Toni Aleo - Blue Lines

Erik looked down at Dimitri and said, “Hear that, bud? Momma said yes!”

Dimitri was looking up at them with wide, innocent eyes. Piper laughed along with Erik and then watched as Erik took the ring from Dimitri’s fist and reached for her hand.

Taking her other ring off, he said, “I know you don’t like flashy stuff but I want the whole world to know how much I love you.”

Piper cried happy tears as he slid her new ring on her finger and slid the other one in beside it. Erik leaned over, kissing her mouth again and pressed his forehead against hers.

Piper whispered, “I’m sorry I gave up and didn’t give you the love you needed when it mattered most.”

“We learn from our mistakes and the main thing was that we weren’t broken, Piper, we were just bent. We still have so much learning to do, but together we can do it. I love you and nothing will ever change that,” he said, rubbing his nose along hers.

She smiled and closed her eyes, enjoying the sweet sensation. “I may change my mind on everything else in this world, but you and Dimitri are the two people I am sure of.”

“So me and you to the end?”

She nodded. “And Dimitri.”

“I love you, Mrs. Titov.”

Piper grinned as she said, “And I love you, too, Mr. Titov.”

He moved his mouth to hers, kissing her softly as his fingers tangled in her hair. She felt as if her heart was going to explode from all the love she was feeling. She knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy road for them, but looking deep into Erik’s dark eyes, she knew that even though he was a hard guy to love, she would never love a man the way she loved him.

When Dimitri started to cry, she realized she had the love of two of the greatest people in the world.

Her man and her son.

What more could she ask for?

Four weeks later …

“So then I cut left, then to the right before rearing back. Dimitri, I hit that puck so hard that even I didn’t see it hit the back of the goal! All I saw was the red light go off and the next thing I knew, everyone on my team was tackling me!”

Dimitri looked up wide-eyed at Erik from where he lay on Erik’s legs.

“It was amazing, and not only was it my first goal as the new alternate captain, but it was also my first as your daddy. That is too cool, little man.”

As if Dimitri knew how awesome that was, he cooed, causing Erik’s heart to skip a beat. Reaching for the stick that he scored the goal with, he moved Dimitri’s little hands onto the shaft and smiled when Dimitri tried to hold it.

“That’s my boy, good job.” Taking his phone out, Erik took a picture. He couldn’t believe how much his life had changed. He had missed most of the preseason games, since he wanted to be home with Dimitri and to help out when Piper needed him. Thankfully, Elli was okay with that; she even tore up his probation documents and promoted him to alternate captain.

The hockey season was in full swing. It had been a long week away from Dimitri and Piper, and he missed them constantly. He didn’t know how being away from home would affect his game, but the Assassins had won all three road games. They even won their first home game, which rocked, since Piper and Dimitri were there at the arena with Alla and Cooper. When the plane landed earlier that morning, he didn’t think he could get home quick enough and when he opened the front door both of them were waiting for him. It was the most unbelievable feeling in the world. He could never imagine that he could love two people as much as he loved his wife and son.

“Dimitri?” he said softly, then smiled when his baby looked up at him while chewing on his fist. “Do you know who my best friend is? That’s right, you are, and you know who your best friend is? Me, and don’t forget that. I’ll always be here even when I’m not. Daddy loves you, so much.”

“I’m pretty sure that we both love you just as much.”

Erik looked up to find his beautiful wife standing in the doorway in a pair of shorts and his old high school shirt. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders and her eyes were locked on him as she leaned against the wall. He gave her a lusty grin as his eyes scanned over her beautiful body.

“I don’t know about that. I love you guys a lot.”

She smiled as she came over to kiss him, and when they parted she said, “I think I’ve told you about letting him hold your nasty hockey sticks. It’s gross.”

Erik smiled as she got a baby wipe and cleaned Dimitri’s hands.

“I’m starting him early.”

“Jeez,” she said with a laugh as she sat on the side of the chair. “Daddy’s gonna have you on skates and with a hockey stick in your hands before your walking, little man. What do you think of that?”

When Dimitri burped, they both laughed.

