NFH 02 Perfection (5 page)

Trevor blinked. "That's not
enough?"

She growled and he couldn't help but
smile.

"Actually, I came back to tell you to
move your car and to find out why the hell you left your window
down last night," he said, moving to fold his arms over his chest
when something caught his eye.

His stomach growled viciously as he
reached over and snatched an iced honey bun off her counter and
ripped it open.

"Please help yourself," she said
dryly.

"Thanks," he said, taking a huge bite
of the delicious treat. As he ate the snack he did his best to
appear innocent as his free hand slowly made its way back to the
pile of individually wrapped baked treats that she foolishly left
lying on the counter for anyone to steal.

With an eye roll, she stepped past him
and pushed the treats his way. "Just take them."

"Thanks," he said, grabbing them and
not giving her a chance to change her mind.

As he ripped open a cherry pie and dug
in he watched as she grabbed a plastic shopping bag and held it out
to him. "Put them in here," she said.

His eyes narrowed on her and the bag.
"Why?" he asked cautiously, afraid she was trying to steal his
treats.

Just what kind of sick
game was she playing?

"Forget it," she said on an
exasperated sigh, heading back to her cabinets. As he snacked away
he watched her go through each cabinet and pull out yummy treats
that caused his poor neglected stomach to rumble.

A few minutes later when all his
treats were long gone and he was downing her last Coke, she handed
him three shopping bags full of junk food.

"What's this?" he asked, taking
them.

"I've decided to go on a diet," she
said, pulling her hair back into a ponytail.

He visibly winced, remembering what he
said last night and feeling like an asshole all over again. "If
this is about what I said last night I'm really so-"

"It has nothing to do with you," she
said, cutting him off. "I've just decided to make some changes in
my life."

Guilt was a real bitch, he
decided.

"Are you going to my uncle's for an
interview?" he asked, hoping she would so that he could get rid of
some of this damn guilt he had over insulting her. He still didn't
know what the hell he was thinking. He'd never been that rude to a
woman before and he'd dealt with some real bitches over the years.
If his aunt ever found out what he said.....

Oh shit, he really hoped she didn't
tell his aunt.

Zoe shrugged. "It's worth a
shot."

"You don't sound too sure," he noted,
leaning a hip against the counter.

"I'm not expecting a good reference
from my old boss," she sighed. "I don't think I'm going to find a
job anytime soon so you might want to start looking for a new
tenant."

That wouldn't work for him, he
realized as he looked around the surprisingly clean kitchen. Not
only would he still feel like an asshole for what he said, but then
he'd be stuck with either his cousin living here or some tenant
that annoyed the shit out of him. He wasn't about to lose his
perfect tenant, not if he could help it.

"How about this?" he said as Zoe
picked up the plate of muffins and thankfully tossed them into the
trash, "if my uncle doesn't hire you, which I'm sure he will," he'd
make sure of it, "then you can work for me."

"Doing what exactly?" Zoe asked,
washing the plate and putting it in the dish strainer.

"Cleaning, laundry, running errands,
taking care of the lawn, shit like that," he said, feeling quite
proud of himself for coming up with the idea.

She narrowed her eyes on him. "Would I
have to cook?"

God no....

"Um, no that's okay," he said
quickly.

"How much an hour?" she asked
hesitantly.

"Eight bucks an hour?" he suggested,
liking the idea more and more. It would certainly free up his load
and let him enjoy what little free time he had. This could
definitely work for him. Too bad she couldn't cook. "Actually, even
if my uncle does give you the job you can still have this one to
earn extra money."

He could tell the prospect of having
extra money appealed to her, but she was trying not to let him
know.

"Ten dollars an hour," she finally
said.

"That's highway robbery!"

"No, that's the price for going near
your dirty drawers."

"Fine," he said on a long drawn out
sigh, pushing away from the counter. She did have a point after
all. "You can start after your interview."

"Okay," she said, nodding. "What do
you need done?"

"I need you to go grocery shopping, do
a load or two of laundry and a little light cleaning," he said,
trying not to frighten her with the truth. She'd learn soon enough
what hell awaited her and by the time she'd discovered the truth
she'd already be set on earning some extra money. Plus she was
desperate for work, so she really shouldn't be complaining about
his pigsty. Instead she should thank him.

"That doesn't sound too bad," she
murmured, pulling out a pen and a pad of paper. "Write down what
you need and I'm going to need money for the grocery shopping," she
said, sounding embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it," he said,
taking the pen from her and writing his list down quickly. "You
never told me why you left your window down last night," he
reminded her.

"The window came off its track again
and I think it broke inside of the door," she said, trying to peek
over his shoulder at his list. "I'm going to have to bring it by
the garage today."

He should just let her do that, but he
knew how much those places charged for that shit. "No," he said,
shaking his head and handing over his list so he could pull his
wallet out. "I'll fix it over the weekend. Until then place a few
towels and a trash bag over the car seat when you're using the car
otherwise let it dry out. You can use my rug cleaner to suck the
water out of it this afternoon," he said, handing her his grocery
money. He really needed to move his ass now or he'd be
late.

"Thanks," Zoe mumbled absently as she
frowned down at his grocery list. "You didn't write
anything."

"Yes, I did," he said, pointing to the
one word he wrote.

"Everything," she read out loud, lips
twitching. "So helpful."

