Текст книги "Perfection"

Автор книги: R. L. Mathewson

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

"Yeah, work," he agreed absently, noticeably swallowing as he ran hungry eyes over her body. Zoe licked her lips as she did the same, pausing at the very noticeable bulge in his pants.

"You should definitely go," she mumbled even as her body screamed for her to beg him to stay, but she wouldn't. Couldn't. This arrangement was about fulfilling their needs, not screwing with their lives. For the sake of both their lives and jobs they needed to stay focused.

He started to take a step in her direction only to stop and abruptly turn towards the kitchen island and grab his lunch pail on his way out the door.

"This was your only warning," he said gruffly, pausing at the kitchen door with Toby hot on his heels.

Frowning, she asked. "Only warning about what?"

Was he that worried about her feeding the dog his food? She knew the man loved food, but really one slice wasn't going to-

"Wearing underwear in the house, Zoe. Next time your ass is mine," he said, giving her a wink before heading out the door and causing her mouth to drop open.

"You're kidding, right?" she yelled, knowing that he was joking. The man couldn't be serious, she decided as she started cleaning up the mess so that she could get ready for work. There was no way he actually expected to go around the house sans panties, she decided with a soft laugh. That was just crazy.

Chapter 19

Why did everything hurt? Trevor wondered as he shut off his truck and sat there almost too afraid to move.

After working a twelve hour day he could expect some muscle soreness and a night with several ice packs, muscle gels and aspirin to look forward to, but this was ridiculous. Of course he knew the real reason behind his current state.

Zoe.

Never in his life had he taken a woman all night like that before and he probably would have continued to take her until he was forced to leave the bed for work if Zoe hadn't conked out on him around three this morning. After seven hours of the best sex of his life the hot shower and two hour nap he'd taken hadn't done a damn thing to help ease the soreness from muscles that he'd never noticed before.

Heaven help him, but having this arrangement with Zoe might just end up killing him. As much as it pained him to admit it, he was going to have to limit his time between the sheets with Zoe to once a day, at night, after a hot shower to relax, and he was going to have to keep it very simple. If he was going to remain in control she was going to have to lie on the bed, in the dark and not move a muscle or say one damn word.

It would either take him longer to work her out of his system this way or bore the living hell out of him enough that he was finally able to break whatever weird little spell the woman had over him so that his life could get back to normal. One thing was for sure, he thought as he climbed out of the truck, groaning, if they kept this up nothing would ever get done.

This morning when he felt how wet and ready she was he'd almost ripped her panties off and found out just how good a hot, wet woman really felt, but at the last second he somehow found the willpower to resist her. He couldn't help but chuckle at the reminder that a woman like Zoe, a woman who shouldn't have caught his attention never mind had him drooling, had this much power over him.

None of the other women he'd dated, not that he was dating Zoe, he wasn't, ever had this much control over him or distracted him this much. All day he'd had a hell of a time focusing on his job. Every time he started to think about Zoe, not sex with Zoe just Zoe, he forced himself to work harder to clear his head. When he found himself constantly looking over at the office trailer, hoping for a glimpse of Zoe, he punished himself by setting a brutal pace.

He needed to get this under control before it got out of hand. Sex with her was great and he'd like nothing more than to spend the day with her in bed, but he couldn't. This was an arrangement. Nothing more. He wasn't about to make his plain little tenant the center of his world. Right now she was just a tiny part of it and the sooner they treated it like any other part of the day the better, he decided as he walked up the small walkway to his house.

There were a hundred and one other things that needed his attention like a cold beer and the television after a hot shower and he intended to give them his full attention without the distraction of his little tenant. If later tonight he felt the need to make his little tenant a visit he would do just that. It would be quick and simple, like scratching an itch and then he'd be done with her for the night, at least as far as sex was concerned. He still liked listening to her read at night so he'd return to the comfort of his own bed, alone, and listen as she read. Then he'd get a nice relaxing night of sleep, Zoe free.

"Do you see it, Toby?" he heard Zoe ask as he stepped into his apartment. It sounded like she was in his kitchen. Probably putting away the groceries, he thought with a careless shrug. He'd leave it in her capable hands and get started on his relaxing night, he decided, heading up the stairs.

