Pushing the Boundaries (Picking up the Pieces #3) (16 page)

“Dude, the tattoo looks awesome,” Jeremy told Luke as he and Gavin studied the work I’d done on his back. “How did we not know it was Em’s name in there this whole time?”

“Because I’m awesome like that,” I answered, tilting my head and resting it on the back of my chair.

“Hmm, well, I don’t like to give Trevor too much credit for anything,” Emmy said. “It makes his head even bigger—”

I interrupted with a grin. “Which head you talking about, sweetheart? Ah hell, doesn’t matter, they’re both big.”

Luke reached over and popped me on the back of the head before turning back to his woman sitting on his lap.

“As I was saying,” she cut her eyes over at me, “you really are talented, Trev. Maybe once I pop this little one out, I’ll get you to draw something up for me,” she said as she rubbed her hand over her rounded belly.

“I’d be more than happy to, darlin’”

“No offense, man, but your hands aren’t getting anywhere near my girl, needle or not. I’ll rip your arms off and beat you to death with them,” Luke told me, earning a laugh from everyone.

I couldn’t take the slightest offense, not when the image of Brett’s hands on my own girl hours ago caused me to lose my shit. At that reminder, I leaned forward to where Lizzy was perched on the foot of the lounge chair and jerked her back so she was resting between my legs against my chest. I expected her to fight me, but to my utter delight, she just melted into me and let out a contented sigh.

Cloud nine, right there.

“Emmy can get a tattoo from Mickey,” Lizzy said. “She’s really good, too. It wasn’t the best surprise in the world, but I have to admit, the tattoo of my name that she did on Trevor’s ass really was beautiful.”

“Wait…what?”

Oh, shit
.

“Mickey tattooed your ass?” Ben asked as he glared over at me. I looked to Mick for some back-up, praying she’d control her man, but she was too busy laughing hysterically.

“Man, it’s not what you think,” I told him as Lizzy jumped from my hold, giggling uncontrollably as she left me without a buffer between my nuts and Ben’s clenching fists. The traitor. “It was strictly professional.”

“My woman’s hands were on your ass.”

Ah, hell. It wasn’t like I could fault him for being pissed; I’d be mad as hell myself.

I released a groan and stood from my chair. “Fine. One hit. But keep it above the waistline, for shit’s sake.”

Closing my eyes, I lifted my arms out to the sides and prepared to take my punishment like a man.

I seriously needed to consider looking for a new group of friends. These assholes were too damn violent.

It had been three days since our trip to the lake, and as I walked in to Elegant Nails for the start of my shift, what I saw on arrival froze me in place at sight.

“Uh….What’s happening right now?”

“They kind of just showed up this morning and got to work. You didn’t know this was going on?” Kenzie asked as she walked to me from her place setting up her station. We were the only two people to arrive yet; the rest of my employees wouldn’t be in for another half hour. But the fact that I was watching Trevor, Brett, and some of Brett’s construction crew tear out walls at the back of my salon wasn’t something I expected to stumble upon when I woke up this morning.

“Uh, Trev? Wanna tell me why you’re demo-ing my salon an hour before it opens?”

“Hey, wifey,” he replied as he stood and wiped sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his t-shirt. My mouth grew dry at the sight of his damp t-shirt clinging to all that delicious muscle. His faded jeans rode low on his waist, weighed down by a tool belt, making him look like a sexy carpenter from every woman’s fantasy. My God, he was too hot for words. I just stood, anchored to the ground, my mind a fog of naughty thoughts as he walked closer and planted a little peck on the tip of my nose. I managed to pick my jaw up from the floor and cleared my throat.

“Uh, what’s going on?”

“Well,” he said with a grin. “I remembered those plans for the expansion sitting on the table at home and asked Brett for a favor. You said something always comes up that keeps you from getting started, so I figured I’d take that burden off your shoulders and handle it. Brett looked over the plans and said he and his guys could knock it out in no time. I just offered to help when I wasn’t busy at the shop.”

“Hey there, Lizzy-Lu,” Brett called from the back of the shop. I lifted my arm and waved but he wasn’t paying attention to me anymore. His focus was on Kenzie as she worked to finish setting up her station for the day, his eyes planted firmly on her ass as she bent down.

I turned to look back at Trevor, my eyes wide in disbelief. “You did all this for me?” I asked, stupefied by the extents he went to in order to do something nice for me.

“Of course I did,” He reached up to tug a curl of hair before letting it bounce back into place. “You’re my wife. This is what husbands do.”

