Blue Lines: The Assassins Series: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance (44 page)

Blake looked to Cooper before looking back at Erik. He then started laughing and said,
“I thought y’all were already married.”

“We are, but I want it to be for the rest of our lives.”

Blake crossed his arms, his brows coming together as he looked deep into Erik’s eyes.
“So when you married her three months ago, you didn’t feel this way?”

“No, sir.” Blake’s eyes narrowed as Erik continued. “I didn’t know what I had in front
of me. I didn’t know that I was married to the most spectacular woman ever. The one
with the kiss-me grin and flighty way of life. She may not have it all together and
she may change her mind more than she changes her underwear, but together, me, her,
and now Dimitri, we have it all, or at least I think we will. If you’ll give me your
blessing and she’ll have me, too.”

Erik could see that Blake was still confused and maybe a little mad but that didn’t
keep Erik from going on. “I’ve messed up and I intend to make it right. I apologize
for the pain I’ve put her through and I promise I’ll never do it again.”

He could see Blake’s hesitation and Erik held his breath as his stomach dropped. He
wanted to do right by Piper, and asking for her hand seemed like the right step to
take to make things right between them. Not only would it help with her dad, but it
would also make her feel like she was special enough to have a man ask for her. Erik
meant what he said and he intended to stay true to those words.

They both didn’t have it together, but together they had it all.

Looking back up at Blake, he found him nodding his head as he said, “I have no clue
what has been going on, and honestly I don’t want to know. You know, Rowan and I consider
you family and we know Piper loves you, so yeah, you have my blessing to marry my
daughter again.”

Blake was quick to grin as Cooper laughed beside him, but all Erik could do was try
to catch his breath.

One step down, a billion more to go.

“I won’t let you down, either of you,” Erik said earnestly.

Cooper grabbed Erik’s shoulder and smiled. “You haven’t let me down yet.”

They shared a long, loving look and at that moment, Erik’s only wish was that he could
be half the man Cooper was, because then Erik knew he would be the best damn dad imaginable,
and a devoted husband, too.

He wanted those things.

And he wanted them with Piper.

* * *

“Oh, I can’t wait to have mine,” Audrey gushed as she leaned against Piper, looking
down at Dimitri. “I can’t believe you went into labor during my wedding.”

“Who you telling? Erik thought I pissed on myself!” Piper laughed, and soon everyone
in the room was laughing.

“That sounds like something that bonehead would think,” Phillip said as he munched
on the chips Elli had brought for Piper.

Piper shook her head as he grinned at her and she figured that Phillip was going to
be a permanent fixture in her life if things worked out with Erik. So she might as
well get used to him.

“How was the delivery? Did Erik pass out or anything?” Fallon asked, cutting a look
to Lucas.

Lucas glared as he wrapped his arms around a laughing Fallon. “That was a one-time
thing.”

“Okay,” she teased as she giggled.

“No, he was amazing,” Piper said lovingly. “A total lifesaver. I don’t think I could
have done it without him.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet,” Audrey gushed as she looked up at Tate. “You should go take
notes from Erik, baby!”

Tate smiled as Shea said, “Notes won’t help till you’re in there. It has been different
all three times, huh, babe?”

Shea wrapped his arm around Elli as she nodded. “Yup, each time and I had C-sections,
which are all pretty much the same, but each time was different than the last. The
boys being the
worst.”

Piper watched as Shea leaned down and kissed Elli on the lips; she couldn’t help but
hope for a love like theirs. She then looked over to see that Tate was looking a little
scared, but when Audrey looked up at him, he grinned widely at her. They were so cute
and she couldn’t wait to meet their little girl. With a smile she looked back at Elli.

“That reminds me, isn’t it about time for y’all to be pregnant again?”

The room erupted in a roar of laughter as Elli turned deep red. Shea grinned down
at her as she said, “We are waiting till the boys are one, thank you.”

“Sure you are,” Harper said with a laugh as she leaned her head against Jakob’s arm.
“They are pregnant right now, but don’t want to steal your glory, Piper.”

Everyone started to laugh as Elli shook her head, a grin on her beautiful face as
she looked up at her husband lovingly. “Not yet.”