“See, he likes it,” Erik said, flashing her a grin.

She leaned over, pressing her lips against Erik’s temple. Closing his eyes in reaction to her touch, he moved his free hand up her bare legs.

“I just got off the phone with Tate,” she said, bringing his attention back up to her face.

He swallowed hard, pushing away his need for her as he asked, “Really, what happened? Is Dimitri’s girlfriend here yet?”

“Yup, Audrey had Penelope by C-section a couple of hours ago. She came out screaming at a healthy ten pounds, six ounces, and twenty-two inches long.”

“God.” Erik laughed before looking down at Dimitri. “Your girlfriend came out almost as big as you are now.”

Piper smacked his arm. “Oh hush, she’ll be more to love; nothing wrong with that.”

Erik shook his head.

“Nope, not at all. I sure do love your handles,” he said teasingly.

She smiled, then pressed her lips to his and whispered, “I love you.”

Erik bit her bottom lip and answered, “I love you more.”

Just as he went back for another kiss, he was interrupted by Dimitri’s cries. Looking down at his little man, he asked Piper, “Is he hungry?”

“Yeah, probably,” she said, reaching for him, but Erik shook his head.

“Weren’t you almost done with your book?”

She smiled as she nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay, well, you go read, or start a bath or something. You’re on break while Daddy is home,” he said with a grin, then looked back down at Dimitri. “After I get our little man fed and cleaned up, he’s going down for a nap, and then Mommy and Daddy are going to go play a game that we really like.”

“I like the way you think, Mr. Titov,” Piper said as he stood.

He smiled, leaned down to give her a kiss, and looked deep into the lusty eyes of the woman that he loved. “Oh you just wait: While I’ve been gone, I have been thinking of all kinds of things I want to do to you.”

“Ooh, I can’t wait,” she said with a sexy little grin.

He reached for her, bringing her close to his chest as he pressed his lips to hers. She melted against him and as he kissed her with his son cuddled in the nook of his arm, he knew that there was no other place he wanted to be, that he would never experience a better love than this. Breaking away from her, he smiled as she ran her fingers down the front of his arms.

“I’m so glad you changed these.” He looked down at where she traced the words on his arms. He had a big X put through Nothing. Above it was now the word We’ll, so that when he put his arms together, it said, “We’ll last forever.”

Smiling down at her, he said, “It’s the truth.”

She nodded, pulling him by his shirt to bring their mouths together for another hot kiss. With every day that passed, he only fell more in love with Piper, and nothing could ever touch the love he had for Dimitri. They were his whole life.

Parting from his wife’s beautiful mouth, he said, “Thank you.”

Her brows came together as she looked up at him with a smile. “For what?”

Erik looked down at Dimitri, and smiled before looking back at Piper. “For giving me the world.”

My life will never be the same after the loss I suffered this year.

Thankfully, I not only have the best husband, children, and brother; I also have friends and also my amazing family to help me grieve. As much as I want to go through the reason I love my family and friends, I think the only thing I need to say is that I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be writing, I wouldn’t be reading, if it wasn’t for my mom.

She gave me the gift of reading when I was a child. We used to go to used bookstores and she’d let me get as many books as I wanted, the first being Pride and Prejudice. She told me it was the best love story ever told and that my heart would always be happy if I had that book within reach. I’ll never forget how many times I came out of my room and found her reading amazing romance books. I used to tease her and ask why all her books had half-naked guys on them, but she would just laugh and tell me that one day I’d love them, too.

Boy, do I.

When I started writing, I didn’t tell her at first. I really didn’t tell anyone. I wrote Taking Shots and then I looked at my husband and told him. Next I told my mom, and by the way she looked at me, I don’t think she had ever expected me to write. Heck, I hadn’t, either. The first thing she said was how proud of me she was, and the next was that she wanted to read it. She loved it.

I am crying as I write this right now, not only because I miss her so much, but because she never got to read this book. I never got done with the edits in time and it kills me that I never got her opinion on it. I know she would have been proud. She told everyone, “My daughter is an author, the best I know,” and it used to embarrass the hell out of me, but God, I miss hearing her say it now.