Blue Lines: The Assassins Series: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance (15 page)

Looking back down at her sketch pad, she began to draw. Piper was dragging ass this
morning; she’d barely slept at all. The first half of this book was due back to Emmaline
by the end of the month, so she really needed to focus and quit thinking of her naked
husband—especially about how she wanted to accidentally trip and land with his dick
between her legs.

Wow, what was wrong with her? Did being pregnant make you horny? Ugh.

As she worked through the morning, the sun became hotter. Piper stood up, taking her
sweatshirt off, and fixed her yellow bikini top over her enlarging breasts. Just as
she was about to
sit back down, she heard Stanley’s big paws running down the dock. Turning to greet
him, she also was treated to her topless husband’s physique. Man, he was hot.

Stanley came right up to her and started sniffing and licking her legs as she tried
very hard not to look at Erik’s mouthwatering body. She failed miserably, though,
and soon found herself gawking at his dangerously low-hanging shorts, showing off
every bit of the star tattoos that had driven her crazy those many months ago. He
stretched his arms above his head, causing each of his chest muscles to move with
his motions. With his hands laced behind his head his six-pack highlighted how defined
he really was.

“Morning,” Erik muttered as he looked at her swollen abdomen. This was the first time
since he’d been there that she really felt self-conscious.

Reaching for her sweatshirt, she held it in front of her body as she said, “Morning.”

He looked away, out toward the lake, as he said, “What time is Audrey’s thing?”

“Five.”

“Okay, so I’ll be back by then. We’ll ride together, okay?”

“Sure.”

“All right. Well, I got practice, so I’ll see you later.”

Without having had a chance to say anything, she watched as he made his way back up
to the house with Stanley close behind him. She wanted to chase after him, ask where
else he was going today since practice wasn’t all day long. It was only eight in the
morning. What could he be doing until five that afternoon? Was he going to go meet
someone, another woman? Stop, she told herself. She couldn’t think like that; if she
did, she’d drive herself mad. He said he wouldn’t cheat on her so she had to trust
him. Piper watched until he disappeared into the house. A tear rushed down her cheek
as she thought,
I just have to trust him
.

* * *

Erik was breathing hard as he leaned against the boards, squirting Gatorade in his
mouth. For an
easy practice
, as Shea called it, Erik sure was having a difficult time. He assumed they would
pass the puck, play a little one-on-one with Tate in goal, but no, Captain Shea Adler
had the team running drills! The crazy thing was, everyone was doing better than him.
Even Tate was and he’d been gone for a month! It was insane and Erik was disgusted
with himself. He needed to get a
treadmill for Piper’s house; it had only been a couple of days of not working out
and he was already feeling it. He’d do that today on the way back. He had no clue
where he’d put the damn thing, but he’d find space. It was too far of a drive to the
arena just to come and use the gym, and he never joined public gyms—too many people
and you never were able to use the equipment you wanted, when you wanted.

“Slow ass.”

Erik turned quickly to find his brother grinning at him as he said, “You’re sluggish.”

“I haven’t been working out much,” he said sheepishly.

Jakob was the last person he wanted to appear weak to.

Jakob chuckled as he shook his head.

“I remember when Harper and I first got married, we couldn’t stay off each other.”

That wasn’t the problem. The problem was the restless nights because he knew his wife
was in the other room. Between the hot, sexy dreams he still had of Piper’s body,
Erik’s persistent hard-on, and Stanley’s snoring, sleeping wasn’t an option. Instead
he found himself playing Call of Duty more than he usually did.

Pretty sad.

“Yeah, it’s been kind of wild,” Erik said, placing his drink down.

“So we’re still going with the happily married scheme?”

Erik looked up at his brother and rolled his eyes. Although they were four years apart
everyone thought that they looked the same age. While Erik’s eyes were a dark brown,
Jakob’s were a dark green. They had the same dark brown hair and the same hard lines
to their faces. They were basically two good-looking dudes who could have any girl
in the world. But while they resembled each other in looks, they were completely different
when it came to everything else. While Erik shunned love, Jakob begged for it. He
had been married three times when Harper finally came along and stole his heart for
good. The women from Jakob’s past had been gold-digging whores and Erik knew from
one glance that Harper was different.

