And that was final!

Chapter 12

Piper missed Erik.

She knew that was stupid but she did. It had been such a great day and she wished he had come back to the suite with her. She wanted him to lie on the left side of the bed and watch TV while she read, or maybe they could have watched a movie. Anything, really, she just wanted him to come back. Again, this was stupid on her part.

She needed to let go of this fantasy she had of them together. Yeah, they had gotten along better the last two days and yeah, he had a way to make her forget why she was mad, but nothing permanent was ever going to happen between them. He would leave as he said he would, and he wouldn’t even look back. The only thing he might look back for was their child. The sooner she realized this, the sooner her life would be able to go back to normal.

It was well into the wee hours of the morning and Piper should have been asleep already but there was no way she could sleep. Her mind kept coming back to him and not even her amazing book could keep that from happening. She wondered what he was doing, who he was with, if he was thinking of going home with some nonpregnant blonde or if he was thinking of her. Piper wanted to go find him, but she was afraid to since she knew that would only make things worse.

With a loud huff, she looked back down at her Kindle and tried to read the same page she had been on for the past hour. She had finally got past it when the door shook and Erik busted through, looking very drunk and as if he were on a mission. His eyes were barely open as he threw his jacket onto the floor, kicking the door closed. As he walked toward her while unbuttoning his shirt he stumbled into the coffee table.

When he reached the bed, his shirt was hanging wide open, displaying his six-pack abs and yummy tattoos. He looked right at her as he reached down to pull the bedding away from her and her Kindle went flying.

“Hey!” she protested but she went quiet when he took hold of her thighs and dragged her to the edge of the bed. Once there, he stopped and looked down at her stomach. “Erik?”

He looked up at her face and then back down at her stomach, which was peeking out from underneath her shirt. He reached down and she jumped when he pulled her shirt up, almost to her br**sts to place his hand on her exposed flesh. He sat there for a moment, his eyes locked on her stomach as Piper’s chest rose and fell quickly and her heart beat out of control. She didn’t know what he was doing and she was a little freaked-out. Thinking that maybe he was waiting for the baby to kick, she said, “It’s probably sleeping.”

“You’re wearing my shirt.”

She nodded. “I know.”

“I left it for a reason.”

“You did?” she asked.

“Yeah, I wanted to leave a part of me behind,” he said and then he looked up at her again, whispering, “This is my baby?”

Piper was a little taken back by the questions and also confused by the previous statement. She nodded and said, “Yes.”

“Okay, don’t have sex with anyone else, okay?”

Where the hell did that come from?

“I don’t plan on it.”

He nodded and then crawled over her, his hot body touching hers as he cuddled into the spot beside her.

“Okay, good, okay. I’m sorry I grabbed your thighs,” he muttered into her bare side.

“It’s okay.”

He nodded again and then whispered, “I bet you hate me, huh?”

Her heart softened as her body relaxed. She shook her head even though he couldn’t see her and then moved a piece of hair out of his eyes. “No, not entirely.”

“I’m an ass**le.”

Piper giggled as she rolled her eyes. “Sometimes, but I know how to handle you.”

“You’re a good person, really kind,” he whispered as his arm snaked over her thighs, pulling her closer to him. She allowed him to because she wanted to be held by him. Knowing he probably wouldn’t remember any of what was happening tomorrow, she whispered, “I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. See the kindness I see in you, see how much you fight it. I wish you could see how much I love you. All of you.”

She would never have the lady balls to say that to his face because of the inevitable rejection, but she could say it to him in his drunken state. It was actually easier than she thought it would be, especially when the answer she received was a loud snore. She couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He was by far the biggest pain in her ass, but she loved him. All of him.

Looking down at him, she smiled as he drooled all over the bed.

Well, that was interesting.

* * *

The next morning Piper was lying in the same spot as when Erik had fallen asleep. She liked the way his hot body warmed hers. She had only gotten up twice in the night to use the bathroom and retrieve her Kindle, but he never moved. He also didn’t stop snoring, which she knew for a fact was not the way he usually slept, so she chalked that up to him being really drunk.

With her Kindle resting against her belly, she was well into her book when he finally stirred. She watched as he stretched out his body like a cat before looking up at her. His brow shot up when he saw her, then looked down to see all he was wearing were his dress slacks.

“Well, good morning, sunshine,” she said. “Have a nice sleep?”

He nodded and she could see that he was extremely confused.

“Yeah. Why am I in the bed with you?”

She smiled and said, “Because after manhandling my thighs and poking my tummy, you crawled over me and passed out. You’re a big dude; there was no moving you.”