NFH 02 Perfection (27 page)

"What are you doing?" he asked,
sighing heavily as she tried to roll onto her side, probably to
further hide herself from his view.

"Close your eyes!" she yelled,
twisting to the other side when he wouldn't allow her to curl
up.

"Why exactly am I covering my
eyes?"

"Sunlight, damn it! Sunlight!" she
snapped a bit hysterically, he thought as he ran his eyes over her,
enjoying the way her breasts jiggled with every pathetic attempt to
hide her body from his view.

"What exactly does the sun being out
have to do with anything?" he asked as he reached down and absently
ran his hand over his hardening member.

"Because it illuminates everything,
damn it! Now hide your eyes!" she said, giving up on her useless
attempts to escape and went back to covering herself.

"Move your hands, Zoe," he murmured
quietly as he continued to stroke himself.

"No, you'll see me," she mumbled,
sounding so distraught and unhappy that he had to laugh.

"Baby, we've been having sex for
several months. Trust me when I tell you that I've seen ever single
inch of your body."

For a moment she only worried her
bottom lip as she continued to cover herself. Finally she
stubbornly shook her head and with a frustrated sigh he released
her ankle and his erection. She lost no time at all in reaching
over the edge of the bed and snatching up one of the blankets off
the floor and wrapping it around herself.

"Zoe," he said softly as he climbed
onto the bed and leaned back next to her, pulling her into his
arms. "Unless you've got some livers spots or a weird appendage
that I don't know about then you have to know that I've seen
everything by now."

"Not in the sunlight," she grumbled,
but he noted with pleasure that she laid her head against his
shoulder and wrapped an arm around his waist.

"Ah, Zoe....," he sighed, chuckling
softly as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Do you think
I'm going to see something that I don't like?"

"Yes," she mumbled unhappily against
his chest.

"Zoe," he said, gently taking her hand
from where it rested on his stomach and brought it down to press
against his painful erection, "trust me when I tell you there is
nothing about your body that I don't like."

"You don't like my body," she said
even as she ran her very talented little hand over his erection,
pausing only long enough to give the head a little squeeze that had
him hissing in pleasure.

"No?" he asked tightly. "Then how do
you explain this?" he asked, rolling his hips into her
touch.

"Because you're a pervert? I mean look
at the weird obsession you have with my ass," she grumbled, but
thankfully sounded a lot more relaxed.

"That may be so, but you still have a
body that I can't seem to keep my hands off of." With his arm
wrapped around her he pulled her up his body until he could kiss
her. He felt her melt in his arms so he took advantage by gently
prying the blanket away from her. After a slight hesitation she
gave up.

He placed his hand on her stomach.
"There's nothing about your body that I don't like," he whispered
against her lips.

For a moment she didn't say anything
as he pressed kisses along her jaw and throat. He slowly guided her
onto her back as he gently caressed her stomach and pressed one
last kiss against her lips before he pulled back.

She looked so damn embarrassed and
defeated that he couldn't stop himself from brushing his lips
against hers one last time. "You're beautiful, Zoe," he said,
realizing at that moment just how beautiful she really was. From
her beautiful soft brown hair to her stubborn little chin she was
beautiful.

"No, I'm not," she said with a snort
and an eye roll as she averted her eyes.

His eyes narrowed dangerously on her.
"Are you calling me a liar?"

"More like delusional," she said with
a snort.

"How dare you question my
taste, woman?" he demanded. "If I say you're beautiful then you're
beautiful
so get the hell over
it
!" he snapped.

"Look, I appreciate the compliment,
but-"

"Out," he said, dropping onto his back
and folding his arms over his chest as he stubbornly looked away
from her.

"But-"

"I said out, woman!"

"This is my apartment," Zoe pointed
out, sounding close to laughing.

"Then you know where the door is. Now
get out, woman, and don't you dare come back until you're ready to
apologize to me," he said, waving a dismissive hand in the
direction of the door.

"Apologize to you? For what?" she
asked, sitting up to kneel beside him.

"For what?" he repeated, stunned. "I
call you beautiful and you dare to doubt my word? For that you may
get your beautiful ass out of my sight."

"Uh huh," she said, drawing out the
words. "Did you by any chance eat this morning?"

"That has nothing to do with it," he
said, sniffing in disdain.

"Oh, I think it does."

"Does not."

"Do you want me to go grab you some
cereal or something?" she offered.

"Not unless it comes with an apology
and groveling."

"Groveling?" she repeated slowly.
"Since when is there groveling involved?"

"Since you doubted my word and only
offered to make it up to me with cereal. How dare you add insult to
injury?" he snapped as he once again gestured for her to
leave.

"Don't you think you're overreacting
just a little bit here?" she asked, and he could hear the smile in
her voice. It pleased him that she was no longer upset, but he was
still insulted.

"No, now leave me be, woman," he said,
turning his head even more away from her. "I'm no longer speaking
with you."

"Fine," she said, sighing heavily as
she climbed off the bed, not apologizing or groveling, he
noted.

Would it really kill her to accept his
expertise on the matter? He said she was beautiful then she should
really just shut the hell up and accept that he knew best, but the
woman was just too damn stubborn and until she accepted that he was
right about this he wasn't going to-

"You know it's too bad that
you're not talking to me. I was going to surprise you today.
There's this new buffet restaurant opening a few towns over that I
was going to--
eeep
!" she squealed adorably when she found herself back on the
bed and pinned beneath him and his mouth smothering
hers.

