Pushing the Boundaries (Picking up the Pieces #3)

by Jessica Prince

  “Hell yeah, cher.” He gave me another quick peck before smiling. “You’re not getting rid of me. Ever.”

  “Good thing I want to keep you then.”

  His nose traced along mine as he said, “Let’s go home, baby. I’ve been without you for too damn long.”

  I felt myself grow wet at the hunger in his voice, my blood heating with arousal as his fingers squeezed me deliciously hard. I was desperate to get him inside me. But there was just one thing we had to do first.

  “We have to stop and get Merle on the way. Mr. Bojangles misses him.”

  His head tipped back in laughter. I’d missed that sound; I was so thankful to finally have it back.

  “Anything you want, baby.”

  My head fell back on a guttural moan as my body coiled tighter. “Trevor,” I whimpered as my movements grew more uncoordinated as my climax built stronger.

  “Fuck yeah, baby,” Trevor ground out as his hips thrust up, pushing deeper into me. “Come for me, Lizzy. I need you to come.” I rode him harder, chasing after my release at the same time his hand slipped between my thighs, his thumb pressing tight circles against my clit.

  “Trevor!” I screamed out as my orgasm crashed over me, so strong it threatened to drown me as he continued to work my body until there was nothing left.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck! Lizzy!” Trevor shouted as his hard cock swelled and his hot release filled me.

  I collapsed onto his chest in a sweaty, boneless heap as I tried to steady my breathing while Trevor groaned as he finished coming. “That was…” I panted, at a loss for words that could perfectly describe how amazingly mind-blowing that was. “I love you so much,” I breathed against his chest, placing kisses right above his heart. I could feel it as it pounded out an intense rhythm.

  “Christ, baby.” His arms wrapped around me, squeezing me tightly and keeping me pinned to him. “I love you, too, Lizzy.”

  “I’m so glad you’re home.”

  One of Trevor’s hands let go of my waist and traveled up into my hair where he played with the curly strands. “I missed you, cher.”

  My fingers traced a pattern along his ribs as I nuzzled deeper against him. “I missed you, too, honey. No matter what happens from here on out, promise you’re never leaving, okay? We can fight and be angry, but you have to promise that you’ll still be in this bed every night.”

  I felt his body shake with silent laughter as he cupped my chin and tilted my face up. “Can’t sleep without me?”

  I shook my head and stared right into those gorgeous teal-blue eyes. “I don’t want to sleep without you.”

  His smile faded as his face grew soft. Leaning up slightly, Trevor pulled me further up his body for a kiss at the same time a sound pulled our gazes to the doorway. Merle and Mr. Bojangles sat side by side with their heads cocked as they stared at us.

  Plopping back down with a huff, Trevor exclaimed, “We’ve got to do something about those two.”

  I laughed as I move up and nipped at his chin. “They’re just excited. They missed each other.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m starting to get performance anxiety.”

  I clenched around his cock which was still inside me, feeling him start to grow hard again. “Something tells me that’s not gonna be an issue,” I said with a seductive smile.

  “Mmm, maybe you’re right.” I let out a squeal as Trevor flipped me onto my back so he was hovering over me. “You have any idea how much I love you?” he asked with absolute sincerity.

  I gave him a nod as I smiled up at him, all the love I felt for him shining through. “Yeah, I have an idea,” I told him. “Because I love you just as much.”

  With this man by my side there wasn’t a single doubt in my mind that, no matter the bad times, I’d spend the rest of my life completely happy.

  Three Months Later

  “Wifey, I’m home,” I called out as I came through the door. Merle and Mr. Bojangles came running up to greet me. If you’d told me six months ago that I’d actually like that damn fat cat I’d have called you a dirty liar, but as I crouched down to pet Merle and give the chubby fuzzball a quick cuddle, there’s no denying it. I kinda love the cranky bastard.

  “In the kitchen,” Lizzy called.

