Pushing the Boundaries (Picking up the Pieces #3)

by Jessica Prince

  “Well then, why not just do that?” Emmy asked.

  “Do what?”

  “Just put out. Fuck the guy and get your annulment if you’re so dead-set on that.”

  Huh, that was actually something to consider. But could I really go through with it?

  The better question was, if I did, would I be able to handle the consequences after? I wasn’t so sure.

  “You sure about this?”

  I looked up at my friend and saw her wringing her hands in front of her.

  “I’m positive, Kenzie. I’ve actually been thinking of getting one for a while now.”

  Mackenzie Webster was the epitome of kindhearted. She moved to Cloverleaf a while back after a nasty breakup with her ex and I’d jumped at the chance to hire her at the salon. Not only was she impossible not to love, but she was absolutely fabulous at her job. She was one of the reasons Elegant Nails stayed so busy.

  “I hate to give him up, he’s so sweet. The twins are heartbroken about it, but they’re allergies are just too bad to keep him.”

  I hated that she struggled to raise her twin toddlers all on her own. I’d never seen a mom so dedicated to her children. And knowing that she had no help whatsoever from her worthless ex set my blood on fire. Someone as sweet and loving as Kenzie deserved the very best of everything.

  “I understand,” I told her, pulling her into a hug. “And I promise, you can bring them by whenever you want for a visit if you think it won’t make them sick.”

  “You’re too amazing, you know that?”

  “I hear it a lot, but it never gets old. Feel free to continue saying it as often as you want.”

  “Just remember, he gets a little scared in new surroundings. He might hide from you for a bit. Just give him time to adjust.”

  “I will, I promise. See you at work tomorrow,” I called out before climbing into my car and heading for home.

  After getting the latest member of my household all set, I went into the kitchen and poured a glass of wine. The little guy had run off to find a hiding place the second I’d opened the carrier door, so for the time being I’d let him be until he was comfortable enough to come out.

  I’d spent the past half hour pacing between my living room and kitchen, trying to decide if I could actually go through with seducing Trevor into giving me an annulment. Part of me thought it would be a good thing that I’d get this marriage taken care of and get to enjoy all the sexy that was Trevor at the same time. But another part was worried that if I crossed that line, I might have a problem getting back on the other side of it. What if I turned all girly and got emotional and shit once we had sex, and then lost it when he walked away?

  For fuck’s sake, I’m turning this into a goddamn Lifetime movie! Just screw him and move on!

  I needed to pull my shit together. I could totally do this.

  I’d psyched myself up to the point that when I heard the front door open, I was ready and raring to go.

  “What’s up, wifey?” Trevor called as he walked through the door and closed it behind him. “Jesus, the shop was a fucking madhouse today. I didn’t even have time to take a leak. I’m about to piss myself,” he hollered as he dropped his stuff by the door and rushed for the hall bathroom. He was still talking as he shut the door and went about his business, but I was so wrapped up in giving myself a sex pep talk that I wasn’t paying attention to anything he was saying.

  That was, until things started crashing around loudly, followed by a, “GAH! Jesus fuck!”

  I spun around just in time to see the door crash open and Trevor fall out, landing on his back with his pants around his thighs. Thank Christ he’d managed to tuck himself back in before falling out of the bathroom. He scurried backward on his ass; partially crab crawling, partially scooting, as he tried to hank his jeans back up.

  “Goddamn, son of a bitch in hell!”

  “What’s the matter?” I asked once he’d gotten to his feet.

  “That little fucker tried to bite my dick off!”

  I looked to where he was pointing to see my new pet step from the bathroom. Reaching down, I picked him up and held him close to my chest. “This is Mr. Bojangles. He’s skittish in new places. You probably just scared him.”

  “I scared him?” he yelled, skirting the couch to get away from me and my new cat when I took a step in his direction. “Motherfucker waited for me to whip it out to piss before he lunged at me!”

  Mr. Bojangles shook in my arms as I tried to soothe him. “I’m sure you’re overreacting. Poor baby, he’s terrified,” I exclaimed as I cooed and petted his fluffy orange head.

