NFH 02 Perfection (30 page)

He didn't think it would last once he
put his new plan into effect, but then again he hadn't thought
their little arrangement would last this long. He'd been wrong
about that, but he was sure that once they arrangement turned into
something a little more substantial the novelty of the whole thing
would wear off quickly. No doubt his plan would take all the fun
and excitement out of sneaking around, and he was pretty sure
that's why it lasted this long, but he didn't really care. The
sooner he told her the sooner he could put himself out his misery
and just relax and enjoy being with her until it was time to end
things.

When he came to the top of the stairs
he hesitated for a moment. He'd kept her up pretty late last night,
or rather this morning, maybe he should just let her get some sleep
and he'd talk to her when they both got back from their
Thanksgiving plans. But that would mean he'd have to wait until
well after six o'clock, the time he usually came home after his
family ran out of food on Thanksgiving Day, to talk to her about
his decision and he really didn't want to put it off, knowing how
happy it would make her.

Besides, he didn't want to leave
without seeing her. It was stupid, but he liked seeing her first
thing in the morning when her hair was all messed up, her face was
puffy and she grumbled rather violent promise to his manhood. She
was so damn cute first thing in the morning.

He walked into her room and wasn't too
surprised when he heard Toby's happy panting closing in behind him
or when the large pup ran past him, wagging his tail happily as he
raced towards Zoe's bed, but didn't jump on the bed. The pup had
learned early on not to be close to Zoe when she first woke up. The
woman was not a happy camper and poor Toby had been hit with a
pillow or two as Zoe struggled to bury her head under her pillow
and ignore their demands that she get up.

A few seconds later Max ran in, no
less eager, but not yet quite half the size of Toby and raced to
the bed, trying to jump on it and failing miserably as he
whimpered, still sounding very much like a puppy, demanding Zoe
wake up and cuddle with him. It was the same way the dogs had woken
him up an hour ago. Of course Toby didn't hesitate waking him up
with puppy licks since he'd snuck into his room with Max following
right behind him around three this morning after Zoe had fallen
asleep, and slept on the bed with him.

After he gave each puppy some
attention they took their morning walk, ate a quick breakfast, and
he took a shower while the puppies played tug of war with his
boxers. Every few minutes he had to tell them to be quiet so that
they wouldn't wake up their mommy. He really should be heading to
his uncle's house, but he wanted to see her first even if it was
only for a moment.

He knelt by the bed and smiled at how
beautiful she looked. How in the hell had he ever been stupid
enough to call her plain? She was easily more beautiful to him than
any of the women he'd dated, he thought as he reached out with one
finger and lightly tickled the tip of her nose.

Her little early morning growl, which
was laced with a little whimper of annoyance, had him biting back a
chuckle. He picked up a long strand of her beautiful brown hair and
lightly, ever so lightly tickled the tip of her nose with
it.

"Stop it," she muttered as she lazily
reached out and slapped at the air, not even close to his
face.

So of course he had to do it again.
This time when she went to swat off his tickling attack he was
forced to duck his head or get a weak slap in the face.

"Zoe, wake up," he said in a
tauntingly upbeat voice, knowing it would drive her
crazy.

"Go away," she mumbled. "I hate
you."

"Because I'm waking you up?" he asked,
smiling as he ducked another weak attack.

"Yes!" she snapped, clearly aggravated
as she was every morning when he did this. Yet he just couldn't
stop himself from doing it. It was just too damn fun.

He was just about to up his attack
when she flopped over onto her back and shielded her eyes with her
arm. Not even two seconds later her eyes were wide open, one hand
was clamped tightly on her mouth and the other one was pressed
against her stomach and was off the bed and running towards the
bathroom, slamming the bathroom door behind her.

"Shit."

Running a frustrated hand through his
hair, he placed the glass of ginger ale on the nightstand, away
from the edge where the dogs could get it, and headed for the
bathroom. He'd hoped she was getting better. The last two mornings
she'd only complained about feeling slightly nauseous, but she
hadn't been sick. At least he didn't think she'd gotten
sick.

She hadn't told him if she had and
both mornings he was so damn busy making her stay in bed for a
little longer, grabbing her some toast and ginger ale, making his
lunch and taking care of the dogs before he left that wasn't
entirely sure, but he thought she'd been okay. When he stopped by
the office later both days and asked her how she felt she'd assured
him she felt great, but clearly that wasn't the case if she was
getting sick again.

"Zoe?" he said, slowly opening the
door. "Baby, are you okay?"

"Yes," she mumbled, grabbing a
toothbrush and loading it with toothpaste.

"You've been sick for almost a week
now, Zoe. Maybe I should take you to the emergency room," he said,
already trying to figure out which hospital was closer and
wondering if he could get his uncle or someone to watch the dogs in
case they got stuck in the emergency room all day.

She stubbornly shook her head, spit
and added more toothpaste to her toothbrush and started the process
all over again. A few minutes later she finally
finished.

"I'm fine, Trevor," she said, walking
past him, pausing only to pet Toby and pick Max up. Cuddling the
small dog, she climbed back onto the bed and pulled the comforter
up. Toby waited until she was settled before jumping on the bed and
settling next to her and Mr. Cuddles.

Forcing himself not to throw her over
his shoulder and take her to the nearest hospital, mostly because
she'd probably knee him in the balls again, he sat down near her
hip and handed her the ginger ale. Eying him warily, probably
because she knew what he was thinking, she took a small
sip.

"Thank you," she said, placing the
glass down and returning to petting Max.