"I accept your apology."

Chapter
23

"Are you still pouting?" she asked,
already knowing the answer.

Trevor threw his truck into park as he
sent her another glare. "I just don't understand how you could
betray me like this."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," she said,
getting out of the truck and headed for the restaurant sporting the
"Grand Opening Weekend" banner, knowing that Trevor was probably
close behind her.

"Why did you have to tell her?" he
demanded as he caught up to her.

Zoe worried her bottom lip, wondering
if he was going to throw his arm around her or hold her hand the
way he did when they took Toby for a walk. Of course when he
didn't, she forced herself not to be too disappointed. This was
only an arrangement after all.

She shoved her disappointment aside
and answered him, knowing it was just a waste of time and energy to
be upset over things that were never going to happen. "Why wouldn't
I tell Haley?"

"Because she'll tell Jason," he said,
not sounding happy at all as he opened the door and gestured for
her to go ahead with the medium size black plastic shopping bag
that he'd brought with him. She hadn't thought much of it at the
time, but now she wondered if he was carting around his own
condiments.

"And probably Jared and everyone else,
too," Zoe pointed out, feigning innocence. Of course Trevor
probably didn't need to know that she text messaged Jared with the
name and location of the new buffet restaurant or that she'd made
damn sure that everyone in his family knew about the buffet
restaurant. He'd be pissed when he found out, but that was okay
since she'd been admittedly a little pissed when she did
it.

She still couldn't believe he called
her beautiful. While most women probably would have appreciated the
compliment she hadn't. If he had actually meant it, and she knew
the odds of that happening were zilch, she would have savored it,
but he'd only called her beautiful to make her feel better. It was
a nice gesture, kind of, but one that hurt more than
anything.

It was hard enough knowing that this
arrangement was never going to be more than just sex, and at first
she'd accepted it, welcomed it even, but now......

She wanted more. More importantly she
wanted more with Trevor, but she wasn't delusional. He didn't want
more with her and she wasn't going to push for it. For however long
this lasted, and she really couldn't believe that it lasted this
long, she was going to enjoy it. When it ended she was going to
take Toby and find a new place to live and hope it didn't kill her
to have to see Trevor every day at work. If she couldn't handle
seeing him she'd already decided that she'd move out of state,
maybe to Florida where she could get a fresh start.

"Would it have killed you to keep it a
secret between us?" Trevor asked as they stepped into the long line
for the cashier.

"It's a buffet, Trevor. They would
have found out about it within a week," she explained even though
it was really just common sense.

"Yes, but that would have been a week
that I could enjoy the place before those greedy bastards get us
all banned," Trevor sighed, rubbing the back of his neck in
frustration.

"Gee, I hadn't thought about that,"
she mumbled, trying not to laugh.

Trevor slowly looked down at her. His
eyes narrowed dangerously on her as she did her best to bite back
her smile, but lost that battle several times.

"Oh my god.....you sold me out," he
said, looking shocked and affronted, which was kind of ridiculous
since at this point he really should be used to it.

"I wanted to see how an entire family
could get banned from a restaurant," she admitted with a shrug.
Ever since she first heard that he'd been banned from most of the
fast food places she'd been admittedly curious. Of course that
curiosity only tripled when she discovered the entire family had a
history of being banned. So when she accidentally discovered this
place last Monday she thought that perhaps she could entertain
herself with a live show.

"You sold me out? For your own
amusement?" he demanded.

"And this shocks you how?" she asked,
stepping up in the line.

When Trevor looked around before
leaning down to whisper something in her ear she fully expected a
promise to spank her ass, but she got something entirely different
instead.

"If I wasn't certain that I'd be
banned after today, you and I would be heading to the nearest hotel
where I could fuck you until neither one of us could move," he
whispered harshly in her ear, making her breaths come a little
faster and her knees threaten to give out.

"I-I'm not that hungry," she
stammered, more than willing to opt for plan B. Well she was
hungry, but she was also feeling a little sick as well. She was
starting to get a little worried that she might have something
worse than food poisoning like e coli. "And I'm pretty sure I
spotted a few hotels close by."

"Too bad, you need to eat," he said,
pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before stepping back so they
could move up in the line.

She opened her mouth to argue only to
have Trevor give her a stern look and a shake of his head in
warning. He'd already warned her that he didn't want to hear
anymore nonsense about needing to lose weight and told her that he
would end things if she didn't take better care of herself. It was
actually kind of sweet that he cared so much.

"Fine," she sighed, stepping up to the
front of the line.

"How many?" the friendly cashier asked
with a huge smile and Zoe idly wondered how long the woman would be
able to keep it up before it became painful.

"Two," Trevor answered.

Zoe pulled out some money from her
pocket to pay for her meal and went to hand it to the woman when
Trevor threw her a dirty look as he gently pushed her hand away.
With a sigh she put the money away, knowing this wasn't a date and
really wishing he'd just let her pay her own way.

"Over here," Trevor said, placing a
hand at the small of her back to guide her through the already
crowded restaurant towards the booths closer to the long buffet
tables.

"Oh, there's Haley and Jason," she
said, gesturing towards the opposite side of the room where Haley
and Jason sat with their two little ones. Haley went to gesture
them over only to have Jason grab her hand and shake his
head.