“Yes,” he said, nipping at her lip. “I couldn’t wait another second before getting inside of you.”

Piper knew from that moment on that no one would ever make her feel the way Erik did. Her only regret: that she didn’t know she would never see him again after he left the next morning. Her eyes pooled with tears at the thought. If only she had known. Maybe then she wouldn’t have been so heartbroken. Maybe she could have prepared herself better and would have known more of how to handle this situation. Things were so messed up and she hated that she had waited so long to tell Erik, her family, everyone, about the baby. Why couldn’t she get her shit together? Why couldn’t she ever do anything right?

“Piper?”

Piper wiped away a tear. “Yeah, fine, whatever. What did you need?”

“I need to see you,” he said quickly. “Can you meet me somewhere?”

“What? Why?”

“ ’Cause I think we need to talk, face-to-face. We have a lot of details to work out.”

He was right. With a sigh, she said, “Okay, when?”

“Now. Where are you?”

“Now? I’m at home, working.”

“Working? At home?” Why that surprised him he didn’t know.

“Yes.”

Erik paused. “Okay, where do you live?”

“Why?”

Surely he wasn’t coming over now?

“I’m coming over. I told you we need to talk. My mom and dad are coming into town Friday.”

Piper looked down at the crappy clothes she was wearing, and knew her hair looked equally as bad. It would take him at least forty-five minutes to get there; that should give her enough time to get ready. “Fine,” she said, and gave him Elli’s address.

“I’m leaving now.”

“Yay,” she mumbled unenthusiastically before she hung up the phone. She sat for a moment and had no clue what they were going to tell Alla and Cooper when they got into town. Hell, she didn’t even know what she was going to tell her own parents.

Blah, this was such a mess.

Realizing that time was ticking, she hopped up and ran back to her room. After a quick shower she threw on her comfortable Pink knit shorts and matching top. Walking back to the living room she admired Elli’s decorating skill. Elli had done her living room in a bright yellow and Piper loved it. It matched her gray furniture perfectly. That’s why she had set up one of her work desks in here, because this room made her feel good.

There were a lot of things she’d like to do with the house, and once she was sure she wanted to buy it she would make those changes. For now, though, she was just a renter, although … she did need to get the baby’s room set up. She was waiting on her next appointment when she’d find out if the baby was a boy or a girl, and she hoped that once she knew its gender she would come up with some ideas for how to decorate the nursery. Gah, that was another thing she needed to do, make the doctor’s appointment. She had held off scheduling it, thinking that after she told Erik of the pregnancy he would want to go with her and find out if the baby was a boy or girl. But she now knew that was of no interest to him.

How sad was that?

With a sigh, Piper had moved to the kitchen to pour herself some sweet tea when a knock sounded at the front door. Placing the glass back down on the counter, Piper made her way down the hall that held pictures of her and her family and friends. When she came to the foyer, she thought about how she’d like to redecorate this, too—yep, she needed to let Elli know she definitely was ready to buy this place. The entryway was still black and purple from when Elli had her Assassins shrine. Yeah, Piper definitely needed to change that.

Opening the door, she found Erik on the other side, looking down at his phone.

And of course, he looked freaking scrumptious.

His hair was combed to the side and he was wearing preppy shorts and a shirt with a hot pair of black sunglasses that covered his sexy eyes. When he glanced up at her, he smiled, sending happy little tingles to the spot between her thighs.

God, he was sexy.

“Hey,” he said.

Piper hesitated, then smiled and moved out of the way for him to enter.

“Hey, come on in.”

“This is a nice place. Really secluded, though,” he said as he walked past her and into the house. Piper shut the door.

“Yeah, I like it that way. Let’s go into the kitchen, which is straight ahead, then right,” she said, then followed him down the hall, watching his butt move as he walked. He had such a fine ass. Solid with muscle, and man, her mouth was starting to water.

Look away, Piper, look away!

Piper shook her head as she glanced up at the ceiling.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“Sure, beer?”

She met his eyes and glared. “I’m pregnant. Why would I have beer?”

Erik looked around awkwardly. “So, no beer?”

She wanted to scream, but instead she said, “No, would you like some tea?”

“Sweet?”

She blinked a few times before saying, “I’m southern. Is there any other kind?”

“I was just making sure you weren’t a weirdo that drank unsweetened tea,” Erik said, laughing, “but yeah, can I get some of that?”

Piper made her way to the refrigerator and got out the pitcher of fresh sweet sun tea. It was her favorite, and she hated that she had to watch her caffeine intake during the pregnancy since too much would not be good for the baby. Pouring a glass for him and topping her glass off, she suggested they go out on the patio to talk. The living room was too confining and it wasn’t good to be too close to him. She had too many memories of being on her couch with Mr. Titov.