Looking around the room, Piper cherished all of these people; they loved and cared
about her and it felt amazing to have them in her life. She smiled as she thought
that Dimitri was never going to be alone. He would always have friends and family,
and cousins to gush over him and love him.

Piper looked up to see Erik enter the room and her heart began to race at the sight.
When he looked over at her and smiled, she knew that both she and Dimitri were also
lucky to have him. She just hoped that it would be forever. Watching as he greeted
and hugged his teammates, he made his way toward her and then looked down at Reese
with a grin.

“You’re in my spot.”

She laughed and said, “You’re lucky I kind of like you.”

Erik smiled. “I am lucky.”

Reese shot him a grin as he scooted in close to Piper, moving a piece of hair off
Dimitri’s forehead. It seemed like a waste for Dimitri to have so much hair, since
he was a boy, but then again, Piper loved it.

“Look up, guys,” Elli said.

Piper did as she was asked to see that Elli was holding up her phone. Putting her
hand up, she said, “Ew no, Elli. I look like poo.”

Erik laughed as he pushed her hand down and said, “You look gorgeous, now smile.”

Piper looked at him with a half grin and he smiled back, before leaning over to kiss
her
softly on the lips. Parting, they both turned to grin at the camera but Elli wasn’t
looking.

“Elli!” Piper complained.

Elli looked up and laughed. “Oh, I took it of y’all kissing, but I’ll take this one,
too.”

Satisfied with her picture, Elli said, “I’m putting it on the team’s Twitter so everyone
knows about the addition to the Assassins family.”

Shea smiled over at them and said, “Erik, I’m pretty sure Dimitri will be a great
right winger.”

“I think so, too. Look at those shoulders. Those are hockey shoulders.”

Piper laughed as she rolled her eyes. “Y’all are nuts.”

“You didn’t know that by now?” Fallon said with a laugh.

Erik smiled as he leaned into her, taking Dimitri’s little hand in his. “Tell Mommy,
say, ‘I could fight for days with these fists, boom, boom,’ ” he said, pretending
that Dimitri was throwing a punch. Piper shook her head as she laughed.

“Not to be rude,” Reese said, standing up and clapping her hands together, “but I
think we all need to leave Mommy and Daddy alone with their baby.”

Piper wanted to jump up and kiss her sister.

“She’s right, we’ll come and bother y’all once you’re out of the hospital. Get some
rest, Piper, and congratulations,” Elli said as she smiled down at them.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming,” Piper said as Erik stood up, hugging and shaking
hands as everyone started to leave. Finally the room was clear and when Erik turned
to grin at her she said, “Thank God.”

“Right?” he asked, coming to the bed and sitting back down, but right as his butt
hit the bed, the door opened again and in came Alla and Cooper.

“For fuck sakes,” he whispered as he looked up at his parents.

“We’ll be quick, I promise,” Cooper said with a shake of his head.

Alla laughed. “We just wanted to bring y’all some dinner and to kiss Dimitri goodbye
before we went home.”

That was when Piper noticed the bags they held. It was takeout from Virago, Piper’s
favorite sushi place. Looking up at Alla like she had just given Piper a check for
a million dollars, she said, “Oh God, bless you.”

“I know you said you missed sushi, so we went and got all your favorite rolls. Figure
once you put the baby down for a few minutes, you two could eat.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Erik said as Cooper came to the bed, kissing the top of Piper’s head.

“Good job, kid; he is gorgeous,” Cooper said, taking Dimitri’s hand in his.

“Thanks, Cooper. He looks just like your son,” Piper said with a grin.

“Sure does.”

“He is just too cute for words, I can’t wait to get him home and play with him,” Alla
gushed, pushing Erik off the bed so that she could get closer to Dimitri. Erik made
a disgruntled noise as Piper giggled.

“Babushka will spoil you rotten.”

Piper leaned in to Alla and said, “What the heck did you say?”

Alla laughed. “Babushka, ‘grandma’ in Russian.”

“Oh, that’s neat, but don’t expect him to say that for a while,” Piper said with a
grin.

Alla shook her head. “He’ll get it; don’t you worry about that.”

She took his little fist in her hand and smiled as she looked down at him.

“You two are very blessed; he is a beautiful miracle.”

Piper nodded as she looked up at where Erik was leaning on the wall and said, “Yeah,
we are.”

