Page 44 of Worth the Risk

And as we walk into the kitchen, my entire world shifts.

Piper turns around where she’s standing in the middle of my kitchen. “I thought I would surprise y—”

“Piper, you’re here.”

And fucking rocking it in my old training jersey and heels.

Those pink shoes from the first night we met are on her feet, which contrasts with her legs covered in deep blue stockings because she is clearly matching with my jersey, which she tied just above her belly button, and it’s paired with gorgeous deep blue lace panties.

It takes a few seconds of me admiring this view, because I’ve never seen such a perfect image knowing it belongs to me, before I realize what’s happening.

Piper squeals.

Drew curses, “Oh shit.”

And only then do I understand that my son just walked in on my girlfriend trying to surprise me in a sexy manner that absolutely will be rewarded later.

“Okay, so that whole ‘come and go as you please’ idea kind of took an unexpected turn. This isnothow this was supposed to go.” Piper explains, absolutely mortified, I can tell by the shade of red on her face, but she seems to be holding it together.

“Why are you two just standing here?” I hear my daughter-in-law call out from behind me as she arrives, oblivious. “What the...” Her tone changes when she registers the scene.

From the corner of my eye, I already see Drew awkwardly looking away, but I’m quick to storm forward and grab any cloth that is in sight that may help before standing before Piper as her human shield.

But I feel the grin on my face not fading. Is that bad?

“Oh my God. This. Is. Not. Happening.” Piper is embarrassed as hell.

This scene is moving so fast that I’m praying my son and daughter-in-law may erase it from their minds.

“Points for effort,” I mutter into Piper’s ear as I hand her what I grabbed.

“What in the world am I going to do with a tea towel?” she gasps.

I look down at my hand and tilt my head slightly to the side. “Okay, won’t cover much.”

Looking over my shoulder, I see my son has turned around, but Lucy looks like she struck gold and stands there, elated, with her hand across her face doing a half-ass job of covering her view. “I mean, I can’t even tell you how this just fed my inspiration with writing ideas.”

“I mentioned she writes romance books, right?” I quickly clarify to Piper.

Piper gawks her eyes at me. “Maybe we can do the introductions when I have a little more on the coverage front?”

“Oh yeah, sure. Why don’t we give you a few minutes and you can meet us out back?” I suggest, and I know I’m being far too calm about this.

Piper quickly nods and scoots sideways out of the kitchen.

I can’t help myself and I watch her head in the direction of the stairs.

Wow, she is a beauty. But it is way more than that because she wanted to surprise me.

With summer training now in full swing, our ability to chat via text all day is limited, and unless I have a meeting in the city or she can drive out to Lake Spark, then our availability to be with one another is sparse. But she came out from the city during my busy week to be here waiting for me, and I love the idea of a woman waiting for me at home, even more, if it's Piper.

The clearing of a throat draws my attention back to my other guests.

“Coast is clear,” I declare then turn my attention to Lucy and Drew.

“That’s Piper?” Lucy asks with a wide grin.

“Yep. The one and only.” I smile awkwardly. “What are the chances we can erase the last two minutes?”

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