"Trevor is going to kill me when he finds out," she said, stopping him dead in his tracks.

He turned around and headed back down the stairs, praying she hadn't brought home another dog or worse, a cat. He couldn't stand the damn things. As he made his way to the kitchen he swore if she broke another one of his rules, the rules that she agreed to when she rented the place, he was going to spank her little ass, he thought with a small frustrated groan.

Wait, no ass spanking. Touching her ass only led to really naughty things that he was trying to cut back on, he reminded himself as he walked into the kitchen and nearly tripped over his feet at the sight that greeted him.

Groceries covered every surface of his kitchen, but that's not what got his attention, okay maybe for a moment, he was a Bradford after all. Zoe on her hands and knees in that knee length navy blue skirt that he swore she wore to drive him nuts today. Every time he saw her today he had to stop himself from grabbing her and hauling her behind his truck or a shed and yank that skirt up so that he could bury himself in her.

For a moment he watched as her ass swayed invitingly from side to side as she looked beneath his table for something. He could care less at the moment what she'd dropped. The only thing that concerned him right now was her lack of respect for his rules.

Sure he could let it go and stick to the plan he'd made not even ten minutes ago, but how would that help Zoe learn to follow and respect his rules? It wouldn't, he decided as he spotted the thirty count box of condoms left on his kitchen island near a box of cereal. He grabbed the box and ripped it open, startling Zoe, but not enough to get off her hands and knees or even look over her shoulder.

"Trevor?" she asked, leaning forward further as she continued her search.

"Yeah, it's me," he said, pulling out a foil packet and dropping the box back on the counter.

"You wouldn't happen to see a pint of ice cream somewhere on the floor, would you?" she asked, continuing her search. "I dropped it and I can't seem to find it anywhere."

"No," he said, not even bothering to look, which just proved how much his rules meant to him. It was up to him to make the ultimate sacrifice and help her learn, he thought with a pleased smile as he unzipped his jeans and proceeded to roll the condom over his already straining erection.

"Um, what the hell are you doing?" Zoe asked, frowning as she looked over her shoulder, but he didn't miss the hungry expression on her face or the way she licked her lips when she spotted his erection.

"Getting ready. What does it look like?" he asked as he stepped closer to her and kneeled behind her, caging her legs in.

"For what?" she asked, sounding a little out of breath.

He reached down and grabbed the hem of her skirt and placed it over her back, baring that beautiful bottom that he was becoming a tad obsessed with.

"To enjoy our arrangement. What does it look like I'm doing?" he murmured absently, tracing a finger along the waist of her pale lavender panties.

"B-but I'm trying to put your groceries away," she argued, but he noticed that she wasn't trying to get away. Not that he expected her to. He didn't need her to tell him how much she'd enjoyed last night to know she'd be up for another round with him.

"And I need you to fulfill your side of the agreement, Zoe," he said, slowly pulling her panties down until they were bunched just above her closed knees, revealing one of the most beautiful sights he'd ever seen.

"I am," Zoe said, panting softly. "At least I was taking care of my side of the agreement before you came in here," she said accusingly with no real bite, he noted.

"I was talking about our new arrangement and your duty to service me," he said, smiling when she did that little growl of hers.

"Service you?" she repeated in disbelief.

"Mmmhmm, your job is to service me anytime I'm in need," he said, punctuation his words by tracing her slit with the tip of his erection, earning one of the hottest little moans he'd ever heard.

"And your part in this arrangement?" she asked, swallowing loudly.

"To take care of your needs of course," he said on a drawn out sigh as if the thought of taking Zoe in every humanly possibly position and some that were impossible somehow pained him. It did, but in a good way and one that he him breaking out in a sweat as he struggled with his need to take her hard and fast. He'd have to wait at least a week before he stopped holding back. He didn't want to scare her off after all.

"So.......anytime one of us needs to, um, needs sex the other has to take care of it?" she asked, sounding as if talking at the moment was a struggle, which only pleased him more.

"Exactly," he murmured, leaning down and placing a kiss on each cheek. "Until we decide to end it," he reminded her.