  It’d been three months since my girl proposed we stay married in front of all our friends, and not a day went by that I regretted saying yes. Was our marriage perfect rainbows and unicorns that farted roses? Hell no. But then again, we weren’t perfect either. Perfect for each other, yes. Perfect in general…yeah, not so much. We intentionally pushed each other’s buttons and set each other off just for the fun of it. But there was always a purpose to it. We knew makeup sex was well worth every single silly argument we could ever have.

  She accepted me as I was, even though every time she bent over I felt the incessant need to run up behind her and hump her. And I accepted her as she was, even though she spent every Sunday watching Snapped marathons and taking notes like she was preparing for a test.

  I was 97 percent sure that she wouldn’t actually use any of her newfound knowledge against me. Or at least that’s what she promised when I asked her why she felt the need to create a what-not-to-do guide.

  I stepped into the kitchen, making a beeline for my wife and wrapping her in my arms as I rested my chin on her shoulder to see what she was cooking.

  “Dinner smells amazing, cher.” I reached out to try and stick my finger in whatever was on the stovetop to get a taste when she smacked my hand out of the way.

  “Don’t touch,” she scolded.

  “But I’m hungry,” I pouted, sticking out my bottom lip.

  “Nana, Pop Pop and the rest of the crazy will be here soon. You can wait until then.”

  Another benefit to being married to Lizzy was the weekly dinners we had with her family. Each week we rotated houses, and this week it was our turn to host. Lizzy’s family was everything I could ever have asked for. I loved those nut jobs something fierce…especially Nana. She never failed to tell me I was her favorite grandchild every time we saw each other. Watching Lizzy get all huffy over it was just icing on the cake. My girl turned me on at the flip of a switch, but there was just something about that redheaded temper of hers that got me hard enough to pound nails every single time.

  Yeah, I had issues, I’d accepted that.

  “And no sex talk tonight,” she told me with a finger pointed at my face. “I’m tired of you discussing which positions we tried throughout the week. It’s icky and I’ve already told you; I’m not getting pregnant for at least another year.”

  “You take all the fun out of everything,” I grumbled.

  “Yeah, well, you love me anyway, so suck it up. Oh, and your mom called.”

  “Yeah?” I asked, leaning against the counter and popping a piece of bread in my mouth. “What’d she have to say?”

  That was another thing that changed over the past few months. After my dad and Marissa pulled they’re bullshit and nearly cost me Lizzy, I decided I’d finally had enough. I put in a call to my mom and filled her in on everything I knew about the two of them, from dad’s failing company to the affair that had been going on for years.

  Turned out, she wasn’t as weak as she’d always seemed. Mom had known about dad’s indiscretions for a while now. She’d been secretly working on a plan that’d get her out of that marriage and take him down at the same time. Seeing as Mom still had a hefty little nest egg from the trust fund her parents gave her, Daddy Dearest had no choice but to sell the company to her when it became abundantly clear that he wasn’t able to pull it out of the shitter on his own.

  She’d been sure to immediately turn around and fire him and Marissa at the same time she served him with divorce papers. Now my mom was a business owner who found her worth in successfully rebuilding the company that my dad had all but sunk into the ground. It gave her something to strive for; building a sense of pride in her I’d never seen before. I was shocked at the transformation I’d witnessed
in her in just a few short months. We’d talked at least three times a week and she’d gone above and beyond to make up for being a neglectful parent. It had taken more than a little convincing to get Lizzy to accept my mother, but she’d finally gotten on board. My woman was nothing if not protective. She needed to see with her own eyes that my mom was worthy of me.

  Mine and my mother’s relationship wasn’t perfect, but we were building to something I felt was going to be pretty damn good one day.

  Plus, she’d had an epic bitch-smack down with Coraline the likes of which I’d never seen. Watching Mom put my sister in her place was like Christmas, New Year’s, and every one of my birthdays all rolled together with the very moment I’d lost my virginity. In other words, It. Was. Awesome! And because of that, Coraline and I were finally starting to forge ahead like a brother and sister should. We fought like cats and dogs, but eventually apologized to each other and moved on like it’d never happened.

