Boundaries Part 5: Boundaries, #5

By Piper Denna

New Beginnings

Ali is ready for a commitment with Cam, but before she can tell him, a major crisis arises. When she finally admits she loves him, he fears she’s confusing need with want.

Still trying to figure out how she can make things right with Cam, Ali walks into a confrontation with a deadly outcome.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Piper Denna
• Release date: Apr 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386626947

Piper Denna

Romance is sexy. And often funny, and sometimes tangled up with suspense. Let’s face it: all sorts of things get mixed up with romance in real life. Piper Denna’s stories are not cut-and-dried romance. Her characters deal with issues female readers can relate to: independence and trust, empowerment, inhibition, an unfaithful partner, motherhood. Sometimes her characters make mistakes, and often her “bad guys” are not 100% bad. She hopes to take the reader on an emotional journey to a happy ending…with enviable sexual encounters along the way. When she’s not writing, she edits, raises two teens along with her husband, and collects scrapbooking material. She enjoys books—or movies—with a comedic twist and hopefully a love story with lots of tension, too. Sexiest parts of a man in Piper’s opinion? The hands and eyes. Shoulders are nice too, and of course, great pecs are never amiss…

Book preview

Boundaries

Part 5

New Beginnings

––––––––

by

Piper Denna

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Sneak Peek

Other books by Piper Denna

About Piper Denna

Chapter 1

Will and Andy were swinging Emily back and forth in the hammock, laughing at her squeals. I stood in my bathroom at the farmhouse watching the kitchen timer count down minutes to the moment of truth.

When we’d gone to the grocery store, I’d snuck off to the pharmacy for a pregnancy test. We’d picked up Will and Andy from Kerri’s on the way home. Andy made a snide comment about whether CJ was going to be there every weekend now, or what? So Will whacked the back of Andy’s head.

Emily ingratiated herself with both boys by acting impressed with how strong and tall they were, and begged them to help her with her batting for Little League. She had an innate ability to flatter and flirt, just as smooth as her dad’s.

Cam was in the kitchen putting away groceries. I’d decided I couldn’t possibly wait until the next morning to take the test. If I was pregnant enough to be getting violently ill, I’d be pregnant enough to test positive. Cam knew what I was doing, but he didn’t say a word. Just whistled and put stuff in cupboards.

The timer beeped. I covered my eyes. Coward, I mumbled. With a deep breath, I looked.

Shit! Oh shit! I screamed. Oh Holy mother of God! Shit!

All three kids went silent.

Mom? Will called, You okay?

"Um. It’s a bug. A really big bug. A positively huge bug! Cam!"

He found me sitting on the closed stool, with my head between my knees, drawing deep breaths. Shit. Oh shit. How could this happen?

I wish I could refresh your memory right now, he murmured against the top of my head. Oh, Ali. I love you so much.

Being unhappy about it made me feel even more lousy. Guilt, because he was thrilled and I wasn’t, nauseated me all over again. Then there was the guilt over starting a new family when I wanted to make sure my kids didn’t suffer through the pain of their dad doing that. Shame over begrudging Bill what I had done myself. Shame over being impregnated by another man before I’d even filed divorce papers. Fear of what my mother would say. Resentment for the unwelcome, unborn child. Shame for that.

I cried big, painful, wretched tears. I didn’t want another baby. My boys were big and able to make their own breakfast. They put their clothes in the hamper. They were potty trained. They were going to hate me. I cried more.

Cam. I need to be sick again. If only I could throw up all the rotten feelings, I thought between heaves. If only my mind could vomit.

Poor Cam knelt there and held me while I retched and sobbed over carrying his child.

When I’d finally cried myself out, I was exhausted. Cam tucked me in my bed, kissed my forehead, twisted closed the blinds, and left me there to nap. I went to sleep feeling like the World’s Biggest Jerk.

Fwack! The sounds of ball meeting flesh then Will yelling while Andy and Emily laughed, roused me. I opened the blinds and watched a poorly matched game of Dodgeball in progress. It was Cam against all three kids, and whenever he hit Will or Andy, he’d lay them flat and they’d all laugh. The guy had an arm and, just as I remembered from junior high school, the boys found getting knocked flat by a flying missile to be hilarious. More pain equalled more fun.

I watched in sheer amazement as my younger son purposely took a hit to shield a girl.

It wouldn’t be all fun and games blending families. But from my place in that window, I let optimism reign. Cam was good at this. He could relate to the boys, and maybe, just maybe, we wouldn’t be the first blended family in the world to all die from the sheer effort of getting along.

Geez, you guys! Three against one, and I still haven’t seen you hit him once! I stepped out in my sneakers, and took them all by surprise.

Andy recovered first. Come on, Mom! It’s Mr. Incredible against the world! The sidewalk’s the center line.

Cam purposely threw the ball slow enough for me to catch. I tricked him with a fake-out throw, and then threw a