It started out as a little fun. When there was a man in my building on a hookup app, why not message him? Only we didn’t meet. We just texted—one night after the other, after the other. GoodWithHisHands was the perfect escape from my life, where pressure was always on my shoulders: my father’s expectations, the worry about my sister, Maddy, getting sick again, and her ex-husband, Ryder Lynwood, suddenly back and volunteering at the same hospital as me. It would have been smart to keep my distance from the man who came out as gay, tearing our close families apart and breaking Maddy’s heart. Except Ryder intrigues me. I like talking to him, same as I enjoy chatting to GoodWithHisHands. They weren’t supposed to be the same person. I wasn’t supposed to fall for him. To want him. To need him. Maddy didn’t deserve to get hurt again, and I didn’t need another reason to feel like an outsider in my own family. Ryder was off-limits. I knew that. Still, I couldn’t make myself stay away.

I was fourteen when my dad married Lane’s mom and our families became one, when my favorite moments were those spent staying up all night, talking or watching Lane create art. There aren’t many things more inconvenient than loving your stepbrother. I know the limits, and that’s pushing them too far. Over the years I’ve pulled away from him. It was easier when he left for New York, but now he’s back, not only in Atlanta, but in my home, trying to get back what we lost. How can I tell my own stepbrother that I want him in my bed? That I want to call him mine? One kiss changes everything. Our tight-knit family won’t understand. Our friends won’t either. But no matter how much I don’t want to disappoint them, now that we’re where we belong, I won’t walk away. Even if I have to lose everything to keep him. Pushing the Limits is a stepbrother romance with a cocky main character, who shows his vulnerability through the one man he’s not supposed to want, sexy painting, and a love that defies the odds.