engineering. We couldn’t have been any prouder of him. He’d grown up to be a true replica of his father. Now our three girls that followed were all little versions of me. Well, little had long since gone. Our youngest daughter, Kayla, had just turned eighteen and was off at college. Time had flown by and I still remember being here and that young girl who embarrassed herself in front of the most amazing man she’d ever met.
“So tell me, Bryce. Where do you want to start?”
“How about here? Mom’s hotel is my favorite. And it needs a makeover.”
“That sounds really good, son, but the office here doesn’t change.”
“I understand. Besides no one is allowed in this one unless it’s on your command. There’s the other office we all get to use.”
“Have you thought about the other two hotels in the area? They are due for some modifications as well.”
“I was thinking of starting it once the tourist season wanes at Big Bear Amusement Park.”
“Son, there’s more to this hotel than it being your mother’s that has you interested. Could it be that sweet girl that started working here a few months ago?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I just laughed because he was definitely like his father. I’d met the young lady when Jacob took me on a private getaway for the two of us. Of course, it turned into a “fucking work trip” as we liked to call it. We’d spend a day inspecting the hotels, while we spent the rest of the time testing out the beds. Even at our age, the sex drive didn’t fade away.
We sent some shots of the hotel to Bryce and our oldest girl, Elizabeth, to look at, and according to what she said, he couldn’t take his eyes off the woman at the registration desk. He’d kept the picture zoomed and saved to his phone, and it was our middle daughter, Cassandra, who found it and teased him. The three girls drove their brother insane, but there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for them.
I knocked on the door and both of my strapping men turned to me. “Wow, you look just like your father when I met him,” I reminisced.
“Uh-oh there goes those goo-goo eyes she gives you. I’m out of here,” he said, high-stepping it toward the door. “And could you keep it down, don’t want to scare the new employee away.”
“I bet you don’t,” Jacob said, laughing as Bryce reached the inside lock and turned it before walking out of the room. “He’s a really good boy.”
“Yes, he is. He locked the door,” I whispered as I climbed onto his lap. I felt the growing ridge in his pants that poked at my ass. Twenty-six years together and never a wasted moment. He turned my head to the side and kissed my lips. I moaned against his mouth, my body responding like it always did to his touch.
“Jacob, take me. I need you,” I begged, and before I knew it, I found myself pinned to the desk. We tried to keep it down, but by the time we stepped out of the office there was a blush covering the new employee’s face. And I wasn’t sure if it was because of us or the fact that my son’s lips were puffy.