Perfection (Neighbor from Hell #2)(53)

"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 f**king 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.