He sounded so sincere, like this kind of thing should be expected, that I reacted completely on instinct. I stood on my tiptoes and planted my lips firmly against his. I wanted my gratitude to shine through that kiss. I wanted him to understand just how much I appreciated him and everything he was doing for me. It was more than anyone had ever done for me before, and I felt my resolve crumble, almost completely obliterated just by Trevor’s caring actions.

When I pulled away, Trevor’s smile was stretched from ear to ear, that bright, shining grin I’d grown to adore.

“Well, that was definitely a pleasant start to my day,” he said with a laugh, leaning down to press his lips against mine once more. He turned to walk back to the construction area but stopped and spun back to me, reaching into his pocket. “You forgot this at home,” he told me with a wink as he held out his hand. My wedding ring sat in the palm of his hand. Since waking up in Vegas, the disastrous dinner with his parents was the only other time I’d worn it. I guess a part of me still wasn’t sure if this truly was a real marriage. Before I could move, he grabbed my left hand and slid the ring on my finger.

“Can’t have these guys thinking you’re on the market,” he said with a hitch of his head back toward Brett’s men. After delivering that line, he turned and walked away.

“Damn,” Kenzie breathed, coming up behind me. “That man is fine. I think I just orgasmed a little bit.”

I turned and glared at my employee and friend. “Too much information, Kenz. And you’re not allowed to orgasm while looking at my husband.”

She looked over at me with a shit-eating grin on her face. “So he’s your husband now, is he? What happened to the whole annulment thing? Huh?”

I narrowed my eyes “Oh, shut your stupid face,” I snapped as I pushed past her and made my way to my station to start getting ready for the day. The whole time, Kenzie laughed her butt off behind me.

Shortly before lunch, Trevor had to head back to his shop for a client while Brett and his guys stayed to work on the build-out.

“What’s up, butter cup?” Brett said, sitting down in the chair opposite me at my station.

“Hey there. Thanks so much for all of this,” I said, pointing to the construction going on at the back of the salon. “I thanked Trevor already, but I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate what you’re doing.”

A smirk spread over his lips. “You gonna thank me like you did lover boy this morning?” he asked, referring to the unexpected kiss I planted on Trevor. Lifting up from my chair, I reached across the table and smacked Brett across the head. “Kidding! I was just kidding!” He rubbed the side of his head and chuckled at my glaring expression.

I sat back down and went about readying my table for my next client. When I looked back up, Brett was once again staring at Kenzie.

“So what’s her story,” he asked quietly, tilting his head in Kenzie’s direction.

“What do you mean?”

“She single?”

“That she is, my friend.” Kenzie was a good girl and had had a rough go of it. She deserved a good guy, and Brett was once of the best guys I knew.

“You think I got a shot?” He leaned his arms against my table and kept shifting his gaze between me and Kenzie.

I leaned in as well so no one else could hear our conversation. “She’s a good girl, Brett,” I stated seriously.

“And what? You don’t think I’m good enough?” His posture went rigid as his defenses rose. I needed to defuse the situation quickly.

“Not at all! I think you’re amazing, you know that. I just meant handle that one with kid gloves if you’re dead-set on pursuing it. She has twin toddlers and a shithead of an ex. I know it may seem like a lot of baggage for one woman, but I’ll tell ya, she’s more than worth it. She’s just guarded. And when I say guarded, I mean like an electric fence with barbed wire and rabid pit bulls on the other side.”

He looked back over to Kenzie and studied her as he gave my words some thought. “You really think she’s worth the effort?”

“I know for a fact she is, babe. You’d be lucky to get that girl over there.”

He knocked his knuckles on the table and stood. “Thanks, Lizzy-Lu. I’ll give that some serious thought.”

“You do that, honey.” I smiled at him as he headed back to work.

Brett and Kenzie would be an amazing love connection. I knew both well and couldn’t have picked a better match for each of them.

Maybe that was something I should focus more of my efforts on.

Ah, shit, this is not gonna be good
, I thought as my next client walked through the door of Ink Addictz. That’s what I got for not looking at the fucking names on my schedule each day. If Lizzy found out about this, I was well and royally fucked…and not in the way that made me want to happy dance.

“Hiya, Trevor,” the seductive voice called from over the counter in the waiting area. I looked up to see Allison Crabtree in all her bottled-blonde, fake-tittied glory. Allison Crabtree, the chick who got between Luke and Emmy when they were younger. The same Allison Crabtree who every person in my circle of friends hated with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.

Cliff’s notes version, Allison Crabtree was the goddamned devil in hot-pink spandex. She was the walking, talking doorknob of Cloverleaf. And if Lizzy found out I had to spend more than one second touching her—even if it was in a strictly-professional sense—she’d cut my dick off and feed it to me.