Cooper leaned over and kissed Dimitri on the head before standing up. “All right,
come on, woman, let’s go. These two need to eat and spend time with their little guy.”

Alla made a sound of protest but did as she was asked after giving Dimitri and Piper
a kiss. Standing up, she hugged Erik tightly and said, “Call us if you need anything.”

Erik smiled as they said goodbye and when the door shut, Erik asked, “Should I go
lock it?”

“Can you?”

“I don’t know,” he said, glancing back at the door before grinning over at her. “The
nurses might need to get in.”

“Yeah, just leave it.”

He nodded as he came back to the bed, and held his arms out for Dimitri. Piper smiled
brightly up at him before handing Dimitri over to him. Once he was comfortable in
Erik’s arms, Piper shook hers out while watching Erik kiss Dimitri’s head.

Sitting down beside her, Erik asked, “Are you hungry?”

“Not really,” she answered.

“Okay,” he said as he held Dimitri’s hand in his. Nothing was said as they both watched
their son sleep. It was such a beautiful sight to see and watching him love his son
made Piper love him a little bit more. Looking up at the side of his face, she smiled
when he looked over at her.

“I think we need to talk.”

He smiled and with a nod said, “Yeah.”

When neither one of them said anything, Piper laughed nervously as she looked at her
baby. Knowing that she needed to know what their future held, not only for her but
for Dimitri, too, she started the conversation. “Are you coming home with us tomorrow?”

Looking up she saw Erik nod. “I want to.”

“For how long?” she asked, as her heart started to beat louder than a drum.

“Forever if you let me,” he said softly.

Her heart stopped as she looked deep into his eyes. “Really?”

He nodded. “You know what I was thinking yesterday, during the wedding?”

She paused, expecting him to tell her he loved her and never wanted to go anywhere
else again, but like always, he never said what she thought he would.

“What?”

“I was thinking that I want that. I want to stand in front of all our friends and
let them know how much you mean to me, how I never want to be with anyone but you.”
He looked her deep in the eyes, and down at their son, Dimitri. “How my life wouldn’t
be complete without you and Dimitri in it.”

Her eyes started to cloud as she asked, “You were?”

He shot her a devilish grin. “Yeah, and I was also thinking about how hot you looked.”

She giggled. “All that, huh?”

“But most of all, I thought about how much I love you.”

Her lip wobbled as a tear escaped down her cheek. Choking back a sob, she asked, “You
do?”

“God yes, baby. I love you so much it hurts and I can’t go another day without you.
Hold this guy for me, real quick,” he said, handing her Dimitri as he got off the
bed.

Taking him in her arms, she glanced down and saw that nestled in Dimitri’s small hand
was a beautiful, platinum ring with a large round diamond surrounded with little diamonds.
She took in a sharp breath and brought a hand up to cover her mouth. Swallowing in
her sob, she glanced over at Erik to see he was on his knees looking up at her. His
eyes were filling with what she swore were tears.

Erik Titov did not cry.

“Erik?” she asked, her heart pounding against her chest, her eyes holding his gaze.

His lip curved up to the side and he said, “I want to take the right steps to make
everything right between us, and since I did this the wrong way last time, I think
it’s time for me to do it the right way.”

Piper couldn’t breathe as she watched his every move.

“No prenup, no lawyers, I just want you,” he said, and then he cocked his head toward
Dimitri and said, “and that guy.”

Piper was speechless. Slowly, Erik brought his eyes back up to Piper’s and smiled.

“I want to wake up every day to see your beautiful smile,” he said softly. “I want
feel you laugh when I hold you and read with you every night. I want to be there when
you decide to change careers and I want to support you when no one else will. I want
to be the person to listen to all your ideas and to kiss away the doubts that I know
could keep you from succeeding. I want to be the man you deserve, and I want to be
the only person to ever hold that sweet body for the rest of your life, which basically
means I want to make love to you every single day. Multiple times, probably every
hour on the hour.”

She giggled as her emotions took over. Erik then touched her cheek saying, “I don’t
ever cry, and I have never told anyone I love them, but you, you’ve changed everything,
Piper. You’ve made me realize that I can love, that I can be a great father. I couldn’t
have done this without you and I don’t know if I can go on without knowing that you
are with anyone else but me.”