"You need to see a doctor, Zoe," he
said, brushing the hair out of her face as he leaned in to press a
good morning kiss to her lips.

"I'm fine, Trevor. Besides I have an
appointment early Monday afternoon," she said when he pulled
away.

"That's four days away, Zoe. You need
to see someone soon," he said, taking one of her hands into
his.

Zoe rolled her eyes playfully, which
he had to admit was a good sign and made him feel marginally
better. "I'm not dying, Trevor. I just feel a little sick. By the
time I have my appointment I'll probably be fine."

"Yeah, probably," he agreed, hoping
that was the case.

She twisted around so that she could
look at her clock. "Aren't you supposed to be at your Aunt's house
right now?" she asked, frowning as she turned back
around.

"Yes, and it's all your fault that I'm
going to be late," he said, pressing a kiss to the tip of her
nose.

"How's it my fault?"

"Because I wanted to talk to you about
something."

"And that makes it my fault?" she
asked, arching her brows in adorable confusion.

"Damn straight it does," he said,
pressing a quick kiss to her lips before he forced himself to move
back and focus.

"Uh huh, you care to
explain?"

"If I must," he sighed.

"You must," she said, her lips
twitching and drawing his attention, but then he remembered that he
really did need to move his ass and get out of there.

"Okay," he said, clearing his throat
and wondering just how the hell he was supposed to do this. After a
minute he decided just to get it over with since he knew it really
was no big deal. "I've decided that it would probably be best for
you to move in with me."

When she didn't immediately agree or
tell him it was a great idea he started to get a little
nervous.

"I'm sorry, what's this now?" she
asked, looking a little stunned.

"I think you should move in with me to
make things easier," he said, shrugging like it was no big deal and
it shouldn't be, but for the first time since he'd decided that's
what they should do he was a little nervous.

"How exactly would that make things
easier? If anything that would complicate things," she said,
switching her petting attention to Toby, who was more than happy to
help her out by rolling over onto his back.

"I want you to move in with me," he
said, wondering if he should have waited until later when she was a
little more awake and could fully appreciate how great this idea
was.

This was perfect for so many reasons
and he was sure that once she thought about it she would realize
that once again he was right. When she moved in with him she
wouldn't have to worry about rent, not that she did now. The first
Friday after they'd started their little arrangement he'd felt a
little odd about taking her money so he opened up a bank account in
her name and deposited all her rent checks into it. But this way
she wouldn't have to worry about rent at all, utilities, or any of
the household bills because he would take care of her and the
dogs.

They'd probably keep most of her
furniture and all the stuff that she didn't need in her apartment
so she didn't have to find storage and so his aunt wouldn't get any
bright ideas about renting it out. He liked his privacy and didn't
need another tenant disturbing them. He also didn't think Zoe would
be so accommodating in the bedroom if she had to worry about
someone overhearing them.

This would also cut Zoe's work in
half. Granted, she wouldn't be working for him anymore, but the
money she saved on rent, food and everything else would more than
make up for the money she lost. Of course when things finally
simmered down, which probably wouldn't be for a while, he'd either
buy her a house to live in or move her into one of his apartments
where he could continue to take care of her and make sure that she
was okay. Then when she got married he would......

He would have to ask her to leave or
risk heading to prison for killing the bastard since he couldn't
stomach the idea of another man touching her. Damn, that would
really complicate things. He wanted to make sure she was taking
care of, but he didn't want to have to see her with another man
while he did it. Well, he'd just have to suck it up for as long as
he could, because he really didn't trust any other man to take care
of her the way he would.

"But I live here...," she said slowly
before adding, "next to you. Why do you think I should move in with
you?"

"To make things easier," he said,
wondering why the hell he had to explain any of this when she
should be damn happy that he wanted to make things more serious
between them.

Most woman were happy when a man
wanted to get more serious, weren't they? All the women in his past
would have jumped for joy if he'd ever offered them the honor he
was bestowing upon her and it was an honor, damn it! She should be
hugging him, crying tears of joy and offering to do that little
thing with her hand that drove him crazy.

What the hell was wrong with his
woman?

He should be tearing her off of him,
not trying to convince her to do something they both knew was for
the best.

"I don't think moving in together
would make things easier," she said as she continued to pet Toby. A
moment later, much to his displeasure, she released his hand to
give into Max's petting demands.

"Why not?" he asked, wishing like hell
that it hadn't come out sounding so damn pathetic.

She shrugged lazily. "Because this is
an arrangement, Trevor. I don't see the point in moving in together
when the whole point is not to complicate things. It would also
make it weird when we start dating other pe-"

"Who the hell are you dating?" he
demanding, cutting her off as he reached out and gently cupped her
chin between his fingers and forced her to look at him. "Is that
why you don't want to move in with me? Because of some
guy?"

Her eyes widened as his words hit and
then, much to his horror, she smiled. "You're jealous?"

"No, I'm not," he snorted in disgust,
but holy hell he was.

"Yes, you are," she said, giving him a
pleased little smile that she was clearly trying to pull back, but
failed miserably.

"No, I'm not!" he snapped, dropping
his hand and practically jumped off the bed.

He pointed an accusing finger at her.
"You're just trying to change the subject, woman. I think it would
be best for everyone if you moved in with me," and ignored other
men, but he couldn't exactly say that, although he would make damn
sure there were no other men, "think about it and when you get home
tonight we'll figure it out," he said, heading for the door, but he
couldn't help the way her expression suddenly became guarded as she
turned her attention back to the dogs.