  As for my father…well, before everything went to shit for Carlisle, Marissa had already been scheming to get what she wanted. Unbeknownst to Dear Old Dad, she’d gone off the pill and intentionally gotten herself knocked up. What she wasn’t counting on was that her meal ticket was only a few weeks away from being flat-broke and homeless. I’m not a mean-spirited person, but I couldn’t help but feel that she got what she deserved when he up and bailed on her when she announced she was carrying his offspring.

  As Nana liked to say, God doesn’t like ugly. Marissa was stuck reaping what she’d sown.

  “She said she’s been talking to Coraline and they’re thinking of heading this way for Thanksgiving. I told her they’re more than welcome to crash with us if they decide to spend the holiday in Cloverleaf.”

  I threw my head back on a groan. I loved my mom and sis, and yes, things were finally starting to become good between us, but that didn’t mean I wanted all of us under the same roof. That was a recipe for disaster. Visions of Coraline and me going at it until the police were forced to intervene played through my head. I could easily see her trying to choke me to death with a turkey leg.

  “Can’t we just put them up at the Inn?

  “Nope. They’re family. Family stays here.” She twisted the knob on the burner and turned to me with a smile as she wiped her hand on a dishtowel. “But I have something that’ll cheer you up.”

  My mind went straight to the gutter. “Is that right?” I asked salaciously.

  “Come with me; I have a surprise for you.”

  I expected to follow her up the stairs, but when she took me through the hall to the door that led to the garage, my brow furrowed in confusion. Reaching down and picking up a cardboard box that had been sitting by the door, she spun back around and thrust it at me.

  “Open it!” Her face was bright with excitement as she shifted from foot to foot in anticipation. Damn, my girl was cute.

  Ripping the tape from the box, I flipped open the sides and peered in, immediately taken back by what I saw inside. I was man enough to admit I felt a little misty-eyed as I sat the box down and pulled out the neon beer sign that had been nestled inside the box.

  “You like it?” she asked with a beaming smile as I clutched it close to my chest.

  “I—” My voice came out in an embarrassing croak and I had to clear it before I could answer. “I love it, babe.”

  Lizzy burst out in laughter. “Oh, my God, you’re crying!”

  “I am not!” I replied defensively. “I’m a man. Men don’t cry. I’m just…leaking from my eyeballs.

  “Well, if this makes you all whimpery just wait until you see the rest of it.”

  “I’m not whimpery. I—”

  I was immediately stunned speechless when she pushed the door to the garage open and waved her hand like a game show host, stating proudly, “Your new man cave!”

  One half of our two-car garage had been converted into every man’s dream room, complete with a pool table and a fully-functioning air hockey table. A flat-screen TV hung from the wall in front of a plush-looking brown leather couch, my old blue Barcalounger set up right next to it. But the piece de resistance was the mini-fridge and kegerator set up against the wall.

  Now I was going to cry.

  “Your beer sign will look awesome hanging up in here. So what do you think?” she asked after several minutes of silence as I took in the wonderfulness that was my man cave.

  When I felt I could talk past the lump that had formed in my throat, I turned to her and declared, “You just earned yourself a solid thirty minutes of my mouth between your legs.”

  She let out another peel of laughter. Damn, but I loved to listen to her laugh.

  “You’re such a romantic,” she giggled as I walked to her and wrapped her in my arms.

  “You love me the way I am,” I said before pressing a wet kiss to her lips. Every time I thought I couldn’t love her more, she did something to make me fall even harder and deeper.

  “This is very true,” she said as her thumb rubbed over my bottom lip.

  “Do you have any idea how much I love you?” It was the question I asked every single night before we went to sleep. And the answer was always the same.

  “Yeah, because I love you just as much.”

  “Can I invite my friends over to play? Can I, can I, can I?” I hopped up and down, earning myself another beloved laugh.

