Had she really been that delusional?
Apparently she had, because she allowed them to push her around until she simply hadn't cared anymore. Even though it had only been a few months since she worked in that hell hole she still couldn't believe she let them treat her that way or worse that she let the job become her life. She'd lost touch with the few friends she had and stopped dating, not that she'd done much of that in the past, but at least a decent amount of sex might have made her life more tolerable.
She really missed sex, she thought with a sigh.
But if all went well tonight she wouldn't be missing it for much longer. Not that she'd ever been a tramp. She hadn't. She just had a healthy appetite for sex for a twenty-nine year old woman who hadn't had sex in five years.
She also missed the intimacy of being close to another human being. She missed lazy Sundays in bed, fighting over the remote, snuggling to stay warm and the way she felt when a man made love to her, not alone.
"No f**king way," Trevor said as he stepped out of his apartment and caught sight of the leash.
"This is just getting sad," she said, sighing. "It's just a leash, a cute leash, but a leash all the same."
"If it's just a leash then why aren't you using the black one?" Trevor demanded, crossing his arms over his chest as he continued to glare at the offending leash.
"Because it's cute. Did I not just cover that?" she asked, knowing she was taunting him and god help her she loved it.
"Cute?" he asked, sounding dumbfounded.
"Uh huh," she agreed absently, walking, more like being dragged to the front door by Toby. As she opened the door she decided to taunt him just a little more. Just as she stepped through the door she added, "Cute just like my Red Sox tee shirt," she said, squealing, whether it was from him lunging for her or Toby taking off at a full run and dragging her she wasn't sure. The only thing she knew was she couldn't stop laughing as Trevor's hand missed her bottom by a mile and he promised she wouldn't be able to sit for a week after he got his hands on her.
She knew it probably wasn't the smartest thing to taunt the man, but she just couldn't help herself. He was so damn entertaining.
*********
"Are you done yet?" Trevor demanded, again, as he paced the small confines of his bathroom.
"No, and go away this is getting kind of creepy!" Zoe yelled over the sound of running water.
"If you moved your ass so I could take a shower I wouldn't be bothering you, now would I?" he snapped, feeling edgy.
"Jeez someone's bitchy," Zoe muttered loud enough, no doubt on purpose, for him to hear.
"I'm not bitchy!" But he was. He really was and it was all because he was torturing himself by pacing the bathroom like an idiot while his body's odd little obsession was only a few feet away naked, wet, and sudsy. Granted there was a wall between them, but the way he was feeling right now it didn't matter.
He didn't like the way she made him feel or the way his body ached when she was near. He sure as hell didn't want to feel this way about her. She wasn't his type and he had absolutely no plans on changing his ways now, especially for her.
When he took a woman out, he liked showing her off, knowing that every man took one look at the woman on his arm and envied him. If he ever took a woman like Zoe out they'd wonder what the hell was wrong with him and he wouldn't be able to blame them because there was nothing perfect about Zoe and he couldn't accept anything less. He would never be looked down on with pity ever again or have anyone think that he couldn't do better.
"Go away!" Zoe said.
"Hurry the hell up!" he snapped. "I have plans tonight."
"So do I!" she shot back, making him wonder what plans she had. As far as he knew she never went out at night unless she was running an errand or hitting the pool at the gym. She was a bit of a homebody, but he didn't think she was going to the gym tonight since she didn't usually shower beforehand.
"Where the hell are you going?" he demanded, giving up his pacing to lean back against the sink counter.
"Out."
He snorted. "Out where?"
"Just out," she answered hesitantly a moment later.
"Are we still on for the book tonight?" he asked even though he knew there was a good chance, god willing, that he wouldn't be around for that tonight. Then again if it was a quick lay he might be able to get back here in time.
"I, uh," he could just make out the sound of her clearing her throat, "might not be alone tonight," she said, stunning the shit out of him.
"You have a date?" he asked in a disbelieving tone that probably sounded a bit insulting.
"I could have a date!" she argued.
"But do you?" he asked, noting that she hadn't really answered.
"The shower's all yours," she said brightly, obviously trying to change the subject, which at the moment was fine with him. She could go out with whomever she wanted. He didn't care. They weren't really friends. She was his employee and tenant and nothing more.
Okay, so she also read to him at night and put a smile on his face first thing in the morning and the last thing at night, but she could still do that if she was seeing someone else. It would probably also help get his head straight if he knew she was off limits since he didn't poach. Well, he did, but he wouldn't try to steal her since she really wasn't his type and sooner or later his body would remember that.
Of course if she started to date he would really have to look into having the walls reinsulated. There was no way he wanted to hear her f**king some other guy. Again, not that he cared, but that didn't mean he wanted to wake up in the middle of the night to hear her scream some other guy's name. He wasn't a masochist after all.
This could work, he thought as he tugged off his tee shirt and tossed it into the hamper Zoe picked up and demanded that he use. That woman could be so damn pushy sometimes. He still didn't understand why he had to dish out twenty bucks for a hamper when the bathroom floor did the same job for free. She was just making more work for herself by having to pull all his clothes out of the hamper instead of just picking it up off the floor and when he explained that to her she just rolled her eyes and told him to use the damn hamper.
Thinking on it now he really couldn't understand why he wanted her. She was so damn bos-
A high pitched scream broke off his thoughts.
"Trevor!" Zoe screamed.
His name was barely out of her mouth before he found himself running out of his room and taking the stairs two at time. He flew out of his apartment and into hers, glad that they didn't lock the doors, but worried that someone had managed to break into the front door and go straight into her apartment. He didn't stop to check the front door, but ran up the stairs, following the high pitched screams and dog's furious barks and growls that wouldn't stop, to her room.