Page 10 of Piper

“Uh-huh.” Dillon turns away from Mark and pulls me into his arms. “Let me know if you need anything, spitfire.” After he lays a kiss on me that leaves me weak in the knees, I realize our relationship is no longer a secret. I’m sure the Curvy Cuties’ grapevine will be buzzing with the news.

“I shouldn’t be long.” I smile up at him before leaning close to his ear to growl, “I’m going to kick your rear end later for that little stunt.”

“I look forward to it.” Oh, man. I’m in so much trouble here. The rest of the shoot goes off without a hitch, and I realize having Dillon along with me helped keep the temperamental photographer under control. But I won’t ever admit it to anyone.

* * *

The next morning,Dillon wakes me up with my new daily breakfast of crackers and Sprite. Yesterday, I nibbled on the crackers and sipped the soda before jumping out of bed, and it helped the morning sickness significantly.

After following the same routine this morning, my stomach seems to be holding steady, so I let Dillon help me out of bed. He leads me into the bathroom and reaches for the waistband on his sweatpants. “You can’t shower with me.” It kills me to refuse to let him in the small shower stall with me, but I know we’ll never make it on time if we share. “We don’t want to be late for the doctor.”

“I’ll shower in the guest bathroom if you’ll give me a rain check on the shower workout.” He smiles and places a soft kiss on my nose.

“I promise,” I tell him and hop under the warm water.

While we both get ready and dress in record time, Romeo sits on the edge of my bed licking his paws. My poor kitty hasn’t forgiven us yet for leaving him at Jenna and Wild’s house for two whole days.

“Will the holy terror be okay here by himself?” Dillon asks as we head for the front door.

“He stays by himself every day.” I glance over, wondering why Dillon is suddenly worried about my cat. “And, don’t call my little angel a holy terror.”

“He shit in my shoes last night.” Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Oops. “I had to throw my favorite pair of shoes away.” I offered to clean them, but my Neanderthal refused to even consider it.

“He was voicing his displeasure at being left behind while we went out of town.”

Dillon takes my hand and leads me down the staircase. “I’m going to work on teaching him less destructive ways of voicing his displeasure.” While I agree the fluffball needs a new outlet for his frustrations, I have no idea how he’s going to pull that off with my stubborn kitty, but there’s nothing wrong with letting him try.

We arrive at the doctor’s office twenty-two minutes early and find out that the doctor is running behind. Really behind. Like over an hour behind schedule.

The entire time, Dillon sits next to me and fidgets. It’s a little disconcerting to see Mr. Cool as a Cucumber nearly losing his cool. “Are you okay?” I wrap my hand around his and give it a squeeze.

“I just want to hear that everything is okay with you and the baby.” As his dark blue eyes meet mine, I see the worry mixed with cautious happiness shining back at me. “You’re the most important thing in the world to me.”

He smiles at me and melts my heart on the spot. I already knew I was completely in love with him, but he still just managed to make me fall just a little more. “Everything is fine,” I attempt to reassure him while hoping I’m telling the truth.

When the nurse calls my name, Dillon turns and smiles at me. “Let’s go check out our little one.”

“Everything looks great.” The middle-aged female doctor looks over and smiles at us. I’ve been weighed, ick, had my blood pressure taken, peed in a cup, and had an ultrasound. Through it all, Dillon has held my hand. Hearing those three words finally eases my worries. “For a ten-week twin pregnancy.” I blink several times, wondering if I hear Dr. Morris right.

“Twins.” Dillon pales.

“Ten weeks.” I can’t believe I’m that far along. I guess I should’ve kept better track of my period. I had no idea I was that late.

I barely pay any attention when the doctor gives us instructions. Once she leaves the room, Dillon turns to me. “I really should’ve planned a fancy place to do this, but I can’t think of a more appropriate time.” My eyes widen as he drops to his knee and holds up the biggest freaking diamond ring I’ve ever seen. “I’ve wasted the last two years due to my own stupidity. I should’ve made you my wife within hours of meeting you. Instead, I acted like a moron and let a stupid misunderstanding keep us in a permanent state of treading water.” He takes my hand and slides the ring on my finger. “I love you more than anything in the world. Please say you’ll marry me, and I’ll spend the next fifty or so years making it up to you.”

Happiness flows through my soul as tears roll down my cheeks. “Of course, I’ll marry you. I love you, too.”

“Welcome to the pussy-whipped-and-loving-every-second-of-it club.”Wild slaps me on my shoulder before Marco, Emery’s husband, steps over to cut in.

“I’m actually shocked you made it. I thought you’d grow old and die before you managed to convince Piper to give you the time of day.”

At this point, both Bender Valentine and Fischer Mackenzie, London and Maddie’s husbands chime in. “It’s a downright miracle.”

“Fuck all you assholes,” I grumble halfheartedly and thank the universe for my gorgeous little spitfire. Two hours ago, she walked down the aisle wearing the body-hugging dress that gives a hint at the tiny baby bump below, and I almost fell to my knees as love for her and our child overwhelmed me. Once we discovered there are two babies, we decided to have a quick ceremony before she’s too large and uncomfortable and before Jenna gives birth to her own baby. Piper’s friends jumped in and did a great job arranging a beautiful wedding with such short notice.

I glance around the white tent and find my new wife standing next to a table, laughing at something Aunt Edna said. Fuck. I wonder if I should rush over and save my girl from getting trapped by my notoriously gossiping aunt. Before I’m able to make a move, I see my wife handle Aunt Edna like a pro. As she moves on to talk to someone else, my friends start in on me again.

“Oh, look. He’s doing the googly eyes thing in Piper’s direction again.” Wild can’t resist being a pain in my ass.

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