Alla made a sound of protest but did as she was asked after giving Dimitri and Piper a kiss. Standing up, she hugged Erik tightly and said, “Call us if you need anything.”
Erik smiled as they said goodbye and when the door shut, Erik asked, “Should I go lock it?”
“Can you?”
“I don’t know,” he said, glancing back at the door before grinning over at her. “The nurses might need to get in.”
“Yeah, just leave it.”
He nodded as he came back to the bed, and held his arms out for Dimitri. Piper smiled brightly up at him before handing Dimitri over to him. Once he was comfortable in Erik’s arms, Piper shook hers out while watching Erik kiss Dimitri’s head.
Sitting down beside her, Erik asked, “Are you hungry?”
“Not really,” she answered.
“Okay,” he said as he held Dimitri’s hand in his. Nothing was said as they both watched their son sleep. It was such a beautiful sight to see and watching him love his son made Piper love him a little bit more. Looking up at the side of his face, she smiled when he looked over at her.
“I think we need to talk.”
He smiled and with a nod said, “Yeah.”
When neither one of them said anything, Piper laughed nervously as she looked at her baby. Knowing that she needed to know what their future held, not only for her but for Dimitri, too, she started the conversation. “Are you coming home with us tomorrow?”
Looking up she saw Erik nod. “I want to.”
“For how long?” she asked, as her heart started to beat louder than a drum.
“Forever if you let me,” he said softly.
Her heart stopped as she looked deep into his eyes. “Really?”
He nodded. “You know what I was thinking yesterday, during the wedding?”
She paused, expecting him to tell her he loved her and never wanted to go anywhere else again, but like always, he never said what she thought he would.
“What?”
“I was thinking that I want that. I want to stand in front of all our friends and let them know how much you mean to me, how I never want to be with anyone but you.” He looked her deep in the eyes, and down at their son, Dimitri. “How my life wouldn’t be complete without you and Dimitri in it.”
Her eyes started to cloud as she asked, “You were?”
He shot her a devilish grin. “Yeah, and I was also thinking about how hot you looked.”
She giggled. “All that, huh?”
“But most of all, I thought about how much I love you.”
Her lip wobbled as a tear escaped down her cheek. Choking back a sob, she asked, “You do?”
“God yes, baby. I love you so much it hurts and I can’t go another day without you. Hold this guy for me, real quick,” he said, handing her Dimitri as he got off the bed.
Taking him in her arms, she glanced down and saw that nestled in Dimitri’s small hand was a beautiful, platinum ring with a large round diamond surrounded with little diamonds. She took in a sharp breath and brought a hand up to cover her mouth. Swallowing in her sob, she glanced over at Erik to see he was on his knees looking up at her. His eyes were filling with what she swore were tears.
Erik Titov did not cry.
“Erik?” she asked, her heart pounding against her chest, her eyes holding his gaze.
His lip curved up to the side and he said, “I want to take the right steps to make everything right between us, and since I did this the wrong way last time, I think it’s time for me to do it the right way.”
Piper couldn’t breathe as she watched his every move.
“No prenup, no lawyers, I just want you,” he said, and then he cocked his head toward Dimitri and said, “and that guy.”
Piper was speechless. Slowly, Erik brought his eyes back up to Piper’s and smiled.
“I want to wake up every day to see your beautiful smile,” he said softly. “I want feel you laugh when I hold you and read with you every night. I want to be there when you decide to change careers and I want to support you when no one else will. I want to be the person to listen to all your ideas and to kiss away the doubts that I know could keep you from succeeding. I want to be the man you deserve, and I want to be the only person to ever hold that sweet body for the rest of your life, which basically means I want to make love to you every single day. Multiple times, probably every hour on the hour.”
She giggled as her emotions took over. Erik then touched her cheek saying, “I don’t ever cry, and I have never told anyone I love them, but you, you’ve changed everything, Piper. You’ve made me realize that I can love, that I can be a great father. I couldn’t have done this without you and I don’t know if I can go on without knowing that you are with anyone else but me.”