  “He’s terrified? I’m scarred for life! I almost had my favorite body part maimed by a fucking feral devil cat!”

  “He’s not feral!” I lifted Mr. Bojangles up and rubbed my cheek against his head. His purr rumbled through his whole body as I hugged him, and he lifted his head to bump my chin, looking for more affection. “He’s sweet. I told you he’s just skittish. It’ll take him a little while to get used to living here.”

  “What the hell do you mean, living here?”

  “He’s my new cat,” I answered.

  Trevor stared at me like I belonged in a mental hospital. His expression was that of utter disbelief. His blue gaze darted from me to the fluffy guy curled up in my arms before they narrowed menacingly. He and Mr. Bojangles seemed to be in some kind of stare-off for several seconds before Trevor finally lifted his chin and addressed me.

  “That’s not a cat. That’s a furry bowling ball!”

  “Don’t say that!” I scolded seriously. “You’ll give him a complex.”

  His mouth opened and closed several times before he was finally able to form a sentence.

  “It’s me or the cat.”

  I couldn’t help it; the minute those words came out of his mouth, I busted out laughing. “Are you serious right now?”

  “As a goddamned heart attack, Lizzy. That thing’s looking at me like he’s just waiting to murder me in my sleep.”

  “That thing has a name. And he’s not going to kill you. You just need to give him a chance to adjust.”

  “What kind of girly-ass, pussy name is Mr. Bojangles anyway? I’m not calling him that! Like I said, you have to choose. Me, your husband, or Satan’s minion.”

  I started laughing again. Not caring for how my body was shaking hysterically, Mr. Bojangles jumped from my arms, landing on the floor about two feet from Trevor. The two of them stood still, in some sort of twisted standoff before Mr. Bojangles finally grew tired of Trevor’s dramatics and sauntered from the living room.

  “I’m not getting rid of the cat, Trevor. He’s sweet and cuddly and I love him.”

  “GAH!” he threw his hands up. “You’re being completely unreasonable right now!”

  “And you’re acting like a baby. Don’t you think you’re being a little ridiculous?”

  Now it was my turned to be glared at. “I’m not talking to you when you’re like this,” Trevor informed me haughtily, his chin in the air as he looked down at me like I was the one being irrational. It was just a cat, for Christ’s sake!

  Before I had a chance to respond, he turned on his heels and stomped up the stairs. The asshole actually had the nerve to storm out of the room all pissed off. I stood in the middle of the living room, looking up the stairs in shock as a door slammed from somewhere above me.

  So much for my attempted seduction. I was officially being given the silent treatment.

  If I hadn’t seen the telltale bulge in his boxer briefs this morning, I’d have sworn I was married to a woman.

  I woke feeling like I was in a furnace. It felt like the heat had been cranked up in my house, and the stifling atmosphere had pulled me from my pleasant dreams. It wasn’t until I shifted to kick the covers from my body that I realized the source of the uncomfortable heat.

  “Trevor!” I let out a startled yelp. I tried to shift from his hold, but his arms were like steel bands wrapped around my midsect
ion, holding my back flush to his chest. “What the hell are you doing in my bed?”

  He didn’t respond, just simply let out a sleepy moan and rubbed his groin against my behind. Yep, morning wood…so not ideal!

  “Trevor!” I whisper-yelled, this time shoving my elbow into his ribs.

  “Shhh. I’m having the best dream,” he mumbled, shifting his hips yet again. As if it wasn’t already an uncomfortable-enough situation, his hand snaked up my stomach until he was cupping my boob. An electric shock jolted through my body before centering right between my legs, that knowing tingle growing stronger as Trevor kept his intimate hold too tight for me to escape.

  Shit! I needed to get out of bed. Fast. My irrational freak-out had me questioning my plan of seducing Trevor into an annulment. But I just kept telling myself that if I could do it on my terms, maybe I could pull it off.

  Hey, I never said it was the smartest plan. It was just the only one I had.

