Blue Lines

Assassins, Book 4

By: Toni Aleo

Narrated by: Lucy Malone

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 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. Contains mature themes.

©2013 Toni Aleo (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Sexy and riveting...the perfect combination of love and lust." (Heidi McLaughlin, USA Today bestselling author)

Blue Lines: Hockey romance

Enjoyable story, a little too much repetition in dialog. I also wish there was more hockey action. I enjoyed the series, these books emphasize the struggles people go through.

An unrequited love and a baby.

As we learned in Empty Net, Piper has had a thing for Erik since meeting him. After finally having a night with him and then him breaking her heart, she is left with a piece of him: his baby. Erik has spent the past several months having sex with anything with breasts and legs. He's garnered significant media coverage and is at risk of being kicked off the team. When he learns of Piper's pregnancy, he sees an opening to keep in the good graces of the team's owner, Elli Adler. Considering he blames Piper for his predicament, he feels that the least she owes him is to marry him and lie to all of their friends and family in order to save his career. Then, once the baby is born, he can leave and go back to his preferred lifestyle of booze and babes. Against what is possibly her better judgement, Piper agrees to the arrangement. Though it kills her to lie to her loved ones, there's a part of her that hopes that while they're married, Erik will actually fall for her and want to be a family. Unfortunately, Erik is determined to never fall in love with anybody. He has never told anyone he loves them and has no intention of doing so in the future. But in spending so much time with Piper and really getting to know her, his walls start to come down. And it scares the living daylights out of him. For fear of turning into his biological father, he, predictably, freaks out and leaves Piper. The two do find their HEA and the book ends with no cliffhanger. I have loved reading this series so far and I can't wait to continue with Reese and Phillip's story in Breaking Away.

Great

Great book i love the series. It is a great one and one of my favorites.

I'd read it.

it was a good story... the narrator at times made the book hard to listen to at times.

amazing book

love how Erik changes and discovers true love. think it's great how devoted Piper stays. so addicting

Loved it!!

Loved this book!! Love how Piper stood up for what she wanted. Love how strong she was and how she tried to make Erik see his worth.

Story was great!

I loved this book. I love Toni Also. The narrator was good. There were instances where the main character's accent lost me in authenticity. But, I understand that narrating a man's voice isn't easy(for female narrator,add a male with an accent). I still enjoyed this very much!

Pretty good addition to the series :)

3.5-4 stars

This was a pretty good story. I liked Piper and Erik (although Erik took some doing) and I enjoyed their story.

Piper is an artist doing illustrations for books but she tends to be a jack of all trades and has had many other jobs in the past. Piper has many familial connections and friends that have been in books #1-3. Piper fell in love with Erik but unfortunately, he never seemed to pay attention to her.

Erik is a hockey player in the NHL that plays for the Assassins team. Erik was raised in a household with a mother that left frequently and a father that beat him when his mother left. Erik was adopted by loving parents when he was 13 but his background made him decide that he'd never be able to commit to one woman and he never wants to have kids.

Erik wanted Piper badly, even though he knew that he couldn't be with Piper long term. He seduces her one night and they have a wonderful night together where Erik opens up and shows himself to be a sweet and caring guy. Unfortunately, the next morning Erik took off and then called Piper saying he couldn't be with her again. Piper had been in love with Erik for a while so when he dumped her after their night of passion, she was crushed. Piper found out she was pregnant and put off telling Erik because she knew he wouldn't react well. It also didn't help that when she did try calling him, she got one of his skanks answering his phone.

By the time she tells Erik about her pregnancy (which she's been hiding from pretty much everyone), she's about 6 months along and Erik freaks out about it. His sexual antics ended him up in many tabloids with a number of paternity lawsuits and the team manager didn't like how it made the team look so Erik was put on probation. When he found out about the baby, he insisted on blaming Piper for all his issues (even though it was his man-whore ways that did it). He then proceeded to guilt her into agreeing to marry him to save his career (even though the fix seemed rather temporary).

Piper and Erik get married and he basically acts like a huge jerk to her. He hurts her and makes his dislike of the situation clear, talking about how he can't wait to go back to his man-whoring ways. Piper wants to hate him but can't so she's stuck dealing with him. It takes a while for him to stop being such a jerk but it does eventually happen. But even then, he's totally convinced that he'd be no good for her and he's unwilling to make an effort to be the man she needs. Along the way, Erik starts to realize that he wants Piper for something more long term and that maybe he should actually try to make things work between them...the problem is that he does really make an effort (at least not until the end). Piper makes an effort but she can't do much unless he's willing to do his part so it's tough on her. Thankfully, Erik does eventually pull his head out of his backside and does what's needed to prove to Piper that he can be what she needs so they end the story starting a HEA together.

This was a pretty enjoyable story. I liked Piper. She was pretty strong and I loved how she wouldn't back down from trying to help Erik see his worth (even if there were a few times I wanted her to slap him for his behavior). Erik was a real jerk in the beginning and I was sorely annoyed with his behavior but it was moderate enough that I didn't despise him as much as I could have. I got a bit frustrated with his inability to see his own worth and to make an effort but I guess I could see that he would be a good hero if he tried. Overall, I liked the story pretty well and I liked the MCs so I'd recommend it (as long as you can deal with a jerk for a hero). :D

very good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! After listening to this story,. I totally enjoyed reading this book. It’s well written and the characters were uniquely fantastic. I would suggest this book to my friends that like this sort of genera. this was a good book. The narrator was great.

Blue Lines

So this was the second time I listened to this book. The first time I hated Erik soooooo much I almost didn't finish reading it. I just didn't get why he was such a pisser. Since I wanted to re-listen to the books I knew I had to re-listen to this one and you know I saw Erik in a totally different light. I get why he was pushing Piper away. He was scared of himself and of what he was feeling. I wish Piper had stood up to her sisters a bit more she seemed to let them talk down and judge her. Also loved we got to see the rest of the gang! On to the next book!

Third time listening and I have to say I am glad I re-listened the second time, this time was because I just couldn't get this story out of my head and I was procrastinating another book that wasn't grabbing my attention.

Also I like the narration because to me she is this series.