Page 7 of Piper

“I’m heading there straight from the airport. Hopefully, I can straighten Mark out and get the shoot finished before too late. If it all goes well, I’ll catch a flight back tomorrow morning.” As she explains, I hear road noise in the background. “Hey, I see my Uber. I’ll call you when I can.”

My little spitfire hangs up on me before I’m able to respond. Oh, hell no. We definitely have a few things to get straight. First and foremost, I’m her goddamn man and she will just have to deal with my overprotectiveness. I’ve been hiding that shit for two years, trying to play by her fucking rules. Rules that were all for nothing since we’ve been on the same page since day one. But we were both too goddamn scared to make a move. That shit ends now. I plan to not only make a move, but I’m also going to make Ms. Piper Morris mine before the day is through.

I realize I have no idea what hotel she’s staying at, so I dial my best friend’s number. “I need your fucking help.”

“Use your manners and say please.” This motherfucker really wants to try my patience.

“Please,” I grit out and hear my back teeth grinding together. “Find out what hotel Piper is staying at in Houston.”

“Ever since Jenna told me she sent Piper to Houston to deal with Mark, I’ve been waiting for your call. Check your email. I already sent you all the info.” He laughs and I’m grateful for his efficiency. “And you owe me big time. I expect to be your best man and your first child’s godfather at the very least.”

That’s not hard to promise since we both know he is my first choice for both positions. “You got it. Now, make sure your wife doesn’t spill the beans to Piper before I get there.”

“You have two hours while I spend the afternoon showing my wife how much I love her. After that, I’ll be too exhausted to worry about your goddamn problems.”

“TMI, asshole,” I grumble and hang up.

As I sit on the plane, waiting for it to take off, I pull up Wild’s email and smile when I see my best friend went above and beyond to help me. He not only sent me the hotel info, but he also had Jenna’s secretary add my name to Piper’s hotel room.

* * *

I manageto make it to the hotel and get checked in before my two-hour time limit is up. I’m pacing the hotel room, practicing my speech, when I hear the door beep. Taking a deep breath, I spin around and wait for my girl to walk into the room. “Dillon?” she squeaks. “What are you doing here?”

“I told you I needed to talk to you.” I step close to her and see confusion filling her dark brown eyes. This fucking beauty owns me, body and soul. I let my eyes move over her perfect body and feel my cock turn to stone in my pants.

Today, she’s wearing a light blue jumpsuit that hugs her luscious curves. The silky material gives a hint at all the dips and valleys that drive me wild. She’s got her long chocolate-colored hair pulled back in a ponytail.

“So, you decided to break into my hotel room and wait?” She drops her purse on the chair next to the door.

“It’s not breaking in if I have a key.” I hold up the little plastic card and spin it around between my fingers.

“Stop talking in riddles and tell me why you’re really here.” Piper sighs and drops down to sit on the edge of the bed. I notice the lines of exhaustion running across her forehead and feel my heart squeeze in my chest.

All I want to do is take away all her stress, but first, I have to fix this stupid fuck-up. I walk over to sit next to her and wrap my arm around her shoulders. “I found out news today that changed the way I see our relationship.” It’s time to lay my cards on the table and get everything out in the open so we don’t have any more bullshit keeping us apart.

Her curvy body stiffens against mine before she pulls back to stare up at me. The mixture of fear and unease I see shining in her dark eyes confuses the hell out of me. “How did you find out?”

“Wild told me.” She pulls away and stands with her hands on her hips.

“How does Wild know I’m pregnant?” Piper rubs her temple, looking completely flabbergasted by my news.

“Don’t be mad at Jenna.” Wild will fucking kill me if I get his wife in trouble with her best friend. “But she told him a while back,” I blurt out before her words penetrate my brain. “What did you say?” I barely manage to mutter the words past my dry lips. She’s carrying my child? Happiness unlike anything I’ve ever known before roars through my soul. “Please tell me this isn’t a joke.”

“No joke,” Piper whispers, and I walk over and pull her luscious body into my arms as my heart beats double-time in my chest. “Surprise, we’re going to have a baby.”

That’s the best surprise I’ve ever gotten. There’s something that she needs to know, and I can’t hold the words back any longer. “I fucking love you. You’re my soulmate.”

Things have takena turn for the crazy. “So, somehow, in the space of a few hours, we went from a casual fling to me being the love of your life?” It’s all too good to be true. Part of me wants to forget about everything else and live in a fantasy land without questioning his words.

“You’ve been the love of my life since the moment I first laid eyes on you.” Dillon leans back to stare down into my eyes. “I just spouted off some stupid shit that you overheard, and we ended up with a huge misunderstanding between us.” He makes the complicated situation seem so simple. “And, now, you’re carrying my child.” Dillon lays his warm hand gently across my tummy. “I’ve never been happier.”

“Why did you wait until now to profess your love?” I can’t wrap my mind around all this, and I need to know his feelings are real. My heart can’t take another disappointment.

“Because I’m a fucking moron,” he growls and turns to pace the hotel room. “And I thought that was the way you wanted it. It might be fucking insane, but I was willing to do whatever it took to keep you. Even though having a secret fling with you made me miserable.” It doesn’t sound crazy to me. I was doing the same freaking thing.

As he talks, he throws his hands up in the air, and I realize I’ve never seen Mr. Tall, Blond, and Conceited so worked up. “I’ve been so busy trying to fake contentment with the state of our relationship, I lost sight of my real goal. Making sure you fall in love with me.” He stops and sighs. “I’m embarrassed to say, I probably would’ve stayed totally oblivious to what’s happening if I hadn’t admitted everything to Wild in a moment of weakness. The dickhead decided to put me out of my misery and explained what I was too fucking dumb to see.”

“Hey, you’re not dumb,” I joke, hoping to lighten the stifling atmosphere around us. “A little slow figuring certain things out, but not dumb.”

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