There would be no "we" about it. He'd end things when she got too clingy, he tired of her, or he found her replacement. Of course now that he thought about it, stretching it out would have been pretty stupid. He didn't want to chance her falling for him and forcing him to break it off when he wasn't done with her delectable little body.

"Okay," she said as if she really had a choice in the matter. "But this can't interfere with our jobs or lives," she said, trying to sound firm, but really that little gasp of pleasure she cried out as he sank into her kind of wrecked it, but she did have a valid point.

"This won't interfere in our lives whatsoever. It's just a little arrangement. Nothing more," he agreed, pulling back, quite proud of himself for managing to talk at the moment never mind form a coherent sentence.

As good as she felt now he knew the novelty of having her would wear off soon and then she'd go back to being his good little tenant, nothing more.

**********

"Why are you so grumpy? I put my finger exactly where you told me to," Zoe said, ignoring Trevor's little glare as he reached over and gently picked up her hand and placed it six inches over onto a different bolt, nut, or whatever the hell he called those dull metal thingies peppered with orange rust.

"Now don't move," Trevor said, again.

She let out a long suffering sigh as she wrapped her free arm around herself and tried to stay warm. It was freezing out here and all she wanted to do was go back inside and curl up with a good book and a warm blanket, but Trevor had other ideas.

When she pulled into the driveway ten minutes ago and her car made a horrifying grating sound that she was more than willing to ignore for the sake of warmth and comfort since the heater in her car had stopped working sometime last week, not that she'd mentioned that to him, Trevor came storming out of the house with Toby right beside him, looking as though he'd just woken up and wasn't too happy about it. Not that Zoe could blame him, she thought with a secret little smile. She had kept him up more than half the night for the sake of their arrangement. After a wonderful little encounter in the living room last night she'd demanded a shower with him that he'd been more than happy to give her. After their shower and the hour on the bathroom counter and against the wall that had followed they'd gone their separate ways.

That is until around eleven when she decided that she could use the benefits from their arrangement again and had let herself into his apartment while he was watching the end of a game and helped herself to his incredible body.

"Inside. Now," Trevor suddenly bit out.

"What?" Zoe asked, sounding as though she was coming out of a daze, which she kind of was since she couldn't seem to stop thinking about all the very naughty things he'd done and promised to do. When she thought about the little thing he did with his tongue-

A surprised and highly embarrassing squeak escaped her when she found herself suddenly upside down and over Trevor's sweatshirt clad shoulder as he made his way quickly towards the house.

"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded, as she gripped the bottom of his sweatshirt and tried to push herself up without much luck.

"Arrangement," he said tightly as if that explained it all and sadly it did. She knew that for the next few hours at least that she could look forward to really hot sex, which was great, but she had so many things to do.

"What about my car?" she asked, hoping to distract him long enough so that she could get some work done. She wanted to clean her bathroom, catch up on laundry, and take a bath before she hit the gym to swim a few laps tonight. Mostly she wanted a nice hot bubble bath to relax in. Going from having no sex in five years to sex nonstop for a month and a half made her a little sore in a few unmentionable places and she had been hoping for a little break. Not that she didn't want to have sex with him, she did. Almost desperately, but she could also use a break.

"It doesn't look like it's going anywhere," he said, palming her bottom and groaning as he slammed the front door shut behind him just as Toby came running into the house.

"Can we do this later?" she asked, almost desperately now. All the muscles in her body still ached from this morning when he bent her over the kitchen table. She really wasn't sure if she'd survive another encounter before she got some rest. "I was hoping to have a long hot bubble bath. If you could just wait-"

"Great idea," he practically growled as he turned away from his apartment and started to head for hers.

"What's a great idea?" she asked, biting her bottom lip to stop from moaning as he slid his hand between her jean clad legs and applied pressure just where she needed it.

"A bubble bath," he said, carrying her up the stairs. She was so distracted by the fact that he took the stairs two at a time with her on his shoulder that she nearly missed what he said.

"I meant a bubble bath for me," she said, then added, "alone."

"But you invited me to take a bath with you," he said with an exaggerated pout in his voice, making her roll her eyes. She could just picture the puppy dog expression he was making, the one that always worked on her.