That should have been a warning; Allen women were different and played for keeps.

Shaking his head, he should have realized this a long time ago.

“There isn’t a scheme, Jakob; we’re happy.”

“It’s bullshit and you and I know it. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s fixable,”
Jakob said.

It made Erik feel good to know that his brother would go to the end of the earth to
help him.

“Jakob, let it go. We’re married. We’re happy.”

Jakob shook his head.

“I know you. I know you don’t want this.”

“Things change, people change.”

“Sure, but not overnight. I know for a fact that you went home with that redhead a
week ago. You weren’t thinking of Piper then,” Jakob pointed out.

“This is true, but like I said, I had a
come to Jesus
moment and realized that Piper was the girl for me.”

Jakob started to laugh hysterically, causing Erik to glare at him and ask, “What?”

“I see right through you, dude. Mom and Dad may not, but I do. Stop this before someone
gets hurt.”

“Jake, leave it be. Nothing is wrong; everything is great.”

They shared a long look until a hard slap came down on Erik’s shoulder. Turning, he
saw his captain.

“Hey, Shea.”

“Hey, Erik. I think congratulations are in order, from what I hear. Wow, marriage
and a baby, I am totally stunned,” he said with a grin on his face.

“Yup, we are really excited.”

“I bet. Kids are a blessing, and Piper is a wonderful girl. She worked at the jewelry
store where I bought Elli’s engagement ring; she was the one who helped me pick it
out. Piper seems like a great gal; you really are lucky.”

Erik nodded again, and smiled.

“I am.”

“Well, come on, let’s get back to the ice. The Titov boys need to step it up a bit,
slowing up the rest of the team,” Shea joked as he put his helmet back on.

Jakob laughed as he strapped his helmet after Shea skated off, then pinned Erik with
a look.

“When you’re ready to tell me what’s going on, I’m here, but I’m not going to beg
for the truth. Eventually it will all blow up. Remember, this is my family you’re
screwing with. Don’t
fuck her over; leave before you do anything stupid.”

With that, Jakob skated off as Erik stood there, buckling his helmet. He didn’t intend
on doing anything stupid. He was going to do his best to keep this marriage with Piper
until the baby was born. If only Jakob knew that he was doing this to avoid a trade
and keep the family together, maybe he wouldn’t be such a jerk. Erik had always idolized
his older brother, but at that moment, all he wanted to do was check him into the
boards.

Erik loved his brother but growing up in Russia while Jakob was off in the United
States playing hockey took a toll on their relationship. Jakob was fortunate to have
been absent from Jasha’s abuse, which Erik took the brunt of. Even though Jakob was
great at keeping in touch with him during those years, it wasn’t the same, and now
that Erik had the chance to be near his brother, he didn’t want to lose it.

With another squirt of Gatorade, Erik threw his bottle down and then skated back out
onto the ice for the rest of the Assassins’ torturous practice.

* * *

Erik was a little slow moving; his body ached from the tip of his toes to the top
of his head. He was pretty sure he was going to have a huge-ass bruise on his ribs
from where Lucas Brooks knocked him into the boards.

He made his way to his locker room and sat down on the bench to rest before removing
all his gear. As he undressed for the showers he noticed Phillip coming back with
his towel swung low. Curious as to what Phillip had planned for the night, Erik asked,
“Want to get lunch at Dave and Buster’s? Play some games, drink some beer?”

Phillip shook his head.

“Sorry, man, I got two hot babes coming to the house.”

Erik’s libido kicked in; he and Phillip had the same taste when it came to women,
so if Phillip thought they were hot, then they were.

“Must be nice.”

“It is. You can have one if you’d like.”

Yes
was on the tip of his tongue, but he shook his head.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Good man, Erik, I’m proud of you,” Phillip said, pulling his jeans up. “You have
a gorgeously hot wife at home; go bang her.”

“No banging, remember?” Erik said sadly.

