Toni Aleo - Blue Lines

Piper believed that in life there were moments that changed everything and this was one of those. She could live her life and not take any chances, but what fun was that. When they finally parted for air, his eyes searched hers, his breath hot against her swollen lips. Piper still couldn’t believe this was happening. For the past two years she thought he never really saw her, but now she wasn’t so sure.

“I thought for the longest time you didn’t notice me,” she found herself saying.

Erik’s eyes softened, his thumb running slowly along her bottom lip. “Maybe I wasn’t looking, Piper, but I am now”—he placed a kiss to the side of her mouth—“and sweetheart, I’m not looking anywhere but at you right now.”

“Ma’am, we’re here,” the cabdriver announced.

Breaking their heated glance, Piper looked out the window to see they were in front of her apartment. The cabbie was looking at her through the rearview mirror and when she glanced over at Erik, he, too, was looking at her expectantly. She had a choice to make, she knew that, and a month from now she might decide it was not the right one. But at that moment, there was only one option.

“Are you coming up?” she asked.

“Only if you want me to,” Erik responded quietly.

“Oh, I want you to.”

Erik paid the cabdriver as Piper quickly opened the door and hopped out; turning back she saw Erik was right behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her close, his rock-hard length stiff against the small of her back. Dropping her head back onto his chest, she looked up at him as he looked down at her.

“Ready for some fun?” he asked.

She nodded. “I’ve been ready for a while.”

It wasn’t until a month later that Piper found herself sitting in the middle of the bathroom floor with tears pouring down her cheeks. She was still damp from her shower, the water dripping from her long hair that lay against her back.

How did she not know better? He hadn’t talked to her or even noticed she was around until that night. Of course, he said all the right things and even when he called her a week later to talk, he was as nice as he could be. He explained that their night together was a mistake. He wasn’t the kind of man to settle down. He’d never meant to hurt her, he assured her of that, but he couldn’t let this go any further than it already had.

If Piper had been honest with herself, she would have known that Erik was probably just using her. Their night together was fabulous, the sex the best ever, and he was sweet as can be. But then he was gone. Did her love for him cloud that much of her judgment? How could she have been so stupid?

Glancing at the little stick she held in her hands, her eyes blurred again, tears dripping down her cheeks, making it hard to see the two little blue lines that told the truth.

Piper was pregnant.

With Erik Titov’s baby.

Piper would never forget the moment she first met and fell in love with Erik Titov. It was at a family gathering almost two years ago. She also would never forget the amazing night they’d spent together almost six months ago to the day. But more than anything, she would never, ever forget the phone call she’d received from him telling her that that evening was just a mistake and should never have happened.

Running her fingers through her blondish brown hair, she got up from her chair. Her blue eyes were watery with tears as she thought back to that night. Piper remembered it like it was yesterday. There was no way she could forget even the smallest detail. That night would be burned into her brain for an eternity, and even though it had happened so fast, she knew that she would never be the same afterward.

One phone call .

That’s all it took.

“I’m sorry Piper, I don’t want to hurt you. You have to believe that, but this isn’t going to work. I can’t be the man you want. That night was a one-time thing. This is about my issues and I shouldn’t have let things go as far as they did. There is just something about you, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t stay away. I’m sorry if I hurt you, and I hope we can still be civil since we are family. Again, I’m really sorry.”

Shaking her head, Piper wiped away another countless tear as she replayed that phone call over in her head. Why was she still doing this to herself? It had been almost six months!

Piper wasn’t sure why she’d told Audrey and Elli, her two best friends, before she told her family about the pregnancy, but she had. She had kept her secret for long enough and needed to tell someone. Elli’s reaction was much different than she’d expected; rather than freaking out she was consoling and offered Piper a place to live as she sorted through the details of the pregnancy and her future.

Elli told her, “Go to my house in Sweetbriar and pull yourself together. You need to tell Erik; he needs to know. It will hurt everyone in the long run if you don’t. Don’t do this to yourself, or him, and more important, to your unborn baby.”

Piper couldn’t have agreed more now, but typical Piper, she had waited until the very last moment. Now she was scared to death to tell him. What would Erik think? Would he hate her? Oh God, what would their families think? She knew keeping the pregnancy secret wasn’t her best decision but she couldn’t bring herself to tell anyone. No one even suspected. And she hadn’t even seen Erik to tell him. But she was ready to share her secret now; she was starting to show, and in all reality, it was about damn time.

Because Piper was almost six months pregnant.

She knew it was insane to have waited this long, but initially she wasn’t sure what she was going to do. As the days turned into weeks and then months, she had run out of options. And really, she knew in her heart that the only option was to have this baby. Giving the baby up for adoption just wasn’t for her; Piper loved kids way too much and really wanted her own. It’s just that she had always thought she would have been married first. Once her decision was made she knew she needed to tell Erik, but when she finally called him, a girl had answered his phone.

Piper didn’t even say hello; she just hung up and kept her secret for another month. And then another month, and so on. The more she sat and waited, the more her child grew and the more she knew she was doing the wrong thing. She had no one to talk to about it. Reese and Harper, her sisters, would kill her when they found out who the father was, and she was scared shitless of what Erik would think.

How could she tell a man who hadn’t wanted anything to do with her that she was pregnant with his child?

Shaking her head, Piper closed her eyes as the sun warmed her face. A nice breeze was coming off the large lake that sat behind Elli’s little country home. Piper would always be in debt to Elli Adler. Ever since they were children, Elli had always taken a special liking to Piper. They had that type of relationship, the kind that only sisters share.

All four girls—Elli, Harper, Reese, and Piper—were best friends, attached at the hip. Wherever the older girls went, Piper and Reese were close behind. Harper and Elli didn’t seem to mind since they included them in most everything they did. But now that they’d all grown up they didn’t get to see one another as much. Harper and Elli were both happily married, and Reese was running a huge dance studio in the heart of Nashville—everyone was busy with their families or their careers. Then there was Piper, jumping from job to job, hoping she’d find something she could enjoy.

She had always loved drawing, and becoming an illustrator for children’s books was a dream come true . Up until now, she had tried just about every job imaginable—Piper had worked as a nail technician, sold jewelry, and even tried manning the registers at a Wendy’s. But as soon as she started drawing for her friend Emmaline and then got paid for doing something she loved to do, she decided to focus on her artwork, hoping for that special break. She had tons of authors and agents looking at her work, which is what had to happen if she was going to succeed.