"I did not."

"Did."

"Not."

"Yes, you did," he said calmly as he strolled through her room. "I remember your exact words. You said, 'Trevor, let's go upstairs and take a really hot bath with extra bubbles so that my skin gets all sudsy and slippery so you can run your incredibly gifted naughty hands over me while we see how many times you can make me come before the water gets cold.'"

"Oh," she said, licking her suddenly dry lips as she imagined doing everything he'd just said. "That's exactly what I said," she agreed as she wondered just how many times a man like Trevor could make her come before the water turned cold.

Five as it turned out.

**********

"Where the hell are you?" Hank demanded, again.

Trevor opened his mouth to answer, but immediately shut it as he squeezed his eyes shut and dropped his head back, wondering not for the first time if his little tenant was trying to kill him. He took a deep breath as he tried unsuccessfully to ignore the way Zoe was licking his shaft.

"I'm heading out the door now," he said through a strangled voice into the cell phone only half lying. He was heading out the door, was in the small front hallway in fact and would have probably been halfway to the bar to meet up with the guys from work if Zoe hadn't sauntered out of her apartment and dropped to her knees in front of him because, and he was quoting on this one, "she had a craving."

Best. Tenant. Ever.

"That's what you said an hour ago!" Hank said, sounding pretty pissed. He didn't exactly remember telling Hank that, but then again he'd been a tad busy with cornering Zoe in the laundry room.

"Did I?" he asked, distractedly as he opened his eyes and dared a look down and nearly came from the sight of Zoe licking his cock like it was her favorite ice cream cone.

Was she trying to kill him? he thought as he gently gripped the back of her head and slid himself between her lips slowly as he resisted the urge to close his eyes again and groan.

"Mandy is threatening to leave," Hank hissed loudly into the phone as if he didn't want someone to hear, probably this Mandy person, Trevor thought as he gently caressed Zoe's cheek.

"Then let her leave," Trevor said, vaguely remembering Hank begging him to show up to guy's night because his date's sister wanted to meet him. This morning when he'd planned on meeting up with the guys he'd thought it might be a good idea to test the waters and see if he'd worked Zoe out of his system yet, but he knew by the way he'd reacted to catching her coming out of the shower a few hours ago that she wasn't out of his system.

Not even a little bit.

This was getting out of hand, he thought as she took him further than should be humanly possible. He was exhausted, sore and happier than he'd ever been in his life and he didn't want it to end, which of course meant that it needed to end.

Soon.

But not right now, he thought as he ended the call and tossed his phone somewhere behind him, uncaring where it landed as pulled away from Zoe and dropped to his knees so he could kiss the woman who was starting to mean too damn much to him into his arms.

Chapter 20

"Someone call an ambulance!" one of the crew yelled near her ear, making Zoe wince and wish she could crawl away, but the overpowering dizziness that she'd experienced just before she'd passed out threatened to once again take over so she took that as a sign not to move, much.

"I'm fine," she tried to say reassuringly, but it came out a little too muttered for anyone, including her, to understand. She really hoped they understood her, because she really didn't want to go to the hospital over her own stupidity.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jared suddenly demanded.

Zoe risked opening her eyes to see if he looked as mad as he sounded and immediately regretted the move as everything spun.

"Zoe?" he asked, his tone softening as he came closer, she assumed. She wasn't about to open her eyes and find out.

"Fine," she said. Taking a deep breath she repeated it, pleased that she sounded a little better.

"I think she fell on that patch of ice," one of the men said and Zoe kept her mouth shut, not really in the mood to admit that she'd passed out and hoping that she could get through this without anyone finding out.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Jared asked as he presumably checked her over.

She shook her head slightly. Hurt? No. Humiliated? Beyond measure, but she wasn't hurt. Well, she was freezing lying on the frozen ground like this. As soon as she could manage it she was going to get up, walk back to the office and hide under her desk for the rest of the day or until everyone forgot about this, whichever came first.

"Did someone call an ambulance?" Jared asked, fretting over her.

"Don't. I'm fine," she said, taking a deep breath and forcing herself to sit up, knowing that if she didn't, she'd find herself hauled out of here against her will, further adding to her humiliation.

