“Oh God. Are you stupid?”

“Yeah, basically,” Erik answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Harper didn’t tell me that. She just said that you guys are waiting until the baby is born.”

Erik shook his head, looking over at his big brother. “Nah, man, I f**ked up. I missed the appointment and now the office is booked until after the baby comes. I even tried to get us another appointment at another office but no luck.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, I suck.”

“Yeah, you do. Was she mad?”

Erik laughed as he nodded. “She broke my TV and Xbox and now won’t talk to me.”

Jakob shook his head. “I don’t blame her.”

Erik dropped his head at the sound of disappointment in Jakob’s voice. It was bad enough that he felt like a jackass for what happened, but it didn’t help to hear Jakob’s disapproval as well.

Clearing his throat, he asked, “How would you fix it?” Jakob grunted, causing Erik to look over at him. “What?”

“Nothing. It’s just so weird to see you like this. I never thought I’d see the day when you’d care if a woman was mad at you or not. It’s weird.”

Erik looked away.

“I get that but are you going to help me?”

“So this isn’t a sham then, is it? You really care for her. Because honestly, up until now I thought you were full of shit.”

Erik looked straight into his brother’s eyes and for the first time since marrying Piper, he didn’t lie when he said, “I do.”

“Okay,” Jakob said with a smirk. “I won’t say anything else about it then. I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“It’s fine; now help me.”

Jakob thought for a moment and then clapped his hands together, turning to Erik with a huge grin on his face.

“When Harper was pregnant with Ally, we had gone to the regular ultrasound at the doctor’s office, but Harper wanted those cool 4D ones, so we called around and everything locally was booked, so we called places in Clarksville. I bet Piper would like to go there since it is close to her parents’ house; you could kill two birds with one stone as the saying goes. The place is literally across the highway from Blake and Rowan’s.”

Erik nodded as he thought. That was the perfect solution. Why didn’t he think of that? Though he had no clue what 4D was, he was pretty sure it was like an ultrasound, and well he had to give himself points for even trying to reschedule that. With hope, he asked, “Do you have the number?”

“I do!” Jakob exclaimed, pulling out his phone. Erik shook his head at his overly excited brother as Jakob read him the phone number. Erik called them right there and soon he was on the line with the receptionist. Luckily they had a cancellation the next day and were able to give them an appointment. Erik booked it, getting the biggest 4D package imaginable so that Piper would have all the tests they offered. Not only was he sure that it would make Piper happy; he was excited to know what they were having, too.

“Booked,” he said with a grin.

* * *

Later that day, Erik found Piper standing out by the lakeshore. She had spent most of her time in her room, obviously not wanting to talk to him, or be near him for that matter. This was the perfect time to tell her about the 4D ultrasound. He hated when she was mad at him, and he knew he had to fix it. Not just for himself, but for them and for the baby.

Shit, when did he start caring about more than just himself?

Erik started down the hill to where she stood. She was wearing her bright blue bikini, the one he loved because it made not only her ass look great, but her tits, too. She was so beautiful, her hair blowing in the breeze, but when he got closer, he saw that she was still crying.

Standing beside her he gathered his courage and said, “Can I ask you something?”

She wouldn’t look at him. She only nodded, so he took in a deep breath and asked, “Are you still mad at me?”

She didn’t answer him for what seemed like eternity, but then she looked over at him. Her blue eyes locked on his as a lone tear escaped and ran down her beautiful face. He reached over, slowly wiping the tear away with his thumb and was surprised when she didn’t flinch or try to move away.

“I want to be, but I’m not. I’m more hurt than anything. You knew how much I wanted to know the baby’s gender.”

“I know, Piper, and I’m so sorry. I couldn’t believe that I forgot about it, either.”

She looked out at the lake again. He didn’t want to lose this moment. This was the first opportunity he had all day to tell her.

He pulled up the package he had purchased for her on his phone. He handed it to her, praying to God she didn’t drop it in the lake, and watched as she read the receipt. When her eyes went wide, he smiled. She glanced up at him, her mouth parted as tears gathering in her eyes. But this time he was sure they were happy tears.

“You made us an appointment for a 4D ultrasound?”

“I did,” Erik said. “Jakob helped me out a little.”

“Oh my God,” she said, glancing back down at the phone. “Why didn’t I think of doing this?”

Erik suggested, “Because you were too busy chopping my TV to bits?”

Her smile grew and then suddenly she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly as her legs came up wrapping around his waist. Of course, he was hard within seconds as he held her wet body against his, but he controlled himself, hugging her back. When she pulled away, her face was happily looking down at him. If he tilted her just a bit, he could kiss her, and she would be able to feel his arousal. He could feel her heart hammering in her chest as her eyes deepened in color. His hands rested at the middle of her back, but when she ran her tongue along her lips, his hands tightened, squeezing her as he tried to not kiss her. Everything was already so confusing between them; adding sex in the mix wasn’t going to help anything.