  “Trevor!” Freeing one arm, I awkwardly reached behind me and smacked him upside the head as hard as I could. “Wake up!”

  “Jesus H. Christ! What the fuck, Lizzy?” Only releasing one arm from around me, he rubbed at the spot I’d just hit.

  “Let go of me, asshole. And why the hell are you in my bed?”

  “Your goddamn fat cat was in my bed last night. I had to think on my feet,” he told me as he snuggled back down, burying his face in my hair.

  “Then you should have slept on the couch. Get out of my bed.”

  Completely ignoring my heated words, Trevor reached up and shoved my head back down until it was resting on my pillow. “Hush and go back to sleep. The sun’s not even up yet.”

  “Are you high?” It was the only reason I could come up with which would explain his complete disregard. What. The. Hell?

  “Nooo,” he dragged out as if he were talking to a two-year-old. “I’m fuckin’ exhausted. I’m not moving to the damn couch. I’m too fucking tall and my feet would hang off. You’re the one who insisted on getting that dickhead cat who’s currently decided he’s king of my fucking room. So this was the only other option. And up until a few minutes ago, I’d been having one of the best night’s sleeps I’ve had in forever. Deal with it, shut up, and go back to sleep.”

  “You might have been sleeping well, but I wasn’t!”

  “Bullshit, I climbed in bed and you wrapped yourself around me like a monkey.”

  Okay, he wasn’t lying. Maybe, in my unconscious mind, I’d been sleeping more comfortably than I had in a really, really long time, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

  “It’s too hot. Your body’s like a freaking furnace,” I sniped, refusing to admit defeat.

  Trevor released me long enough to sit up, throw the comforter off the bed and pull the thin sheet back over our bodies before laying back down and wrapping me back up in his arms.

  “There,” he announced, all snooty like he’d just solved all the world’s problems with that one simple move. “Now, shut up and go back to sleep.”

  Burrowing back down, he pressed his nose into the crook of my neck and didn’t say another word. I lay unmoving for several minutes, just staring off into the dark as his breathing eventually evened out, indicating he’d fallen back to sleep. I waited for his arms to loosen their hold, but they never did. Even in his sleep he held me tight against him.

  Finally, I was forced to relent and get as comfortable as possible—which, unfortunately wasn’t hard to do at all; he really felt fantastic—and let sleep pull me back under.

  All I could think the few minutes it took to doze back off was how horribly wonderful it felt to have him in my bed. Damn, I was in so much trouble.

  “This shit is not going like I’d planned,” I bemoaned as I hunched over the guy in my chair. The buzz of my tattoo gun helped to soothe my frayed nerves. I’d been busting my ass trying to get Lizzy to come around and see that we’re made for each other, but she’d flat-out refused my advances at every turn. We had been married for two weeks. The majority of that time I’d been sharing a bed with her, and still nothing. If I attempted to cuddle while she was still awake, she made sure to scoot as far away from me as possible. It was only after she’d passed out that I was able to get my hands on her luscious body. I guess I should have at least been happy that she’d finally relented after the second night and let me in her bed without a fight. But it went without saying that I had blue balls like a motherfucker!

  “You need a grand gesture,” Mickey called over the half wall that divided her station from mine at Ink Addictz. I was putting the finishing touches on Carl Montoya’s full sleeve that I’d been working on for a while now. It had taken several sessions over time, but I had to say, it was some of my best work yet. Poor Mickey was working on her third tramp stamp of the day.

  “I married her and moved into the friggin’ house. How much more grand can I get, Mick?”

  “She was toasted when you got married and you moved in without her knowledge or permission. She just about lost her mind, man. Those aren’t grand gestures; those are reasonable homicide defenses. You need to come up with something that’ll sweep her off her feet.”

  “Dude,” Carl said from his place in my chair. “Me and the guys down at Colt’s got a bet going on just how long it’ll take Lizzy to kill you. I got fifty down for one month.”

  Narrowing my eyes on my client, I replied, “Thanks for the support, man. You want me to fuck your shit up? Cuz I’d be more than happy to tattoo a unicorn humping a rainbow on your arm. It’d make my day.”

