"Eric, you have people here for you." Cara says as he's talking to a client who wants to schedule an appointment, "I can take over here."
"They can wait." He replies without looking at her.
"They're already in your office. It seems important." She presses and he rolls his eyes.
"I'm sorry about this." He says to the guy he was working through an idea with.
"No worries, man. As long as someone can draw out my vision, I'm cool with being open." He says and Eric shakes his hand before leaving the room.
He's not in the mood for an inspector, or anyone else who wants to question every fucking thing he does. He takes a deep breath and opens his door, and he's shocked at what he sees.
"Hi baby." Tris says and he grabs her immediately and pulls her into his arms. He's aware of the two other women with her, but now all he can do is focus on her being here.
"How are you here?" He asks before kissing her briefly, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"It was kind of a last-minute thing to get organized. This is Lynn and her wife Miranda. Lynn is one of my artists, and Miranda has been studying under her. I found out yesterday that Miranda's family lives out here, so it happened. We're all here to work for you until Uri and Zeke can come back." She explains.
"You're kidding me..."
"Your wifey told us you were down three people, so you've now got three people. My in-laws live here, and we get to spend some quality time with them. I get to work in a whole different city. I say it's win/win." Lynn says as she shakes Eric's hand.
"This will look amazing on my portfolio, two well-known studios and travel at that, plus I get to see my parents and brother. I had no idea he worked here too until talking to Tris." Miranda says as she shakes his hand next.
"Here as in my shop?" Eric asks and she nods, "Who's your brother?"
"Fernando." Miranda smiles back at him.
"No shit, that's awesome!" Eric says and all three women smile at him.
"And I'm pretty good at running books." Tris adds.
"You're serious? You're all okay with doing this?" He asks.
"I hired an office manager who's also an artist that can cover for me, and he brought in two artists with him. We're covered back home." Tris says and Eric picks her up and kisses her fully before setting her back on her feet.
"How did you manage this?" Eric asks.
"Cara and Fernando helped us make it happen. You owe them." Miranda grins.
"I'll give them anything they want. Let me show you around."
It doesn't take long for the women to unpack their car and bring their tools into the stations that are cleared out for them. Once all the introductions are done, and Eric feels he can actually breathe, he pulls Tris into his office.
"I can't believe you did this for me." He breathes out before kissing her. He can feel her smiling against his lips as they break apart.
"I did it for us baby, I am going to be able to spend time with you, taking those breaks together, and after work time, so it's definitely selfish intentions too." She grins at him.
When they finally go out to greet their customers in the busy waiting room Eric seems proud to introduce Tris as his wife. They work in the curtain areas, always side by side, and usually with the curtain between them open unless their customer required privacy.
Eric loved having her there. He especially loved being able to bring her home with him that night. Lynn and Miranda had taken the car to Miranda's parents' house to stay, and Eric brought his wife home to a house to themselves for the first time in their short relationship.
They made a late dinner and took their time eating and talking in his living room as they watched TV. It was much like their evening phone calls, but having the human touch they craved was so much better.
They cleaned the kitchen together, and he even drew them a bath after she'd commented on the huge claw foot tub in his en-suite her first visit there. Together they soaked in a hot bubble bath, scented with the lavender vanilla body wash she always used.
"Okay, I'll admit, this is actually fucking awesome." He replied.
"I still can't believe you've not used this the entire time you've lived here." Tris replied.
"No one really did. My dad said my mom wanted this house specifically for this tub, but she was never sober enough or home enough to use it."
"I'm sorry." She said quietly.
"Don't be. I don't say these things for pity, I just want you to know more about me, I guess. Other relationships I've had, I've never really opened myself up much, but that's my fault. There's something different about us I guess."
"Where do you see yourself in ten years?" She asked.
He pressed a kiss to her temple and then began speaking, "I'll be forty. I'd say we'd have some kids, we'd be running a successful chain of tattoo shops, maybe not have to be so hands on you know?"
"A chain?" She asked and she felt him nod against her.
"If we make this work, and we're still married ten years down the line, can't you see our businesses combined and maybe even franchised? We have talent in both cities that could easily run the shop, and ten years from now I can imagine even more expansion. New York. LA. Maybe even Vegas." He chuckled, "You said you hired a business manager, is it someone you trust?"
"Ironically enough it's Tobias." She replies.
"As in your cheating ex?" He asks and she can feel him shift behind her, "You can't be serious." He says as he tries to stand up.
She turns to face him fully, straddling him and blocking him from leaving the tub. "He sincerely apologized, and he offered to help because he knew I was married and had no way of seeing you."
"Oh, he apologized. Lovely. I guess anyone who fucks you over has a place in your business as long as they're sorry, huh?" Eric asks angrily.
"Excuse me?" She asks.
"You told me he cheated on you for the entirety of your relationship, and that he proved to be untrustworthy time and time again, yet he's the one you hired to run your books while you're here? He's got ulterior motives, and you're too naive to realize it." Eric spits and Tris finally stands, sloshing water out of the tub.
"You have no right-"
"I have every right, I'm your husband." He says coldly and she leaves the tub, grabbing a towel and hastily wrapping it around herself.
Her eyes are tear filled as she begins rifling through her suitcase for clothes, and she's startled when arms wrap around her middle.
"I'm sorry."
She rounds on Eric, and he can see the anger in her eyes, "Those words are okay coming from you? I guess that must be more of your rights as my husband, saying your sorry and I just fall at your feet." She says angrily and pushes away from him.
Eric knows just how badly he fucked up.