"That's just the kind of guy I am," he
pointed out, knowing in time she'd come to realize how lucky she
was to have a landlord like him.

Chapter 5

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea,
Zoe thought as she stepped out of her car and looked around the
large construction site. She didn't know anything about
construction. Absolutely nothing. On top of that she was pretty
sure the bad reference she was no doubt going to get would
guarantee that she didn't get this job or any job for that
matter.

Perhaps she should just get in the car
and be content to work part time for Trevor while she tried to
figure out how to get a job without having to give a
reference.

"Move your ass!" a rather large man
standing in line for the coffee truck barked, startling the hell
out of her.

Yeah, definitely not the place for
her, she thought as she opened her door to get back in her squishy
car. Maybe if she did a really good job he'd-

"Are you Zoe O'Shea?" a large man with
short silver tipped jet black hair asked as he paused by her car.
She quickly took in his good looks, large build, the laugh lines
around his eyes, button down shirt, khakis and clipboard and had a
pretty good idea who this man was.

"Mr. Bradford?" she asked, stepping
away from her car, hoping he hadn't seen her little escape
attempt.

He held his hand out to her. "Jared,"
he said, gesturing towards the double wide office trailer with a
nod as she shook his hand. "Why don't we go inside and
talk?"

"That sounds great, thank you," she
said, feeling foolish going on a job interview in jeans and a
summer blouse, but she had nothing else to wear and Trevor promised
that it would be fine. She wasn't entirely comfortable counting on
one person for so much help, but she also knew that she really
didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

He held the door open for her and with
a nervous smile she stepped inside. The first thing she noticed was
the large refrigerator, cabinets, and kitchen sink. That was a
little surprising. Didn't these trailers usually have small
kitchenettes? she wondered as she glanced over at the small
comfortable sitting area and a large "L" shaped desk to her
left.

"I really appreciate you coming in for
an interview. We're kind of desperate to get a fulltime secretary
and office manager," he said, reaching over the desk and grabbing
another clipboard. He attached a few sheets of paper to the
clipboard before handing it to her.

"If you could go ahead and fill out
the reference section I can check those out while you finish the
rest of the application," he suggested with a warm
smile.

"O-okay," she said nervously as dread
filled her. This was going to end very badly. She thought about
giving him a head's up about her situation, but then decided
against it since it would probably look like she was badmouthing
her last employer.

With dread she sat down and quickly
filled out the top sheet and handed it to him. With a smile he
disappeared through the doorway to the right of the desk and closed
the door, leaving her alone to either finish her paperwork or make
a run for it.

Ah, what the hell, she decided a
minute later. What did she have to lose? Besides a little more of
her pride and dignity that is. It didn't take her too long to
finish filling out the rest of the paperwork and when she was done
she sat there trying not to fidget.

Thankfully Mr. Bradford didn't make
her wait too long.

"Why don't you step into my office,"
he said, still smiling. That had to be a good sign, she thought,
walking into his office and almost tripping over her feet when she
got her first good look.

What the hell.......

Half of his office was set up as an
office with a large desk, filing cabinets, computer, a couple of
chairs and framed documents and large pictures of past projects
neatly lining the walls. The other half of the office was a little
odd to say the least.

In the corner was a baby crib, a
changing table, a bookshelf filled with books and toys, pictures of
Mickey Mouse lined the walls and teddy bears lined the floor. The
area had obviously been set up for a well loved child, she thought
with a sad smile.

"That's for my little buddy," Mr.
Bradford said with a warm smile.

"What's his name?" she asked, taking
the seat he gestured to.

"Cole, he's just a few months shy of
one," he said proudly as he took his seat behind the large desk.
"May I?" he asked, holding his hand out for her
application.

She handed it over, fighting back the
urge to ask what her old job said about her. As she sat there
trying not to squirm he looked over her application, absently
nodding every few seconds.

Was he looking for a polite way to
tell her that he wasn't interested? She didn't remember being this
nervous at her last job interview, granted that was over three
years ago. She really wasn't sure that her poor stomach was going
to be able to handle the stress of going on any more job
interviews.

"When can you start?" he asked,
startling her.

Once again even though she knew she
should keep her mouth shut she didn't listen. "Um, did you check my
references?"

"Mmmhmm, everything checked
out."

"Everything?" she asked, wishing she
could just shut the hell up. Seriously, what was wrong with
her?

"Yup, you worked for some real
assholes," he said, smiling and throwing her a wink. "Don't worry,
Trevor filled me in this morning. It also didn't hurt that you've
already met my wife and she vouched for you."

Zoe sighed in relief.

"So, can you start tomorrow?" he
asked.

She opened her mouth to answer when a
large angry man wearing a black Bradford Construction tee-shirt and
tool belt stormed into the office.

"I want her fired!" he said, slamming
a piece of paper on top of Jared's desk.

It didn't take Zoe long to figure out
this man was another Bradford. Actually, the man looked more like a
younger version of Jared, large, muscular and devastatingly
handsome.

"Not this again," Jared mumbled
warily, rubbing his hands over his face.

"Yes,
this again
. She assaulted me and took
advantage of me and this time I have a witness," the man declared
triumphantly. He looked over his shoulder expectantly. "Get your
ass in here!"

She heard a long drawn out sigh and
then a much shorter and leaner man wearing a shirt and tie stepped
into the office, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else but
there.