  “Sorry,” he grumbled, laying back in the chair and staring at the ceiling.

  “You got any suggestions for me? I’m drowning here, Mickey.” And wasn’t that the damn truth.

  Mickey’s tattoo gun stopped buzzing and I looked up to see her slathering ointment on her finished product. As usual, it looked awesome. She got up and checked her client out before walking back to my station and propping her hip against the ledge. “You ever think of just telling her you’re in love with her? It’s not like you’re any good at hiding it. She’s all you’ve talked about since I started working here. It’s written all over your face how you feel about her every time her name is mentioned.”

  If only it were that easy. “Believe me, Mick. It’s not like I haven’t thought about that. But she’s not ready to hear it. If I tell her now, she’ll bolt. She’s still got it in her head that I’m the same dickhead I was when I first moved here.”

  Mickey looked up at the ceiling, deep in thought while I filled in the last line on Carl’s arm before rubbing it down with ointment and covering it up. “You know, you could always knock her up,” Carl suggested. “She’d be stuck with you then.”

  Mickey stomped over and smacked him upside the back of his head.

  “Man, just pay me and get out of my shop!”

  “It was just a suggestion!” Carl said, rubbing the back of his head as we walked to the register. He paid and I went over the aftercare instructions even though he already knew what to do. Once he was gone, I went back and started cleaning up my station. It had been a long day and I was more than ready to get home to my girl—even if she fought me tooth and nail on actually being my girl.

  “Look, Trev. I know you’re a good guy and you’re busting your ass. You’re just gonna have to give Liz time to see that you aren’t the person she thinks you are. You’ll prove her wrong, babe. Just give it time.”

  I stayed quiet as I thought about what she had just said. I truly believed that, in time, she’d come around. The problem was, I wasn’t known for being a patient guy. I was kind of all about instant gratification, and my dick was really starting to hate me. I wanted Lizzy and I wanted her yesterday.

  “You know, I’ve been thinking about your grand gesture idea, and I think I’ve come up with something.”

  Mickey looked at me suspiciously, “You thinking is never a good thing.”

  A smile spread across my face as I thought about exactly what I was goi
ng to do to win Liz over. “Just trust me on this, Mick; she’s gonna love it. But I need your help.”

  She didn’t look like she believed me, but she listened as I went through my plan anyway. Then we got to work.

  An hour later, everything was done and I was giving myself a mental pat on the back. I was a fucking genius.

  Mickey had tried to talk me out of my plan several times, but I wasn’t having any of it. I just knew this was going to work.

  “Stop looking so doubtful,” I told her. “This is perfect.”

  She stopped cleaning up her station and looked at me with a flat expression. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”

  “An idiot who’s about to get himself laid,” I boasted.

  “Whatever,” Mickey told me with a roll of her eyes. “Just make sure you will me the shop before you die. I’m gonna be pissed if I have to find a new job.”

  I snorted sarcastically as I made my way out the door. “Please, she’s gonna be all over me when she sees this.”

  “It’s been nice knowing you,” Mickey mumbled under her breath as I left for the night. Oh, yeah, I couldn’t wait to get home.

  Tonight was the night. I’d psyched myself up all day long to go through with my plan to seduce Trevor into an annulment. For nearly two weeks, Trevor had been sleeping in my bed every night. And for two weeks, I’d talked myself out of moving things along to end our sham of a marriage. I wouldn’t admit to anyone else, but with every passing day my resolve grew weaker and weaker. I found myself staring at Trevor, daydreaming about what it would actually be like to be with him physically. My body responded to every little touch he gave me.

  Things which always seemed so natural in our friendship—his arm wrapped around my shoulders when we watched TV, the little peck he’d give me on the tip of my nose, the way he’d tug on one of my curls before tucking it behind my ear—were now starting to weigh on me, causing my body to grow aroused with every single brush of his skin against mine. I was a walking, talking pile of exposed nerves. Christ, I can’t remember the last time I craved an orgasm so badly.