Blue Lines: The Assassins Series - Softcover

Aleo, Toni

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345546679 ISBN 13: 9780345546678

Publisher: Loveswept, 2013

Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Opposites do more than just attract in USA Today bestselling author Toni Aleo’s latest Nashville Assassins novel about a very bad boy and the good girl he can’t resist.
 
The instant Piper Allen sees Erik Titov, she wants him—wants his rock-hard body, sure, but the strength and mystery that lie behind that superstar hockey jock demeanor, too. So when he sidles up to her at a bar and slinks his arm around her waist, she’s lost. What follows is the wildest night of her life . . . followed by inevitable heartbreak the next morning. And then, a few weeks later, a very big surprise: two blue lines on a pregnancy test.
 
Only a check to the head could make Erik fall for a nice girl like Piper. But since their crazy-sexy night together, he’s been trying to forget about her alluring body by falling into bed with every woman in Nashville, and it’s not working. So when Piper shows up at his house with a baby-bomb to drop, it doesn’t take much for Erik to suggest the nuclear option: marriage. While it’s supposed to be all for show, the second they say “I do,” the ice between them starts to melt into sizzling steam.

Praise for Toni Aleo’s Nashville Assassins romances
 
“Aleo melts the ice and hits it into the net with her Assassins series.”—Award-winning author Jami Davenport
 
“Taking Shots is really the whole package. You get romance, humor, steamy sex, drama, and then it all wraps up with a great conclusion. I am amazed that this is Toni’s first book. She has come out in a huge way. I can’t wait to read more from her. Don’t hesitate for a moment to grab this book.”—Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews
 
“A little steamy, a little heartbreaking, and a whole lot of fanning yourself are in order this time around, readers. Are your cheeks feeling a little pink yet? Get used to the feeling.”—Dreaming in the Pages, on Trying to Score
 
“Empty Net is an honest, heartwarming, endearing story. . . . Toni Aleo doesn’t just write a story. She gives you the ability to experience the journey of her characters right along with them. Her stories are enveloped with passion, emotion, humor, love; and let me tell you, that girl knows how to write a sex scene that just makes you sweat!”—Guilty Pleasures Book Review
 
“Sexy and riveting . . . the perfect combination of love and lust.”—USA Today bestselling author Heidi McLaughlin, on Blue Lines
 
“Funny, charming, sweet, sexy . . . [Falling for the Backup] has everything you want in a story.”—Blushing Reader

About this title

About the Author:

Toni Aleo is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Nasvhille Assassins series: Taking Shots, Trying to Score, Empty Net, Falling for the Backup, and Blue Lines. When not rooting for her beloved Nashville Predators, she’s probably going to her husband’s and son’s hockey games and her daughter’s dance competitions, taking pictures, scrapbooking, or reading the latest romance novel. Aleo lives in the Nashville area with her husband, two children, and a bulldog.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

“Pregnant?”

Piper nodded. Her heart was pounding, and she could feel her hands shaking against her growing belly. She looked at a wide-eyed Erik. “Yes.”

“You’ve been to the doctor? It’s a baby, right? Not like cancer?”

She blinked a few times. Was he serious?

“Yes, a baby, not cancer. Why the heck would you think that? I’m twenty-three weeks.”

“Twenty-three weeks,” he whispered as his eyes fell back to where her hands rested. “With my baby.”

Piper looked up at him again; she could see that he was freaking out. She had been doing the same thing since she had found out. She had no clue what she’d expected from this conversation, but it sure wasn’t going the way she had hoped it would.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Are you sure?”

Piper looked up at Erik incredulously. How dare he ask that?

“Yes, you’re the only one I’ve been with. For months and even longer than that.”

He stood there, his hands holding his waist so tight that she could see the white of his knuckles. Not that she was really paying attention to his knuckles, since he was only wearing boxers, for goodness sakes! Even with the severity of the situation, she couldn’t help the fact that her body still sung for him. It didn’t make sense and she hated herself for it. This man had dumped her, then had not even answered her calls or acknowledged her existence for the last six months. How dare he steal her heart and run. Then, he has the gall to question her about the paternity of their child?

A-hole!

“I’m not a liar, Erik. I may be a lot of things, but a liar is not one of them,” she said, her body heating with anger.

“I never said you were. Excuse me for being a little freaked-out right now; it’s a little much for me to take. I mean, you pop in here and say, ‘Hey I’m pregnant. Oh, and by the way, it’s yours.’ “

“How do you think I feel? I’m freaked-out, too, but I’ve kept this quiet long enough. I’m starting to show. I’ve got decisions I need to make and I need to know if you want to be part of them.”

When she looked up, he was looking at where their child was growing. If he was to put his hand on her stomach, he would have been able to feel the baby move. Not that she was going to suggest that; she couldn’t even imagine him touching her right now, or ever again for that matter. She might be irritated, but there was no denying the sexual attraction she had for Erik Titov, even if he had broken her heart.

“I can’t believe this,” he muttered, running his hand through his hair. “Why did you wait so long to tell me?”

Piper held a finger up as she said, “I did try calling you, but you never called me back and I figured if you wanted to talk to me you’d call.”

“I’ve been busy. Leave me a message if it was that urgent! Also, I saw you like four months ago; you could have told me then.”

Piper said heatedly, “Oh, when I was puking my brains out? Yeah, I didn’t feel like talking.”

“There is no reason to be a pissy,” he deadpanned as he pinned her with a look.

“Oh, I’m sorry, let me be happy that I came here as you question the paternity of my child,” she said, crossing her arms.

This was going so bad. In a perfect world, Piper would have told him about the baby and Erik would have wrapped his arms around her, kissing the stuffing out of her, then ask her to marry him, and after this baby was born, they would have at least five more. It wasn’t as if she was truly expecting that, but she was expecting him to at least be a bit more compassionate. Nope, instead she gets Erik doubting if the baby is his.

“Um, excuse me, but for six months you’ve kept the fact that you are pregnant with my alleged child! How do I know that you didn’t get knocked up by some other guy and now you are trying to pin it on me because that guy ran out on you?”

Oh, she was going to kill him. She was going to murder her child’s father.
 
 

About this edition

• Publisher: Loveswept
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0345546679
• ISBN 13: 9780345546678
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 448