Blue Lines(79)

Erik thought this weekend was going to be hard, having to play husband in front of his parents, but it was easier than he thought. It was easy to act like Piper was the center of his world and to touch her with no reason but to touch her. He enjoyed it, and in a way, he craved it. He craved her. She was such a goofball, and he loved her laugh. She was amazing and everything about her made his dick harden.

The line between love and their fake, sham marriage was getting confusing. Cooper said to follow his heart, but Erik couldn’t help but think that maybe he should listen to the voice inside his head telling him to run.

Erik had no clue what to do, but at that moment he wasn’t ready to let her leave his side. He didn’t understand the effect she had on him and he was starting to think he never would. He was beginning not to care, either. He needed her, and after sleeping next to her hot little body, there was no denying that.

He had been sitting with Piper in her neighbor’s hammock at their annual Fourth of July celebration. Erik watched her now as she laughed and talked with her neighbors. She looked beautiful today in her short dress, giving him a teasing view of her exceedingly luscious thighs.

Hoping no one noticed his hard-on, he hopped out of the hammock and hurried across the yard to join Piper in her conversation. When he reached his mom, wife, and his new neighbor, Mrs. Anna, he found himself wrapping his arm around Piper’s shoulders, bringing her in close to him as his mom said, “Anna and I were talking about a baby shower!”

Piper smiled up at Erik before looking over at Alla. “Oh?”

“Yes! We should do one when we move here, beginning of September. What do you think?” Alla asked.

“I’ll make all the food and Alla wants to do the decorations,” Anna said with a loving smile. Erik hadn’t really gotten to know his neighbors, the Browns, but he was finding them to be really good people.

“I’ll call Rowan and see what she wants to do. Maybe we can have it at her house,” Alla responded, causing Erik to roll his eyes. His mom was a nut about this kind of stuff. “Sure,” Piper said with a nod. “It sounds great.”

“I just can’t wait to get my hands on your little Dimitri. Alla showed me all the ultrasound pictures; he looks like a doll,” Anna said, then added, “I bet he will be handsome just like his daddy.”

Erik’s cheeks burned as Piper smiled up at him. “Let’s hope so.”

Alla giggled in delight and turned to Erik. “Erik, honey, can you go find your father for me?”

Erik wanted to say no, but being a good son, he said, “Sure.”

He turned to leave but then stopped, turning to take Piper’s hand in his. He didn’t know what he was doing, but he wasn’t ready to be apart from her yet. “Come with me?”

Piper’s lips curved into a grin as she nodded. “Of course.”

He took her hand, placing it on his chest as he started to walk through the yard to find his dad. He felt her smiling at him, and when he glanced down, his assumptions were right.

“What?”

“Laying it on thick again, aren’t you? It’s like you’re a sweet southern gentlemen, taking your southern belle for a walk through the countryside. This would be considered our first date, you know.”

Erik laughed, masking that he was upset with the fact that she thought he was acting. Hadn’t she realized that he wasn’t acting a lot of the time they were around each other? He wasn’t sure if he wanted her to realize it, and when he really thought about it, maybe it was good to play along, let her believe it was all a ruse. But did that mean it was a ruse on her part, too?

No, it couldn’t be.

Looking down into her sparkling blue eyes, he said, “Would I get laid on this so-called first date?”

Piper giggled as she shook her head. “I doubt it. It would take more than a walk to get me naked.”

“How about my fattest cow?”

Her snicker sent chills up his spine. “Now we’re talking.”

“Or maybe a big piece of Oreo pie,” he said with a grin.

With a hand on her heart and a bright smile on her face, she cooed, “A man after my heart.”

Erik laughed before pulling her closer to whisper in her ear, “Or maybe a man after what’s underneath that skirt.”

Piper laughed, her eyes bright with excitement. “Eh, this might be true, but at least I’ll have Oreo pie and then a cow to get milk from.”

“I doubt you would want that stuff once I got ahold of you,” he found himself saying. He glanced down to see that her eyes were darker, and her chest was rising and falling quickly.

“I don’t know, I love Oreos and milk.”