She opened her eyes to find Jared kneeling next to her on the frozen ground, looking concerned and upset. "Would you feel better if one of us drove you to the hospital?" he asked softly as he took off his much larger and thicker jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She pulled it tightly around herself as she nervously looked around the small group of very large concerned construction workers that stood around her.

"I'm really fine, guys. Embarrassed, but fine," she said, giving them a small reassuring smile, hoping it would be enough to convince everyone to walk away.

It wasn't.

But thankfully Jared took pity on her. With a long drawn out sigh that did not bode well for her, he gestured for them to leave. They did, but only after they made her promise one more time that she was okay.

"Are you okay to stand?" Jared asked.

Her head had stopped spinning for the moment so she assumed she was okay. She hoped at least. Passing out hadn't exactly been a fun experience.

"You look a little pale, Zoe," Jared said, putting his arm around her and gently guided her towards the office trailer.

"Oh," she said, worrying her bottom lip. She was tired, hungry, a little light headed, a bit weak, humiliated, and not really sure she could show her face to the guys again, but other than that she was okay. "I'm fine," she said, giving him what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

He narrowed his eyes on her as if he didn't quite believe her. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"I could drive you to the doctor," he offered, opening the trailer door and gesturing for her to step inside. "Or I can take you to the hospital."

"I'm really fine. Don't worry about it," she said, feeling the first sign that perhaps everything wasn't exactly okay. A few seconds later when she sat down her suspicions were quickly confirmed and she did her best not to wince as her butt screamed in agony.

Her eyes shot to the clock. Thankfully she only had a few more hours to kill before she went home for the weekend and this weekend she was going to make damn sure that she got some rest. After nearly two months of their "arrangement" Trevor had to be bored with her. Not that she wanted to end their arrangement.

No, what she wanted at this very moment was sleep, lots of it and a really large ice pack for her bottom and sleep wasn't exactly something she got when Trevor was around. Then again he wasn't exactly known for leaving her alone when he was around. The man just could not seem to keep his hands off of her, she thought with a little pleased smile.

That didn't change the fact that the man was killing her. No matter how many times they agreed to take a step back and limit their time together, and those conversations always somehow seemed to end with her on her back, they couldn't seem to keep their hands to themselves and they tried. They really did, but it didn't do them any good.

If they weren't working, she wasn't at the gym swimming, or he wasn't watching a game with the guys they were having sex. They had sex in every room, in every position and they couldn't seem to stop. As great as it was she really needed some sleep. She really wasn't sure she could keep going at this rate.

"Zoe," Jared said with an unhappy sigh, "look we need to talk."

**********

"You owe me sex."

Trevor didn't even bother looking up. He grabbed another nail and drove it into the floor as he did his best to ignore Hank's bitching.

"Did you hear me?" Hank demanded. "Because of you I didn't get sex."

"How exactly is it my fault that you didn't get laid last night?" Trevor asked, giving up all hopes that the man would simply walk away.

"Because you didn't show up last night," Hank snapped, sounding truly pissed. Not that Trevor could blame the man. If he had to go a night without sex, and he was pretty sure he'd die if he had to go twenty-four hours without touching Zoe, he'd probably be snapping at everybody, too.

"And you needed me for what exactly? Pointers?" he asked, slamming another nail into the floor.

"Hardly," Hank said, making a sound of disgust. "When you didn't show up like you promised, Mandy left, because she didn't want to be a third wheel. Then Cindy left because she didn't like the idea of her sister going home to their apartment alone. So thanks to you I went home alone last night."

"Uh huh," Trevor said, gesturing for the man to move back so he could do his damn job and get home, hopefully on time. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that the man had hung back at the bar after the women left and tried to find a bar bunny to spend the night with.

"Look, Cindy is willing to give me another shot so I need you to come out with us tonight," Hank said, still sounding putout and really starting to piss him right the hell off.

"Just take this Cindy woman out and forget about finding the sister a date," Trevor said, wondering why the man was bothering him with this bullshit.

"Because the sisters are close. They don't like dating unless they're both dating," Hank explained.

