Page 65 of Loving the CEO

I straightened up, doing slow circles with my pelvis. Nope, all good. I was still in one piece.

Taking a deep breath, I finally walked into the kitchen. There was a stack of papers with a pen on top at the right corner of the counter, where I usually stood when I chopped the veggies. I’d spent a lot of time in this kitchen—it had been my favorite place in the whole house—but I didn't want to think about any of that.

I looked at the contract, reading over it once to make sure there were no stupid hidden clauses. I wouldn't put it past him to make me pay forsomething, but it all seemed legit, so I signed and put the pen back the way it was.

After looking around one last time, I hurried back to the entrance. I couldn't get out of the house fast enough. Stepping outside, I closed the door behind me, locking it, then checking it three times just to make sure. I put the key in the post box, as Walter instructed, and then trudged with my huge-ass suitcase down the front porch before rolling it to the sidewalk.

I should have told Debbie I'd just take an Uber. I didn't want to wait one more second here. But I saw her turquoise Mini Cooper out of the corner of my eye. She’d arrived much faster than I thought.

After stopping the car right in front of me, she opened the trunk before jumping out of her seat to help me.

"It's better if both of us load up that bad boy. It's huge."

"Yep, it is.”

Between the two of us, it was much easier to put it inside the trunk than it had been for me to carry it through the house.

Once we were inside the car, she turned to look at me. "How are you feeling?"

“He was home when I arrived."

Her eyes bugged out. "What the fuck? No. Oh, that idiot. He fought me so hard. I should have known that he had no intention of actually following through.” She frowned and dipped her head. “I'm really sorry. I should have checked the house before you went in."

"It's fine."

"No, it's not fine. He's an idiot."

"We already knew that. But he's an idiot who's now officially out of my life."

"Yes, that's right," Debbie said in a much softer voice. "How about that,huh?"

"It feels surprisingly good. I thought being in the house would be more painful, or that I’d have regrets. But I don’t.”

"Well, I’ll give that to Leo—the man has perfect timing. Giving you all of those orgasms before sending you off here."

I covered my mouth. "Oh my God, Debbie. I can't believe you said that."

"It's true, though, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," I admitted.

"So, here’s your po' boy," she said, leaning backward to grab a sandwich from the bag in the back.

"How about you?"

"I already had one. I was starving."

"What do you want to do for the rest of the afternoon?" I asked.

"Funny enough, a certain sexy Bostonian emailed me with some very generous spa gift cards."

I stopped in the act of biting into the po' boy. "Wait, what? Leo? You and Leo are communicating?"

"I wouldn't saycommunicating, but..." She cleared her throat. "I might have asked him how you were doing over these past few weeks."

"Debbie," I said, lowering the sandwich. "You've been spying on me?"

"I just wanted to make sure you're not putting up a brave face on the phone while secretly crying your eyes out."

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