Perfection (Neighbor from Hell #2)(80)

"Thirdly," he said, ignoring her as he leaned back and tried to get comfortable since this looked like it was going to take a while, "I can't move you back in there not only because it would be a waste of time since I'd just have to move you again when we bought a house, but it would also be pretty weird being married and living separately, don't you think?"

"Married?" she practically screeched, not sounding all that pleased, which left him feeling a little offended. "We're not getting married."

He snorted at that. "I may have let you have your naughty little way with me for the past couple of months, but that doesn't mean I'm going to allow you to keep treating me like some dirty little boy toy. If you want to live with me then I expect you to put a ring on my finger," he said, holding up his left hand and wiggling his ring finger to punctuate his words.

"Naught little...," she mumbled, shaking her head in disbelief as she tightened her hold on her towel and dropped into an overstuffed chair. "Oh my god, you really are insane."

"Probably," he said with a shrug, "but don't worry I doubt it's hereditary so the baby should be fine."

Her eyes widened at that announcement. "Great one more thing to worry about," she sighed and he did his best to ignore the fact that she was only wearing a towel, a really large towel, but a towel nonetheless.

"There's really nothing to worry about," he said with a shrug.

"Nothing to worry about? There are about a million things to worry about and apparently having you committed is one of those things," she snapped.

"And when we get married you can legally have that done," he said brightly, grinning hugely when she scowled his way.

"Why in the hell would you want to marry me? I thought you were done with this little arrangement of ours," she pointed out, sounding frustrated and more than a little confused.

"Because I love you," he said simply even though she really should know that by now.

Apparently she hadn't.

For a moment she could only stare at him, looking as though she'd been hit between the eyes with a hammer. It was actually a bit disconcerting and he was starting to wonder if she was okay.

Finally she said, "You don't love me, Trevor."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't," she said, sounding irritated.

"Of course I do and you love me too," he said, sounding smug, but he didn't care. He knew the woman was head over heels in love with him so he wasn't overly concerned that she hadn't professed her undying love to him, much.

"I'm not in love with you?" she declared and he really couldn't help the shit eating grin at that little declaration.

Her little growl pleased him as well. "Fine, okay? I'm in love with you," she snapped, but that doesn't change anything, Trevor. You don't love me."

"Yes, I do," he said, feeling less than pleased that she doubted him.

She took a deep calming breath and when he opened his mouth to say something she held up a hand to stop him and took another one. "Look, while I appreciate the fact that you're trying to do the right thing here for the baby, I think if you thought it over you'd realize that there's really no need to force yourself to do something that you don't want to do. I'm sure that we can sit down and talk about this rationally and come up with something that will work for both of us where the baby is concerned. I-"

He decided to cut her off right there because this had nothing to do with the baby and he was having a really hard time following this conversation with her towel drooping in the front and flashing an indecent amount of cle**age that had him shifting in his seat. He wondered if it would always be like this, where he couldn't keep his mind out of the gutter around her and knew it would. When they were in their nineties he'd probably be chasing her down in his wheelchair, desperate for a kiss.

"This has nothing to do with the baby, Zoe," he said softly, interrupting her and earning a groan of frustration.

"Of course it does, Trevor. Up until a couple of days ago you didn't want anything more than a sexual relationship with me," she said softly, but he didn't miss the slight tremble in her voice and it killed him that he'd hurt her.

"We both agreed to that arrangement, Zoe," he reminded her gently. "I'm not the only one who was willing to settle, sweetheart, but I promise you I stopped looking at you like you were just a convenience a long time ago."

"And now you want to get married," she said flatly.

"Yes," he said without hesitation. "More importantly I want you."

She worried her bottom lip even as her eyes watered and he knew she was softening. He just had to show her how much she meant to him and everything would be okay.

"I can't do it, Trevor," she said, shaking her head. "I can't go from being nothing to you to suddenly being your wife. How do I know that anything will change? I can't be married to a man who's never even held my hand in public or acknowledged me in any other way than just his tenant."

As much as he hated to admit it, she had a point. For the past couple of months he'd been pretending that the best thing in his life didn't exist and that hadn't been fair to either one of them. Now that he gave it some thought he realized his current plan was kind of ridiculous. It would never work if she didn't trust that he meant what he was telling her. Ignoring her the way he had in public, and god was he a f**king moron, and then getting married was never going to work. He needed to show her how much he loved her and he needed her to know that he saw her as more than just his little tenant.