"Then find someone else to take her sister out. I'm fucking exhausted." Which was unfortunately true. He was so damn tired. He had to force himself to focus and move his ass when he was at work. When he was at home he couldn't seem to force himself to rest. If Zoe was around he had to have her. It was as simple as that.

No matter how much they tried, and he'd admit that he hadn't been trying very hard, they couldn't keep their hands off each other. Before Zoe he used to think the best way a woman could wake him up was with a stack of homemade pancakes, bacon, and toast, the works. Now he looked forward to waking up to the smell of burnt coffee and the equally burnt pop tarts that Zoe shoved at him as she demanded for him to hurry up or starve. She usually gave him about sixty seconds before she attacked, forcing him to devour the burnt pop tarts, and he still wasn't sure how she was burning them since he'd checked the settings on the toaster a dozen times now, and swallow the thick hot coffee down in one gulp.

Zoe was without a doubt the best lover he'd ever had or probably ever would have. A month ago that thought scared the hell out of him, but now he realized that it was okay. Zoe would be his last and best great flame before he found his perfect wife. Not that he considered her anything more than his bed buddy at the moment, but he'd decided last night after their little hallway incident that he'd keep their little arrangement until he found his wife.

It would be stupid not to. Zoe was available, great in bed, never got demanding, didn't pout when he spent time with the guys and did her own thing so she wasn't constantly underfoot. She was the perfect little bed buddy until he found his wife, he'd decided this morning after she woke him up at three in the morning and demanded that he do that thing that she loved with his tongue, which he happily obliged her with. He would keep her around. Granted she was a sneaky little thing, he thought with a chuckle.

She was so damn cute when she thought she was pulling something over on him. Like not mentioning giving Toby away and thinking he'd just forgotten that the damn dog was still around. She hadn't yet realized that they'd both adopted the dog.

About six weeks ago they both went from just leaving their doors unlocked to propping them open at night, he added an extra deadbolt to the front door of course, so that Toby could go wherever he pleased. While Zoe had all the sissy toys for the dog in her apartment he had, in his opinion and really that's all that mattered, all the man stuff.

Every now and then he'd catch her sending the dog a mischievous little smile and knew she really thought she'd gotten away with breaking one of his rules. Since he decided to keep the dog this little break in their agreement didn't really count. Of course when their little arrangement was over, a.k.a. when he decided he'd found his wife, and Zoe moved out, he was keeping the dog. He could just imagine how that was going to go over, but really the dog needed a man in his life.

"What's so funny?" Hank demanded.

"Nothing," he said, hoping the man would just go away and bother someone else.

"Look, I've offered to find someone else, but she wants to meet you. I guess she met you through a friend last year and was hoping to see you again. Can't you please come out with us tonight?" the man begged, which was really embarrassing. "I'll even pay. Please, Trevor, you don't know how long I've waited to take this girl out. If you could just-"

"Fine," he snapped, anything to get the man to shut the hell up. Plus a free meal was a free meal. No Bradford in his right goddamn mind would pass on a free meal.

"Thanks, man. You're a lifesaver," Hank said, further embarrassing himself.

"Uh huh," Trevor said, absently as he returned his focus back to getting the floor down before the weekend.

"Hey, did they call an ambulance?" someone yelled. Since it had nothing to do with him, he ignored it.

"No, she went back to the office with Jared," Hank said as he finally got his ass back in gear and returned to work.

Now that got his attention. "What are you talking about?" he asked even as he continued to nail down the floor boards.

"That tenant of yours," Hank said, shrugging. "About an hour ago she fell outside. Mark said it looked like she slipped on some ice, but I thought it kind of looked like she passed out."

He looked up to glare at the man. "Why the hell didn't you tell me she got hurt?" he demanded, grabbing another nail and driving it into the floor with a little too much force.

Hank frowned. "Why would I? She was fine and Jared's looking after her."

Trevor opened his mouth to tell them he should have been told, but just barely stopped himself. As far as the guys were concerned Zoe was just his neighbor and part-time employee, which is exactly how he wanted it. Whenever he saw Zoe he gave her a barely there nod and that was it. He never acknowledged in any other way. When he went into the office he kept it professional and Zoe did the same.