“Sounds good.”
Together, we started through the terminal. Piper stayed a little bit behind me, and as much as I wanted to give her privacy for her call, I couldn’t help but occasionally overhear the conversation.
“…Just going out to dinner…Yeah, he seems on the level…A doctor, orthopedic, I believe.”
I chuckled.
“Hey, Valentino!” Piper suddenly called out.
Confused, I turned. Right as I faced her, Piper raised her phone and snapped a picture.
“Thanks!” she said with a grin.
“That better not end up on Tik Tok or whatever,” I said.
“Just sending it to a friend. Don’t worry, I’m not going to be sharing that handsome face of yours on social media—as much as the world deserves to see it.”
I grinned, shaking my head as I turned back around and continued walking.
“Alright, I’ll be in touch tomorrow morning…I promise. Bye, love you.”
With that, the phone call was over, and she returned to my side.
“Sorry about that. I’ve got plans to visit a friend while I’m in town. I wanted to let her know that I arrived safe and sound and to confirm our brunch in the morning.”
“You told her that in between taking pictures of me and sending them to her,” I replied with a smirk.
She flashed a sly grin right back at me. “I took one picture, that’s all. Just being sensible, you know? What if you’re some crazy person or something?”
“Oh, Iama crazy person.”
Piper raised her eyebrows. “Is that right?”
“Sure is. Only a crazy person would spend a small fortune flying across the country to spend his weekend at an ortho conference.”
That got a laugh out of her. “But you’re about to have dinner with me first, right? So, it can’t be all bad.”
“That’s right.”
I placed my hand on the small of her back, unable to resist touching her. She smiled at me in a way that made it clear she was more than fine with the contact. Together, we made our way to the baggage claim.
“How about this, I’ll grab our bags and you go find the driver.”
“The driver?” she asked, curious.
“Got a personal driver to take me to my hotel. We can stop at wherever you’re staying first.”
She smiled, clearly impressed. “Damn, that sure beats the hell out of an Uber.”
“I don’t mess with apps whenever I can help it,” I said. “Not really a techie kind of guy.”
“Works for me. I’ll track him down.”
“He should be holding a sign that says, ‘Doc V.’. It’s… a long story.”
Piper laughed. “Doc V. I like the sound of that. Anyway, I’ll meet you over there. My bags are…you’ll know them when you see them.”
Without any further explanation, she winked over her shoulder and hurried off toward the area where the various drivers were gathered waiting for their passengers. Once more, my eyes lingered on her ass until she was out of sight.
