Pushing the Boundaries (Picking up the Pieces #3) by Jessica Prince Page A

roll my eyes. “Admit it; you miss all this sexy pressed up against you at night. You crave my man meat, don’t ya, cher ?”
    “All right, dip shit. Don’t push your luck.” My scolding tone only made him laugh even harder. “Fine, you know what? Stay in the guest room. See how much I care.”
    After a few more seconds, his laughter finally died down.
    “Wanna know a secret?”
    “What?”
    “I haven’t slept for shit, either.”
    That admission made me feel just a tiny bit better.

We had one week of enjoyable calm before the bottom fell.
    I had the day off and was cleaning the house with Merle and Mr. Bojangles under my feet when my cell rang.”
    A goofy smile spread across my lips when Trevor’s face popped up on the screen.
    “Drunken Wives Unlimited. We get wasted so you can get married. How can I help you?”
    “ Cher .” The seriousness in his voice immediately snuffed out my good humor.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “The apocalypse is coming.”
    I rolled my eyes at his dramatics and went back to dusting. “Trev, honey, I’ve told you a million times, a zombie apocalypse is never going to happen. Zombies aren’t real.”
    He snorted through the phone line. “You can’t know that for sure. We don’t know what kind of sick, twisted shit the government is working on. It could only be a matter of time. Then you’ll be happy I’ve spent so long stocking up on canned goods. And I’ll be doing my I-told-you-so dance for every can of Vienna sausages you eat.”
    “Is this seriously what you called to talk about?”
    He let out a deep breath. “No, but you started it. You know my opinion on something like that.”
    “Stay on point, honey,” I reminded him. “What apocalypse is coming?
    “The Devareau family. It’s worse than zombies, cher . Batten down the hatches.”
    “What? When?”
    That was when he dropped another bomb. “They’re already on their way, baby. I’m sorry I didn’t give you more warning; I just found out myself. The old man waited until they were only an hour out before calling to let me know. He’s an asshole like that.”
    I looked down at my ratty clothes and the state of the house. I still had a lot more that needed to be cleaned in order for it to be presentable to guests. I began my mental freak-out as Trevor continued to talk.
    “I’m leaving the shop as soon as I can, baby. I have a client I need to finish up with, but I’ll be there as soon as I’m finished. I’m so sorry. I never wanted you to deal with them on your own. Especially not when it’s an ambush like this.”
    They couldn’t really have been as bad as he made them out to be, right? I mean, everyone complained about their families. Hell, I bitched about mine on a regular basis. I tried to wrap myself around the idea that meeting Trevor’s family was going to go off without a hitch, and they were totally going to love me. But I couldn’t even buy my own special brand of bullshit.
    This was going to suck. But I’d be damned if I made it any worse for Trevor.
    “It’ll be fine, Trev. I can handle them.”
    “God, I hope you’re right,” he muttered, not helping to make me feel any better. “They’ll be there in about an hour. I can tell you my father will be expecting a home-cooked meal tonight. If that’s not something you have time to handle, I’ll grab something from the diner on the way home. Just let me know what’s best for you. I’m so sorry, cher .”
    “Trevor, just calm down, sweetheart,” I soothed, trying to stop his rambling. “It’s fine. I can get a home-cooked meal ready for them. I still have time to start everything.”
    “You sure? I don’t want to put you out, baby. It’s not fair to drop all this on you—”
    “Honey, stop.” I interrupted. He was stressed to the max and I hated hearing him so frazzled. “I told you, I’m right here with ya. We’re a team. I’ll get dinner handled and everything will be just fine. No matter how your dad acts, I’m here.