  “After dinner,” she said. “Family’ll be here soon, and Dad’s already got himself all excited to hang out in your new man cave. Mom told me he full-on squealed like a little girl when she told him about it.”

  “I can appreciate his excitement.”

  “So, you’re happy?” she asked, leaning into my chest and wrapping her arms around my waist.

  “Cher, as long as I’ve got you, I’ll spend the rest of my life completely happy. I love you.”

  Those shining green eyes smiled up at me.

  “Good answer,” she said. “I love you, too.”’

  Then we spent the next half hour christening the new pool table before the family descended and the craziness ensued.

  No doubt about it, life was perfect.

  THE END

  Keep reading to see how the Cloverleaf gang got it’s start

  Past: Summer 2005

  “What the hell do you mean, you enlisted?” I couldn’t catch my breath. It felt like the ground had just been pulled out from under me. My best friend, the person I had grown up next to my entire life, just informed me that he had enlisted in the Marine Corps. This couldn’t be happening.

  “Emmy, baby, it’s okay,” Luke told me in a consolatory tone. “It’s just the Marines. It’s not the end of the world.” I didn’t understand how he could be so casual. I was terrified.

  “Are you out of your friggin’ mind?!” I screeched. “We’re in the middle of a war, Lucas! You just signed up to go over to a war-ravaged county and potentially lose your life in the process. Please explain to me how that isn’t the end of the world?” If anything were to ever happen to Luke, it would be the end of my world. I had no doubt about that. It felt like someone had reached inside my chest and was squeezing my heart.

  Luke grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into his chest. I wrapped my arms around his waist and inhaled his familiar scent, letting it calm my frayed nerves. Luke had always done that for me. He’d always been my peaceful place when things got too rough. I couldn’t imagine what my life would be like with him not in it. I didn’t want to. “Baby girl, I know you’re mad right now, but this is something I just have to do,” he said as he ran his hand down the back of my head. I knew he needed my blessing to feel good about his decision, but this was the first time in my life I had trouble giving it to him. I wanted to be selfish and scream at him that he couldn’t do this… that I couldn’t support him. But I didn’t. I knew this meant a lot, and I wouldn’t take that away from him.

  “Why, Luke?” I needed to understand. I pulled my head away from his chest and looked up into his emerald green eyes. I
could see the emotion running through them and knew exactly what he was feeling before he even said anything.

  Letting out a deep sigh, he responded, “I just do.” Dropping his arms from around me, he ran his hands through his black hair, sending it into a disarray that would have looked messy on anyone else, but always managed to look sexy on him. “I can’t stay here any longer. You just graduated and will be leaving for college soon. What’s left for me after you’re gone?” I knew my leaving was weighing on him, but I honestly had no clue that he was taking it that hard. Luke and I grew up living next to each other in a smaller town not too far from Houston. He and his parents moved in three houses away from me when he was six, and even though he was two years older than me, we’d instantly become friends and had been inseparable ever since.

  The two of us had been through more than any person our age should ever have to go through, and we both managed to get through it with the help of each other. It was my window he would climb through when he had to sneak out of his house at night to get away from his parents’ screams as they fought with each other. It was me who would bandage up his cuts and wipe away the blood when his dad drank too much and took his anger out on Luke. I hated his father with a passion and had no respect for his mother. She allowed Luke to be abused for all those years and did nothing to stop him.

  He was the shoulder I cried on for months when I lost both of my parents in a car accident when I was only thirteen. My parents were the complete opposite of Luke’s. For all the bad they did, my mother and father tried to counter with acts of kindness. They took Luke under their wing without question, just accepted him as my best friend. I adored them both whole heartedly and when they passed, I never got that piece of my heart back.

  Even though my grandmother moved into our house in order to raise me, it was Luke that I went to whenever I felt like life was a weight too heavy for me to carry on my own. I could always count on him to help lift my burdens.