“You know what that means?” I smile over at her.
“What?”
“We get to pick up Little Man and spend the rest of the day together.”
“I like this plan.” She locks her arm with mine as we leave the apartment for the final time.
I’m going home tonight.
Chapter Twenty-One
Devin
I tried to make the time away from Erin as productive as possible, but it was no use. I was so distracted by thoughts of her I couldn’t concentrate. When she sent me an email with her lease attached and asked me to look it over, I took to the task like a dog on a hunt.
She explained to me what happened with her landlord and said there probably wasn’t much I could do. I smiled to myself as I read it because tearing into contracts was my most favorite thing in the world besides her.
I spent hours going line by line and constructing my document to return to her landlord. The entire contract was ridiculous and I’m glad I had my own team look into what happened. I called the detective after Erin left and asked for a report. He told me the local police didn’t have much, but he was running down a lead with her former neighbor. I asked him to keep an eye on her while she was there, just to make sure things went off without a hitch, and he told me he’d send me what he has in the next day or so.
Erin and I will be on our way to Milan tomorrow for a few days. She’ll have one night back in my bed before I take her to see the world and I couldn’t be more excited. I know it will feel good to have all of this behind us before we go, so I work quickly on the lease and my final case notes for Italy.
As soon as I finish the lease notes, I send everything directly to her landlord from my work email so he takes it seriously. He has no grounds to keep her locked in when her safety is at stake, nor is it legal for him to sublet her apartment without her consent.
We spent very little time texting today because I knew she would be busy, but she did send me a few pictures of her playing in the park with her friend Jenna and her son. I was happy she was able to enjoy some of her trip back, because who knows when she’ll go that way again. If she wants to go back to her old place, I’ll make sure to take her, but I think we’ve both made the decision to give this a go here.
It’s late when I get a text from Erin saying her flight is delayed and instead of texting back, I call.
“Hey.” Her soft voice is a soothing balm that I didn’t know I needed.
“Hey baby, are you okay?”
“Yeah, just really ready to be home.” I hear the terminal noise behind her, and I curse myself for not going with her.
“How much longer are they saying it’s going to be?” I look at the clock and think even if she left now she wouldn’t be home until the middle of the night.
“We’re waiting for a new flight crew to get here from Nashville. They are on the way, but their plane was delayed because of bad weather.” She lets out a long sigh and I wish I could hug her. “As soon as they get here we can go. They said our plane is ready and we’re just waiting.”
“I hope you won’t be too tired to travel when you get back. I can see about delaying our trip for a few more days.”
“Are you kidding me? I’m using the trip to Italy as my reward for all of this.”
I smile into the phone as I lie back on the couch where I ate her pussy yesterday before she left. “Is it annoying how much I miss you?”
“Only a little,” she teases, and I hear her laugh.
We end up talking for over an hour while she waits for the crew to show up. I stay on the phone with her until she’s safely on the plane and I tell her my driver will be waiting for her at the airport as soon as she lands.
I would have gone with him, but I sent him while I was still at the office and I didn’t want to chance telling him to come get me while she was on the way. It’s a short flight, so instead I take a cab home and plan to meet her there.
After a hot shower I get into bed and leave my phone on the nightstand. I don’t plan on falling asleep, but my eyes are heavy after getting only an hour or two of sleep last night and I can’t fight it.