Erik looked down and then back up at Piper before saying, “Stanley, my dog.”

“You didn’t tell me you had a dog,” she said, looking back down at Stanley. He had his tongue out of his mouth and was still snorting fairly loud. “Is he sleeping?”

Erik chuckled. “Naw, that’s just the way he breathes. So yeah, is he a problem?”

Disgusted, Piper looked back up. “Does he always sound like that?”

Erik’s smile fell. “Yeah.”

Piper found herself looking back down at the dog. He was so ugly, he was kind of cute. He was a light brown bulldog with white patches all over his body. He had the cutest little nose, and was fatter than she thought a dog of that breed should be, but what the hell did she know about bulldogs? Shrugging her shoulders, she moved out of the way so that Erik could enter with his snorting dog.

“Thanks,” he mumbled back at her as he walked past. She shut the door behind him and followed him down the hall to the living room, where he dropped his bags.

“So where is my room?”

Piper crossed her ankles, resting her hands on her stomach. It was becoming a habit, resting her hands on her tummy, and she liked it, but she couldn’t think of that right now because it just dawned on her that there was no place for Erik to sleep.

Looking everywhere but at Erik, she said, “Well, the couch will be your bed, and I guess you can store your clothes and stuff in my office.”

“The couch?” he asked, deadpan.

“Yes,” she answered with a nod. “I need my office and besides, there is no room for a bed in there. The other room is the baby’s nursery.”

“Okay, then I’ll sleep in your bed.”

Piper almost choked on her laughter. “Cold day in hell, Erik. You will never find yourself in my bed, ever again.”

Erik’s eyes narrowed to the challenge of her comment before his mouth curved in a devilish way.

“You think so?”

“Oh, I know so,” she scoffed. “I live every day with the constant reminder of what happened the last time we slept together.”

Erik’s eyes fell to her stomach before looking back at her. His eyes held her in a heated gaze before he looked away and nodded.

“Fine, I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Well, that was easier than she thought.

* * *

For the next hour, she and Stanley watched as Erik brought in all his stuff. He stored most of his things in the office while leaving a box or two in the living room. She wondered what was in the boxes and hoped that he planned to unpack them, since she thought it was tacky to have brown boxes just lying around. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Erik started to unload the boxes. From her desk, she watched as he proceeded to set up the ultimate in gaming equipment. She was in awe at all the things he had for his entertainment, and when he went out to his truck she almost snorted in laughter when he came back into the house with a bright purple chair.

“So you’re a gamer?”

Erik glanced back at her and nodded. “Yeah.”

Wow, this marriage was getting better by the second. Her twenty-eight-year-old husband was a gamer. Man, she really knew how to pick ’em, get pregnant by ’em, and then marry ’em. Shaking her head, she went into the kitchen to start dinner. The only sound in the house was Stanley and his loud snorting. At least he was breathing, though.

Piper was transferring some chicken from the pan to the oven to finish cooking when loud music started blaring through the house. Stanley went crazy, barking and trying to catch his breath as Piper glared over at Erik.

“Excuse me!” she screamed.

He threw a hand up as if to say, “just a minute,” and then suddenly the noise was gone. He then slid a pair of black headphones on and fell into his gamer chair. As he started to play some sort of shooting game, she watched for a moment before turning and shaking her head.

This was not happening.

Piper closed her eyes tight, hoping that when she opened them this would all turn out to have been a dream, but when she opened her eyes, there Erik was: playing his game with his huge dog sitting beside him.

What the hell had she done?

Feeling the urge to cry, Piper decided to try to distract herself with making a salad. It was hard, though. Erik was screaming out obscenities every few seconds and it seemed that Stanley was barking some of his own. It also bothered her that he hadn’t even unpacked or put his clothes away. He had immediately fallen into his chair and started playing. He sat that way the whole time she cooked, not even taking a break for a drink or to use the bathroom.

It was mind-blowing.

After placing everything on the dining room table, she looked back over at him, unsure if she should bother him. He had to be hungry and it would be rude to start eating dinner without him. Why was this so hard? This must be why people dated before they got married.

Clearing her throat, she yelled, “Erik, dinner is ready!”

“Cool,” he said over his shoulder.

Piper picked up a dish of asparagus and headed for the dining room, placing it next to the chicken, grilled potatoes, salad, and biscuits. It was one of her favorite dinners and she hoped he liked it. Sitting down at one end of the table, she waited for him as he placed his controller and headphones down and made his way to the dining room. When he didn’t sit down, Piper watched in awe and confusion as he proceeded to make himself a plate.

Okay, that’s fine, he wasn’t used to her way of things. She always said grace before serving herself, but he would learn; all she needed to do was say something. But before she could even mutter a word, he grabbed a fork, gave her a nod, and said, “Looks good,” then walked off toward the living room.