“Well, that’s not cool; you need to change that rule. Someone as gorgeous as Piper
needs some lovin’ and if you aren’t going to do the deed, pass her over to me.”

For some reason that statement bothered Erik, igniting an unbelievable need to knock
Phillip’s teeth to the back of his throat.

“Not going to happen,” Erik muttered as he stood and made his way to the shower.

Over his shoulder he called, “See ya later.”

“Later.”

Erik let his towel drop before he stepped under the stream of hot water. Steam filled
the shower and Erik found himself leaning against the tile as the water ran over his
tired body. Like always, his mind went to her, and he wondered what she was doing.
In the last two days of being around Piper he noticed that she drew a lot, and also
liked to read and sleep. She was in bed by eight and woke at six each morning. She
had a weird routine, compared to his, anyway, and he found himself wondering what
she was thinking about most of the time. Most of the women he knew did not care for
Stanley; they told him his dog was disgusting looking and loud. Piper seemed to adore
him and would take him out to play with his ball. When she sat on the couch to read
she’d bury her feet underneath Stanley’s fat as Erik would try to play his game, which
was practically impossible to do when Piper was anywhere near him.

Moving his hands through his hair, he closed his eyes and let the water hit him in
his face. It was going to be another couple of hours until they had to go to Audrey’s
thing, and going home to that small house of Piper’s that smelled like apple blossoms
was unbearable. He needed to stay away, even if he didn’t have anything to do. Usually
he enjoyed being home, but being in the same space with Piper was getting to be really
hard. His body wanted hers bad.

After washing up, he wrapped a towel around his waist and headed back to his locker.
It looked like the guys had already cleared out, except for Shea, who was still there
tying up his shoes. Erik tossed the towel aside and pulled on a pair of boxers, then
jeans, just as Shea cleared his throat.

“Wanna come over for lunch? Elli’s cooking.”

Erik turned and looked over at his captain, his friend. It wasn’t what he really wanted
to
do, but it was better than going home.

“Yeah. Thanks, man.”

* * *

The Adler house was insane.

Kids were running, babies were screaming, and the most unbelievable thing was that
Elli and Shea acted as if it were normal! When Erik entered the house, he first noticed
that it was a wreck, with toys, clothes, and bottles strewn everywhere, and then he
was attacked by Shelli and Posey, two of the cutest little girls in the world. They
both had beautiful eyes and little round faces, like Elli, although they favored Shea
completely. They were dolls, and even Erik couldn’t help but smile when they came
running at him. After untangling himself from the girls, he made his way into the
living room. Portraits of the family covered the walls, beginning with the day that
Elli and Shea got married.

Erik heard a little hiccup and looked over to where the bassinet was sitting, holding
the newest Adler additions, Owen and Evan. The boys looked exactly like Elli, with
big brown eyes, dark brown hair, or fuzz; Erik wasn’t sure if you’d call what they
had hair. They each had on some one-piece thing, embroidered with “cut” on one of
the boys’ outfits, and “paste” on the other. He had no clue which kid was which, but
man were they small; he was feeling nervous just being around them. Geez, how was
he going to be around his own? What if his baby was that small? Would he even be able
to hold it without hurting him? Panic filled him, and he wished he had never come
over. He should have just gone home and dealt with Piper rather than scare himself
shitless with thoughts of fatherhood.

“Shea had that look on his face the first time he saw Shelli. It’s not a big deal,
they don’t break, you’ll do great,” Elli said with a laugh before she placed a hand
on the small of his back.

He turned to see his boss in simple lounge clothes. It was different to see her dressed
so casually, but he had to admit, she was breathtaking either way.

“Yeah, I don’t know if you are right on that one. I’m pretty sure I won’t touch mine
for weeks.”

Elli giggled as she shook her head.

“No, we’ll get you in shape, here,” she said as she reached down and picked up one
of the
boys. She ignored Erik’s protest and placed the baby in his arms. He fumbled but her
hands were right there, helping him hold the baby right.

“This is Owen. He is the biggest of the two.”

“He looks little to me.”

Elli laughed as she moved Owen’s hand out of his face.