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 br**sts. 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.