"I'm a jealous guy-"
"Oh, that makes it okay, right? You have a reason for your unnecessary behavior, and I should just forgive and forget? Is that what you think I did with Tobias? I forgave. I didn't forget. I didn't love him, which is why I can continue to have a cordial relationship with him. I forgave him because holding onto that anger only hurts me. I won't forget, because I won't let him get close to me in that way ever again. Not only because he ruined our former relationship, but because I am committed to my relationship with you!" Tris is pacing in his bedroom and Eric gently places his hands on her arms to stop her.
"I overreacted and I'm sorry for hurting you with my jealousy." Eric says and she finally looks at him.
"We have to trust each other if this is ever going to work. We live almost three hundred miles apart. If Jeanine walked into your shop tomorrow and asked for a tattoo, would you turn her away?" She asks.
He shakes his head, "No. That's a bad look for business."
"Maybe you should realize that my decision to hire Tobias is just business. He's a formally trained accountant, who has years of tattooing experience after leaving his father's accounting firm, and he has a degree in business management. He's highly qualified."
"He is." Eric admits, "I'm so sorry."
"Have I given you some reason not to trust me?" She asks him.
"No." He admits.
"We are trying to navigate a long-distance relationship after only knowing each other a few days. There are going to be bumps, a lot of unknowns, and we have to find a way to communicate through them." Tris says and he nods.
"I'll be better."
"Good." Tris says and this time when he pulls her into his arms, she doesn't push him away.
That night, when they crawl into his bed, it's just to sleep. He had apologized to her repeatedly for his jealous outburst, and she had accepted, and he just held her in his arms until they both succumbed to their exhaustion.
She wakes up before he does, and there's just enough light filtering in through the blinds for her to see him. The only time he seems to be truly relaxed is when he's asleep, and she takes the quiet time to really look at him.
His curly hair is messy, and in need of a good trim. His beard has grown out a bit and his skin has lost a bit of its glow as the weather has gotten cooler. His chest is covered in various tattoos, and she watches it rise and fall with every breath.
She also notices the tent in the sheet he has over his lower half, and she slowly trails her hand down to the patch of curls until she feels his smooth skin over his rock hard erection.
She can feel him twitch in her hand, but he doesn't wake up, and she carefully wraps her hand around him and gently strokes up and down. His breath hitches and she hears a soft moan, but he still doesn't completely wake. As she slowly moves down his body, he doesn't stir, and she runs her tongue around the head of his cock before taking him in her mouth.
"Oh god..." he moans when she cups his balls in her hand. When she starts to move her head up and down his shaft while sucking him he moans louder, "Baby... that feels so good..."
He can't hold back, and he warns her he's about to come she doesn't move away, and swallows everything he gives her. She only moved slightly when he was finished, keeping her head on his stomach while he trails his short nails on her scalp.
"I'm sorry about last night." He says quietly.
"I know."
"I don't know why I get so jealous." He adds.
"Because you've been hurt before, and it's hard to trust again." She replies.
"I'll do better." He replies and she nods against him, "I'm serious, Tris."
"I know you are." She says.
Even if she was worried about their first fight, it's soon forgotten when his head is between her legs and she's coming hard from his talented tongue.
The next day's weather caused a lull in business, and when the power went out during the storm with no estimated time of repair they decided to close the shop early. Even with the terrible weather, Tris was having a wonderful time in Detroit with Eric, and she happily rode next to him when he carefully drove them a few towns over to an old bowling alley, following his friends from the shop.
"This is amazing." Tris says with a smile.
"I grew up in this place." He'd said when she looked around in awe at the fully restored retro bowling alley. "A friend of my Pops owned it, and he'd bring me here and we'd bowl for hours."
"So this means you're going to beat me?" She smirks at him.
"Damn right I will." He replied.
They bowled, they all talked and laughed, Cara kept score and said there was no way her pregnant ass was throwing a damn ball, and they ate typical bowling alley food.
"They're damn cute, aren't they?" Thomeka asks as she drops down next to her and gestures over at Eric and Tris, "She turns him into a teddy bear."
"He really is different with her." Cara agrees, "Why aren't you bowling?"
"I'm too damn old for that mess, but I sure like to have a beer and watch. Eric's in love; I'd never thought I'd see it." The older woman remarks.
"You don't think he's crazy? Zeke has been losing his mind, thinking she's some gold-digger like Jeanine." Cara replied.
"No, that little sweet girl ain't nothing like that wretched woman. I like her." Thomeka replied.
"I do too. She's good for him."
When Eric turns and sees Thomeka and Cara looking at Tris and him and he grins, "My friends are talking about us." He murmurs in her ear.
"Let me guess, they think you're crazy for marrying someone you knew four days?" Tris asks with a grin.
"I think they're actually happy for us." Eric retorts before dropping his lips to hers, "I don't mind giving them a show though." He says when they break apart.
"Your turn Coulter." Fernando shouts and Eric looks over at him.
"Nah, I'm after Lynn." Eric replies.
"Not you, the other Coulter." Fernando replies with a grin and Eric smiles back at his friend before smacking his wife's ass as she scampers off for her turn.
"You did good, Eric." Fernando says as they watch Tris take her turn.
"Yeah. I most definitely did. I appreciate what you did to get her here." Eric replies.
Fernando grins at him, "I get my sister and sister-in-law out of the deal too, and maybe I can talk them into staying. We'd love for the baby to grow up with their aunts. You think you two will ever have kids?"
Eric nods, "I hope so."
Fernando grins at his friend and claps him on the shoulder, "It looks good on you."
"Huh?" Eric tears his eyes from his wife and looks at his friend, "What looks good on me?"
"Love." Fernando replies and Eric's unable to reply because Tris approaches.
He pulls her down onto his lap and presses his lips to hers. When they pull apart, he sees that Fernando gives him a thumbs up before walking away.